Marvin Spike Lifetime Achievement Award: Jim Moore, Molenaar
By Joan Chaykin

It’s rather fitting that Jim Moore, senior vice president of sales for Molenaar (asi/71980), is the recipient of this year’s Marvin Spike Lifetime Achievement award. For a number of years, Moore and Spike chaired a program targeted to new or prospective members of the Specialty Advertising Association International (SAAI, now Promotional Products Association International). Moore’s job was to explain the differences between SAAI and ASI. "I was fortunate to share a microphone with Marvin Spike," Moore says.

In 1969, after returning from two tours of duty in Vietnam, Moore began work as a sales rep for Twin City Glass, in the container packaging division. This brought him into contact with Marshall Simkin of supplier Victor Marsh Inc. Moore, though, says he got into the industry by accident. "Victor Wasserman got sick, and Marshall told me I was going to Chicago to sell ashtrays," Moore says. "My first show was at the Palmer House. When I got back, I told Marshall, ‘This is what I want to do – I want to be on your side of the business.’ I realized there was a huge opportunity and I wouldn’t let it rest until they finally transferred me to the specialty advertising glassware side, which was then the Galaxy Line."

As head of sales at the Galaxy Line, Moore wasted no time increasing the division staff. "When I first started, there was one customer service rep, and she was afraid I was after her job," he says. "I reassured her I was there to grow the business, and within three years we had 16 customer service reps. We grew very rapidly and very successfully."

Since 1996, Moore has been senior vice president of sales at Molenaar, and has become a mentor for Vice President of Sales and Marketing Steven Meyer. "I am fortunate to have Jim as my mentor," Meyer says. "I’ve been here 11 years, so I’m still a newbie. Jim believes in pulling the best out of you. He always uses the Jimmy Carter quote: ‘Why not the best?’ When I started he told me I won’t be sitting in the office for the first two months. Instead I was in the warehouse, in production and credit, learning everything from start to finish. He is very exacting, precise, particular and professional. He still sends a handwritten note to say thank-you. He believes in settling for nothing but the best."

Moore credits his long-time success to putting other people first, paying attention to detail and "surrounding myself with winners, whether they’re customers or competitors, and most important, the people I’ve worked with."

Where does Moore see the industry heading in the next decade? "Growth in acquisitions will continue," he says. "However, I believe the small distributor will remain as the backbone of our business. The mid to large distributors will assume more of the supplier mode." – JC