Marty Engel is bringing his track record of sales leadership success to Top 40 promotional products distributor Touchstone (asi/345631).

Engel, who has extensive experience in the promo industry, has joined the Mason, OH-headquartered distributorship as executive vice president of sales.

Marty Engel, Touchstone

His charge will include propelling further growth at Touchstone, which overcame the challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic to increase sales nearly 50% in 2020 to $72.4 million (while selling less than $50,000 in PPE) – a promo-driven performance that led to the company being ranked as the 26^th largest distributor in the industry in Counselor’s most recent Top 40 list.

“Marty is an incredible addition to our high-performing culture and organization,” said Touchstone founder/CEO Derek Block, a member of Counselor’s Power 50 list of promo’s most influential people. “Touchstone’s sophisticated approach of our BrandEQ process is something Marty immediately aligned with, and I’m excited for the experience Marty will add to how we deploy this intellect throughout the execution of the work we achieve with our clients.”

Susan Gifford, culture and development director at Touchstone, told ASI Media that Engel’s position is a result of an evolution of the company’s organization chart as the firm grows. “Other leaders’ responsibilities shifted, creating the need for a dedicated executive vice president of sales,” Gifford explained. “Having Marty here to focus specifically on this will benefit us exponentially.”

Engel was most recently vice president of sales and business development at Top 40 distributor Corporate Imaging Concepts (asi/168962). He spent about six years at the Illinois-based company.

According to his resume, key highlights of his time at CIC included implementing a new account development process that shifted focus to proactive organic growth alongside the pursuit of new clients. The result? Average 21% growth in wallet share among existing client accounts.

Meanwhile, Engel also devoted 15 years to distributor Cary Francis Group. His various roles there included partner, executive vice president and vice president of sales. A notable achievement included acquiring 70% of John Deere’s branded merchandise business, he said.

“I am extremely excited,” said Block, “to have Marty lead the sales function of our organization.”