TREVOSE, PA – May 6, 2010 – The Advertising Specialty Institute today announced the winners of the 2010 Counselor Awards, including Proforma’s Greg and Vera Muzzillo as Counselor Person of the Year.

The awards, chosen by editors of ASI’s Counselor magazine, recognize outstanding individuals and companies in nine categories.  The winners represent some of the brightest talent in the advertising specialty industry.  At the ceremony, which took place at The Plaza in Manhattan during The ASI Show New York, Counselor also announced the Top 40 Distributors and Top 40 Suppliers rankings – the largest companies in the industry based upon 2009 revenue.

“Congratulations to all our winners,” said Melinda Ligos, ASI editor in chief/senior vice president of professional development.  “This year, perhaps more than ever before, exceptional leaders rose to meet an unprecedented economic challenge, and Counselor magazine and ASI are happy to acknowledge their hard work and ingenuity with these prestigious honors.”

The winners of the 2010 Counselor Awards are:

• Person of the Year: Greg and Vera Muzzillo, founder and CEO of Proforma (asi/300094), respectively
• International Person of the Year: Nicolas Paillot, CEO, BIC Advertising & Promotional Products
• Distributor Entrepreneur of the Year: Jerry McLaughlin, chairman and CEO, Branders.com (asi/145021)
• Supplier Entrepreneur of the Year: Bill Grassmyer, CEO, MediaTree (asi/70303)
• Counselor Woman of Distinction: Teresa Moisant, owner, Moisant Promotional Products (asi/275276)
• Bess Cohn Humanitarian Award: T.J. Garrett, senior key account manager, Evans Manufacturing (asi/52840)
• Marvin Spike Lifetime Achievement Award: Harry Rosenberg, marketing consultant, Ariel Premium Supply Inc. (asi/36730)
• Distributor Family Business of the Year: Sunrise Identity (asi/339206)
• Supplier Family Business of the Year Award: American Ad Bag (asi/35290)

“For building and growing a model organization that has successfully transformed its owners from print brokers into marketing services providers, for continuing to influence the industry, Greg and Vera Muzzillo have been chosen as the 2010 Counselor Person of the Year,” said Timothy M. Andrews, president and CEO of ASI.  “In the midst of a historic recession, more than 100 Proforma owners generated $1 million or more in sales, and more than two dozen owners produced multi-million dollar revenues.  Together, Greg and Vera are the most influential duo in the industry.”

To learn more about each of the winners of the 2010 Counselor Awards and to see photos from the event click here.

To view the complete list of Top 40 Distributors and Top 40 Suppliers, click here.

To see photos from the event, click here.

About ASI
The Advertising Specialty Institute (ASI) is the largest media and marketing organization serving the advertising specialty industry, with a membership of over 26,000 distributor firms (sellers) and supplier firms (manufacturers) of advertising specialties.  Supplier firms use ASI print and electronic resources to market products to over 22,000 ASI distributor firms.  Distributor firms use ASI print and electronic resources, which contain nearly every product in the industry from more than 3,500 reputable suppliers, to locate supplier firms and to market services to buyers.  ASI provides catalogs, information directories, newsletters, magazines, websites and databases, and offers e-commerce, marketing and selling tools.  Visit ASI online at asicentral.com and on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, YouTube, the CEO’s blog and the ASI Social Network.

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Dawn Marie,
Executive director of corporate communications

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