BIC & Norwood Introduce New Top Officer
As first reported in a Breaking News Alert last night, BIC Advertising & Promotional Products (BIC APP) has announced that Quenten Wentworth will take over as vice president and general manager of Norwood and BIC Graphic North America (asi/40480). The appointment was effective April 12. Wentworth, who comes to the ad specialty market after more than eight years at Pepsi Bottling Group, will now oversee the sales, marketing and customer service efforts for the combined BIC Graphic and Norwood operation. “The organization will be stronger and better as integrated businesses,” Wentworth told ASI in an exclusive briefing late yesterday.

Prior to his time at Pepsi Bottling, where he oversaw businesses of between $100 million and $2.5 billion, Wentworth spent more than 12 years at Philip Morris. He will now be the head of a combined operation that is the largest supplier organization in the ad specialty industry after reporting 2009 revenues of $410 million. “We are very pleased to have Quenten join our team,” said Nicolas Paillot, CEO of BIC APP, in a statement. “He brings solid experience as a business leader and has proven success at building value added partnerships across a broad range of customers.”

Wentworth takes over following Paul Lage’s resignation as president of Norwood last month. It is now Wentworth’s role to determine how to integrate the operations of both BIC Graphic and Norwood. Following BIC’s purchase of Norwood last summer for $125 million plus assumed liabilities of $36.5 million, the parent company formed BIC APP as the umbrella organization consisting of BIC Graphic and Norwood. The company then announced last month that it would move Norwood’s headquarters from Indianapolis to BIC’s location in Clearwater, FL. That move is expected to be completed by the end of this year.

“The Norwood and BIC Graphic team has many years of industry expertise,” said Wentworth. “Combined, we have the tools necessary to be the leading supplier in the industry. I look forward to working with our customers to personally understand their business needs and closely partner with them to enhance the services and value that they have come to expect from Norwood and BIC Graphic.”

Polyconcept Announces Management Changes
Polyconcept, the largest hard-goods ad specialty supplier in the world and parent company of Counselor Top 40 supplier Polyconcept North America (PCNA), announced that Cees Martens has been appointed as PF Concept International’s CEO and member of Polyconcept’s Executive Committee. PF Concept is a sister company to PCNA and is not the parent company of industry suppliers Bullet (asi/42424), Journalbooks (asi/91340) and Leed’s (asi/66887). The company had previously announced that Yann Leca, former CFO of Polyconcept, was promoted to CEO overseeing the company’s Global Supplier Group.

“After the very successful redeployment of our U.S. activities under the Polyconcept North America banner and David Nicholson’s leadership, we are extremely pleased to have the opportunity to promote Yann Leca who has been our CFO since 1998 to a broader operational role as head of our Global Supplier Group,” said Philippe Varnier, chairman/CEO of Polyconcept, in an exclusive interview with Counselor. “Moreover, I am convinced that the change of leadership at our European supplier arm, PF Concept, with Cees Martens taking the helm and bringing his experience and impressive track record, will allow us to rebound faster than the market as the economy improves.”

With previous employment as general manager of the Markers & Highlighters Business Unit of Newell Rubbermaid in Oak Brook, IL, which includes the leading U.S. brand Sharpie, Martens has 23 years of professional experience in sales, marketing and operations. Based in Roelofarendsveen, The Netherlands, Martens takes over from Rutger de Planque, who has elected to pursue other opportunities after 20 years with PF Concept. Martens will continue to grow PF Concept’s position as the European promotional products industry’s leading supplier, serving more than 10,000 distributors across 50 countries. He will report to Leca, whose new role put him in charge of all the group’s global catalogue-based promotional products activities towards distributors.

The Polyconcept Supplier Group includes PF Concept, Polyconcept North America and their related Asian-based sourcing activities. It delivers close to one million orders annually to 25,000 distributors worldwide. The North American unit reported $275.4 million in revenues in 2009.

Lage To Replace Retiring Carrico At Gill
As first reported in a Breaking News Alert yesterday, Counselor Top 40 supplier Gill Studios (asi/56950) has named Paul Lage its new president and CEO, replacing the retiring Tom Carrico. The moves are effective May 3. Lage, who worked at Gill from 1986 to 1993, recently resigned from his position as president of Counselor Top 40 supplier Norwood. “I’m so excited about this opportunity I feel like a little kid,” said Lage, in an interview yesterday with Counselor. “For me, this is like getting the job to coach at Notre Dame. This isn’t an opportunity that comes along very often.”

While Lage’s resignation from Norwood is effective today, he will remain in an advisory role with the company even as he begins his latest stint at Gill. Norwood is continuing its transition following its 2009 acquisition by BIC Graphic USA (asi/40480). “It’s important to me to help Norwood in the transition and to make sure there are no holes there,” said Lage. “Gill is being supportive of that. BIC is handling things the right way and with a good vision. The BIC team has been wonderful to work with.”

Lage has maintained close ties to Carrico and other executives at Gill ever since he left the Kansas-based company in the early 1990s to work as a vice president at BIC Graphic. “The process with Gill and me has sort of just evolved,” said Lage. “Gill was the only opportunity I seriously considered. The company has always had great fundamentals and has been very consistent. I hope to enhance it and maybe bring more of a sales focus for growth.”

Carrico, who has been president of Gill since 2005, told the company’s leaders last year that he intended to retire sometime in 2010. “I’ve enjoyed every minute of my time here,” Carrico told Counselor yesterday. “I’ve had a wonderful ride and it makes sense for me to leave now. I’m thrilled that Paul’s coming on board. We’ve been good friends over the years and he’s among the most respected people in the industry.” Carrico, a grandfather of six, intends to travel and spend even more time with family. In total, Carrico spent 43 years at Gill. “Life is good,” he said.

Video Report: Industry News Of The Week
Every week, Counselor PromoGram offers a video news report that highlights the industry’s top stories. Called Industry Update, each episode details the most important trends and news items impacting the ad specialty market.

In this episode, we reveal an industry newcomer with a big impact and share info on a new home for one top supplier executive. Plus, which Top 40 distributor has increased sales more than 20% so far this year? Click here to check out the trends and to watch Counselor PromoGram’s Industry Update.

If you have any news you’d like to see covered on Industry Update or in Counselor PromoGram, please send it to newsdesk@asicentral.com.

Obituary: Ron Frechette, Former PPPC Chair
Ron Frechette, twice the chairman of the board of the Promotional Products Association of Canada (PPPC), died on Tuesday morning in St-Hilaire, Quebec. Frechette became ill last fall and passed away after a bout with cancer. “He would do anything to help anybody,” said Garry Moore, owner of Promotional Products Inc. (asi/300848) and one of Frechette’s close friends. “He always had a smile and he loved the industry. People were his hobby.”

Considered one of the industry’s founding fathers in Canada, Frechette served as PPPC chairman during 1971-72 and 1980-81. He was inducted into the organization’s Hall of Fame in 1989. “He was a true gentleman and was so generous and knowledgeable,” said Mark Wingrove, current chair of the PPPC board. According to friends, Frechette was strikingly selfless. “When Ron got sick, he never really let anyone know,” remembers Moore. “It was always about how you were doing and not about how he was. He never complained.”

Funeral services for Frechette will be held tomorrow in Beloeil, Quebec. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to the Palliative Care Unit Hotel Dieu de St Hyacinthe in Quebec.

Podcast: Cool Summer Promo Ideas
On Tuesday’s ASI Internet Radio Show, the hosts took questions from the audience about how to spice up their clients’ summer promotions. Need product ideas for those beach and BBQ events your clients are now planning? Check out this podcast. 

Click here to listen to the summer promotions segment from Tuesday’s show.

If you’d like to check out a recording of the whole online radio show, go to www.asicentral.com/radio. And, don’t forget to join us next Tuesday, April 20, for our next broadcast. Log on to www.asicentral.com/radio at 10:30 am eastern time and give us a call at 215-953-4979 or e-mail us at radio@asicentral.com to participate on the show. We want to hear from you.

Nominate Your Company For The Best Places To Work Contest
For the third year in a row, Counselor is setting out to identify the industry companies that employees simply love to work for. These are the distributors and suppliers that have a loyal work force and that provide a work environment which employees want to go to every morning.

Counselor will be unveiling its second-annual Best Places To Work issue in September, and it will undoubtedly include an elite list of industry companies. Do you want your company to be considered? Getting involved is easy – and it’s completely free to participate. The only necessary qualification is that a company has at least 10 employees. To nominate your company, or any others in the market that you think deserve to be recognized, simply click here. Also, there’s no risk to participating. Only the honorees – those companies with the best scores from the survey – will be published in Counselor.

Share Your Story With Counselor Mag & Earn $100
Have you recently lost a client because he's had his budget cut, moved on to another job or simply gone to a competitor? Share your story with Counselor magazine's reporters and we'll have a team of experts offer you valuable strategies you can use to regain that client's business. Plus, we'll feature you in an upcoming issue of Counselor AND give you a $100 American Express Gift Card for your efforts.

If you're interested, please send an e-mail to acohen@asicentral.com and tell us in 100 words or less how you lost a recent client (you needn't reveal the name or company of the client) and any efforts you've made to win him/her back.

In The News
Ash City USA (asi/37127) has announced that John Gibson, sales representative, has been voted the Great Lakes Sales Rep of the Year by members of the Michigan Promotional Professionals Association.

BDA (asi/137616) announced that it has been named the official promotional licensee for NASCAR.

Geiger (asi/202900) hosted a “green” open house, featuring eco-friendly products, in its Scottsdale, AZ, office on St. Patrick’s Day, drawing 200 clients and prospects.

Newton Manufacturing Company (asi/283300) recently raised more than $500 for the Big Brothers/Big Sisters of Central Iowa through the organization’s Bowl for Kids’ Sake event.

PromoRep Inc. has announced it will be providing sales representation for Custom HBC Corp. (asi/47934), Custom Chocolate (asi/47919), and RoadPro (asi/82649).

WorkflowOne (asi/333647) announced its continued expansion into Puerto Rico as a result of a partnership with Puerto Rico-based distributor ALAS Technical Products (asi/115656).

People On The Move
Shepenco (asi/86850) has announced that Stacy Horton and Steve Alegria have joined Awesomelines. Horton will provide sales representation for Shepenco in Southern CA, AZ, NV and UT, while Alegria will be covering Northern CA, OR and WA.