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ABOUT US
"Finally! An organization to help SALESPEOPLE achieve THEIR personal, professional and financial GOALS."
The ASSOCIATION OF PROMOTIONAL PRODUCTS SALESPEOPLE (APPS) is the ONLY organization in the promotional products industry that focuses EXCLUSIVELY on serving and supporting promotional products SALESPEOPLE.
Who can become a member of APPS?
Only salespeople and "solo" distributors can become members of APPS.
The mission of APPS is to engage, educate and empower
promotional products salespeople within a uniquely supportive professional community, and to provide its member salespeople with the knowledge, support and confidence they need to pursue and achieve their personal, professional and financial goals.
The Founders
The ASSOCIATION OF PROMOTIONAL PRODUCTS SALESPEOPLE
was founded in 2024 by two individuals with uniquely relevant experience.
Ross
Silverstein
Ross Silverstein is the co-founder, president and chief executive officer of the Association of Promotional Products Salespeople (APPS).
Prior to APPS, Mr. Silverstein co-founded iPROMOTEu in 1999 and served as president and chief executive officer until his retirement from the company in early 2024. Under Mr. Silverstein’s leadership, iPROMOTEu grew to become one of the largest and most successful distributor organizations in the promotional products industry – with a network of more than 1,100 distributors and salespeople across the United States and Canada. A hallmark of iPROMOTEu is the culture within its network; iPROMOTEu is widely recognized as having more energy, enthusiasm, camaraderie and sense of community than any other distributor organization. Mr. Silverstein seeks to create another formidable organization with similar energy, enthusiasm, camaraderie and sense of community among promotional products salespeople.
Before iPROMOTEu, Mr. Silverstein worked for the RE/MAX real estate organization in many capacities, including Executive Vice President and General Counsel. Mr. Silverstein was instrumental in the growth of the RE/MAX system in parts of the United States, Canada, Europe and the Middle East. Prior to RE/MAX, Mr. Silverstein worked as a corporate attorney at Goodwin Procter, a leading Boston law firm, where he specialized in financings and acquisitions.
Mr. Silverstein graduated from Boston College, summa cum laude, with a B.S. in Management and later earned an S.M. in Management from the Sloan School of Management at M.I.T. and a J.D. from Boston University School of Law.
Walter Schneider
Walter Schneider is the co-founder and a director of the Association of Promotional Products Salespeople (APPS).
Prior to APPS, Mr. Schneider was the co-founder and a director of iPROMOTEu. (See Mr. Silverstein’s information above to learn more about iPROMOTEu). Mr. Schneider is also the founder and chairman of Waltmar Capital Inc.
For the bulk of his career, Mr. Schneider was a major contributor to the worldwide success of the RE/MAX real estate organization – a franchisor of residential real estate brokerage offices. In 1980, Mr. Schneider acquired the rights to own and operate RE/MAX regions in Canada. In subsequent years, Mr. Schneider acquired the rights to own and operate many other RE/MAX regions in the United States, Europe and the Middle East. Mr. Schneider was instrumental in opening more than 3,300 RE/MAX franchise offices worldwide. In addition, he was the driving force in establishing, growing and supporting a network of nearly 50,000 real estate salespeople across 36 countries and 2 continents worldwide. Mr. Schneider’s operations comprised one-third of the entire RE/MAX network. Mr. Schneider seeks to create another significant network for the benefit of salespeople working in the promotional products industry.
Mr. Schneider received a B.A. degree from the University of Toronto.
Mr. Schneider is a Member of the Order of Canada, one of the country’s highest honors – recognizing those who have made extraordinary contributions to the nation.