ASI Show Chicago Education Speakers
 
  Rick Blabolil, Marketing Innovators
   
Rick Blabolil is the president of Marketing Innovators. Over his 30-year tenure, he has driven the overall business strategy of the company and the personal approach to engaging with clients and their challenges. He provides thought leadership to the performance improvement industry and serves on a variety of organization boards within the industry: board member, Business Marketing Association; board member, Norwegian American Hospital; past president, Incentive Marketing Association; past president/founder, Forum for People Performance Management; past vice president, Incentive Research Foundation: Performance Improvement Council; past president/board, Incentive Gift Certificate Council; board member, Incentive Federation; Incentive Legislative Committee.

  
 
  David Blaise, Top Secrets of Promotional Products Sales
   
Business-growth expert David Blaise has created some of the most recognized and successful training brands in the promotional products industry, including Top Secrets of Promotional Products Sales, Top Secrets of Customer Acquisition and SmartEQP.com. He is a cofounder of Blaise Drake and Company, which helps thousands of industry professionals each year to increase sales, improve profit margins and grow their businesses on a guaranteed basis. He is also an entrepreneur, author and business consultant who has been involved in the promotional products industry since 1988 as a sales representative, sales manager, marketing manager, business owner, sales trainer and coach.

  
 
  Emmie Brown, Southwestern Consulting
   
Emmie Brown is a senior partner and founding member of Southwestern Consulting, an international sales consulting company that focusses on helping companies and individuals reach peak performance. Over the past 15 years she has trained over 750 sales organizations coast to coast within the U.S. and as far away as New Zealand. Emmie and her team have built sales systems and recruiting systems, including sales manuals, scripts, interview processes, onboarding manuals, activity tracking systems, and leadership manuals for companies as large as Bridgestone and DirecTV and for companies with a two-person sales force. She has consistently ranked in the top 1% of sales forces throughout her sales career while managing and building sales organizations herself.		  
 
  Jay Busselle, Printa Systems
   
Jay Busselle began his screen printing and graphics career reportedly sometime in the 80's in Mr. Perry's graphics class at East High School. Jay started printing “unofficial replica” T-shirts of his favorite surfing, skiing and skateboarding companies, as well as a few bands which will remain nameless. He landed his first industry job while in college as a cut-and-paste artist for a Yellow Pages publishing company. It didn't take long before he was working for a screen printer, and soon thereafter his family-owned promotional advertising agency. It's been over 25 years and Jay is still in the industry and still pretending to grow up! He has been ranked as high as #13 on the Stitches Power 75 list, and he’s a highly rated industry presenter and accomplished trainer. Jay is currently the Director of Sales and Marketing for Printa Systems.

 
 
  Stephanie Chung, Stephanie Chung and Associates
   
Stephanie Chung is an executive coach, trainer and advisor with more than 25 years of team management, business development, and sales leadership experience. As a former sales executive in the aviation and private-jet industry, she has mastered the art of high-ticket selling and has mentored, coached and developed some of the highest paid, most elite sales professionals in the country. She is also a contributor on ABC, CBS, NBC and author of two books about sales success.

  
 
  Matthew Cohn, ASI
   
Vice Chairman of the ASI Family of Companies (composed of The ASI Show!®, ASI Computer Systems®, and ASI®), Matthew Cohn has launched businesses in publishing, e-commerce, trade shows and medical information. Matthew has also served as President, Education Chair and Treasurer of the Philadelphia Chapter of the Young Entrepreneurs Organization and is on the board of the Philadelphia Chapter of the Young President's Organization (YPO). The Philadelphia Business Journal recognized him in their "40 Under 40" awards, and he was named among the "Top 100 People to Watch" by Business Philadelphia magazine, as well as one of the "100 Most Influential People" in the trade show industry by Tradeshow Week. He has been a featured speaker at national conferences such as American Society of Association Executives, Direct Marketing Association, Internet World, Annual Catalog Conference, Seybold Seminars, International Association of Exposition Managers and SISO.

  
 
  Michael D'Ottaviano, ASI
   
Michael D'Ottaviano, MASI, is an executive director of corporate accounts at ASI. He specializes in strategic solutions, helping ASI distributors members realize opportunity and grow their businesses by utilizing creative website design combined with innovative marketing campaigns. He also works with distributors to develop social media campaigns to increase web presence and grow their customer base. Michael is passionate about technology and implementing integrated solutions to help distributors streamline their business processes and grow their businesses.

  
 
  Julie Hansen, Performance Sales and Training
   
Julie Hansen helps sales professionals deliver winning presentations and pitches that stand out from the competition, resonate with today’s busy decision-makers, and speed up the sales cycle. Before founding her company, she spent 20 years as a sales leader in a variety of competitive industries. She has also worked as a professional actor, performing in over 75 plays, commercials and television shows, including HBO’s Sex & the City. By combining her award-winning sales background with her passion and experience as an actor, she offers unique insights into how salespeople can communicate their ideas and display their products in an engaging and memorable way to close more business.		  
 
  Jon Hanson, The Data Direct Group
   
Jon Hanson, CPIM, is the founder and CEO of The Data Direct Group. After a 15-year career in the advertising industry, he has been an active member in the award and recognition industry since 1985. His company developed RepLink, the database of brand-name merchandise, in 1993. The RepLink product data is accessed by incentive reps and promotion agencies, and shared nightly with the ESP search engine. The database information is used to select the merchandise to motivate and reward employees and partners. Jon has been an industry seminar leader and trainer for many years and has been an active promoter of the use of incentive programs to help companies grow and prosper.		  
 
  Colleen Hartigan, Madeira USA
   
Colleen Hartigan is a 33-year veteran of the embroidery industry. Recently retired as executive vice president of Madeira USA, she now works as a consultant for Madeira USA and Madeira Garnfabrik, sharing her extensive knowledge of the embroidery industry and the embroidery process. A seasoned speaker with a long history of educational training at trade shows and private seminars, Colleen shares her expertise in all facets of creating and selling embroidery. She focuses on product education and the use of the right products to improve customer satisfaction and sales.		  
 
  Matt Kliesh, ASI
   
Matt Kliesh is an account executive in marketing services at ASI. He specializes in digital marketing and works with distributors to increase their brand awareness by creating marketing plans that align with their business goals via social media and SEO practices. His background includes working with large organizations to achieve global brand recognition in niche markets.		  
 
  Peter Knappenberger, ASI
   
Peter Knappenberger, MASI, is an executive director of distributor services at ASI. Peter's expertise is in technology, sales and marketing, and has been helping ASI distributors to grow their sales since 2006. Before ASI, Peter spent 14 years with an import and export firm, where he was general manager. During his tenure, he grew the company sales from $7 million per year to over $24 million.		  
 
  Nate Kucsma, ASI
   
Nate Kucsma, MASI, is ASI’s executive director of research and corporate marketing. He joined ASI in March 2014, and brings with him over 20 years of domestic and international marketing research experience. He earned his MBA in marketing from Rutgers University, and throughout his career has worked for such well-known companies as Dow Jones, MetLife and ETS. In 2018 Nate and Counselor editor-in-chief Dave Vagnoni were honored with a Neal award for Best Editorial Use of Data in a business publication for the 2017 State of Industry issue.		  
 
  Jimmy Lamb, Sawgrass Technologies
   
Award-winning author and international speaker Jimmy Lamb has over 20 years of apparel decoration business experience. Lamb has extensive knowledge in many facets of digital decorating and embellishing including business startup, applications, techniques, marketing, sales, mobile, digitizing, production and management. He has owned and operated a successful production facility, started a retail franchise operation and has provided production solutions to a variety of Fortune 500 corporations involved in customization, decoration and embellishment. He’s presently ranked as #26 on the list of the most powerful and influential people in the decorated products marketplace by Stitches magazine, published by ASI. Currently, he works with Sawgrass Technologies as the manager of communication and education.

  
 
  Ryan Law, ASI
   
Ryan Law, MASI, is the vice president of corporate accounts at ASI. He has over 17 years of sales experience, with the last 12 years spent in the promotional products industry with Alphabroder and ASI. Ryan has worked with every type of distributor, and he specializes in growing national accounts and identifying opportunities at every level within an organization. His expertise is in developing strategies aimed at exceeding sales goals, and he has a deep understanding of how technology and marketing can support the growth of any business.

  
 
  Bobby Lehew, commonsku
   

Bobby Lehew is the chief content officer at commonsku, a cloud-based CRM, order management, and social collaboration platform designed for the promotional products industry by promotional product experts. A 25-year industry veteran, he was formerly the CEO at Robyn, a branded products fulfillment company that specialized in private-label, e-commerce company stores. A PPAI Gold Pyramid Award winner, a PPAI Silver Technology recipient, an Addy Award recipient, and recognized (in his work with Robyn) three years in a row by Inc. Magazine as one of the 5,000 fastest growing private companies in the U.S., Bobby is a national speaker on topics related to B2B marketing, company stores, productivity, and storyselling.

  
 
  Rob Liano, Rob Liano Inc.
   
Rob Liano is an entrepreneur, sales strategist, thought leader and best-selling author. His methodology has transformed struggling businesses into multimillion-dollar producers. His endorsements include Fortune 500 companies Estee Lauder, UnitedHealthOne, Assurant, AT&T Mobility and Humana, and he has been cited by USA Today, ABC, NBC, CBS, FOX, CNN and Worth.com.

  
 
  Craig Mertens, Digital Art Solutions
   
Craig Mertens is the cofounder, president and CEO of Digital Art Solutions, which provides products and services to companies in the promotional products, apparel decoration, sign making and awards industries. His approach to building a profitable business is based on a concept called ASSET: (A)rtwork + (S)oftware + (S)upport + (E)quipment + (T)raining = Success. With 30 years of industry experience, Craig has been teaching electronic art production and marketing for 23 years, and he invented the process of creating rhinestone heat transfers and rhinestone decals with a vinyl cutter. He is also the creator and lead instructor of the Digital Art Solutions free weekly online education program.

  
 
  Michael Meyers, Simcor
   
Michael Meyers is the vice president of Specialized Incentive Marketing Corporation (SIMCOR), a multi-line manufacturer's representative in special markets that primarily services the Midwest. A member of both IMA and IMRA, he brings over a decade of experience to the incentive industry. He has presented at both national and regional trade shows on topics focusing around how promotional products distributors can effectively sell incentive programs.

 
 
  Joan Miracle, ASI
   
Joan Miracle, BASI, is an executive director of corporate accounts at ASI. She’s been providing business counseling to entrepreneurs for over 22 years, with seven years in the ad specialty industry. Her background includes successfully running a $46M operation, including the startup of numerous businesses from real estate development and acquisition to open profitable operations. Her main focus and passion has been in sales and sales training, assisting new business owners with startup marketing, and helping established businesses grow through strategic marketing plans that emphasize online marketing and improving operational efficiency.

  
 
  Steve Oswald, ASI
   
Steve Oswald, BASI, is ASI’s marketing art director, and has been creating in Adobe Illustrator for over 20 years. During his 27 years with ASI, Steve has helped to direct and shape the advertising for many of ASI’s first-class brands. He has extensive experience creating vector artwork for decorating promotional products, including screen-printing, embroidery and direct-to-garment printing.		  
 
  Cliff Quicksell, Jr., Cliff Quicksell & Associates and iPROMOTEu
   

Cliff Quicksell, Jr., MASI, is the president and CEO of Cliff Quicksell & Associates and serves as the exclusive sales and marketing consultant and acting director of marketing for iPROMOTEu, Inc. During his 35+ years in the industry, his passion for education and training has been exemplified by his having served five terms as the education chairperson for the regional trade association CPPA of Maryland, and he currently serves on the board and is the chair for the Awards Committee. The author of thousands of articles and recipient of numerous awards, Cliff speaks, trains and consults internationally to associations and national business groups on more effective ways to market themselves and their products and services, as well as how to motivate their personnel.

  
 
  Scott Reid, 360 Coverage Pros
   
Scott Reid is the national director of cyber insurance for 360 Coverage Pros and the executive director of the American Cyber and Data Security Alliance. Recognized as an innovator in the cyber insurance market, he has helped to create awareness across multiple industries concerning the persistent threat of cyber liability exposures. He focuses on helping small to midsized companies better understand how to handle the increasing threat of cyber-attacks and data breaches.		  
 
  Bob Robinson, Stahls’
   
Bob Robinson is a sales and education specialist for Stahls’ with over 20 years of experience. His knowledge of production and business-to-business sales brings a benefit to customers seeking technical information, decorating techniques, placement specs and product information for apparel decoration. His production experience has ranged from small custom orders to high-volume garment decorating by means of embroidery, cutting, and heat seal applications. Since he has experience with both sides of the apparel decorating business, he provides valuable information for those seeking advice to improve their business and production methods, particularly with heat-applied graphics.		  
 
  Marki Lemons Ryhal, Marki Lemons Unlimited
   
With over 25 years of marketing experience, Marki Lemons Ryhal is a fifth-generation entrepreneur, third-generation restaurateur and first-generation infopreneur. She has established herself as an award-winning social media speaker and course author. In a market where change is the only constant factor, Marki has used her dynamic, professional attitude and experience to become one of the top speakers in the U.S.		  
 
  Doug Sill, Scalable Press
   
Doug Sill is the co-founder and the vice president of sales at Scalable Press. Before starting the company, he spent 10 years in the promotional products industry as the leader of alphabroder’s western region. Scalable Press is a national wholesale decorator supporting 10,000+ businesses across the U.S. with five production centers and cutting-edge technology.		  
 
  Matt Smyth, ASI
   
Matt Smyth, BASI, is the Executive Director of Digital User Experience for ASI. He acts as lead on all digital products, identifying market opportunities and issues, creating a product roadmap, and solution design. With a concentration on SaaS businesses, he has hands-on experience with business requirements gathering, wireframing, user research and project management. Prior to joining ASI, he worked in a similar capacity for several start-ups.		  
 
  Erik Swanholt, Foley & Lardner LLP
   
Erik Swanholt is a partner and litigation attorney with Foley & Lardner LLP in Los Angeles. He has substantial experience in a broad range of litigation matters, with an emphasis on product liability, pharmaceutical defects, complex commercial and consumer class action litigation and toxic torts, as well as cybersecurity, privacy, and data protection. He has also represented clients before the Consumer Products Safety Commission (CPSC) in connection with investigations and recalls, and he has significant experience advising and defending businesses with respect to Prop 65 compliance and litigation, including the revised regulations effective in the fall of 2018.		  
 
  Alyssa Titche, Foley & Lardner LLP
   
Alyssa Titche is an associate with Foley & Lardner LLP in Los Angeles. A member of the firm’s Business Litigation & Dispute Resolution Practice, she earned her law degree from UCLA School of Law (J.D., 2016), where she served as a research assistant and a staff member of the Journal of International Law and Foreign Affairs. Her language skills have been certified through the United States Peace Corps as advanced in Wolof, intermediate in French, and beginner in Arabic.		  
 
  Steve Treat, Council for Relationships
   
Dr. Steve Treat is a Senior Therapist and former Director and CEO of Council for Relationships (CFR), the nation’s oldest and largest counseling agency. He oversees the running of 14 clinical offices throughout the Greater Philadelphia area, numerous professional and public educational programs, and maintains his own busy clinical practice at CFR. Dr. Treat received his doctorate in 1976, and is licensed to practice marriage and family therapy in the state of Pennsylvania. He has co-authored two books, along with numerous book chapters and articles on process and content of marital and family therapy.		  
 
  Stephanie Turner-Scott, ASI
   

Stephanie Turner-Scott, BASI, is ASI’s corporate marketing director. With more than 20 years’ experience in creating multi-channel marketing plans and overseeing project lifecycles from inception to deployment, she raises awareness, engagement and participation for all ASI corporate events, programs and activities, and designs memorable experiences for attendees. She also manages the ASI Business Savings/Affiliate program, which enhances the overall value of ASI memberships by providing cost savings on day-to-day business needs.