Staples Promotional Products (asi/120601), the second largest distributor by revenue in the North American promotional products industry, has named Daron Hines as its new president.

Daron Hines, President, Staples Promotional Products

Hines is an accomplished executive with more than 20 years of experience in general management, commercial strategy development, brand building, innovation, trade marketing, direct account and customer relationship management, category management, retail operations and organization structure design.

“I couldn’t be more excited to join Staples Promotional Products,” Hines said in a statement. “SPP is an industry leader with an incredibly innovative team and an unparalleled global supplier network. I look forward to working alongside the team to build upon SPP’s successful track record of creating meaningful brand experiences for employees, consumers and stakeholders.”

As president of SPP, Hines will be responsible for general management, holding profit and loss responsibility for the firm’s entire promotional products business. His focus will be on building and nurturing partnerships with customers and suppliers to deliver an “exceptional brand experience,” a statement said. He’s a member of the Staples executive team and will report directly to the CEO.

Hines was most recently vice president of the consumer and industrial division for the Americas at Morton Salt. Prior to that nearly four-year run, he held vice president positions related to sales and marketing at The J.M. Smucker Company.

The Emory University graduate, who has an MBA from Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management, also spent more than 9 years at General Mills, holding positions of increasing responsibility that included director of the customer trade group.

Matt Eckhouse had led Staples Promotional Products for nearly two years starting in September 2019 before moving into the position of senior vice president of sales and, later, chief sales officer for parent company Staples. Eckhouse had taken over for long-time SPP leader Richard Witaszak. Hines’ appointment means there’s now a permanent top executive back in place at SPP.

Based on estimated 2020 North American promotional products revenue of $643.6 million, Staples Promotional Products ranked second on Counselor’s most recent list of the largest distributors in the industry. Private equity firm Sycamore Partners owns Staples.