Brandon Mackay

Leadership. Companies rise by its success, languish by its mediocrity and fall by its failures. Being a good leader requires many different and hard-to-foster traits: intelligence, empathy, creativity, consistency, foresight, patience and more.

Brandon Mackay always planned to enter the Fire Academy. But as he waited for a firefighter position to open up at the academy, his then-girlfriend (now wife) clearly had something else in mind for her beau.

While the Internet and supply-chain transparency are for the most part pretty great (being able to download any movie ever, knowing which overseas factories are responsible for packing gunpowder and live, sting-crazed hornets into children's lunchpails), there have been some downsides.

Brandon Mackay, MAS, president and CEO of SnugZ USA, has acquired 100 percent of the Salt Lake City-based company.

Promo Marketing, a sister publication of Print Professional, has compiled a new Top 50 Suppliers ranking. Despite stricter regulations on the safety and sales of promotional products, 2010 and the first half of 2011 have shown a sales resurgence in the industry. The returning fiscal strength of the industry is evident from the list, which is based on revenue numbers from 2010. Overall, the top 50 suppliers raked in more than $500 million more than they did in 2009. These companies have increased their margins, upped the interest in their products and committed themselves to making it through the financial crises stronger than before, and they are being rewarded for it.