Kacie Brinner is information services project supervisor for SAGE and is part of the SPARK workgroup from 2020-2022. She is a Texas transplant, retaining Californian ultra-hippie status, and is a writing junkie. She hates winter and firmly believes in serendipity.

From Flight Paramedic to the King of Swag. Anthony Carpenter is the owner of The Branded Creation, a proforma franchise. Before this, he was a Sales Rep at two other companies. I hold a Bachelors's from the University of Houston. I hold a CAS from PPAI. BASI from ASI. I am also the Chief Flight Paramedic for an Air Ambulance Company, which allows me to galivant around the world on somebody else's dime. The best part... I am about to celebrate my 10th anniversary and have three kids 8,6,3. In his spare time, he gives all of his money to Disney.

David Geiger is general counsel for Geiger located in Lewiston, Maine, which is an industry top-10 distributor of promotional products and advertising specialty items. Geiger is a recent graduate of the University of Maine School of Law and represents the fifth generation of Geigers to work at the family-owned business. He joined the company in 2007, starting in manufacturing engineering services during school breaks from the University of Southern California, where he studied business administration, management, law and entrepreneurship. After receiving his undergraduate degree, he held the role of compliance manager until he left to pursue a degree in law. His role is to ensure Geiger’s compliance with global laws and regulations, handle corporate law-related matters, assist in drafting and negotiating complex agreements and participate in the strategic growth of the company as part of the mergers and acquisition team.  In addition to his responsibilities at Geiger, he is a board member for St. Mary’s Hospital in Lewiston, a member of PPAI’s Product Responsibility Action Group (PRAG) and is part of the SPARK workgroup from 2020-2022.

Charity Gibson is the National Account Coordinator for Peerless Umbrella, owner of Green Banana Social, a founding Chef and Executive Committee member of industry 501(c)3 PromoKitchen, and the host of the Badass Women of Promo Podcast.  She started her career on the distributor side of the industry and moved to the supplier side of things in 2015. She is most well known for her heavy engagement on social media, educational sessions and videos, mentorship, and creativity.

Noelle Leverentz is the Florida sales representative for Hit Promotional Products. She proudly joined the company in 2019 and started her career in the promotional products industry. In her time at Hit, she immediately recognized the importance of relationships and her role in connecting herself as a supplier to her distributors. She intends on continuing this lesson as she grows in her position for her company as well as where she can serve the industry.

A seven-year industry veteran with a deep passion for merchandising and strategic branding solutions. Born and raised in the Midwest but always bringing a trendy insight to daily tasks, Austin is a self-proclaimed ‘foodie’ who is always in the know about what's new around town. A man who wears many hats, Austin takes great pride in being a crazy dog dad and he may or may not also be an ordained minister. When Austin isn't rolling out the red carpet for his clients, he enjoys a day at the lake and watching Dateline on pizza night Friday.

Maddie is the Vice President of Operations at Payden & Company, a distributorship based out of East Greenwich, RI. She’s worked in the industry for four years, attended her first SPARK mixer at The PPAI Expo in January of 2018, and has attended as many SPARK events as she can since then. She loves getting to meet her promo peers at SPARK mixers and conferences and is looking forward to working with PPAI and the rest of the workgroup on delivering quality content to promo’s young professionals both online and (hopefully soon!) in-person.