Top 40 distributor Jack Nadel International (asi/279600) held its annual Nadel U <remote> conference via Zoom this year. Nadel U ran over the course of two weeks, with 150 to 300 attendees at each virtual session.

Prior to the event, every JNI team member received a kitted box in the mail. The boxes contained a jogger set, face masks, mug, resistance bands, jump rope, coffee drip kit, hat, journal, tie-dye set, rave stick, necklace and T-shirt. Every item in the kit was imprinted with JNI’s custom <remote> logo.

Each JNI team member received a box of branded promo products in the mail in advance of the virtual conference.

During the virtual conference, JNI honored a number of standout team members and supplier partners. Making the experience even more meaningful, Craig Nadel, president; Craig Reese, senior vice president and director; and Debbie Abergel, chief strategy officer; surprised each winner by hand-delivering their awards to their home.

Nicole Burley (left) and Sherine Siddhartha were named JNI employees of the year.

JNI named Nicole Burley and Sherine Siddhartha as employees of the year. Ambyr Golde and Carsen Welch were named branding account coordinators of the year. Steph Scheff was recognized as rookie of the year, and Pauline Metzler received “The Comeback Kid” award, given to branding consultants who increase business within two years. Sarah Kliewer received the Sherm Teller award for doing well in sales.

Josh Ebrahemi received the Marty Nadel Award for having the top sales figures at the distributor. Ebrahemi, also named ASI’s 2019 Distributor Salesperson of the Year, had $11 million in sales in the last year.

JNI named Top 40 supplier Hit Promotional Products (asi/61125) as its Partner of the Year. “Hit Promos has demonstrated their dedication and commitment to providing quality solutions, and they stop at nothing to help our JNI team meet their goals,” according to JNI. Mary Jane Clark, import specialist for Hit, received the “Heck Yeah” award for going “above and beyond the call of duty to help our JNI team.”

Ryan Rusiewicz of Top 40 supplier Polyconcept North America (asi/78897) was named inside sales rep of the year, and Brett Laidlaw of Top 40 supplier Gemline (asi/56070) was named outside sales rep of the year.

Pop! Promos (asi/45657) received JNI’s creative supplier of the year award. “Their diverse product offering allows JNI to deliver solutions to their clients, no matter what the request may be,” according to JNI.

JNI also honored Shelly Cheshire during the virtual conference. Cheshire retired this year after 33 years at JNI.