During its recent annual pro:Americas Annual Conference, the Atlanta-based Americas Apparel Producers’ Network (AAPN) honored Ed Gribbin and Dr. Lynne Sprugel with the newly-renamed AAPN Walter T. Wilhelm Industry Achievement Award. Previously known as the AAPN Industry Acheivement Award, the name change recognizes Wilhelm’s decades of contributions to the organization as well as his leadership. The puzzle globe trophy conferred to the recipient also was renamed “The Walter” in his honor.
Gribbin was selected as a recipient of the award this year for his work when the COVID-19
pandemic began. According to AAPN: “In March 2020, when the virus hit, Ed created a database of over 1,000 producers and literally ran production of billions of masks and millions of gowns across the U.S. Ed was alone in this brilliant initiative and kept many thousands of people working.”
Dr. Sprugel also was chosen to receive the award in 2022. AAPN cited her contributions to the AAPN Future Forums in its reasons for the honor: “In 2020, with all AAPN events canceled, Lynne organized a survey that created the AAPN Future Forums, generating 28 sessions with over 50 people creating over 7 hours of original content. These future-looking insights were an industry exclusive.”
May/June 2022
