#6 CJ Schmidt

Hit Promotional Products (asi/61125) – CEO

2021 Rank: #11

Industry Experience: 18 years

Previous Appearances on Power 50: 12

After a slight sales decrease (2%) in 2021, Schmidt reports that the company he helms is having one of its best years ever; he predicts the company will end 2022 doing “close to $700 million.” Schmidt, who continues to show a knack for bringing some of the industry’s most talented pros onto his team, also put his money – and resources – where his mouth is and made the decision to begin pulling Hit’s importing out of China, albeit at a considered, measured and strategic pace. “We’ve been doing it for a few years on bags to India mainly, but caps were a big undertaking and most of those went to Bangladesh and Vietnam,” he says. Still, Schmidt notes that 2022 has been a challenging business year – different than at the height of COVID, but fraught nonetheless. His biggest accomplishment? “Sustaining and managing the incredibly challenging supply chain – which included moving all cotton out of China due to the forced labor issue – navigating through port closures, severe backups, and hefty container rate increases, all while offering a fair price to our clients throughout it.”