Established in 2016, the IMA Lifetime Achievement Award honours individuals whose lifetime of achievement has significantly advanced the incentive and recognition industry. This award recognises an individual who exemplifies career excellence, industry leadership, and lasting impact while inspiring others through their outstanding contributions and commitment to the profession.
Eric's leadership in the incentive industry spans over 25 years. Currently holding the role of Head of Strategy & Growth at NeoCurrency, Eric has been a fixture of the incentive industry for decades and a business accelerator for some of its most innovative technologies. His contributions include pioneering one of the first digital gift card APIs, advancing automated physical gift card fulfilment, enabling fraud-free digital currency payments through gift card rails, and supporting secure, global digital reward delivery solutions.
Eric has worked directly with hundreds of brands, scores of buyers, and dozens of strategic partners and providers over the years. He is known as a mentor, partner, leader, and friend to many in the incentive industry.
His nomination cited, “The unique thing about Eric is that, despite past business successes, he remains even more engaged, collaborative, and active in our industry now. He'll take a call. He'll brainstorm. He'll refer friends to partners and businesses to competitors when he's unable to help himself. Some have said that if the incentive industry had a mascot, it would be Eric — bringing his kindness, leadership, knowledge, mentorship, and a little bit of rock 'n' roll to our work lives.”
Eric helped grow many top-performing incentive companies, leading teams that grew B2B gift card sales from $136M USD to just under $1B USD and then moved on to entrepreneurial leadership roles at Blackhawk Network, Totus, and now NeoCurrency.
Eric's personal commitment to providing education and trends is reflected through his Incentive Industry Coffee Chat videos on LinkedIn, bringing incentive gift card news and insights to hundreds of thousands of people in and outside the industry on a weekly basis.
Eric serves on the Board of the IGCC as the Chair of its Education Committee and previously served as the Co-Chair of the IGCC Communications Committee.
Upon receiving his award, Eric reflects on his time in the industry: “When I entered the incentive industry in 1998 as a 25-year-old, I didn’t realise what an incredible journey I was about to embark on. Now, looking back, I smile as I can clearly say that this award captures nearly 30 years of having the time of my life — building friendships with clients and partners, working with amazing coworkers, mentoring up-and-coming industry superstars, launching innovative incentive products and services, sharing industry knowledge as a core mantra, and flourishing with people in an industry that at its heart is something we all get excited about — loyalty, recognition, and engagement. I am beyond honoured to receive the award, and I’m even more grateful for the journey that continues.”
View all IMA Summit Award winners on the IMA website.