The PPAI Expo 2025 is officially underway. The industry and the Association had a busy 2024, and there’s no better place to take in the fruits of that labor than at promo’s largest and longest-running trade show.
Setting everything in motion on Monday morning, PPAI’s 2024 Board Chair Andrew Spellman, CAS, took the stage with opening remarks on the past year’s milestone accomplishments, the state of the industry and the introduction of PPAI’s new President and CEO, Drew Holmgreen.
New Leadership
Holmgreen, whose first day in his new role was Friday, joins the Association from Meeting Professionals International, the world’s largest association for meeting and events professionals, where he most recently served as chief experience officer. He brings more than two decades of experience in strategic leadership, inclusion, brand development, experiential innovation, and organizational growth.
“In going through the interview process, I have to be honest – I knew it,” Holmgreen said. “I knew from the moment we had our first Zoom call that this was it. And each time we spoke, my excitement and confidence was validated, verified and amplified.”
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Spellman says the executive search committee spent five months analyzing who would be PPAI’s next staff leader. More than 100 candidates were screened in an extensive search process that truly left no stone unturned. And in the end, Spellman says, Holmgreen stood out as the unanimous choice.
“He is a visionary leader,” Spellman says. “He has a deep understanding of the dynamics of member-driven organizations like PPAI, and his experience and passion for innovation make him uniquely suited to lead our Association and create value for you, our members, and our medium as a whole.”
Holmgreen encouraged attendees to stop him in the hallways or on the trade show floor to say hello, introduce themselves and tell him about their business. “The PPAI Expo is massive, and it’s going to be a lot to take in, but I’m here to learn and to meet all of you,” he says. “I want to hear about your challenges and how PPAI can help. Along with the entire staff, I work for you.”
He wants members to share what brings them joy in the work they do and what PPAI provides. “I want to know, because it will help me learn and help Team PPAI continue to excel for you.”
Promo Guts Out Positive 2024
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“This week is a celebration of the entire industry,” Holmgreen says, “and you really do have so much to celebrate this week, including, according to a preliminary projection from PPAI research that I can share, the news that this past year was once again a record for the promotional products industry.”
In the coming weeks, PPAI will release its official sales volume estimate for the promo industry. Monday morning, Holmgreen shared preliminary numbers pointing to promo experiencing a range of sales growth between 2.6% and 3.2% in the U.S. last year. The industry climbed past $26 billion in 2023 and PPAI Research’s latest data points to the promo market nearing $27 billion in 2024.
It’s important to note that tabulations aren’t final, and some responses are still flowing in, so this figure is subject to change when the final report is released in February.
Honoring The 2025 Icon Award Winners
Spellman also introduced the newest inductees of the PPAI Hall of Fame, the highest honor that the Association bestows. This year, two extraordinary individuals, Jonathan Isaacson of Gemline and Mark Jenkins, MAS+, of Geiger, joined its illustrious ranks.
“Year after year, the people who earn this honor have gone above and beyond in so many ways,” Spellman says. “They have been volunteers to our many member-driven committees, or the PPAI Board itself. They have been humanitarians in their own right. Mentors. Thought leaders. They’ve given of themselves consistently, and in the end, made us all better off for having them in our community.”
Isaacson and Jenkins, along with their fellow 2025 PPAI Icon Award winners, were recognized at a special event at Allegiant Stadium last night.
