Lessons from a leading CEO Lessons from a leading CEO

women & business
Two women, two sisters,
thousands of gifts
REGALO co-founders make gift-giving a total experience
Ellie Kittle-Ingalsbe and Kathy Lanni are more than
just two women in business.
They’re also sisters, and they’ve built REGALO A
Gift Experience into a successful business specializing
in corporate gifts, crystal awards and promotional
items, working with clients in the Capital
Region, throughout the Northeast and around the
world.
It all began in 1990, when New Woman magazine
issued a call for entries for business ideas.
Kittle-Ingalsbe and Lanni jumped at the chance to
submit theirs.
“We always had small businesses as kids,” Lanni
said. “It was a dream of ours to have a business
together as adults, so we submitted our idea for a
company that would offer gift consultations and
assist businesses with gift buying.”
Their idea was selected, and after receiving seed
money to start their business, REGALO –– the word
means “gift” in Italian –– was born.
“In September of 1990, we went to City Hall, we
each kicked in $15, received our doing business certificate,
and that was it,” Lanni said. “We had sheer
determination and excitement to make things go.”
Decision time
At the time, both women were working in other
full-time positions –– Kittle-Ingalsbe in marketing,
Lanni in nursing –– but their immediate success with
REGALO made them realize that their new venture
would require more than just a part-time commitment.
“It became pretty apparent after our first holiday
season that if we were going to make this
grow, one of us would have to work at it full time,”
Lanni said.
Kittle-Ingalsbe did just that, leaving her marketing
job in the spring of 1991 to devote her working
hours to REGALO. Lanni continued to work as a
nurse and spent two days a week at REGALO before
joining the new business full time in the fall of 1992.
REGALO’s ever-expanding range of project
work includes: meeting and conference gifts, corporate
holidays, years of service and employee
longevity programs, incentive and recognition
programs, donor and volunteer recognition, various
VIP and client gifts and promotions/marketing/trade
shows.
In addition, each REGALO gift is delivered gift
packaged, gift wrapped, with hand-tied ribbons
and a gift enclosure card.
The company not only has a presence in Albany
but in New York City and Boston, as well. “We definitely
plan to keep growing,” Kittle-Ingalsbe said.
Perfect timing
Lanni noted that REGALO seemed to emerge at an
ideal time, when businesses were starting to think
outside the box in terms of designing, planning and
implementing corporate gift programs.
“When we got into the business, a corporate
gift line was really unheard of,” she said. “It was a
great time to start this type of business because so
many corporations were just starting to jump on
the bandwagon. We knew we could get clients, and
those clients were very generous to us and referred
us to new clients from the very beginning.”
REGALO has helped raise the bar in terms of the
quality of gifts that corporations give to their
employees, especially when it comes to its custom
designed and crafted crystal awards, for which
REGALO is perhaps best known.
As its Web site states, “crystal is a cherished art
form. No other medium enjoys world-wide respect
for its symbolism, grace and beauty. Crystal sends a
message like no other.”
Secrets of their success
Being sisters, Lanni and Kittle-Ingalsbe agreed not
to let business get in the way of their relationship as
siblings, or as friends. After 18 years as business
partners, they’re pleased with the results, from
both a personal and a professional standpoint.
Their advice for women in business is simple, yet
profound.
“Owning your own business is hard work,”
Lanni said. “What we thought it would be and it’s
turned out to be are totally different. It requires a
lot of thinking, planning and strategizing. Follow
your gut instincts, your woman’s intuition.”
“Surround yourself with trusted advisors, people
who are smarter than you,” Kittle-Ingalsbe
added. “And learn how to read your financial statements.”
Ellie Kittle-Ingalsbe and Kathy Lanni
Full color caricatures
in just
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WWW.BENASART.COM
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