ASI Unveils 2023's Most Powerful People In Promo

“These visionaries are at the vanguard, fearlessly embracing profound shifts in consumer demands to help guarantee our industry’s enduring relevance,” ASI CEO Tim Andrews said

TREVOSE, PA – October 24, 2023

The Advertising Specialty Institute^® (ASI) today revealed the 2023 Counselor Power 50 list of the most influential executives in the $25.8 billion promotional products industry. Kevin Lyons-Tarr and Suzanne Worwood, 4imprint CEO and SVP of merchandising and supply chain, respectively, topped the list of trailblazers.

“It’s an honor to celebrate the forward-thinking leaders on this year’s prestigious Power 50,” said Timothy M. Andrews, president and chief executive officer of ASI, the premier technology, marketing and information provider in the promo sector. “These visionaries are at the vanguard, fearlessly embracing profound shifts in consumer demands to help guarantee our industry’s enduring relevance.”

This year’s Power 50 includes 29 distributors and 17 suppliers, 10 newcomers, 50 men, 18 women and four executives returning to the #CounselorPower50 after an extended absence. Since ASI sometimes names 2 people from the same company, the list includes 68 industry leaders. In addition to Kevin Lyons-Tarr and Suzanne Worwood, the top 10 leaders of the Counselor Power 50 are, in order:

• No. 2: CJ Schmidt, CEO, Hit Promotional Products (asi/61125)
• No. 3: Jeremy Lott, President/CEO, SanMar (asi/84863)
• No. 4: Marc Simon, CEO, HALO Branded Solutions (asi/356000)
• No. 5: Jo-an Lantz, President/CEO, Geiger (asi/202900)
• No. 6: Greg Muzzillo and Vera Muzzillo, founder and CEO, respectively, Proforma (asi/300094)
• No. 7: Chris Anderson, CEO, HPG (asi/61966)
• No. 8: Dan Pantano, CEO, alphabroder (asi/34063)
• No. 9 Larry Zavadil and Justin Zavadil, CEO and President, respectively, American Solutions for Business (asi/120075)
• No. 10: Jonathan Isaacson and Frank Carpenito, Executive Chair and President and CEO, respectively, Gemline (asi/56070)

This is Kevin Lyons-Tarr’s 18th appearance on the Power 50 and Worwood’s 5th. The pair ranked No. 11 on the 2022 list, scaling up 10 spots to No. 1 this year. The top ranking was due to record-breaking revenue and exceptionally strong influence scores from the Power 50 survey.

According to a profile posted to asicentral.com/news today, “The pair’s standing is reflected in a widely-held belief: that 4imprint is promo’s single most influential company – and Lyons-Tarr and Worwood are the executive engines driving that power.”

4imprint (asi/197045), a U.K.-headquartered publicly traded firm with main operations and sales markets in the U.S, made history by generating $1.1 billion in revenue in 2022 – one of two distributor firms to break the billion mark on Counselor’s Top 40 distributor list. It got there by staying the course on a longer-term plan during COVID, even as the company contended with short-lived sales declines.

ASI honored the Power 50 at a celebratory dinner during the three-day ASI Power Summit, an annual event for industry leaders with valuable networking and education, at the historic Langham Pasadena resort. Power Summit 2024 is October 13–15 at the Rancho Bernardo Inn in San Diego.

Read ASI Media’s entire Power 50 editorial package at asicentral.com/power50 and visit ASI’s Facebook (@adspecialtyinstitute), LinkedIn and X (@asicentral) pages for more.

Introduced in 2006, the Counselor Power 50 annually spotlights distributor and supplier executives who exert considerable impact on the promo market.

The creation of the Power 50 starts with voting by last year’s members along with nominations of potential new members from industry pros, after which ASI Media executives gauge each candidate based on their accomplishments over the past year as well as their career-long track record.

For more information on the Power 50, contact Editor-In-Chief C.J. Mittica at cmittica@asicentral.com.  Michele Bell is vice-president of ASI editorial, education and special events.

About ASI
The Advertising Specialty Institute (ASI^®; asicentral.com) serves a network of 25,000 suppliers, distributors and decorators in the $25.8 billion promotional products industry. ASI’s flagship product, the technology platform ESP^®, manages the industry’s entire supply and marketing chain. ASI also produces award-winning digital content, live events and educational programs that enable companies in 53 countries to be more efficient, productive and profitable. ASI’s media and research operation provides the most authoritative business content in the industry, and the ASI Certification Program features 200+ live and online education courses for industry professionals. The company, family-owned and -operated since 1962, is proud to have been consistently ranked among the “Best Places to Work” in Philadelphia and Bucks County, PA.