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

Having shuttled between Germany and the United States, Petersen finds that he has more of a global view of the industry. It's also afforded him the opportunity to observe how executives take different roads to the same planned destination.

"Working in both the U.S. and Europe has allowed me to see different approaches for similar challenges and to recognize that each facility is unique, with different cultures," he says. "Maintaining those cultures are important to the success of those facilities. There's not always a 'best' way of doing a job, and the only way to be successful is to build strong teams."

Dan Nitz, president of Clear Lake Press in Waseca, MN, has known Petersen for 25 years and initially saw him as a great talent with unlimited potential. "During the course of his career, he has not proven any of my initial impressions wrong," Nitz says. "Volker is an exceptionally quick study, assimilating and processing information rapidly to feed his great analytical thinking capability. He has a very thorough knowledge of the printing industry, both here in the U.S. and in Europe. Brown Printing is in good hands."

Guy Gleysteen, senior vice president for production at Time Inc., feels Petersen combines a keen analytical approach to problem solving with a grasp of the practical, thus boasting that rare ability to understand whether an idea will actually work.

"Volker is a fountain of ideas, and he's able to do that, in part, because he's willing to let the ones go that don't get traction with customers or that don't seem to make sense once the conversation progresses," Gleysteen remarks. "But, he also displays the relentlessness that's needed in today's business world. He's constantly thinking about what could be done differently, what needs to change and who might have the next idea—that's what drives innovation and success. And that is what allows his organization to compete as well as they do."