ASI Announces Winners of 2015 Counselor Awards

The Magnet Group CEO Bill Korowitz named Person of the Year; Senator Chairman of the Board Michael Nick selected International Person of the Year 

TREVOSE, PA – July 16, 2015 – The Advertising Specialty Institute® (ASI) today announced the winners of the 2015 Counselor® Awards, including The Magnet Group CEO Bill Korowitz as Person of the Year and Michael Nick from global supplier Senator as International Person of the Year.

The awards, chosen by the editors of ASI’s award-winning Counselor magazine, recognize outstanding individuals and companies in seven categories. The winners represent the best and brightest entrepreneurs, small-business leaders and CEOs in the $21.5 billion advertising specialty industry.

Honored for his industry leadership, Korowitz engineered a 34% revenue increase for Top 40 supplier The Magnet Group over the past five years. Capitalizing on the mergers and acquisitions trend in the ad specialty market, Korowitz and some partners last year also started TMG Capital, a capital company focused on bringing suppliers together.

“This is the 50th year we’ve celebrated Counselor’s Person of the Year, and this evening, we’re continuing that tradition by honoring a man who’s enjoyed numerous triumphs,” said Timothy M. Andrews, president and chief executive officer of ASI at a black-tie ceremony at the Grand Ballroom of Navy Pier. “With a potent combination of guts, brains and great timing, Bill Korowitz parlayed a love for our industry and a knack for winning into incredible success – with great humor and style. What I appreciate most, however, is that the more successful he gets, the more down-to-earth he seems, to his colleagues and especially to his customers.”

The winners of the 2015 Counselor Awards are:

  • Person of the Year: Bill Korowitz, The Magnet Group, (asi/68507).
  • International Person of the Year: Michael Nick, Senator.
  • Supplier Entrepreneur of the Year: Adam Walterscheid, T-Shirt Tycoon Solutions (asi/87000).
  • Distributor Entrepreneur of the Year: Heather Sanderson, Overture Premiums & Promotions (asi/288473).
  • Supplier Family Business of the Year: Prime Line (asi/79530).
  • Distributor Family Business of the Year: Jack Nadel International (asi/279600).
  • Distributor Woman of Distinction: Regina Broudy, Clayton Kendall (asi/162968).
  • Supplier Woman of Distinction: Janet Trachter, Superex (asi/90231).
  • Marvin Spike Lifetime Achievement Award: Walter Hill, Icon Blue (asi/229398) and Ron Ball, ASI.
  • Bess Cohn Memorial Humanitarian Award: Don Watkins, HandStands (asi/59525).

Also Wednesday, Counselor announced the Top 40 Distributor and Top 40 Supplier rankings – the largest companies in the industry based upon 2014 revenue. On the supplier side, alphabroder was No. 1, with more than $800 million in North American ad specialty sales. For distributors, Staples Promotional Products (asi/120601) remains the largest firm in the industry, with 4imprint (asi/197045) and Proforma (asi/300094) rounding out the top three spots on the list.

For more on the 2015 Counselor Award winners go to www.asicentral.com. For the complete list of Top 40 distributors, click here. For Top 40 suppliers, click here.

The black-tie event took place during ASI’s annual trade show in Chicago, which attracted 650 exhibitors and 4,400 attendees. The evening featured video highlights of each winner along with congratulatory speeches.

For more info on the Counselor Awards, please contact Counselor Editor Andy Cohen at [email protected].

About ASI
The Advertising Specialty Institute (ASI) is the largest media, marketing and education organization serving the promotional products industry, with a network of over 25,000 distributors and suppliers throughout North America. ASI leads the industry in technology solutions, providing cloud-based e-commerce, enterprise resource planning software (ERP) and customer relationship management software (CRM). ESP Web® is the industry’s leading tool for sourcing hundreds of thousands of products. A family-owned business since 1962, ASI also provides online research, marketing, advertising opportunities, trade shows, education, award-winning magazines, newsletters, custom websites and catalogs to help members sell, market and promote their brands. Learn more at www.asicentral.com and on Google+, Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, YouTube and the CEO’s blog.