John Gimpel
John Gimpel
Chief Executive Officer, Aero Fulfillment Services
John Gimpel grew up around Aero — literally. As a teenager he was unloading shipping containers of teddy bears in Blue Ash. He joined the business full time in the late '90s as COO and purchased the company outright in 2012. Under his leadership, Aero transitioned from a regional mailing house to a scalable fulfillment operation serving clients across industries. He's navigated dot-com busts, pharmaceutical contract swings, and cyber attacks — and kept Aero moving forward through all of it.
"For me, Aero is fun because I genuinely enjoy working with the folks here. There's a lot of laughter, history, and shared stories. There's constant variety — in the problems we solve, the clients we serve, and the kinds of work that land on our plate. And most of all, it's about the people."
John Gimpel came in as the fix-it guy and never left. He took a scrappy, founder-driven operation, gave it structure and direction, and worked his way up to owning the company he helped shape. Along the way he helped pivot Aero from a mailing house into a true fulfillment operation, landed its biggest contract at the time, and built the culture that keeps long-tenured employees around for decades. This is his story.
Your dad called Aero's early years the Wild West. What do you remember from that time?
Wild West is pretty accurate. I remember containers of teddy bears coming in from China, and one of my first jobs in high school was unloading those containers and helping move and store all that promo inventory.
There were shoe promotions where you'd buy a pair of shoes and get a stuffed animal, so those teddy bears eventually had to be shipped out to stores all over the country. So while most kids had normal high school jobs, I was spending my afternoons opening shipping containers and stacking teddy bears in a warehouse in Blue Ash.
How did you end up running Aero?
I didn't step into a neatly scripted family handoff — I was brought in because Aero needed someone to really get their arms around the business and help shape where it was headed.
My dad started Aero in 1986 but continued working in print sales at Hennegan for many years. He was very successful there, so he wasn't eager to walk away from that income. Aero was growing, but it needed more day-to-day leadership and structure, and he essentially brought me in to help get the business in shape.
Over time I moved into running the operation and became Chief Operating Officer in the late '90s, well before my dad retired. By that point I was effectively leading the business. Eventually we put a formal plan in place, and in 2012 I purchased the company.
Was there a moment when you realized Aero was really going to succeed?
Yes. The moment that really shifted things for me was when we won the LexisNexis business in the mid-to-late '90s.
When I came in, I didn't love the mailing side of the business — it felt commoditized and not very sticky. So we changed the name to Aero Fulfillment Services and deliberately shifted our focus from mailing to true fulfillment. Not long after that shift, our sales team surfaced an opportunity with LexisNexis, and we ended up landing a million-plus dollar contract supporting all the Lexis side of their business.
"At the time, it was the biggest contract we had ever signed, by a wide margin. That was the point where I remember thinking — okay, this isn't just a scrappy regional shop anymore. This can really work at a different scale."
Not many fulfillment companies from the '80s are still in business today. What makes Aero different?
If I had to boil it down, I'd say three things: perseverance, our people, and our focus on the client.
We've simply stuck it out. A lot of companies in this industry have come and gone over the last forty years. We've lived through the dot-com era, major contract swings — including a pharmaceutical program that nearly put us under — and even a couple of cyber attacks. At several points it would have been easy to walk away. We didn't. We just kept showing up and figuring out the next step.
"Aero's story really isn't about me or my dad — it's about the employees who built their careers here. We have people who started in entry-level roles and worked their way into leadership positions over decades. That kind of long-term growth and loyalty is pretty rare in this industry."
And culturally we've always tried to keep one thing clear: the only real agenda we have is our clients' agenda. We're not a political organization where people succeed by managing optics. The people who thrive here are the ones who solve problems, wear multiple hats, and keep the client at the center of everything they do.
Your dad built Aero on two principles: great customer care and real visibility. How do those show up today?
Those two ideas are still the core of how we operate. One thing I've always tried to make very clear inside the company is that we don't really have an internal agenda. Our agenda is the client's agenda. I tell people all the time: don't do things for John Gimpel — do things for our clients. If we keep the client at the center of the decisions we make, the business tends to take care of itself.
We reward people who figure things out, who are gritty, and who keep things moving for the client. When you combine that with long-tenured employees who've grown up in the company, it creates a group of people who really understand what those original values mean in practice.
What's the weirdest thing Aero has ever shipped?
Over the years we've handled a huge range of products, but one that always gets a laugh internally was when we fulfilled orders for Pure Romance products. Those orders were picked out of a specific section of the warehouse, and the team quickly nicknamed it the "naughty corner." It became a running joke around the building.
What keeps you up at night today that your father never had to worry about?
Cyber attacks.
Want to hear Jack's side of the story?
Read how Aero got started — straight from the founder himself.