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Michael Wolaver

Founder/Captain

I never dreamed that I would start a business, especially one in promotional product marketing. Growing up I wanted to be the statistician for the Chicago Cubs or be a lawyer from my fascination with the show LA Law.

I attended Marquette University with the belief that I could study any major I wanted and still could end up at a business. So I switched from the business school to study Political Science and loved my four years. When I graduated, I decided not to work in government but instead found my way into Danaher Corporation, a Fortune 500 company, in a purchasing department at their Chicago Armstrong Tools division. When I got married, I moved to Milwaukee and became a purchasing manager for a division of a Fortune 500 company (Leggett & Platt). During my time there I shored up my business knowledge by earning my MBA from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee.

In 2004, I was looking to change careers and took the chance working in sales for a small promotional product company. That company folded in 2005, so I decided to start my own and that is how I came to run Magellan Promotions.

I really enjoy helping organizations find creative and memorable ways to strategically use promotional products to help solve their marketing challenges. I am so proud of the team that we have built through the years and am incredibly proud to be the captain of this ship!

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 wish I had music 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…

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:

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: