WOA's Newest Executive Director

By Kristen E. Monte

This past January, the Web Offset Association (WOA) concluded its search for a new executive director by naming Mary Garnett to the position. Garnett, who filled the open position created with the retirement of Tom Basore, took over on February 16.

Garnett previously served as a vice president with Printing Industries of America (PIA) and, in addition to her duties as the new WOA executive director, she is also serving as GATF/PIA's senior staff member responsible for Special Interest Groups and Sections.

In 1994, Garnett joined PIA as a director of education and moved up to vice president of education. She holds a B.S. degree in business education from Shippensburg University and a masters degree in counseling from the University of Central Texas.

As a vice president, Garnett says that one of her major accomplishments was being able to put the right resources together to meet the needs of PIA's members. "When I look at what has been done it's because of our outstanding staff support," says Garnett. "We have been able to revitalize meetings and offer better services for our members."

Under her watch, PIA has also been able to form award-winning programs, such as the Digital Printing Council. During her tenure, PIA initiated the E-Business Council and currently is working with the National Association for Printing Leadership (NAPL) to combine training programs to launch the Management and Leadership Institute this June.

It is because of these achievements that Garnett has won many PIA employee awards, such as the President's Award and, last year, the prestigious Peer Employee of the Year Award.

"Like all associations, we are constantly finding and developing products and services that our members want and need," explains Garnett. "We have to prove our relevancy on a regular basis."

One potential challenge that hasn't been an issue for Garnett is being a woman in what was once a predominantly male dominated industry.

"It is about who can best do the job," she states. "Our industry is progressive; there are many companies with women owners, presidents and vice presidents."

Garnett plans to carry her experience and lessons learned from PIA over to her new position with the WOA. She says her primary goal is to create a member-centric focus so that WOA members are the top priority. "I want to seek and identify the needs of the group first," Garnett explains. "Then we can help members to increase their profitability."

As a senior staff member of PIA/GATF's Special Interest Groups and Sections, Garnett is responsible for overseeing eight groups designed to help members address specialized challenges in the graphic communications industry. The groups include: Digital Printing Council; E-Business Council; Binding Industries of America; EPS-the Digital Workflow Group; Printing Industry Financial Executives; Label Printing Industries of America; the Graphic Arts Marketing Information Service; and Printing Sales & Marketing Executives.

While all of the groups have top-notch senior staff and member advisors, Garnett says she plans to serve as a catalyst between the groups so that all information can be exchanged between all parties involved. "I want to remove barriers to achieve goals and support them so they can be more effective," she says.

Garnett says she sees many important challenges that must be addressed for the future of the industry.

She says she wants to work on price competition—something she hears as a concern regularly—to help member businesses that are hurting as a result of the bad economy to win jobs and make more of a profit.

Garnett also shares her concerns regarding postal issues. As postal costs increase and printing prices decrease, customers are feeling the postal crunch and demanding more discounts from printers. Healthcare costs are also on the rise and Garnett wants to see what can be done to help companies that are dealing with more than 10 percent healthcare cost increases.

A fourth issue Garnett sees as a challenge is global competition. Recent data shows that lithographic printed material has increased generally and five-fold in one country—China—since 1997. She says that web printers also share these problems. Global competition might have more of an impact with high-volume printers because their customers have the financial resources to bid out globally.

On the agenda for this month's WOA Management and Technology Conference is former NASA astronaut, senator John Glenn, keynotes from top industry executives and the addition of a new resource center, where patrons can speak one-on-one with industry leaders. There will also be a Drupa preview organized exclusively by Printing Impressions.

Garnett may have a lot on her plate, but she says she has a team of experienced staff at WOA, the support of in-coming WOA President Ed Majerczak from Berlin Industries, as well as a dedicated board of directors and committed supplier advisory board.

"We have a solid team and we can find and implement changes, where necessary," states Garnett. "We are open to retooling and redirecting efforts, if necessary."

Garnett is married to Tom Garnett, an analyst for Alion Science and Technology, and is a mother of three. Outside of work, she is a master swimmer, working out with a swim team three to four times per week. She also enjoys power walking, gardening and growing orchids.