Joe Fish, Hankscraft Inc.

Joe Fish has been involved in the point-of-purchase advertising industry for more than 40 years, joining Hankscraft as a designer in the ac/dc motor lab in 1966, after graduating from high school. Joe advanced to the sales department, operating sales and marketing offices in New York and Chicago. In the 1970’s, Joe served as a sales executive for Rapid Mounting and Finishing , and rejoined Hankscraft in the early 1980’s where he became instrumental in the company growth and in the 1996 he became part owner of the company. Joe retired from Hankscraft as vice president in 2006.

Over the years, Joe helped develop such display motion innovations as dancing beer cans, tail wagging dogs, coffee machines that perk, car doors that open, Christmas trees that illuminate and clocks that count down. Joe was also at the cutting edge of the use of LED and sound at the point-of-purchase. Joe’s expertise in using motion in displays at retail helped garner hundreds of POPAI Outstanding Merchandising Achievement (OMA) Awards.

Joe has served on numerous POPAI committees over the years, as well as being a member of POPAI’s Board of Directors.

In the community, Joe has chaired the Reedsburg Area Medical Center Foundation; has raised thousands of dollars for the Relay for Life breast cancer charity; conducted golf outings to benefit Ronald McDonald House; raised thousands of dollars for the United Way of Reedsburg and was named the 2003 South Central Wisconsin Irishman of the Year.