Promo veteran Les Dorfman, whose industry credentials include being the former president of the Specialty Advertising Association of California (SAAC), has joined Top 40 distributor iPROMOTEu (asi/232119) as a senior vice president.

The Wayland, MA-headquartered firm has enlisted Dorfman to manage and accelerate its recruiting efforts. To that end, Dorfman is expected to hire and oversee several business development managers throughout the United States. The managers will be charged with supplementing and strengthening iPROMOTEu’s existing business development team.

Les Dorfman, senior vice president of iPROMOTEu

“Les is the consummate professional, and I am proud to have the opportunity to work with him,” said Ross Silverstein, iPROMOTEu’s president and CEO. “Given his tremendous industry experience, I am confident that Les will be an important part of iPROMOTEu’s future success.”

Dorfman is the former president and CEO of AITG Inc., which evolved from a brass bed and bath accessories importer into one of the promotional products industry’s leading suppliers of crystal awards and business gifts. Dorfman put in more than 30 years at AITG before selling the company to supplier Visions/Awardcraft (asi/93986), where he served as senior vice president of sales and business development from May 2007 to May 2015. From there, Dorfman became executive vice president/vice president of sales and marketing for High Caliber Line (asi/43442), an Irwindale, CA-based firm that has been a Top 40 supplier.

Additionally, Dorfman has been active with committees and associations within the ad specialty space. That work includes being past president of SAAC, an organization for which he’s an honorary life member.

Dorfman said he’s eager to bring his experience to bear for the benefit of iPROMOTEu. “I’ve observed from the sidelines iPROMOTEu’s tremendous growth since its early days, and I’ve been impressed with Ross Silverstein’s remarkable vision and leadership,” Dorfman said in a statement. “Being able to work now with Ross, the very talented iPROMOTEu staff, and the company’s valued independent distributor affiliates, is a special opportunity for me. I look forward to contributing meaningfully to iPROMOTEu’s ongoing growth and success.”

iPROMOTEu has a network of more than 650 promo distributorships throughout the U.S. and Canada. All of them maintain ownership of their companies and operate independently under their own names and branding. With reported collective 2018 North American promotional product sales of $198.4 million, iPROMOTEu ranked 11th on Counselor’s latest list of the largest distributors in the industry. The company’s five-year average annual growth rate is 17.7%.