At a recent gala in Chicago, the ASI named Ralf Oster as its International Person of the Year 2017. An honour which he and the entire company are extremely proud of.

Gene Colleran, CEO of Polyconcept Global, PF Concept’s parent company, made the following congratulatory statement: “Ralf’s team continues to find new ways to fuel our customers’ growth, delivering creative branding solutions on high-quality merchandise.”

Ralf Oster came to PF Concept as CEO in 2012, during a period in which the economy was struggling and the promotional product market had undergone a double-digit decline for eight consecutive years. He immediately took and implemented tough decisions which proved crucial to turning things around for the company. Including completely gutting the sales team and bringing in fresh new talent to revive the spirit and uplift the sales energy.

“An essential thing I realised was to not postpone difficult decisions,” Oster says. “It’s people who make everything successful. Stay humble, believe in yourself and work to get management and sales aligned. You always need to give your team a vision that builds a picture of the future. Once they have that, they’ll always go the extra mile for you without you even asking.”

It’s this attitude which fuels ongoing developments as Ralf Oster continues to steer PF Concept to a successful future. These developments already include a very effective system for improving sustainability and compliance in production of the company’s product portfolio, which results in better caring for planet and for people through better work conditions. And with digitalization being one of the industry’s most important topics, PF Concept is now leading the way in Europe with new online tools and  services which are rapidly driving standards forward.