A promotional products executive with more than 20 years of experience on the supplier and distributor side of the industry has become Top 40 distributor AIA Corporation’s (asi/109480) new senior vice president of owner success.

Joél Bastien, whose appointment was announced Thursday, Sept. 10, will be responsible for providing the Appleton, WI-headquartered company’s community of nearly 300 distributor owners with the resources needed to achieve their business, sales, marketing and rebate goals.

Joél Bastien

Her work won’t stop there, though. Bastien will also oversee AIA events that include the firm’s national sales meeting, regional meetings and training programs. Her charge is to work closely with the event team to provide ongoing opportunities for owners and their employees to learn and network with industry peers.

In addition, Bastien will serve as the liaison for AIA’s Owner Advisory Council to “ensure synergistic relationships between AIA and its owner community,” the distributorship said in a statement.

“We are thrilled to welcome Joél to the AIA Community,” said AIA CEO Nancy Schmidt. “She’s a proven industry leader with a passion for business strategy and helping people achieve their personal and professional goals. I have no doubt Joél will build on the great work of our Owner Success team and provide fresh, innovative thinking around how to approach and succeed in today’s fast-changing marketplace.”

Bastien has 23 years of experience in the promo products industry. Most recently, she was vice president of sales for Top 40 supplier alphabroder’s (asi/34063) Midwest region, which was named 2019 Region of the Year, based on strong performance. Prior to the vice president role, Bastien was a director of strategic accounts at alphabroder between 2013 and 2016.

Before joining alphabroder, Bastien spent 16 years at Taylor, MI-based distributor Arrow Uniform, where she held positions that included director of administration and vice president of direct sales and marketing.

“I’ve had the pleasure of working directly with AIA over the past seven years as a supplier Partner, and I was excited about the opportunity to join this team because I admire the people, culture, values and strong reputation,” said Bastien. “AIA is all in when it comes to positively supporting owner success, and I look forward to developing connections built on trust, sharing ideas and ultimately building on the strong foundation already established.”

AIA’s Owner Success division was previously led by Clay Hall, who also spearheaded business development. Hall is now vice president of business development, a role that will have him exclusively focusing on growing AIA’s distributor owner community. He’ll be working closely with Bastien and her team. Since May, Hall and his team have welcomed seven new owners to AIA.

With reported 2019 North American promotional product revenue of $210.7 million, AIA ranked 10th on Counselor’s most recent list of the largest distributors in the industry.