Promotional Products Association International (PPAI) has announced the new PPAI Board Members for 2022: Melissa Ralston, chief revenue officer of Tampa, Florida-based supplier Koozie Group; Chris Anderson, CEO of Braintree, Massachusetts-based supplier HPG; and Denise Taschereau, co-founder and CEO of Vancouver, British Columbia-based distributor Fairware Promotional Products.
“We are thrilled to leverage Denise, Melissa and Chris’s talent, expertise and energy to further PPAI’s vision and mission,” said Todd Pottebaum, MAS+, PPAI board chair.
Ralston has been appointed to a two-year at-large director position on the PPAI board. Anderson and Taschereau have been elected to the PPAI Board of Directors following approval of the slate by PPAI members in last month’s election, and will serve a four-year term. All three new directors will begin their terms immediately following the PPAI Expo 2022 in January.
PPAI’s board is the association’s governing body, and plays a major role in directing its strategic activities, adopting policies and approving budgets to carry out the work of the association.
Ralston has been in the promotional products industry for more than 15 years with global leadership roles across marketing, product management, sourcing and sales. In addition to her roles within two different Top 40 promotional products suppliers, she has also worked in multiple industries with well-known brands, such Chris-Craft, Publix Supermarkets and The Sports Authority.
She has commercialized products for customers such as Amazon, Macy’s, Grainger and AAFES, and served on multiple boards—PPAI’s Strategic Foresight Committee, ASI’s Counselor Advisory Board and University of South Florida’s Digital Advisory Board. She currently sits on a distributor D&I board, is the executive sponsor for Koozie Group’s “Keep It. Give It.” social impact and sustainability task force, and was recently recognized by PPB in its 2021 Women in Print & Promo feature.
Anderson joined the promotional products industry in 2002 with supplier HandStands, and became president of the company in 2009 and CEO in 2010. Under his leadership, HandStands expanded its distribution into 138 countries and closed multiple strategic acquisitions, including the sale of the business to HPG in 2018. Anderson became CEO of HPG in 2019.
Taschereau launched Fairware after realizing how difficult it was to source promotional merchandise that reflected the social and environmental priorities of the many brands and organizations she admired. Previously, Taschereau oversaw the Mountain Equipment Co-op’s national environmental programs, community grant-making and ethical sourcing programs, and wrote their award-winning first Sustainability Report. She is currently a board member of PromoCares, an industry group driving awareness and education around sustainability issues in the promotional products industry.
For more information, visit www.ppai.org.
