Braintree, MA, December 14, 2020 – Tony Gaston is the Top 40 firm’s new chief operating officer, while Jason Lucash and Trina Bicknell move into new executive roles.
HPG (asi/61966), the ninth-largest supplier by revenue in the North American promotional products industry, announced Thursday, Jan. 7 that it has onboarded Tony Gaston as its new chief operating officer, while also promoting Jason Lucash to chief development officer and Trina Bicknell to chief revenue officer.
HPG executives said Gaston has 20 years of experience in roles of increasing responsibility in engineering, operational excellence, supply chain and operations management, having most recently served as director/head of operations for Kennametal’s steel cutting tools business and inserts business unit, a role that had him running operations in North America and Brazil.
Tony Gaston, chief operating officer; Jason Lucash, chief development officer; Trina Bicknell, chief revenue officer.
Overall, Gaston’s experience includes full responsibility over global operations for businesses with revenue ranging from $100 million to $800 million, and his career has featured long-term international assignments in Mexico, Europe and Brazil. Gaston will oversee all of HPG’s operations, including the firm’s eight North America manufacturing locations.
“I am thrilled to add an operational leader with the skills and experience set that Tony brings to HPG,” said HPG CEO Chris Anderson. “Tony’s extensive background in manufacturing and multi-location integration, combined with his customer-centric focus and partnership approach, makes him the perfect fit.”
Lucash joined HPG as senior vice president of marketing and innovation in 2018, having already built a career of high-profile accolades within and beyond the promotional products industry. He created innovative, tech-forward supplier Origaudio, a firm that was routinely one of the industry’s fastest growing suppliers and which is now part of HPG. Lucash has been named Entrepreneur of the Year by Entrepreneur magazine, appeared on the Inc. 500 list five times, and had a product he created with Origaudio named one of the 50 Best Inventions of the Year by Time magazine in 2009.
In his role as chief development officer for HPG, Lucash will be responsible for developing and executing growth plans, as well as mergers and acquisitions activity, innovation, and partnership development.
Bicknell joined HPG in 2016 and has served as HPG’s senior vice president of sales since 2018. She came to the supplier with more than 20 years of sales leadership experience, developing and coaching sales teams to double-digit compound annual growth rates.
In 2019, Bicknell was nominated by her team and selected as one of the best bosses in the promo industry by PPB magazine. Bicknell began her career in the technology industry, leading her sales divisions to record-breaking growth. She more recently built a highly successful B2B sales team that worked with large pet specialty and independent retailers.
“Jason and Trina have established themselves as leaders not only at HPG, but for the North American promotional products industry, in general,” said Anderson. “Whether it be Jason’s consistent track record of creating market-disrupting businesses, such as 2020’s hugely successful launch of HPG’s fresh take on giftable treats with Batch & Bodega, or Trina’s proven ability to seamlessly integrate HPG’s sales activities across multiple brands, subsidiaries and even new acquisitions, both have distinguished themselves as key drivers of HPG’s growth.”
With reported 2019 North American promo product revenue of $205.7 million, HPG ranked ninth on Counselor’s most recent list of the largest suppliers in the industry. The firm’s five-year average annual growth rate through 2019 was 38.1%. HPG has more than 10,000 SKUs from 10 brands, which include: Hub, Beacon, Best, Debco, BCG Creations, Origaudio, Handstands, HPG Premium Brands, Batch & Bodega, and Webb Company.
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About HPG
Founded in 2017, HPG is a Top 10 supplier in the Promotional Products industry with over 10,000 SKU’s from 10 leading specialist brands. HPG is the premier destination for award-winning customer service, innovative hard goods, and outstanding sales tools. HPG’s distribution capabilities are unmatched, producing and shipping from nine facilities spanning North America. HPG’s brands include some of the best-known names in the industry, including: Hub, Beacon, Best, Debco, BCG Creations, Origaudio, Handstands, HPG Premium Brands, Batch & Bodega, and Webb Company.
For more information about HPG, visit hpgbrands.com