Michael Bungay Stanier helps people be a force for change.

He’s best known for his book The Coaching Habit which has sold close to a million copies and has thousands of 5-star reviews online. His latest book The Advice Trap focuses on what it takes to tame your Advice Monster.

He founded Box of Crayons, a learning and development company that helps organizations move from advice-driven to curiosity-led. They’ve trained hundreds of thousands of managers to be more coach-like and their clients range from Microsoft to Gucci.

He left Australia about 30 years ago to be a Rhodes Scholar at Oxford University … where his only significant achievement was falling in love with a Canadian … which is why he now lives in Toronto, having spent time in London and Boston.

Balancing out these moments of success, he was banned from his high school graduation for “the balloon incident” … was sued by one of his Law School professors for defamation … and his first published piece of writing was a Harlequin Romance-esque story involving a misdelivered letter … and called The Male Delivery.

Ally Ward Delgado is the CEO of Merchology, a branded merchandise distributor that she co-founded with her father and brother in 2014. Merchology is a Disability-Owned Business Enterprise with 275 employees across three facilities – Minneapolis, Reno, and Harrisburg. Ally is also Chairman of Zusa, a carbon neutral lifestyle brand created to inspire Corporate America to outfit their teams sustainably. Prior to joining the branded merchandise industry, Ally worked in Brand Management at General Mills, with new product innovation and P&L responsibility for the Nature Valley, Fiber One, and Helper brands. She started her career as a Strategy Consultant for Deloitte Consulting, serving Fortune 500 retail and consumer packaged goods clients. Ally received her B.S.B. from the University of Minnesota and her MBA from Harvard Business School. Ally lives in Minneapolis with her husband, Joe, and children, Vivian (age 7) and Gabriel (age 5).

Nick Casares is the Head of Product at PolyientX. For over ten years, Nick has helped define and deliver product strategies and user experiences for B2B and B2C software products. You can find Nick on LinkedIn and Twitter.

PolyientX helps brands with turnkey strategy and technology solutions to mint, sell and engage with NFTs.

Travis Veit is a Founding Partner and Production Mastermind at Imprint Engine. He is the guy who started it all - An authority on all things marketing & promotions, a logistics whiz and an unmatched industry insider. From custom-made creative solutions, to connecting clients with the perfect partner, Travis loves running point on any and every creative challenge.

Caleb Gilbertson is a Founding Partner and Tech Guru at Imprint Engine. He works his magic integrating our suppliers, products, and logistics into our proprietary systems, and creating a seamless user experience for our clients. Formerly the CTO of Renters Warehouse, Caleb is a lifelong entrepreneur and the smartest guy we know.

Tiana Gamble is a mom of two, and a business owner of four. She began her career in sales working for Fox Racing, Billabong, and Olukai. In 2002, she was recruited to the design team of a fast-growing action sports company where she was the Merchandising Design Manager. In that position, she managed the women’s collection and oversaw design, merchandising, and sales development internationally. In 2010, she decided to move back to Hawaii to start a family. With years in sales and design experience, she launched the blog Bikini Bird becoming an early influencer in the swimwear industry and garnering a fanbase of over 40,000 subscribers. In 2014, BikiniBird became an e-commerce swimwear boutique with 3 brick and mortars stores to date. All the while, Tiana held a full-time job, a side hustle, and delivered her first daughter Zoe. In 2017, days after delivering her second daughter Loulou, she acquired Creative Design Hawaii, a branded merchandise and marketing company that has since achieved significant growth even through the pandemic. As CEO of Creative Design Hawaii and BikiniBird, Tiana relies on her intuition, sales, fashion, and design experience to position her company as a style innovator in the luxury hotel industry and in the merchandise and marketing space. Headquartered in Hawaii, she leads a talented team of designers and merchandise experts working with companies all over North America.

Quinn Bui is the southwest outside sales executive from Raining Rose. His previous experiences have been on both sides of the industry - supplier, and distributor. This gave him greater insight into being creative and innovative within the industry. He is a big advocate for thinking outside the box. This has led him to help incorporate ideas such as recreating tradeshows and putting together the RMRPPA Rocky Box. His philosophy is to foster memorable experiences and build relationships along the way.

He’s currently reaching a wider network of clients through his Promo #VanLife and serving on the Rocky Mountain Regional Promotional Product Association board as the past president.

Trina Bicknell is CRO of HPG. Trina joined HPG in 2016 as SVP of sales with more than 20 years of sales leadership experience, developing and coaching sales teams to double digit CAGR growth rates. In 2019 Trina was nominated by her team and selected as one of the best bosses in the promo industry by PBB magazine. Prior to joining HPG Trina began her career in the technology industry at CDW/MicroWarehouse leading her sales divisions to record breaking growth, and most recently in the pet industry where she built a highly successful B2B sales team that worked with large pet specialty and independent retailers in 2016, Trina was named a Woman of Influence in the Pet Industry. In 2021 Trina was promoted to CRO of HPG and was selected as a 2021 Woman of Print and Promo by PPB magazine.

Samantha (Sam) Kates has more than 20 years of industry and executive experience. She recently joined Spector & Co. as their first Chief Sales Officer where she oversees the North American Sales team. Prior to her role at Spector & Co., Sam served as the VP of Sales at commonsku and VP of sales at Charles River Apparel. In addition to her industry experience, she was the Founder and President of Wholesome Tummies, a healthy school lunch delivery service that she franchised and expanded nationwide before selling it in 2012 and then (of course), found her way back to the promotional products industry.

Sam lives in Winter Park, FL and has 4 teenagers (including two in University) and a giant 75lb Goldendoodle, Emmett. When she gets the time, you can find her pelotoning with the #promopeloton group, reading cookbooks for fun and learning how to garden. She has now harvested enough veggies for one total salad thus far.

Jarid Taylor is the founder of Brandigenous with 15 years of experience in the promotional product distribution industry. Headquartered in Victoria, British Columbia, Canada, Jarid self-funded and launched Brandigenous in 2018, fueled to mix the philosophies instilled in him by his Indigenous heritage and ancestors with the promotional industry to create a distributorship based on quality and authenticity.

The nucleus of Brandigenous’ foundation is to transform the buying process by emphasizing mindful purchasing, sustainability, and product lifecycle while curating purposeful customized products for customers. Jarid is actively expanding Brandigenous’ presence across Canada servicing the Indigenous customer base as well as any business or organization looking to add an Indigneous business in their supply chain.

Recently a finalist for Victoria’s local Chamber of Commerce Business Awards for Emerging Business Person of the Year along and featured in Douglas Magazine, Jarid is also currently on the committee working to re-brand Victoria for the future, rather than its past.

Jarid is an active member of his culture, integrating the oral teachings of his ancestors to his personal and professional realms. While Vancouver Island is home, Jarid has travelled extensively throughout the world with family demonstrating their culture to show their traditions are alive and well.

In his skucon Story, Jarid will discuss where he is from and his experiences as an Indigenous entrepreneur and how ancient oral traditions merge with modern business.

Holly Brown is the Chief Revenue Officer at Polyconcept. Technically savvy and intellectually curious, Holly is a marketing and sales executive with proven success driving double-digit growth for various software and hardware technology companies across multiple verticals including Honeywell, Stanley Black & Decker, Lexmark, and S. P. Richards. Results-oriented with expertise in transforming organizational performance via laser-focused strategic sales & marketing strategies, Holly is a dynamic and inspirational leader, strong motivator, noteworthy communicator, and exceptional innovator with superior business acumen. A strategically oriented executive who is adept at vision creation & execution, strategic thinking, and facilitating change management. Holly thrives in highly matrixed global environments, and in cross-functional leadership roles with finesse for engaging multiple stakeholders, influencing teams, driving change, and promoting continuous improvement.

Ben is the co-president of Grossman Marketing Group. Prior to assuming this position, he served as the director of my firm’s Green Marketing & Sustainability Practice, which he launched in 2006. Continuing his commitment to sustainability, he founded SwagCycle in 2019.

‍Ben was a past recipient of the New England Direct Marketing Association Prodigy Award. The Prodigy Award is given to one marketing professional each year in New England under the age of 30 who has added the most to the art and science of direct marketing in the prior year. Over the last several years, he has spoken to a number of groups and conferences, as well as guest lectured in courses at Columbia, Harvard, and Tufts Universities.

Ben is also active in community affairs, serving as co-president of the Columbia Business School Alumni Club of Boston as well as on the Product Stewardship Institute Advisory Council. He holds a BA from Princeton University and an MBA from Columbia Business School. Prior to Columbia, he worked as a strategy consultant to Fortune 500 clients, and also started and sold a sportswear and marketing firm.

Catherine Graham is the Co-Founder and CEO of commonsku, a cloud-based CRM, order management and social collaboration platform that empowers entrepreneurial excellence. Designed for the promotional products industry by promotional products experts, commonsku makes it fun and easy to collaborate and connect with promotional products professionals. Distributors and suppliers use commonsku to share best practices, find great products, build closer relationships, and learn from industry experts and peers.

Catherine has over 15 years of experience in banking, management consulting, and growing businesses through her time at TD Bank, eBay, and A.T. Kearney. Catherine was also an owner and Managing Director at RIGHTSLEEVE, a leader in the online category of the promotional products industry, who sold to Genumark in 2019.

In her work with RIGHTSLEEVE, Catherine has been recognized as a PPB’s Best Boss and as an ASI Power 50 list honoree and she led RIGHTSLEEVE to multiple awards including ASI Distributor Entrepreneur of the Year, PPAI Web Award, and Counselor’s Best Places to Work. Under her leadership, commonsku has received two PPAI pyramid awards and twice been recognized as a PPB Best Places to Work.

Mark is the co-founder of commonsku, a business software application designed specifically for the promotional products industry. Mark is one of the founding chefs of PromoKitchen and is the host of the popular PromoKitchen podcast where he interviews industry thought leaders as well as business luminaries such as Seth Godin and Dan Pink. Recognized with multiple honors in the industry, including ASI's Distributor Entrepreneur of the Year, ASI’s Hot List, and PPAI’s Rising Stars, Mark has been featured in several major media publications (PPB, Counselor Magazine, Stitches, and Advantages). An innovative leader, Mark frequently mentors promotional entrepreneurs through writing, speaking, and training, and shares his technology expertise with promotional professionals across North America (PPAI Expo, ASI Chicago, ASI San Diego, PPPC, MAPPA, SPPA, Promo East, Partnering Group, NALC, ASI Power Summit).

Bobby Lehew is the Chief Content Officer at commonsku, a cloud-based CRM, order management platform designed for the promotional products industry by promotional product experts. Bobby was the CEO for 15 years at Robyn, a branded products fulfillment company that specialized in private-label, e-commerce company stores. A multiple PPAI Gold Pyramid Award winner, a PPAI Silver Technology recipient, an Addy Award recipient, and recognized (in his work with Robyn) three years in a row by Inc. Magazine as one of the 5,000 fastest-growing private companies in the U.S., Bobby is co-host of the popular podcast, skucast, and a national speaker on topics related to B2B marketing, B2B selling, and storyselling. Bobby is an ardent bibliophile who loves to explore creative insights from entrepreneurs who bridge the world between art + commerce.