Welcome to the 2019 Power 50 list, which ranks the most influential people in the industry.

#48 Jo Gilley, Overture Premiums & Promos (asi/288473)

2018 Rank: N/A
Title: CEO
Industry Experience: 2 years

When Heather Sanderson left Top 40 distributor Overture Promotions in November of 2017, another woman had to fill in as CEO per the requirements of being a certified women-owned business.

Jo Gilley, an initial investor in Overture and longtime adviser to the Illinois-based distributorship, stepped up. Although she was a novice in the promotional products industry, she has over 25 years of marketing experience and has always been drawn to leadership roles, dating back to her summers in college when she worked at the White House. She just so happened to be in the room when President Richard Nixon gave his resignation speech to his staff.

“All the secretaries would go on vacation or schedule their surgeries during the summer,” Gilley says. “Extra staff was hired to temporarily replace them. My first summer there I worked on the domestic council, transcribing tapes day after day. I sat in an empty correspondents’ pool while all the guys were testifying on the Hill.”

An Army brat, Gilley grew up all over the United States, living in Washington, Kansas, Texas, Virginia, Massachusetts, even in Germany. The nomadic lifestyle followed her into adulthood, as she built her career hopping from Austin, TX, to Boston to Los Angeles before finally settling down in Chicago for the past 20 years. Her resume is as varied as her roots – she was VP of marketing for Chicago’s WNBA team, the Sky; VP of marketing for online music hub Tunes.com; director of corporate strategy at BackWeb Technologies; and the first director of communications for IBM’s Software Group.

Before her marketing career, Gilley worked as an analyst at the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), studying satellite and aircraft imagery to monitor military forces in Cuba. When she applied to work at a high-tech PR firm in Boston, they told her to send a writing sample. “It’s all classified,” Gilley laughed.

Gilley’s business acumen, management skills and marketing expertise have made her a natural fit as Overture’s CEO.

With such an impressive, diverse background, it should come as no surprise that Gilley has been able to seamlessly transition into the top position at Overture. Her business acumen, marketing expertise, familiarity with entrepreneurs and management skills have made her a natural fit at the 18-year-old distributor. Thanks to strategic planning and her fresh enthusiasm for the business, she has led the company to explosive growth over the past two years. Overture increased revenue by 27.6% to $61 million in 2018, and has grown revenue by 38% year to date, Gilley says.

“It stems from a combination of growing current accounts substantially and investing in pipeline development,” she says. “One of our claims to fame is we have everything under one roof: custom web development, graphic design, embroidery, screen-printing, kitting and pick/pack/ship. It gives us control of the supply chain and we can tweak processes for accuracy and timing.”

A self-described “process-oriented” person, Gilley has focused on improving internal and external communication, establishing priorities and developing strategies for sustainable growth. In an ongoing effort to increase efficiency and streamline operations, Overture will be moving to a new, larger building at the end of the year. “It has more office space, plenty of light, great public and communal working areas and an awesome gigantic warehouse,” Gilley says.

Although she has dealt with common challenges – sales tax, Prop 65, increasing tariffs – as well as new hurdles (“the length of the RFP process is astonishing”), Gilley has felt right at home in the industry. Looking toward the future, she expects Overture to continue growing sustainably and constantly upgrade its processes and services. “We want to make sure all our operations stay up to date,” Gilley says. “We need to have the right policies, right software and right people in the right jobs.”