As first announced in a PPB Newslink Breaking News this morning, PPAI has named Margie Price, MAS, president of St. Louis-based distributor Premiums Plus, Inc. (UPIC: PREMPLUS), and Joel Schaffer, MAS, president of Soundline, LLC (UPIC: 1SOUNDLN) in Randolph, New Jersey, as the 2017 Hall of Fame inductees. The announcement was made at the PPAI North American Leadership Conference in San Francisco, California, on Monday afternoon.

Since 1977, the PPAI Hall of Fame has been honoring leaders in the promotional products industry who have had an impact on the industry and their communities. The promotional products industry has grown and prospered because of the creative spark and dedication of many, but the Hall of Fame inductees’ selfless efforts and devotion to the industry are monumental.

“Margie and Joel are part of a distinguished group of promotional products industry trailblazers,” says Paul Bellantone, CAE, PPAI president and CEO. “They are exemplary role models for their industry peers, as well as to newcomers to the industry. It is an honor to recognize their legacy and welcome them into the PPAI Hall of Fame.”

Margie-Price-HOAA 26-year industry veteran, Price has a long history of involvement with PPAI and other industry organizations. She has twice served on the Association’s board—once as the Regional Association Council (RAC) delegate in 2001-2003, and again as a director from 2005 to 2009—and on a number of PPAI committees. She currently serves on the PPAI Government Relations Action Council and is a five-time Legislative Education & Action Day (L.E.A.D.) attendee.

She served as chair of the Promotional Products Education Foundation (PPEF) in 2004 and advocated for the formation of the first PPAI Women’s Leadership Conference, volunteered on the Women’s Leadership Conference Work Group and worked collaboratively in the development of the Women’s Leadership Conference Grant program that was introduced in 2012. Active at the regional level, Price served on the Promotional Products Association of the Midwest (PPAM) board from 1995 to 2004 and held the office of PPAM president from 1997 to 1998.

In 2011, she was named the PPAI Woman of Achievement, and in 2012 was honored with the PPAI Distinguished Service Award and the PPAI H. Ted Olson Humanitarian Award.

Price says, “I don’t know any words that will express how deeply moved I am to receive this incredible honor so I will simply say thank you and I promise I will try to be the kind of person who deserves to be in PPAI’s Hall of Fame. Thank you!”

Joel-Schaffer-HOASchaffer has worked in the promotional products industry for 47 years for a number of companies including Jostens and Leathersmith of London. In 1986, he started his own business publishing an audio magazine for the promotional products industry which ultimately became Soundline in 1991. He served on the PPAI board from 2004 to 2008 and participated in a number of Association committees, taskforces and work groups, most recently the Certification Committee from 2014 to 2015.

In 1976, as a member of the Association of Metropolitan Advertising Specialty Suppliers’ (AMASS) board, Schaffer served on the merger committee that brought it together with the Specialty Advertising Association of Greater New York (SAAGNY). He served on the SAAGNY board from 1992 to 2000, including a term as its president, and as a SAAGNY Foundation trustee from 1995 to 2007.

In 2002, SAAGNY inducted Schaffer into its Hall of Fame and in 2005, into the SAAGNY Foundation Hall of Fame. ASI presented Schaffer with its Marvin Spike Professional Lifetime Achievement Award in 2002 and PPAI recognized his accomplishments with the Distinguished Service Award in 2011.

“When you enjoy the work you do for others and then get recognized for it, that’s fulfillment,” says Schaffer. “I am so very proud and thankful to join so many marvelous people who are in the Hall of Fame. It is even better when the award is pre-posthumous.”

Induction into the PPAI Hall of Fame reflects Price’s and Schaffer’s legacies and contributions to the promotional products industry and their communities. Their induction ceremony will take place during the Chairman’s Leadership Dinner on January 9, 2017, during The PPAI Expo in Las Vegas.