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← Panel #1 →
The Next Era of the Promo Industry
Host
Bobby Lehew
commonsku
Chief AI Officer
Panelists
Drew Holmgreen
PPAI
Chief Executive Officer
Denise Taschereau
Fairware
Chief Executive Officer
Jonathan Isaacson
Gemline
Executive Chair
Catherine Graham
commonsku
CEO
Bobby Lehew has spent 25 years in the promotional products industry — 15 as CEO of Robyn, a branded products fulfillment company, and the last decade at commonsku, where he built the content engine that established the company as the most trusted voice in promo. Today, as Chief AI Officer, Bobby applies that same strategic lens to a new challenge: helping distributors navigate AI. He owns the intelligence loop between commonsku's customers, product team, and the AI landscape, leads AI adoption programs for commonsku customers, and authors the AI Promo Brief, the industry's leading AI newsletter. A multiple PPAI Gold Pyramid Award winner and a three-time Inc. 5000 honoree, Bobby is the host of the skucast and speaks nationally on AI adoption, B2B strategy, and the future of the modern distributor.
Drew Holmgreen is the President and CEO of PPAI, the largest non-profit trade organization for suppliers and distributors of promotional products, and he brings more than 25 years of experience at the intersection of brand strategy, marketing, and association leadership. He studied advertising at The University of Texas at Austin before cutting his teeth at McCann-Erickson and TM Advertising, developing award-winning campaigns for brands including 7-Eleven, Hilton, Bell Helicopter, and Texas Tourism. He later served as Chief Experience Officer at Meeting Professionals International, driving global marketing, membership, and engagement growth before stepping into his current role leading PPAI.
Drew's advertising and brand background gives him a perspective on promotional products that is genuinely rare: he understands what marketers are trying to accomplish before a single product is ever chosen, and he is on a mission to elevate branded merchandise as the powerful marketing channel it deserves to be.
Here is a fun one: Drew joined us as a speaker at skucon 2025, and it was literally his first week on the job. He showed up, brought his full energy, and left the room buzzing. We have been looking forward to getting him back on a commonsku stage ever since. We are so excited to welcome him to the commonsku Presents panel.
Outside of work, Drew lives in Dallas with his wife Andrea, their son George, dog Charlie Biscuits, and cat Max Powercat, and you will find him happiest outdoors with a great craft beer in hand.
Denise Taschereau is the CEO and co-founder of Fairware, a Vancouver-based merch agency and one of the founding B Corps in the promotional products industry. Before starting Fairware, she spent seven years as Director of Sustainability and Community at Mountain Equipment Co-op, Canada's largest outdoor retailer, where she learned that the most powerful brands don't just sell things. They stand for something.
Today, Denise is also a board member and immediate past chair of PPAI, the largest non-profit trade organization for suppliers and distributors of promotional products, bringing the same values-driven thinking to the industry at large.
Here's something that makes us particularly proud: Denise has been a commonsku customer since 2015, and she has been pushing this industry forward with her innovative thinking ever since. She has graced our stage at skucon and other events over the years, and if you have ever seen her speak, you already know: she does not leave without a mic drop moment. We could not be more excited to welcome her to the commonsku Presents panel.
Jonathan Isaacson has spent decades building Gemline into one of the most respected names in the promotional products industry. As Executive Chair of The Gem Group, he leads a company that is not only one of the largest suppliers in promo, but one of the largest employers in Lawrence, Massachusetts, with operations spanning China, Vietnam, and India. In October 2024, Gemline became a certified B Corp, making it the largest promotional products supplier to hold that certification. That milestone did not happen by accident. It is the result of a leadership philosophy that takes seriously what it means to be a business in a community, and an industry, that is worth investing in.
Jonathan brings that same long-view thinking everywhere he goes. At skucon 2024, he joined a live conversation on global trade, supply chain, and the financial outlook for the industry, and he did what he always does: cut through the noise with clarity and perspective that makes you see the bigger picture. Twice named Person of the Year by Counselor Magazine, inducted into the PPAI Hall of Fame in 2025, and a regular presence in the rooms where the industry's most important conversations happen, Jonathan is exactly the kind of voice this panel needs. We are thrilled to have him at the commonsku Presents table.
Want a preview? Listen to his skucon conversation with Jeremy Lott of SanMar on the skucast right here.
Catherine Graham is the Co-Founder and CEO of commonsku, the promotional products workflow platform built by distributors, for distributors. With a career spanning banking, management consulting, and entrepreneurship, including time at TD Bank, eBay, and A.T. Kearney, Catherine brings a rare combination of strategic depth and operator experience to everything she does. As co-owner and Managing Director of RIGHTSLEEVE, one of the industry's most recognized online distributors before its acquisition by Genumark in 2019, she earned back-to-back industry honors including PPB's Best Boss, ASI Power 50, and ASI Distributor Entrepreneur of the Year.
At commonsku, Catherine has built something that goes beyond software. Under her leadership, commonsku has earned numerous PPAI Pyramid Awards and has been recognized as a Great Place to Work.
On the 15 Years Ahead panel, Catherine brings the perspective of someone who has lived every stage of this industry's evolution, and who is building the software infrastructure for what comes next.
← Panel #2 →
The Next Era of Marketing
Host
Kara Parkinson
commonsku
SVP of Marketing
Panelists
Chris Staresinic
The Brand Entity Group (formerly Campari Canada)
Partner
David Siekanowicz
7 Communications
Director Creative Strategy
Maria Acquarola
commonsku
Outside Sales Director
Mikas Agarwal
Akran Marketing
Chief Digital Officer
Kara Parkinson has spent her career at the intersection of brand and human behavior, leading marketing at Apple, Intuit, Nestlé, and PepsiCo. And until recently, she treated merch the same way most senior marketers do: as an afterthought, something ordered with a quick phone call and filed in the transactional drawer. Then she joined commonsku as SVP of Marketing, and that thinking got rebuilt from the ground up.
What changed her mind wasn't a pitch, it was the data. Digital channels are getting noisier and more expensive by the quarter, while merch is quietly doing the opposite: earning voluntary, daily attention in a world where most advertising gets skipped, blocked, or ignored. Kara now makes the case that the best operators in this industry aren't selling products. They're selling moments of attention, and that reframe changes everything about how you position, pitch, and win. It's a conviction she's bringing to the commonsku Presents panel.
Want to hear how Kara thinks about merch, marketing, and what it takes to win a CMO's budget? She joined Bobby Lehew on the skucast to dig into why merch is becoming one of the most effective channels in the mix, and what distributors can do right now to make the case. Give it a listen here!
Chris Staresinic knows what it takes to build a brand people fall in love with. As a founding executive at Campari Group Canada, he spent a decade helping grow the business from a startup to over $125 million in annual revenue, leading Trade Marketing and overseeing the visual presence of some of the most recognized brands in beverage alcohol. At their peak, his team was investing more than $3 million annually in point of sale branding, and every dollar had to earn its place.
That experience taught Chris something that transfers directly to this conversation: promotional products and branded merchandise aren't decorative. They are a serious marketing channel, and the operators who treat them that way win. Now as a Partner at The Brand Entity Group, he brings that same hands-on executive mindset to helping beverage alcohol brands accelerate their growth.
Chris is joining the commonsku Presents panel with a perspective the industry doesn't hear enough: what it looks like when a world-class marketer takes branded merchandise seriously from day one.
David Siekanowicz
7 Communications
Director Creative Strategy
David Siekanowicz is Director of Creative Strategy at 7 Communications, where he helps brands figure out what they mean and then say it well. With 15 years across startup, agency, and non-profit work, he has learned that the best ideas almost always start with a better question.
Most recently, David has been working directly with our good friends at PPPC on a comprehensive rebrand, conducting audience workshops, analyzing industry perception, and developing the strategic framework to reposition branded merchandise from a commodity to a marketing channel. That work sits right at the heart of what he is bringing to the commonsku Presents panel.
Maria Acquarola has spent nearly a decade in the promotional products industry, and she still believes the best part of this business is its people. She started in sales support, worked her way up to Director of Strategic Accounts on the supplier side, and built some of the deepest distributor and buying group relationships in promo along the way. Then she made the leap to commonsku, where she now serves as Outside Sales Director, helping distributors grow revenue faster and work smarter every day.
Maria's path taught her something she carries into every conversation: the best sales happen when you stop leading with product and start understanding the person across the table. That belief is exactly what she is bringing to the commonsku Presents panel, and she could not be more excited to sit in that room, share what she has learned, and hear what this community is thinking about next.
Outside of her work at commonsku, Maria co-founded Sales Gals, a community built to deliver quick, practical sales tips for the next generation of promo professionals. She also coaches the Nationals dance team at Millersville University, which turns out to be surprisingly good training for meeting people exactly where they are.
Want a preview of how Maria thinks? She joined Bobby Lehew on the skucast to dig into strategic growth, smarter sales cadences, and the lessons she wishes she had known on day one. Give it a listen here!
Mikas Agarwal is the Chief Digital Officer at Akran Marketing—a new to the list PPAI 100 distributorship—who came to this industry the way lots of us do: through family. When he took over his family's distributorship, founded in 1997, he brought something the business hadn't had before: a conviction that digital transformation wasn't optional, it was the next chapter.
Today, Mikas focuses on leveraging modern technology to elevate the client experience and ensure branded merchandise integrates seamlessly into national marketing campaigns. He has been recognized as the youngest-ever recipient of the PPPC Momentum Award, the Print Promo and Marketing Rising Star, and the PPAI Rising Star, all at just 19 years old. His perspective on where this industry is heading has also caught the attention of Forbes, where he wrote about the future of promotional products and why merch is shedding its trade show reputation for good.
Mikas brought that same energy to the skucon 2025 stage, and now he is bringing it to the commonsku Presents panel. Read his Forbes piece to get a preview of how he thinks, then join us on August 5 to hear where the conversation goes next.