Michael Wolaver

Founder/Captain
  • Connect with Michael Wolaver

I never dreamed that I would own a business, especially one in branded merch marketing.  How I got to this point is a winding road. To start with, I studied Political Science at Marquette University (’97) and loved my four years there. When I graduated, instead of going into government, I pursued careers in the private sector and found myself in a purchasing role at a Fortune 500 company. After a few years, I took a purchasing manager role at a large manufacturing company and stayed for five years. During this time, I earned my MBA from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee to round out my business knowledge.

In the spring of 2004, I wanted to change careers and took a chance working for a one person branded merch company. I opened a new territory, so I began without any clients, had never been in sales and did not know anything about the branded merch industry.  I saw it as the only way to go was up!  That company folded in May of 2005, which gave me the opportunity to start my own business. That is how I came to found Magellan Promotions (originally called Identity Promotions). Since then, I have been working as captain of this ship as we grow our business. I really enjoy helping organizations find creative and memorable ways to strategically use promotional products to help solve their marketing challenges. I am so incredibly proud of the team that we have built and amazed at the business that we have built. 

Personally, I have been married to my wife Michele since 1999. I would never have been successful without her constant support and belief in me. We have two sons, Mehandis and Abera, and a pet tortoise, Tesfaye. We live in Wauwatosa, a suburb in Milwaukee. I love to be physically active and seek opportunities to connect with friends and family.

What would be your baseball walk out song?

Baba O’ Riley by The Who – love the intro to this song and volume has to be cranked because that is the only way to play The Who.

If you could have dinner with anyone from history, who would it be?

George Washington – I was born on his birthday and he has always been an intriguing figure to me.

What was your favorite band/artist 10 years ago?

Bodeans – Loved their music in college in the 90’s and stayed as a go-to for me.

If you could instantly pick up a new skill, what would it be?

Playing the guitar. My dad is an amazing guitar player and I wish I had the musical ability to play along with him.

What job would you be terrible at?

A Waiter – I think I would be constantly dropping plates and spilling glasses…

Variable Data Best Practices

  • At the quoting stage of your project, please let us know how many fields of variable data your piece will have as this can affect pricing.
  • Data should be provided to us as an Excel spreadsheet with only the applicable data included.
  • Verbiage for variable data fields on artwork file should match up exactly with data fields on spreadsheet.
  • Spacing on artwork must allow for longest data entries. We recommend that your designer tests this in advance to confirm that the fields in the design can fit your longest pieces of data.

Postage Permits

We are happy to mail using a client’s USPS non-profit number. Here are a few best practices for this to go smoothly. Let our team know up front on the project so we can make sure to get the information we need right away. 

While our mail house does prefer to use their permit number for the mailing, we can use the client’s permit, If using their permit number, ensure there is enough postage to cover the mailing.

The information we need to in order to use a client’s nonprofit number includes the following:

  • CRID (customer registration ID)
  • Non-Profit Authorization Number (with USPS, not their nonprofit number for the university)
  • Non-profit indicia
  • Return address that is on file with USPS for the non-profit authorization number
  • Permit number

Formatting the Mailing List

Our account team will advise on specific requirements for your project’s mailing list.  We generally recommend these best practices to format the mailing list:
  • Send your data in a spreadsheet, saving it in the comma-separated values (CSV) format
  • International addresses must be separated from domestic addresses
  • Domestic addresses should at least contain data fields for “first name”, “last name”, “address 1”, “address 2”, “city”, “state” and “ZIP code”