(Editor’s Note: Amid the ongoing voting for the new slate of nominees for the PPAI Board of Directors, PPAI Media is profiling the potential new additions. Be sure to also check out today’s introduction to Cap America President Mark Gammon.)
PromoShop President Kate Alavez was not recruited to be the leader of what is now PPAI 100’s No. 29 ranked distributor. Instead, she worked her way up over the course of almost 20 years. When her employer, Diagnostic Products Corporation, was sold to Siemens in 2006, she took a recommendation from a family friend and applied at PromoShop as a sales support assistant.
Alavez found her way to the human resources department and quickly proved her merit, becoming director of HR within eight years of joining the distributor. She says her extensive experience in that side of the company has grown her into an excellent and thorough communicator, a skill she carried with her when she was promoted to chief operating officer and, eventually, president.
Now, Alavez, who has served as chair of the PPAI Women’s Leadership Work Group and was a 2019 PPAI Rising Star, has been nominated to a seat on the PPAI Board of Directors.
The election to approve this year’s two-person board slate begins Aug. 26 and closes Aug. 30. Each PPAI member company’s voting contact is eligible to cast a vote for the slate. Voting will be done electronically, and a new 2024 username and password will be emailed to the voting contacts when voting opens. A candidate must receive majority approval among votes cast to be named to the board of directors following The PPAI Expo 2025.
In this interview with PPAI Media, Alavez explains why she wants to serve and what she brings to the table.
PPAI Media: Why do you want to be on the PPAI Board?
Kate Alavez: The PPAI Board has always been a guiding force for good in the industry. I have consistently been impressed by the PPAI brand and the presence of their team, from the corporate office to their boardrooms. The members who serve on the PPAI Board are true professionals who care about contributions to the industry but also to individual members. They are a board that operates by affecting change – an operational group of action-based members looking to create value and impact across all positions – not just C-suite roles.
For all these reasons, I would love to be on the PPAI Board.
PPAI Media: How would you describe your leadership style? What strengths would you bring to the PPAI Board?
Alavez: My goal is to emulate a servant leadership style. I am a firm believer that leadership is a gift of service given to others. Servant leadership is purpose driven, keeps the ego in check and drives forward based on the impact for others, parking individual wins in the corner and prioritizing the benefits to the organization.
One of my strengths is my extensive experience in human resources with interviewing, recruiting and people operations at the center. Because of the sheer number of human interactions and problem-solving scenarios, I am well versed at working in a room with many voices and perspectives. I feel I am open-minded because of this, as I’ve experienced wins from a huge number of differentpersonalities and have seen that different styles of work all contribute to making an organization better if we’re all aligned on the same performance goals and organizational values. I value autonomy, community building and delivering high quality results. I am good at executing plans and enjoy helping teams bring ideas off paper and into action.
PPAI Media: Describe your process for creating a strategic plan or setting long term goals for yourself or your team.
Alavez: I have a firm belief in setting expectations and identifying a path forward with group feedback to ensure not only buy-in on the long-term goal, but respect for one another’s work throughout the process.
When I am working through the development of a strategic plan, I start by building a framework – usually in draft form – that I use to brainstorm and work through for a while before bringing it to the team. If I sense there will be hesitation, I take the initial burden of work on myself so I can speak from experience when asking others to join me in executing plans.
I believe in measuring progress frequently, so I add calendar appointments, hard stops for evaluation and team reviews of what is going well and what requires improvement. I love data – surveys and feedback to show how we’re meeting our goals, especially as they pertain to the people involved. I often employ design thinking – beginning with the end user’s needs and issues first and utilizing that as a guiding light to build out possible solutions that will be built into the final product or deliverable.
Finally, I make sure that the expectations, goals and deliverables are more aggressive for me than for anyone else on the team. If I am asking people to join me in delivering big strategic plans, I need to be there in front showing that I am taking part in the action and moving through discomfort to find real-time solutions for everyone involved.
PPAI Media: Can you share an experience where you supported a group decision despite having a differing opinion? How did you handle it?
Alavez: One of the most important lessons I learned over my career is when to lead and when to follow. Listening isn’t a passive skill. Understanding how and where to offer feedback is important, but equally important is knowing when to pack in your personal feelings and get on board with the team to achieve a greater purpose.
I am grateful that I learned early to park my “no” and think about ways to say “yes” to the opinions and ideas of others.
PPAI Media: Is there anything else you’d like to say to the electorate that will be voting on the PPAI Board of Directors?
Alavez: I am committed to tirelessly working on behalf of our incredible industry – listening to thoughts and upholding the highest standards of integrity and ethics alongside the impressive PPAI Board of Directors.
It is an honor to be considered for this team.
