What started with a job at Things Remembered – that ubiquitous mall bastion of personalized small, shiny gifts – nearly 20 years ago at the age of 19 led RJ Hagel to the $24 billion promo market. Now at San Diego-based Goldstar (asi/73295), the U.S. supplier arm of Top 40 firm Cimpress (asi/162149), Hagel joined the company when its sales and marketing departments were managed by the same team. “They recognized that in order to grow, they needed to commit to two dedicated departments, so I ended up becoming Goldstar’s first marketing manager and built my own team,” he recounts.

Hagel maintains that the one thing he’s really passionate about is the continual development of products that focus on quality and are both creative and functional. “We as an industry produce too much waste and it’s concerning to our environment,” he says. “I try not to focus on the phrase ‘cheap’ because the value of the product isn’t directly related to its use value. If we make cool and functional stuff that people want to keep and share regardless of the price, then we win as an industry, an ad medium and help make our planet a cleaner, safer place to be.”

Howard Cubberly, who oversees Goldstar’s U.S. business, doesn’t mince words describing Hagel. “RJ is a great teammate, leader and driver of the Goldstar brand,” Cubberly says. “He successfully brings the Goldstar brand to life with our distributor partners in a way that meets their evolving needs for frictionless, agency-like selling. He’s a true Goldstar Rock Star.”

And for Hagel, who took a circuitous route to find the industry, he’s happy to stay put for a while. “The people and the culture of this industry are amazing.” he says. “We just don’t take ourselves that seriously and I love it. It’s been a fun ride so far.” – MB