Corporate Imaging Concepts (PPAI 221047, D11) – ranked the No. 22 distributor in the inaugural PPAI 100 – has announced that private equity veteran David Ashe has joined the Illinois-based company as CEO.
- Since 2016, Berkley Capital has been CIC’s private equity partner.
Industry veteran Bob Herzog, who served as CEO of CIC since 2017, is no longer with the company.
- Herzog previously served as CEO of Bullet and COO of PCNA – ranked the No. 7 supplier in the inaugural PPAI 100.
“Customer-centric, accessible and inclusive online stores have been at the forefront of CIC’s success,” Ashe says, “and I’m excited to work with our team’s deep list of Fortune 1000 relationships to continue to accelerate our position as leaders in our space.”
Ashe’s Background
With more than 30 years of experience as a leader of both international B2B and B2C companies, Ashe’s strategic planning acumen has led to a track record of world-class execution, according to CIC.
Before entering the promo industry, Ashe served as president of Rapid Armored, which serves the cash transportation and processing needs of businesses and government entities in New York, New Jersey and Connecticut.
- Previously, he was also president and CEO of FFI Holdings (now Simple Management Group), which operated a chain of 52 pawn shops and jewelry stores in Florida and Puerto Rico.
- He started his career in the early 1990s as president of Latin American B2B publishing company B2B Portales, Inc., which he ran for nearly 20 years.
“CIC is uniquely positioned in the competitive promotional products industry by focusing on taking the pain out of managing branded merchandise at large companies,” Ashe says. “While lots of distributors can source and offer products, CIC’s technology expertise and superhuman customer service deliver on our promise to make merch easy for any industry.”
