PromoStandards Elects New Chair of the Board

"I am honored to be selected as the PromoStandards Chairperson, working with an awesome board and many of the brightest minds in the promotional products and print industries."

PromoStandards, the organization making a more efficient promotional products industry through trading partner integration, has elected a new chairman who is a co-founder of the organization and has extensive experience in fully-integrated business solutions.

Eric Alessi, President & CEO of technology solutions provider Essent, was elected Chair of the Board of Directors at the 2022 PromoStandards Annual Membership Meeting for a term that runs through 2024. Mr. Alessi, who is also a co-founder of PromoStandards, said he aims to further mature the organization, increase the number of companies leveraging integration, and to grow the standards in terms of updated endpoints and new endpoints.

"I am honored to be selected as the PromoStandards Chairperson, working with an awesome board and many of the brightest minds in the promotional products and print industries, continuing our mission of developing and growing industry-specific open standard,” Mr. Alessi said.

Mr. Alessi has been President & CEO of Essent for more than 30 years and has also previously served the Promotional Products Association International (PPAI) Technology Committee. He was recently elected to Brand Chain Technology Committee, which is advancing trading partner integration, including through PromoStandards, in the print industry.

"PromoStandards is in great hands and has a wonderful future ahead,” said outgoing PromoStandards Chair Jon Norris said, who is the Chief Operating Officer of supplier Starline.

""Eric has been at the absolute forefront of technology in the promotional products industry for as long as I can remember."

Mr. Alessi has helped promote trading partner integration as a member of the PromoStandards Board of Directors since the organization was founded and, through Essent, as the provider the Essent OrderTrax Network that helps make trading partner integration available to companies of all types throughout the promotional products and print industries.

"Eric has been at the absolute forefront of technology in the promotional products industry for as long as I can remember, from his days on the board of ePSA, the very beginnings of PromoStandards, to a pivotal role in helping PromoStandards to grow into a fully fledged, well-defined member-driven organization. It just seems logical that Eric now takes the helm from Jon to lead PromoStandards into the future. The industry is lucky to have people like Eric willing to lead,” said Michael Conway, Managing Director, Digital Transformation for Aspirant. Conways is a former PromoStandards board member and former Executive Director, APIs & Integrations for ASI and former IT Director, Market Facing Applications for PCNA.

PromoStandards is a group of distributors, suppliers, and service providers dedicated to improving supply chain efficiency in the promotional products industry. The organization defines and writes integration standards that allow distributors and suppliers to integrate for more efficient transactions and a more efficient supply chain.

Essent is a technology solutions provider in business for more than 40 years and serving the promotional products industry since 2001. Essent provides a business management solution, EssentOne, that fully integrates back-office functions including sales, operations and accounting, and the OrderTrax Network, integrates supplier and distributor technology systems, including via PromoStandards protocols, for the seamless flow of business information.

OrderTrax and PromoStandards allow trading partners to automatically share Inventory, Order Status, Order Shipment Notification, Product Data, Media Content, Product Pricing & Configuration, Purchase Orders, Invoices, and Product Compliance information.