The promotional products industry lost one of its great leaders with the passing of David Woods, MAS, on April 27. He was 75. Woods retired from AIA Corporation as CEO in 2016.
In the early 1990s he joined distributor Lee Wayne Corporation in a turnaround role; he rebuilt the company and later sold it to HALO (now HALO Branded Solutions) and Woods became executive vice president. In 2002 he spent a year on PPAI’s staff as COO before joining AIA.
Woods served two terms on the PPAI Board of Directors and was chair in 2000-2001. He also served a term on the board of the Promotional Products Education Foundation and was chair in 2009-2010. Woods was inducted into PPAI’s Hall of Fame in 2018.
In addition to his longtime leadership in the industry, he was deeply passionate about the arts and helping disadvantaged youth. Since 2008 he served on the board for the Bergstrom Mahler Museum of Glass, and as a board member and president of the Green Lake Festival of Music, where he headed up a $1 million fundraising campaign. Woods also lent his expertise to the Beaver Brook Association, a 2,000-acre wildlife conservation area in Hollis, New Hampshire, that offers programs for inner city kids, and the Chicago All Stars, a group in the Chicago Loop area for at-risk youth.
Woods is survived by three sons and six grandchildren.
Read more about Woods’s life and contributions to the industry in Tuesday’s PPB Newslink.
