2012 Hall of Fame: Volker Petersen - Smooth Sailing to Success

He does see a parallel with business. "If you are five minutes ahead of what happens, then sailing is very easy," he notes. "If you're five seconds behind something that happens, you're too late."

Petersen spent part of this past summer sailing across the Atlantic Ocean—an impressive feat in boating circles—but it pales in comparison to the job he has done staying a few steps in front of the competition during the past five years. While the magazine and catalog printing markets have shrunk 40 percent since 2007, Brown Printing has nearly doubled its market share during that time frame. That Petersen has guided such growth during the most repressive economic atmosphere in modern history—making his firm the No. 3 industry provider behind only RR Donnelley and Quad/Graphics—well qualifies him as a 2012 inductee into the Printing Impressions/RIT Printing Industry Hall of Fame.