Seven Printing and Production Executives Inducted into 2009 Hall of Fame

PHILADELPHIA—August 20, 2009—A total of seven exceptional printing and production executives will be inducted into the Printing Impressions/Rochester Institute of Technology Printing Industry Hall of Fame and the Publishing Executive Hall of Fame at the 22nd Annual Gold Ink Awards and Hall of Fame Banquet, to be held September 14th at the Hyatt Regency McCormick Place's Regency Ballroom, during PRINT 09, Chicago. Make your reservations now at http://www.GoldInk.com or contact Michael Cooper at 215-238-5434 or mcooper@napco.com.

PRINTING IMPRESSIONS/RIT PRINTING INDUSTRY HALL OF FAME Inductees:

JANET GREEN, CEO, Greens Printing
Green is the third woman to be inducted into the Hall of Fame, joining Judith Booth and Diane Romano. She was the first female to serve as chairman of the board for the Printing Industries of America in its 130-year existence. Eight years ago, she testified in front of the U.S. Senate on the subject of repealing the estate tax, an issue of importance to all private business owners across every industry. She’s also been involved with the local PIASC chapter in various executive roles since 1995, including chapter chair, public relations committee chair and member of the government affairs committee. On the national level, Ms. Green is active with the finance, association relations, planning and government affairs committees, among others.

RALPH PONTILLO, President, Miami Valley Publishing
Pontillo graduated from the University of Wisconsin-Stout and kicked off his 37-year career with a stint at the former Wallace Business Forms. His big break came when he joined the venerable W.A. Krueger in Scottsdale, AZ. In 1994, Mr. Pontillo was hired by Transcontinental to right the ship of Miami Valley Publishing, located in Fairborn, OH. In January of 2009, he began negotiations with the company to take ownership of Miami Valley. For the past 10 years, Mr. Pontillo has been an active participant with the Web Offset Association (WOA) and its board of directors; he served a three-year stint as chairman. Previously, he was on the GATF Innovations selection committee and a number of other task forces.

STEVE HAYES, CEO, Omaha Print
Hayes has spent the last 37 years continuing a proud tradition at Omaha Print, which traces its business roots back more than 150 years, before Nebraska had even been admitted to the union. After toying with the idea of going to law school, Mr. Hayes attended the University of Northern Colorado, where he played football on a scholarship, then joined the ranks of Omaha Print. In his early years, he worked in the office products division. Mr. Hayes took the helm of the company in 1991, and made several strategic moves. First, he divested the company of its office products division, mindful of the emergence of superstores such as Staples. Then he invested in sheetfed, followed by web, technology. Described as both a maverick and a visionary, Mr. Hayes has been an active participant with the PIA, Printing Industries of the Midlands and NAPL.

HERB ZEBRACK, President, Lithographix
Zebrack, for more than 50 years, has strived to take the quality of printing to a higher level. He's certainly done as much during his tenure with Lithographix; a $1.6 million a year performer when he took the reins in 1980, the company now registers sales of roughly $125 million. Still, Mr. Zebrack refuses to take all the glory for Lithographix's accomplishments, saying, "Our growth is not a tribute to me, but a tribute to we." Mr. Zebrack took printing class in high school and honed his skills at L.A. Trade Tech, an industrial arts college. After stints at a few smaller shops, he arrived at Lithographix in the early 1970s.

PUBLISHING EXECUTIVE HALL OF FAME Inductees:

SHONA BURNS, Executive Director of Production, Chronicle Books Burns, in the course of her 23-year career, has demonstrated how a willingness to learn, coupled with an innovative spirit, can translate into success. Rather than resisting the technological and workflow developments that have transformed publishing over the past 15 years, Ms. Burns has embraced them to maximum strategic advantage. Her formal training at Edinburgh Napier University in Scotland included ink technology, editorial, copy editing, language, art history and graphic design, and afforded her a big-picture view of publishing operations.

MARK W. WHITE, Vice President Manufacturing and Distribution, U.S.
News & World Report
White joined U.S. News & World Report in 1995 doing cost analysis as a financial analyst in manufacturing before being elevated to manager and eventually director. His ability to wade into complex manufacturing and production issues and to master them sets him apart from so many of his peers, and has led to many cost saving ideas and projects throughout his career.

JOHN BLANCHARD, Vice President of Operations, Reed Business
Information (RBI)
Blanchard spent 20-plus years in the consumer packaging industry—where there was a heavy emphasis on efficiency and automation—principles that manufacturing managers live by today. He joined RBI 11 years ago, as a consultant in the prepress area in the company’s Chicago office. He worked his way up through management positions, starting as operations manager of the Chicago division, eventually expanding his purview to include the offices of Variety and other entertainment properties on the West Coast.

The September issue of Printing Impressions will feature a profile of each of the PI/RIT Hall of Fame inductees and the September issue of Publishing Executive will feature a profile of each of the PE Hall of Fame inductees.

The Gold Ink Awards and Hall of Fame Banquet is co-sponsored by Printing Impressions, Publishing Executive and Book Business magazines. For more information, visit www.GoldInk.com.