Rob Thoresen, a Chicagoland native, moved to Minnesota and joined M.A. Apparel & Promotions (asi/257814) six years ago. He began his industry career by doing graphic design work and selling in the team sports market. He’s proud to work with grassroots sport clubs across the U.S., international sporting events and all teams in-between. Rob earned his BASI in January, 2017.

Who in the business world do you admire most or strive to emulate?
Aaron Draplin, the owner of Draplin Design Co. He’s an incredible graphic designer, and his company mission statement says it all: “Work hard. Do good work. For good people.”

If Hollywood made a movie about your life, what would it be about?
It would be something similar to “Into the Wild” … except with more coffee drinking, and no one dies.

What’s the best advice you’ve ever received?
Don’t look down on someone unless you’re helping them up.

What’s one thing you’d do to improve the ad specialty industry?
I’d help distributors get away from the “place your logo here” mentality and instead to design beyond the logo. We need to create beautiful, useful and creative products that don’t end up in landfills.

What’s on your personal bucket list?
I’d love to travel throughout the Scandinavian countries.

If you could choose an age to remain forever, which age would you choose? Why?
I’d stay 29 – I think it’s a great mix of experience and intelligence, and you’re still young enough to do everything you want to do.

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The free ASI Certification Program offers two certification levels for our members: BASI (Bachelor of Advertising Specialty Information) and MASI (Master of Advertising Specialty Information). To learn more and start working toward your own certification, visit www.asicentral.com/education.