William Draper was born in Philadelphia but moved to Los Angeles, California in his early teens, where he lived with his Aunt and Uncle on his Mother’s sidetogether withhis two cousins who are also his very best friends. William attended Harvard Westlake School where he excelled at sports including football and basketball. After High School, William attended the USC Marshall School of Business, where he burnished many of his skills which allow him to perform as such a successful Branding Expert™ with our agency.

Since moving to Northern California in 2010 he has never looked back and enjoys the lifestyle the San Francisco Bay Area supports.

William lives in San Mateo, California where our office is based.William strives to enjoy a healthy lifestyle and enjoys swimming, basketball and golf when he is not busy serving his valued clients.

In our business, the devil is in the details. With Derek’s unwavering attention to the finer points, she simply has nowhere to hide. As our President and Chief Branding Officer™, Derek wears a number of (custom branded) hats while overseeing daily functions of a small (but growing) enterprise, including: Marketing, Operations, Project Management, Website Development, Graphic Design as well as Client and Supplier Relations.

Prior to establishing the company, Derek worked at PDM Steel Service Centers, Inc., a distributor of carbon steel products then servicing the western United States. In this role he developed a basic understanding of business principles and supply chains together with a more in-depth understanding of how to create value in a commoditized market. In 2009, Derek decided to apply a seemingly straight forward formula to a new business venture: do what you say you are going to do, provide a high level of personal service and forge mutually beneficial, meaningful relationships with clients, vendors and colleagues. Lastly, enjoy your professional endeavors and daily work. In the years that ensued, that business evolved into EPI™ – the country’s leading purveyor of premium corporate gifts and incentives.

Since inception, Derek has worked to embed the aforementioned values into the company culture and DNA while developing what has become an ultra-efficient, nearly bulletproof process. Never complacent, considerable time is invested researching and developing process improvements to help ensure the company adapts, evolves and sets the standard for operational efficiency. All of this ensures the company successfully completes the projects it is called upon to deliver. 2019 marked a significant operational milestone whereby every contract was delivered timely and without reported defects or claims related to the customization we provided.

On the Marketing front, Derek oversees our internal website development and digital marketing team, while collaborating closely with our senior web developer to ensure our site maintains its position as the premier online platform within the industry. Recently this has included a number of design aesthetic and UX improvements including more user-friendly desktop and mobile navigation, convenient browsing and faster page loading.

Derek collaborates closely with our Project Mangers to ensure approved orders under contract are flowing efficiently and clients are satisfied during every engagement, at each milestone and with every deliverable. Derek has been instrumental in developing our Project Management team into the class-leading group of Professionals they are today – firing on all cylinders without exception.

Derek manages and leads our internal and external graphic design and quality control divisions which function as the company’s central nervous system. In today’s fast changing market, he understands the need to produce cutting edge designs in order to maintain our position as the country’s leading purveyor of premium corporate gifts. A hands-on, detail-oriented approach to managing these aspects is an important key to our continued success. All which it takes to break a project is one transposed character, an overlooked symbol or mismatched ink color. By implementing multiple failsafe’s throughout the design, production and quality control process, we have been able to entirely eliminate errors which might otherwise effect project deliverability. This sets the company apart from nearly all of its competitors.

Outside of work, Derek strives to enjoy a healthy lifestyle including regular exercise which includes running, calisthenics, basketball and schedule permitting, golf. All aspects of design and visual aesthetic are of interest to him personally and professionally. When he is not working Derek enjoys traveling while trendspotting the next industry trend.

Gina Thornton joined the company in November 2015 as a Customer Service Representative and Sales Assistant. Gina came to us with ten years of experience in the promotional product industry, having worked for a mid-sized promotional product distributor in Maryland for as many years. She has considerable experience not only with the traditional distributor model, but also with managing company stores and fulfillment programs.

In early 2019, Gina was promoted to Project Manager as a direct result of her dedication to the Company and its valued clients. Gina now handles a number of key accounts and continues to excel with project management due to her ability to multi-task, to listen to customer needs.

One of the things she enjoys most about working at EPI is the relaxed boutique style work environment, and the truly unique level of synergy among the office staff. What she enjoys most about her work itself is being able to be a part of something that is going to make someone feel good, whether the item in question is a high-end custom logo jacket given to employees in recognition of an achievement or a more basic trade-show give away, the fact is, when people receive a promotional item it usually elicits a positive response. This is what makes Gina tick, professionally speaking.

Gina is a proud Mother of two girls, and mostly enjoys spending time with her kids, friends and family in her spare time. When she is not making her clients smile by helping to produce some of the most amazing and eye-catching promotional gifts and incentives or spending time with her beloved children, she enjoys shopping, taking road trips and furniture restoration.

OFFICE HOURS (Pacific Standard Time):

Aaron Leschner joined EPI team in April 2022, bringing with him over two decades of exemplary sales and business development experience. Born in San Francisco, Aaron spent his childhood and young adult years in New York. Aaron began his career in the financial securities industry as an NASD registered representative, transitioning into corporate trade finance where he developed and nurtured client relationships in the Fortune 1000 space.

Eventually, Aaron found his way back to the San Francisco Bay Area where EPI is headquartered. After successful terms with several enterprise software companies, he managed accounts for a specialized publishing firm which develops reference products for the international trade, logistics and shipping community. It was there that he learned about graphic design and print production and in doing so naturally became an advocate for the compelling value of co-branded merchandise.

The role of Corporate Branding Expert: Strategic Partnerships was specifically created to tap into Aaron’s unique skillset for cultivating and maintaining new Client relationships. Aaron considers himself to be a true corporate gifting evangelist, and he continually brings a refreshing new dimension to the team and greatly enjoys consulting with prospective Clients in a range of industries to determine how best to put their branding and identity in its most favorable light.

Aaron resides in Marin County where he enjoys a healthy “work hard, play hard” lifestyle. When not exploring the scenic beauty and rich cultural scene of the North Bay region, his leisure time is spent playing competitive league tennis and carving the twisty backroads of the Bay Area on his motorcycle.

Roberto Lopez joined the team in 2014 to help with website development and digital marketing. Roberto works from our Mexico office and is tasked primarily with adding, updating and managing products on the company website. With Roberto's professional assistance, we have been able to grow the company website from approximately two-thousand products to nearly seven-thousand, and Roberto works diligently on a daily full-time basis to continue to help develop our website into a world-class business-to-business e-commerce platform, where clients can conveniently view accurate product information, high quality imagery from various angles in multiple colours, and technical specifications as well as imprint methods and locations.

Roberto was born in Mazatlan, Mexico and grew up in both Mazatlan and Hermosillo, Mexico. He attended high school at Instituto Cultural de Occident and attended college at Universidad de Guadalajara Virtual. Prior to beginning his career with EPI, Roberto worked for a local entertainment facility where he was in charge of accounting related functions and general administrative oversight.

Roberto enjoys his work at EPI mostly because it has allowed him to learn new skills, improve upon skills learned previously and because his work helps contribute to the success of not only a small business but to the success of his fellow colleagues.

In his spare time Roberto enjoys fitness including gym training and cycling, and also enjoys playing video games.

Karla Nevarez works for the company as a Branding Expert™ specialized in website development. Based in our Mazatlan, Mexico office, her work involves adding, updating and managing products on the company website on a full-time basis. Karla is also in charge of the company's on-line paid search campaigns, and has become well-versed in Google Ad-words and also Search Engine Optimization in general.

Karla has been instrumental in helping create a better website with an unmatched product selection. This has directly benefited not only the company but most importantly our valued customers. She's a true whiz when it comes to adding products not only quickly but together with great attention to detail to help ensure all published information and imagery is accurate. Karla is a good problem solver, which has been evident in her ability to find various solutions that allow her to work more efficiently without compromising the quality of her work.

Prior to joining our team Karla worked for a company in Mexico which specialized in billing and invoicing for a variety of industries. Her role there was training individuals to learn the software. She was born in Ensenada, Mexico and grew up in Mazatlan, Mexico where she currently resides with her family. Karla attended high school in Mazatlan, and went on to attend college at ITESUS University, where she studied criminalistics.

Karla takes a tremendous amount of pride in her work, and mostly enjoys being a part of a small professional team where her work truly makes a difference. Her work at the company has been rewarding in that it has allowed her to learn a number of new skills, while improving her English which is an ongoing professional development goal for her.

In her spare time Karla mostly enjoys spending time with her friends and family. She also enjoys playing video games and reading.

Rupert Coinehas been a part of our team since 2012 having thoughtfully assisted us in various informal roles including early advisory regarding business structuring, strategy and liquidity planning.In 2018 Rupert formally joined our agency in a part-time capacity as a Senior Financial Analyst specializing in end-user credit access and facilitation.

During his expansive career, Rupert has done stints at several well-known financial services and accounting companies, including:

• Arthur Anderson
• JP Morgan Chase Wealth Management
• Edward Jones
• Deloitte
• State Farm Mutual Insurance Company

Rupert is an experienced and knowledgeable Accountant, Economist and Financial Analyst with an uncanny ability to multiply numbers without the use of a digital or analog device. Rupert assists our agency with financial report preparations, periodic credit reviews, accounts receivable/accounts payable analysis and other certain functions which help keep our small but growing business moving along.In certain unique and uncommon instances, we lean on Rupert to assist with client collections and pre-collections. Rupert could be described reasonably as a ‘Financial Personal Trainer’ to our agency: it’s not always pleasant or enjoyable in the moment but you always end up loving him once hindsight sets in.

Rupert Coine was born in North Caldwell, New Jersey and moved to Chicago, Illinoisjust before starting Kindergarten. He continued to reside in Chicago until 2006 at which point he relocated to Northern California. When he is not working he is usually learning or relaxing over a warm cup of his home-brewed French press coffee. Rupert is currently studying to become a licensed Attorney in the State of California and intends to take the California State Bar Exam no later than early 2023. He stays fit and healthy with a rather fierce early morning lap-swimming routine.