47. Chris Vernon

The Vernon Company (asi/351700)

2019 Rank: 47

Title: President/CEO

Industry Experience: 33 years

The fourth-generation leader of The Vernon Company continues to evolve his distributorship while maintaining a focus on employee engagement (six appearances on Counselor’s Best Places to Work list) and philanthropy. While his company was founded in 1902, Vernon is confident that heritage and stability will propel the distributor forward. “The financial stability of companies,” he said in this year’s State of the Industry coverage, speaking generally on the promo industry, “is a better predictor of how a firm can weather any large storm or disaster.