This is the sixth installment in a year-long series of department profiles to help readers learn more about the PPAI staff members who serve them.

The Expositions & Meetings Department provides members and prospective members the opportunity to conduct business and network with a majority of PPAI’s membership face-to-face and learn more effective ways to conduct business. The Expo showcases all PPAI products and services, thus functioning as the face of the association. Within Expo, brand. provides an opportunity for members and prospective members to learn how to use retail brand merchandise to enhance and grow their sales. Decorate provides an opportunity for decorators (potential members) to learn about decorating equipment and supplies for their core business and learn about promotional products to enhance and grow their sales. PPAI’s partnership with the Specialty Advertising Association of Greater New York to manage and produce Expo East adds a smaller East Coast version of Expo. PPAI is fulfilling a member need by bringing all of the benefits of Expo to an underserved audience.

Darel Cook
Director of Expositions & Meetings
I was a ball boy for the San Antonio Spurs in high school and was “buddies” with NBC Hall of Famer George “Iceman” Gervin and several other players while doing so.

Raquel Garcia
Registration Specialist
Solving the world’s (my own) problems with peppermint oil. Drinking excessive amounts of espresso. Saving the turtles one reusable straw at a time. Expositions’ resident hippie.

Sarah Garrett
Operations & Meetings Manager
I’m a test tube baby; I’m pretty extra. My birthday says Millennial but my avocado Tupperware collection says Gen X. Some medical professionals might say I have a slightly unhealthy obsession with Gregg Popovich.

Khris Harris
Senior Operations Manager
I love hunting and fishing. I’ve been on a mission trip to Russia. I mentor youth as a volunteer coach. As a youth, I once (or on multiple occasions) entertained myself and friends by shutting off the electricity to shopping centers and restaurants during peak business hours. It was a great prank back then, but I’ve since learned the errors of my ways.

Krista LeMoine
Operations Manager
“Operations Manager” sounds like I’ve got it together, but fake it ‘til you make it, baby. Actually, I’m getting pretty good at this “adulting” thing—running my dogs daily, flushing my liver with coffee, filling the office halls with candid sarcasm while planning goat yoga sessions … *Cue Eye of the Tiger*

Sandi Linz
Operations Coordinator
I was born in Japan. I love to scare people. My ankles pop when I walk up a flight of stairs. I’m deathly afraid of all reptiles. I want a pet goat or a mini pig.

Alexis Moreno
Meetings Coordinator
Yes, I am the only member of this department who was born in the ’90s.

Bob Stoltz
Large Distributor Major Account Manager
I’m a certified yoga instructor. 

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James Khattak is news editor of PPB.