“Be the change you wish to see in the world.”

Florence Mosnier is living that famous directive from Mahatma Gandhi, and in so doing, the Switzerland-based general manager of the International Partnership for Premiums and Gifts (IPPAG) is having a sizeable impact on the global promotional products industry.

“Florence has been on the front lines of many dynamic shifts in the industry, including being at the forefront of this global movement to ensure promotional products stay a highly relevant form of advertising, particularly by being a leader in sustainability and corporate social responsibility,” says Jeff Lederer, a member of Counselor’s Power 50 list of promo’s most influential people and co-leader of an investment firm that owns Top 40 distributor Myron (asi/278980).

IPPAG is a global cooperative of leading promotional products companies across 35 countries. “Think of us,” explains Mosnier, “as the United Nations of promo.”

Mosnier, who began her career as a Far East purchasing manager at a France-based distributor, joined IPPAG as its general manager nearly 15 years ago. IPPAG brings together leaders from participating countries for multi-day open-forum meetings in different member host countries. The meetings are replete with exchanges of ideas, information and aspirations that turn into concrete collective action for the better by industry businesses. Throughout the year, the organization strives to create synergies and raise the collective bar within promo, opening the door to fruitful data-sharing/collaboration and helping to bridge gaps between suppliers, distributors and end-buyers.

“Florence has expertly curated a space where diverse voices from across the globe converge, igniting a synergy that fuels innovation and drives collective progress,” says IPPAG Chairman Byron Chavarria.

Indeed, Mosnier is the engine for all IPPAG does – the secretary-general, to stick with the U.N. analogy. She orchestrates the meetings. She facilitates connections and collaborative initiatives among members. She ensures IPPAG provides training related to everything from product safety to regulations. And pivotally, she studies how the world is changing, the marketplace evolving, and positions IPPAG to bring to the fore the information, relationships and tools member companies need to adapt.

“Our industry has a fantastic opportunity to increasingly be a force for good by supporting social initiatives, championing B-Corps and CSR-focused businesses, and using branded merchandise to raise funds and awareness.”Florence Mosnier, IPPAG

Perhaps nowhere is that latter effort more evident in recent years than in Mosnier’s focus on driving impactful change at the intersection of promo and sustainability.

Under her leadership, IPPAG introduced a carbon tracking tool that enables a lifecycle analysis of a product, from the time its raw materials are extracted until its end-of-life. The tracker empowers IPPAG members not only to understand the carbon footprint of a product, but also to identify ways to reduce environmental impact. “When no scalable solution like this existed in the market, Florence pushed IPPAG to develop an open carbon tracker tool, with the ambition to make it a market standard,” says Pieter Boonekamp, general manager of PF Concept, Europe’s largest promo supplier and an IPPAG partner. “We use this tool to calculate and communicate in full transparency the carbon impact of our products.”

Still, sustainability is about more than just carbon tracking, Mosnier emphasizes. That’s why IPPAG is developing an eco-scoring model for members. The tool, a pilot of which could be launched by September, would help provide a clear picture of a company’s overall corporate responsibility position, including everything from carbon footprint to social initiatives. “The ambition,” says Mosnier, “is to create an industry reference that end-users would recognize and acknowledge.”

Mosnier’s personal values and perception of shifting tectonics on sustainability in the marketplace are what compels her to lead IPPAG – and thereby promo – forward on responsibility initiatives. “We say, ‘Sustainability is survivability,’” Mosnier shares. “Business as we know it will not and should not be possible within the next decade.”

But rather than a threat, Mosnier and IPPAG view this dynamic as welcomed change. “More selective and intentionally sustainable product choices and purchasing mean more effective marketing, which is what brands are looking for when they buy promotional products,” Mosnier asserts. “Our industry has a fantastic opportunity to increasingly be a force for good by supporting social initiatives, championing B-Corps and CSR-focused businesses, and using branded merchandise to raise funds and awareness.”

Mosnier has earned overwhelming admiration for that vision – and the deft execution of it. “Florence has done an amazing job guiding IPPAG from a traditional buying organization to the powerful global cooperative we are today,” says André Noordwijk, owner/general manager of Netherlands-based promo firm BeGlobal Promotions, an IPPAG member. “She always seems to find the right balance for our diverse group.