Hinda Incentives Promotes Dave Peer to President

Michael Arkes and Dave PeerMichael Arkes, CEO of Hinda Incentives, announced the promotion of Dave Peer to President. Peer’s promotion provides a new leader for Hinda, a leading company in the incentive marketing industry. 

As Arkes shared with employees during a company meeting where the announcement was made, “It is important for a well-run company to develop new generations of talent. By promoting Dave to the role of president, Hinda is well positioned to advance to even higher levels of growth than we have seen in recent years.” 

Dave Peer joined Hinda in 2008. He worked at Carlson Marketing Group, Target Stores and Macy’s prior.  He is also currently serving as president of the board of directors for the Incentive Marketing Association. 

“I am incredibly proud to be leading the company that the Arkes family created 42 years ago, and look forward to a bright future for Hinda,” said Peer.

Raising the Bar Again

Here at Hinda, we believe in pushing our limits and exceeding our own expectations. In 2004, we developed the Undisputed Leader Initiative (ULI), an internal program that aims to improve quality of service, develop innovative ideas and engage our suppliers, clients and program participants. In an attempt to maximize efficiency, maintain competitiveness in the industry and achieve operational excellence, we continually re-examine and revamp our business operations.

The ULI program was established as a way to put goals around our core functions (order rate, shipping errors, etc.) in an effort to improve customer satisfaction and maintain quality improvement. Before the program, there wasn’t a formal procedure in place for measuring our business operations.

“By publicizing our goals and getting people to work together, we get a bigger impact,” says Dave Pellissier, Director of Information Technology. “It creates peer pressure and self pressure to attain the goals.”

Now, on a year-to-year basis, the ULI team examines the goals achieved in order to find out ways to improve upon them. Just recently, changes were put in place to make the ULI team a more formalized quality improvement team. They plan to raise the bar even further and breathe new life into the program.

Starting in the warehouse, the ULI team hopes to work with the warehouse staff to optimize the way we’re shipping and improve efficiency. Currently, they’re looking at alternate shipping solutions and automation.

Along with revamping the internal metrics we assess our business with, we’re also looking to upgrade our exterior certifications. We’ve been PCI compliant for three years now. The PCI Data Security Standard (PCI DSS) provides a framework for developing a credit card data security process, including fraud prevention, intrusion detection and appropriate reaction to security incidents. We’re looking to become ISO 27001/2 compliant within the next year. This will establish a more comprehensive information security program at Hinda. ISO 27001/2 is an industry standard security framework which will help with RFPs, security audits and other dealings with large companies.

2011 Golden Carrot Award Winners

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Coby Electronics Corporation and Ingram Entertainment Inc. were selected as this year’s Golden Carrot Award winners by demonstrating a solid commitment to providing innovation, service and cutting-edge products to the incentive market. They were presented with their award during a ceremony at Hinda’s headquarters in Chicago on Tuesday, Oct. 4.

Hinda’s Golden Carrot Award honors supplier partners who have consistently demonstrated dedication to the field of incentives. Dave Peer, Executive Vice President of Hinda, shared the following on this year's award recipients.

"Ingram Entertainment has been a key partner in the launch of our infinitE® award offer with the thousands of SKU's they add to our assortment. We are so pleased to be working with them as we launch this expanded offer." Peer continues, "Coby has proven to be one of the emerging brands in the consumer electronics industry and we are very happy to be working with them. They have provided great support to us and we know we can rely on them to respond and perform, as top tier suppliers do. We are pleased to recognize both Ingram and Coby with Golden Carrot Awards."

Jeffrey Beck, Director of Interactive Media Sales for Ingram Entertainment, accepted the Golden Carrot on behalf of his company, while Craig Hassler, Director of Sales, accepted the award on behalf of Coby Electronics Corp. 

Selection for the Golden Carrot Award is highly competitive. The extensive list of criteria for winning suppliers include innovation, high quality products, timeliness of deliveries, prompt follow-up, the ability to provide updated product information and reliability, among others.

Rick Bowen (L), Merchandise Manager, and Dave Peer (R), Executive Vice President, stand with representatives from Ingram Entertainment Inc.

Rick Bowen (L), Merchandise Manager and Dave Peer (R), Executive Vice President, stand with representatives from Coby Electronics Corporation.

Employee Spotlight: Rick Bowen

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Trustworthy and loyal, with a sense of humor, Rick Bowen, Assistant Merchandise Manager, has spent the past 32 years working, learning and evolving with Hinda.

His journey started in Indianapolis, where he was hired on as the warehouse manager. Hinda opened an operation in Indianapolis in 1979 to branch out the premium business. However, this was the start of the video revolution and after his first year, Bowen became the buyer for all electronics. The facility in Indianapolis was closed four years later, as it was too close in proximity to Chicago. At the time, our current CEO, Michael Arkes, was responsible for all of the purchasing in Chicago. After the Indianapolis office closed, Bowen was transferred to Chicago to continue as a buyer.

Now, as the Assistant Merchandise Manager, one of Bowen’s main responsibilities is merchandising Hinda's award assortment with some of the top electronics lines. With 32 years of knowledge and experience, he also supervises our team of buyers to ensure they’re progressing and developing.

“Michael Arkes gave me an opportunity 32 years ago to start a new career," says Bowen. "During that time, Hinda has given me every opportunity to succeed professionally.”

Outside of work, Bowen enjoys fly fishing and spending time with his family.

This has been part of our Employee Spotlight series, which aims to put a face to our business. We hope to give you a glimpse of our operations as you learn more about our employees.

What's With The Carrot?

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The age-old carrot and stick idiom refers to the use of rewards to influence behavior.

The original metaphor referred to a boy sitting on a cart being pulled by a donkey. The boy held a long stick to which a carrot had been tied, and he dangled the carrot in front of the donkey, but just out of its reach. As the donkey moved forward to get the carrot, it pulled the cart forward.

Here at Hinda, we've adopted the carrot as part of our branding strategy. While today's workforce might not be motivated by a dangling carrot, the message is the same. We're motivated by rewards. The carrot is simply a representation of a desired reward - one that is earned after an achievement.

When rewarding your employees, we suggest merchandise instead of raw carrots. Do you have an incentive plan in place? Contact us if you're looking for a way to motivate those with an influence on your business.