There’s a new vice president of sales at Polyconcept North America (PCNA, asi/78897), the fourth largest supplier in the North American promotional products industry.

Bill Peterson steps into the role with a resume bolstered by more than 30 years of sales experience, including a variety of sales leadership roles over the course of nearly 19 years at Staples. Peterson did not work directly in the Staples Promotional Products (asi/120601) division of the company, but did work closely with promo sales teams with joint customers, PCNA noted.

Bill Peterson

In a position that had him overseeing sales in both North America and the European Union, Peterson was most recently vice president of sales and chief revenue officer at Direct Sourcing Solutions, a firm that provides procurement services.

“We are thrilled to add Bill to our team,” said Holly Brown, PCNA’s chief revenue officer. “With his customer-centric approach, Bill is laser-focused on making things easier and delivering real value for our distributor partners. He’s an outstanding leader whose experience and expertise will be an immense benefit to both our organization and the customers we serve.”

Peterson is taking over as vice president of sales for David Grobisen, who spent 16 years with PCNA. Executives at the Top 40 firm said that Peterson brings “a long track record of success” to the position.

For instance, as a regional vice president of account acquisition with Staples, Peterson led a sales team of five directors, 37 area sales managers, and 276 business developers with an annual budget of $70 million. The team was consistently over 100% of quota. In that role, he also improved new account revenue by 30% in his first month and grew sales retention from 66% to 80%, resulting in more than $10 million in realized sales.

With reported 2020 North American promotional products revenue of $512.3 million, PCNA ranks fourth on Counselor’s most recent list of the largest suppliers in the industry.

Headquartered in New Kensington, PA, near Pittsburgh, PCNA operates the Trimark, Leed’s, Bullet, JournalBooks and ETS Express brands.