From janitor at FritoLay to VP of PepsiCo, ASI Power Summit keynote speaker Richard Montañez will share how to effectively deal with any PR crisis, promote diverse teams and target multicultural markets.

Over 42 years, Richard Montañez impressively worked his way up to Vice President of Multicultural Sales & Marketing at PepsiCo. And while he’s long been recognized as the creator of the billion-dollar business and cultural phenom that is the Flamin’ Hot line of products, he was recently faced with controversy regarding the brand’s origin story.

Facing tough topics head-on in his 2021 ASI Power Summit keynote, Montañez will give his insights into his most recent PR issue, offering practical, effective tips for handling business and personal challenges. He’ll also discuss the importance of having a diverse team and share strategies for successfully targeting ethnically-diverse demographic markets and creating innovative new products.

Neil Ringel was named CEO of Counselor Top 40 supplier Polyconcept in February of 2019. Previously, he served as President of North American Delivery with Staples Inc. and worked for 23 years in a variety of roles with Staples with responsibility over its salesforce, digitization and M&A activities, as well as its promotional products business. Polyconcept reported $512.3 million for its 2020 North American promo sales, and its entities include Leed’s, ETS Express, JournalBooks and Bullet Line in the U.S., Trimark in Canada, and PF Concept, the company’s European arm, based in the Netherlands.

Josh Orbach and Jeremy Parker founded their ecommerce company nearly six years ago and in that time have turned it into one of the premier online selling platforms for the promo marketplace. With a start selling T-shirts in college, Orbach and Parker led Swag.com to $15.5 million in sales last year; this year, they’re on track to more than double that number.

Jing Rong is the vice president of supply chain & compliance for Counselor Top 40 supplier Hub Promotional Group (HPG), focusing on creating best practices within procurement, quality, compliance and logistics functions and implementing standard processes across HPG’s 8 portfolio companies. She has 16 years of experience in both public and privately held entrepreneurial organizations, and has successfully developed and executed sourcing and procurement strategies; designed and implemented compliance policies, procedures and internal controls; managed end to end supply chains and coached and trained high-performance supply chain teams.

As President & CEO of Counselor Top 40 supplier Hit Promotional Products, CJ Schmidt runs one of the largest hard goods businesses in promo, with just over $440 million in sales in 2020. Schmidt, who has years of experience dealing with global supply trends, has also been a member of Counselor’s Power 50 list of the most influential people in the promo marketplace since its inception and his company employs thousands of workers throughout the U.S.

Kathy Finnerty Thomas joined AZ-based distributor Stowebridge Promotion Group in 2000 to assist the founder, Ron Thomas, run the company so he could focus his attention on customers and sales. Together, they’ve built a unique promotional company with a full production facility including screen printing, embroidery, large format printing and laser engraving. Kathy volunteers her time at Northern Arizona University Franke College of Business, and as a multi-year winner of Counselor’s Best Places to Work award, her passion is creating and maintaining an outstanding corporate culture. She gives talks and advises other companies on how to create an awesome culture.

Sai Koppaka is the CEO and President of BEL USA and its subsidiary, DiscountMugs.com, one of the largest pure play eCommerce promotional products distributors in the U.S., with an innovative vertically integrated business model. Prior to joining the company in 2015, Sai worked at several large firms such as Orbitz, Charles Schwab and Sears Holdings primarily in key e-commerce and digital marketing roles. At each role, Sai has leveraged his deep analytics and big data expertise to build world class data-driven teams. He holds a BE in Mechanical Engineering from University of Madras, MS in Mechanical Engineering from University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign and an MBA from Chicago Booth. In 2020, Sai was recognized as Counselor’s Technology Executive of the Year.

Brenda established her distributorship in 1998 and is currently a member of the Proforma Multi-Million Dollar Club. Through mergers and acquisitions, Brenda’s company has doubled its sales force this year and project sales to triple in 2022. She has appeared on the Inc. 5000 list and is a recipient of the Proforma Women’s Leadership Award.

Dan Pantano, president & CEO of Counselor Top 40 supplier alphabroder, spent 20+ years working for three different Fortune 500 companies – Baxter Healthcare, McKesson and Thermo Fisher Scientific, all leaders in their respective markets. He developed his leadership skills as he progressed his career at each company where he successfully led different business units, and his management style and leadership approach were honed through experience and strong leaders he worked with along the way. Dan joined alphabroder in 2013 as President, leading the commercial side of the business and playing an integral role in multiple corporate acquisitions and transforming the companies “go to market” approach. With a thoughtful succession plan in place, Dan’s advancement to President & CEO took shape in the Spring of 2021 as the business embraced his passion, energy and drive to lead the entire organization.

Stephanie Friedman has served as the vice president of sales and marketing for City Paper Company, a retail packaging and promotional marketing firm based in Birmingham, AL, for the past seven and a half years. A graduate of The University of Georgia, Stephanie began her career in promo 15 years ago in Atlanta, GA, as an account executive, specializing in the healthcare, manufacturing, and telecommunications industries. After five successful years in sales, she moved into marketing with the goal of teaching sales reps how to differentiate themselves and create new opportunities.

Robert Antoshak is a supply chain and sourcing expert who has more than 30 years of experience in the fiber, textile and apparel industries. Mr. Antoshak is a founding member of Vidalia Mills in Louisiana and Senior Advisor. Widely published, Mr. Antoshak is a regular contributor to just-style.com (U.K.), Fibre2Fashion.com (India), SourcingJournal.com (U.S.), and InsideFashion magazine (Hong Kong), to name a few. He is also often quoted by Bloomberg, Reuters, Financial Times, Wall Street Journal, and others. Via his firm, Textile Projects LLC, where he is CEO, Mr. Antoshak consults to various companies throughout the textile supply chain on matters related to sourcing, strategic planning, marketing, and mergers & acquisitions. Additionally, he has strong experience in international trade negotiations and worked as an FBI-cleared industry advisor to the U.S. government on numerous bilateral quota trade agreements, NAFTA, the MFA and the WTO.

Lee is the co-founder and head of sales & strategy for Juice Marketing. His sales and marketing experience spans 23 years, working for and alongside some of the world’s most recognizable brands, including Pepsi & Amazon. Lee’s creativity and passion serve him well as he’s always challenging his colleagues and clients to push the envelope.

Renee Frey, the President of TalentQ, Inc., the author of “I Hate Mondays: A Guide to Landing a Job that Makes You Jump Out of Bed,” podcast host of ‘Careers & Cocktails’ and former Executive Recruiter at Target Corporation, has two decades of recruiting experience in a Search Firm and Fortune 30 company.

With a love for people, natural knack for conversation, and energy that can blow the roof off of any room – it makes sense that Renee Frey ended up in the recruiting industry. Fully fueled to bring a fresh approach to the recruiting industry, Renee founded TalentQ, Inc, a nationwide recruiting firm headquartered in Hudson, Wisconsin. As a recruiting expert, speaker, and author, Renee clears the noise in hiring and strengthens the companies she partners with through exceptional talent.

Timothy M. Andrews is president and CEO of ASI, which serves a network of 25,000 suppliers, distributors and decorators in the promotional products industry. Andrews is also president of ASI Show, which hosts virtual and in-person trade shows and events, and vice chairman of ASI Computer Systems Inc., whose accounting and business platform is used by nearly 1,000 companies.

With more than 30 years of journalism experience, Michele has been with ASI for nearly 25 years and is the recipient of multiple Neal Awards, known as the Pulitzer Prize of business journalism. She also covers the overseas promo markets extensively, attending shows and interviewing industry professionals around the world for ASI’s content platforms. She can be reached at mbell@asicentral.com.

Since joining ASI in 2016, John Corrigan has been part of the Neal Award-winning Editorial team, covering a variety of topics related to the promotional products industry, including college athletes and NIL, plastic bag bans, most popular products and more. John won an Azbee Award in 2020 for Best Profile and was nominated for a Neal Award for Best Range of Work by a Single Author in 2021.

Andy Cohen, who has been with ASI since 2005, is the company’s senior vice president of events, media and marketing services. In his current role, Andy oversees operations and activities for ASI Show, the ASI Creative Labs marketing agency, ASI Media, and the creation of the company’s marketing efforts.

Matthew Cohn is vice chairman of the ASI Family of Companies which includes ASI Show^®, ASI Computer Systems^® and the Advertising Specialty Institute^® (ASI). Throughout his career, Cohn has launched businesses in publishing, e-commerce, trade shows and medical information. In 1988, Cohn led the team that developed ESP^®, which quickly became the advertising specialty industry's most widely used research tool and business platform.

Norman Cohn is chairman of the Advertising Specialty Institute^® (ASI). Under Cohn’s guidance, ASI remains staunchly committed to the continued success of the promotional products industry and to raising awareness of ad specialties throughout the general marketplace through such vehicles as ASI’s Global Advertising Specialties Impressions Study.

Corporate Vice President and Member of the Advisory Board of the ASI Family of Companies (composed of The ASI Show^®, ASI Computer Systems^®, and ASI^®). Presently President & CEO, and co-owner of 4800 Street Road, LLC, which owns and operates Bucks County Technology Park, the 415,000 sq. ft. office campus where ASI and ASI Show are headquartered in Trevose, PA.

In 1990, Schaeffer began her career in the promotional products industry as sales manager at Designer Accents, a supplier of ties and scarves. The following year, she joined Advertising Specialty Institute (ASI). Initially Schaeffer assumed responsibility for ASI’s Market and Credit Department and later helped launch Credit Direct, a CD‑ROM based program that offers credit and marketing information on ASI member distributors.

Vincent Driscoll, BASI, is the Digital Content Director at ASI. A 14-year veteran of ASI, he plays an integral role in the evolution of some of the company's digital properties, including the corporate website and social media. His deep roots in editorial and new media enable him to elevate the impact of ASI's wealth of content, and he's helped expand the company's brand awareness in the digital realm. To date, he's sent nearly 40,000 tweets on behalf of ASI.

A 27-year veteran with ASI, Joe Haley is the company’s Education Director, overseeing training & development by creating and facilitating onboarding and professional development classes. ASI Media’s Product Editor, Joe has also been an ASI University instructor at ASI Shows for the last 12 years with a heavy focus on video creation, and was twice was the overall top-rated show speaker and the top-rated ASI employee speaker seven times. The host of The Joe Show Live for 15 years, he has produced over 1,000 product videos and showcased nearly 10,000 products. The winner of a prestigious Neal Award and multiple ASBPE awards for his product trend coverage, Joe is also a past ASI Employee of the Year.

Theresa Hegel is the executive editor for digital content at ASI, where she’s worked since 2014. An award-winning journalist with a background in daily newspapers, Theresa has written about everything from amateur ghost hunters and bedbug-sniffing beagles to copyright infringement and apparel sustainability. This year, she received a Neal Award for Best Range of Work by a Single Author. Follow her on Twitter at @theresahegel, on Instagram at @theresa_hegel_asi, and on TikTok at @theresahegel_asi.

ASI’s Vice President, infrastructure & Security, Seth Kusiak is the company’s senior-most technical executive directly responsible for teams managing hybrid on-premises/cloud infrastructure and security. A 20-year veteran of ASI, Seth oversees the developing and enhancing of ASI’s multi-facetted information security program and maintaining compliance. He has a deep technical skillset spanning security (strong focus on defensive security), on-premises and cloud infrastructure, and web application security. His robust technical background has been a key contributing factor in implementing and maintaining security-harden infrastructures and platforms, and he was the architect for ASI’s migration to cloud for security and scale.

Jake Krolick, BASI, is ASI's executive creative director. He's been with ASI for 15 years, and was previously ASI's digital marketing manager. A born communicator with a deep love for the art and craft of advertising, Jake has extensive experience in video and new media and helped ASI launch a successful video program. Outside of his role at ASI, he has extensive experience working in the music industry doing photography, video and creative promotion for bands and venues across the U.S.

Nate Kucsma is ASI’s Executive Director of Research and Corporate Marketing. Nate joined ASI in March 2014 and has over 20 years of domestic and international marketing research experience. Prior to ASI, Nate worked at well-known companies such as Dow Jones, MetLife and Educational Testing Service. Nate earned his MBA from Rutgers University in Marketing in 2007.

ASI’s Executive Director of Technical Services, Jason Kuttner is a 23-year veteran at ASI responsible for all customer-facing technical product support teams, technical product support, and internal technical support for ASI staffers. In early 2020 during the onset of COVID, he helped spearhead the conversion of ASI’s workforce into a full-time, work-from-home scenario, personally training all staff members on Microsoft Teams and providing a seamless transition for all ASI staffers to continue serve the company’s members with no interruptions during the height of the pandemic. Jason also has the rare distinction of being a repeat recipient of ASI’s Employee of the Year award.

Sara Lavenduski is Executive Editor of Digital Content at ASI. She’s won multiple awards for her reporting on best sales practices and market trends, and leads ASI’s Canada coverage.

C.J. Mittica is the editor-in-chief of ASI Media. He has won many awards during his 13 years with ASI, including a Neal Award for Best Subject-Related Package and six ASBPE Top 10 Magazine of the Year honors.

Melissa Newman is ASI's social media manager. She's been in the digital marketing space for four years with a significant concentration in social media marketing, and she holds an M.S. in Digital Innovation in Marketing. She's passionate about social's ability to create community and brand equity, and provide value to customers. She co-hosts The Social Angle podcast and loves collaborating with ASI's internal departments to evangelize ASI to promo professionals everywhere. When she's not combing through Facebook Groups or overthinking the perfect tweet, you can find her highly caffeinated in her kitchen attempting to replicate recipes she finds on TikTok (with varying degrees of success).

Christopher Ruvo is ASI Media’s digital news director. A journalist for 17 years, his work has won numerous regional and national awards, including a Neal Award for “Best Range of Work by a Single Author.” Before joining ASI’s media team 10 years ago, he was a reporter for one of Pennsylvania’s highest circulating newspapers.