The Pelican Group in Danville Calif. has been busy the past year, acquiring Win Stuff and hiring additional personnel to oversee and manage its national accounts. “This was a strategic acquisition for Pelican with Win Stuff being one of the nation’s largest crane operators,” said Richard Scherer, Pelican’s CEO, in a prepared statement. “The acquisition of Win Stuff significantly expanded Pelican’s client portfolio bringing roughly 40 different clients under Pelican’s wings,” Scherer continued.
“In order to properly integrate and service Pelican’s expanded customer base, it was necessary to enhance our staff of regional and sales teams to ensure our customers receive the attention they are accustomed to,” said Sean Hanna, Pelican’s executive vice president, operations. “We provide our customers with a distinct turn-key solution under one roof they cannot attain anywhere else, supported by Pelican’s more than 685 vending partners.”
“We are positioning for continued growth in 2014 through more acquisitions as well as new business currently within our sales pipeline. The industry landscape is changing and we felt it necessary to assemble a team that is ready to tackle any opportunity,” said Hanna.
The following individuals have joined the team at Pelican:
Laura Allen joined the staff of The Pelican Group as director of national sales as a result of the acquisition of Win Stuff. Laura served as vice president of Win Stuff, the leading licensed toy crane company for 8 years and was responsible for running the skilled crane division, driving all major sales initiatives. Before joining Win Stuff, Allen served as CFO of Folz Vending. Folz was a national bulk vending company providing service to over 200,000 bulk heads across the country. Folz’s major clients included Wal-Mart, Toys R Us, Safeway, Kroger and K-Mart. Allen is a CPA and received her audit training at Grant Thornton, one of the world’s leading organizations of independent audit, tax and advisory firms.
Jim Staffa's career in the amusement vending industry began in 1994 when he was hired at American Coin Merchandising, Inc. (dba Sugarloaf) to head up its national accounts department. Sugarloaf was sold to Coinstar in 2004, where Staffa developed new accounts for Coinstar’s coin counting and Redbox DVD kiosks. Staffa worked for two years at National Entertainment Network (NEN) before joining Win Stuff in 2012. Staffa will serve as national sales manager at the Pelican Group to focus on expanding Pelican’s presence within the restaurant channel and other sales opportunities.
Ron Harriman has joined the Pelican Group as Southwest regional manager. Harriman comes to the Pelican Group with 25 years manufacturing/operations experience. The last 15 years were industry specific with The Good Stuff Co., where he held multiple positions including manufacturing manager and vice president western operations. Harriman holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Business Administration.
Gavin Fay joined the Pelican Group in January 2014 as the mid-Atlantic regional manager. Fay brings over 15 years of manufacturer/distributor experience in the amusement game industry to the Pelican team. He has held positions with industry leaders such as Incredible Technologies, JVL Corp. and American Vending Sales. Fay’s experience includes account management, business development and regional sales. He is a graduate of Western Illinois University with Bachelor of Arts degree.
Jeff McKenney comes from a long line of family operators starting with his grandfather and father owning vending companies of their own. He was introduced to the vending business at an early age working at his grandfather’s vending company. McKenney later spent 8 years in the U.S. Army before returning to the coin-op industry in the early 90’s to the family vending business, Kofe Kady Vending based in Houston, Texas. McKenney later moved to the Fort Worth, Texas area in 1997 where he became general manager and vice president of a local amusement and full-line vending company. Since 2010, McKenney worked for Texas vending giant Mcliff Coffee & Vending serving as Mcliff's North Texas branch manager. McKenney joins the Pelican team as lower Midwest regional manager.
Kyle Leigh joined the Pelican Group in December 2013 as a result of the acquisition of Win Stuff. Kyle worked as a financial analyst for The Good Stuff Co. for 16 years where he was responsible for the payment of the commission and royalty payments to all customers and licensors for Win Stuff and Good Stuff. In addition to his work on the commissions, Leigh provided a key cash control function for the field operations. Leigh is an Economic major from Stony Brook University. Kyle will support the Pelican team with finance and reporting responsibilities.
