{"id":1944,"date":"2020-07-23T15:21:57","date_gmt":"2020-07-23T15:21:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/asi2.wpenginepowered.com\/uncategorized\/asi-announces-winners-of-prestigious-2020-counselor-awards\/"},"modified":"2025-07-01T13:53:58","modified_gmt":"2025-07-01T17:53:58","slug":"asi-announces-winners-of-prestigious-2020-counselor-awards","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/asicentral.com\/press-releases\/asi-announces-winners-of-prestigious-2020-counselor-awards\/","title":{"rendered":"ASI Announces Winners of Prestigious 2020 Counselor Awards"},"content":{"rendered":"

Geiger President\/CEO Jo-an Lantz named Person of the Year; Michael Freter, managing director of PSI, named International Person of the Year<\/em><\/p>\n

TREVOSE, PA \u2013 July 23, 2020 \u2013<\/strong>The Advertising Specialty Institute\u00ae<\/sup>\u00a0(ASI), today announced the honorees of the 2020 Counselor\u00ae<\/sup> Awards, including Geiger President\/CEO Jo-an Lantz as Person of the Year and Michael Freter, managing director of Europe\u2019s PSI promo trade organization, as International Person of the Year.<\/p>\n

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The annual awards, nominated by industry peers and chosen by the editors of ASI\u2019s award-winning Counselor magazine, recognize the industry\u2019s outstanding individuals and companies. Each winner is profiled in the annual Counselor State of the Industry issue. Using data from the magazine\u2019s annual SOI survey, Counselor provides coverage and analysis of what matters most to the promo market. This year, the annual SOI survey was updated to reflect the economic disruptions caused by the pandemic.<\/p>\n

For the first time, the awards ceremony was a virtual presentation (#ASIawards), hosted by ASI President and Chief Executive Officer Timothy M. Andrews and featuring acceptance speeches shot by the honorees themselves.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m proud of every one of our Counselor Award honorees, who displayed ingenuity, creativity, leadership and generosity during an unprecedented period in our industry\u2019s history,\u201d said Andrews. \u201cOur Person of the Year, Jo-an Lantz, is an industry rock star for three very important reasons: she\u2019s transparent, which she proved repeatedly throughout this crisis; she\u2019s a strategic business thinker, recognizing earlier than most that business is international and conducted in a global economy; and she\u2019s super smart, never hesitating to seek the counsel and advice of others, making her an ideal leader during times of great prosperity and in times of great uncertainty.\u201d<\/p>\n

During the online ceremony, ASI also unveiled the Top 40 Distributor<\/a> and Top 40 Supplier<\/a> rankings \u2013 the largest companies in the industry based on 2019 revenue. Watch the recording of the awards ceremony on YouTube.<\/p>\n

Among suppliers, SanMar (asi\/84863), headquartered in Issaquah, WA, was number one, becoming the first company in the industry to crack the $2 billion mark, with an estimated $2.4 billion in total 2019 sales of promotional products. Jeremy Lott is president of SanMar. Coming in at number two and three in the list of Top 40 Suppliers was alphabroder (asi\/34063) and S&S Activewear (asi\/84358).<\/p>\n

Among distributors, 4imprint (asi\/197045), headquartered in London, U.K., was once again number one, with a record-setting $839.3 million in sales. Kevin Lyons-Tarr is CEO of 4imprint. HALO Branded Solutions (asi\/356000) and Staples (asi\/120601) were number two and three on the list of Top 40 Distributors.<\/p>\n

The 2020 Counselor Award winners are:<\/p>\n