Distributor News

PPAI announced that its board of directors has named Paul Bellantone, CAE, as president and chief executive officer, effective July 1, 2011.

Freedom Graphics, a promotional products distribution company, announced the appointment of Dan Collins as company president. Collins most recently served as the chief operating officer of San Diego-based supplier AddVenture Products. 

If you are an entrepreneur today, and not using social media to promote your business, you are missing out on a huge opportunity. But, contrary to what most people preach, it isn't entirely free. Most social media outlets don't require a subscription charge, but they certainly require an investment—in people, in technology, your reputation, and your time.

Next week, former President Bill Clinton will be in Chicago with the Clinton Global Initiative to discuss the American economy and what can be done to improve it. In this article he wrote for Newsweek, Clinton discusses 14 points he thinks will help create jobs and a better future for the country. Among his suggestions are improved training and education, energy independence, reduced corporate taxes and more.

Mohawk Fine Papers Inc., Cohoes, N.Y., announced today that it has signed a non-binding letter of intent to buy the business of Bravo Solutions Inc. of Elmira, N.Y.

Sweda Company LLC, City of Industry, Calif., announced the appointment of Kellie Claudio as vice president of sales.

"Small business is the backbone of our economy."

It's a phrase that is a standard part of the politician's rhetorical arsenal, but one that has been whittled down to little significance. Politicians on both sides give great lip service to the importance of our nation's small firms, especially during campaign season. However, the idea that the fate of small business determines the fate of our nation as a whole hasn't manifested itself in our economic policy.

The truth is that if all of small businesses combined to form a single entity, the nation would be in a panic over its health.

Consumer product safety risks would be concealed and influence peddling in government contracting would remain out of public view under the provisions of the fiscal year 2012 spending bill approved today by the House Financial Services and General Government appropriations subcommittee.

The bill would prohibit the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) from expending funds on its consumer product safety database. Congress required CPSC to establish the database in the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act of 2008, in response to a string of high-profile product recalls. The bill passed both houses with overwhelming support and was signed into law by President Bush.

In the latest sign that the economic recovery may have lost whatever modest oomph it had, more small businesses say that they are planning to shrink their payrolls than say they want to expand them.

That is according to a new report released Tuesday by the National Federation of Independent Business, a trade group that regularly surveys its membership of small businesses across America.

The federation's report for May showed the worst hiring prospects in eight months. The finding provides a glimpse into the pessimism of the nation's small firms as they put together their budgets for the coming season.

Benchmark Capital Partners LLC, Palm Desert, Calif., has launched two new online e-commerce websites, DisplaysDirect.net and TaymarPlasticDisplays.com.