Innovation Excellence Award Winners to Be Honored at Franklin Luminaire Event

ALEXANDRIA, Va. — August 5, 2016 — Idealliance and Printing Industries Alliance have announced that Dianne Kennedy, Paul Nowak and Canon Solutions America will be honored with the inaugural 2016 Innovation Excellence Awards, and that Mark Darlow has been selected as recipient of the 2016 Zenger Community Service Medal.

The awards will be presented at the annual Franklin Luminaire Awards dinner at The Lighthouse at Chelsea Piers, New York, on Oct. 19, 5:30 p.m.-10 p.m. As announced previously, also to be honored at the event are Chris Dunn of American Express, Jerry Faust of Time and Steve Zenger of the Zenger Group, who will receive 2016 Luminaire Awards, and noted journalist and author Armen Keteyian, who has been named winner of the 2016 Franklin Award for Distinguished Service.

“We are pleased to inaugurate our new Innovation Excellence Award with such worthy recipients as Dianne, Paul and Canon Solutions America,” says Steve Drew, co-chair of the 2016 Luminaire Awards Committee. “The Innovation Excellence Award was established to recognize a company or individual in graphic and visual communications who is pioneering, pacesetting, and advancing new technologies — innovators who are moving our industry into the future, and that is certainly true of our first three recipients.”

Dianne Kennedy

Dianne Kennedy has built a 30+ year career on the leading edge of information technology and its application to the graphic and visual communications industry. She was in the forefront of generic coding with the development and promotion of Standardized Generalized MarkUp Language (SGML), supporting the launch of eXtensible MarkUp Language (XML) with the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) at an Idealliance conference she chaired in the late 1990s, and currently applying XML to graphic communications and publishing workflows revolutionizing information exchange across partners. She served as Idealliance VP of Digital & Emerging Technologies for 16 years, and during her tenure developed and facilitated key industry specifications including G7, PRISM, and Mail.XML. She currently serves as Idealliance XML and metadata evangelist emeritus and editor for XML specifications.

Paul Nowak

Paul Nowak is director of customer experience for QuadPackaging, a Quad/Graphics company, where he works on a number of customer-facing initiatives, development of the QuadPackaging brand and new packaging solutions. His most recent focus has been on retail theft — a key, complex challenge for clients who need a sensible, cost-effective solution for reducing product loss and illegal resale, while at the same time maintaining the integrity of their design and brand. Nowak successfully combined micro-perforation technology with high-speed source tag placement in-line, incorporating micro-printing and serialization for tracking to make it even more difficult to resell stolen goods. Nowak leverages his deep understanding of packaging operations with an innovative spirit to meet the unique and evolving needs of the packaging market.

Canon Solutions America created thINK, a groundbreaking community in partnership with its customers to expand production inkjet networking and knowledge. Designed to help businesses achieve accelerated growth and productivity, the collaborative community provides a forum for networking with peers, sharing best practices, and learning from industry leaders and solution partners. Canon Solutions America also initiated an annual thINK conference in 2015 that drew more than 350 industry attendees from more than 200 companies.

Mark Darlow

Exemplary Service
Mark Darlow, a founder, lifetime trustee and past president of the Graphic Communications Scholarship Foundation (GCSF), will be honored with the prestigious Zenger Community Service Medal at the Luminaire Awards event. In 2016, the Foundation awarded $160,000 in scholarships to 41 students in graphic arts education.

“The Zenger Medal, named after Colonial-era printer and freedom of the press trailblazer John Peter Zenger, honors a graphic communications professional who has demonstrated exceptional community service, making our community a better place to live or serving our country in ways that make us proud,” explains Meghan Milkowski, 2016 Luminaire Awards co-chair. “Mark’s decades of service to the industry and his extraordinary volunteer work on behalf of numerous charitable causes, both within and outside the industry, exemplify the ideals of the Zenger Medal.”

Former CEO of the Cardinal Communications Group, Darlow has served in multiple leadership positions with the New Jersey Wheelchair Athletic Association and Spina Bifida Association of Central New Jersey, both of which he founded. His work on behalf of Printing Industries of New York includes chairing its Evening School, creating an employment department, and starting a credit union. He is also an active member of the Typographer’s Association of New York.

Proceeds from the Franklin Luminaire Awards advance the next generation of media professionals, offering student scholarships, education, and career promotional activities through the GCSF, the PIA Graphic Communications Foundation, and the Idealliance Digital Enterprise Education and Research (DEER) Foundation. The 501(c)(3) charitable organizations support industry education, student scholarships, career promotional activities, and research in the graphic communications and media industry.

Franklin Luminaire Awards Platinum sponsorships (table of 10) are available at the early bird rate of $5,500 until Aug. 15 ($6,500 after that date); Gold sponsorships (half-table of five) are $2,750 by Aug. 15 ($3,250 after). Sponsors receive recognition in the printed program and signage, and during the evening’s program. Individual tickets are also available at $400.

For more information about sponsorships or tickets, please contact Kim Tuzzo of PIA at (800) 777-4742 or ktuzzo@pialliance.org.

About Idealliance
Idealliance is a not-for-profit member association representing a unique convergence of printers, mailers, marketers, brand owners, agencies, publishers, fulfillment services, material suppliers, and technology providers. The association provides an open and cross-industry platform for motivated professionals to come together to create a more competitive, compelling, and innovative graphic and visual communications industry. It capitalizes on its integrated capabilities to advance proven technical and management best practices; deliver best-in-class research, education, and certification; and serve as a united industry advocate. Idealliance is headquartered at 1800 Diagonal Road, Suite 320, Alexandria, VA, 22314.

About Printing Industries Alliance
Printing Industries Alliance (PIA) represents graphic communications firms in New York State, northern New Jersey, and northwestern Pennsylvania, and is a regional affiliate of Printing Industries of America. Printing Industries Alliance provides a variety of consultative, informational, advocacy, and cost-cutting services for member firms across its territory. The Franklin Award for Distinguished Service is sponsored by the PIA Graphic Communications Foundation, the charitable foundation of Printing Industries Alliance.

Source: Idealliance.