Kellie Hoffmeister should have seen it coming.
The president of Panda Group was given the first-ever DPA (Distributor Partners of America) Safety Excellence Award at the DPA Safety Conference in March, 2009 in Tucson. Hoffmeister was surprised by the recognition, but after further reflection realized maybe she shouldn’t have been.
“20 or so years ago my mother went to a psychic who said that I’d be honored by my peers,” explained Hoffmeister. “The psychic saw me accepting an award and said my hair was red. The other part the psychic predicted was that I’d be 30. Well, I’m not quite 30, but the rest was right.”
The honor was announced by DPA executive director Zac Haines during the “Blazing a New Trail Awards Banquet” at the conclusion of the DPA Safety Conference.
“Kellie has been instrumental in facilitating new supplier and distributor relationships in DPA Safety,” said Haines. “Her knowledge of the industry is unparalleled. I feel very strongly that she’s most deserving of the first-ever DPA Safety Excellence Award.”
Added Hoffmeister: “I was definitely touched. Zac totally surprised me and I kind of choked up. It validated my work after all of these years. The plaque really means a lot to me. There’s been a history of people not believing. People didn’t believe I’d be in the business after the first two years! It just never occurred to me that I could fail.”
DPA joined forces with Panda Group in October 2006 to build the premier Safety and Janitorial Buyers Group, and Panda has been responsible for building vendor alliance programs and inviting safety distributors into the group. DPA Safety is essentially a result of the growth of the Panda Preferred Program.
“My distributors were invisible, and the Panda Preferred Program and DPA gave a voice to the small regional guy that had essentially been left out,” said Hoffmeister. “They just want to make a living and take care of their families and employees. They’re really the fiber of America. They’re entrepreneurs, they’re scrappers.”
Panda’s work with DPA has been overwhelmingly positive. But early in the 14-year existence of Panda Group, Hoffmeister approached similar partnerships with a large amount of caution.
“I was a non-joiner,” explained Hoffmeister. “But there was something special that I saw in Zac, his father, and the structure of the group. The thing that rang true is that they are good people. Trust is really all you have in business.” | 
