Career Brief

Holger Garbrecht, KBA North America CEO and president, stepped down last month from his current position in the United States and returned to Germany. A new CEO will be announced shortly. After living in the United States for two years, Garbrecht left KBA for family reasons to rejoin his wife and children in Germany.

“For the past two years, I have had the privilege of leading one of the most dynamic printing press manufacturers in North America,” said Garbrecht. “It has been a rewarding period of my life to meet the KBA North American customers, see firsthand their great American spirit and entrepreneurship, and become an integral part of their business as our products have helped them to grow and prosper.”

Garbrecht joined KBA in October 2007 as president and CEO of the North American division. Under his leadership, he helped KBA grow and sustain its press sales under a difficult economic period.

In response to improved business conditions Mohawk Fine Papers has recalled 14 people to the Beckett Mill in Hamilton, Ohio.

“The rehires will allow Mohawk to add a fourth crew and run two of our paper machines 24 hours per day, seven days a week. We’re very happy to be able to put these employees back to work in a very tight economy,” said Michael Cargioli, director of operations at Beckett..

Stamford, Conn.-based Pitney Bowes appointed David Dobson executive vice president and president of Pitney Bowes Management Services.

Dobson will also lead the development and deployment of an Enterprise Sales and Solutions Group for Pitney Bowes, which will be responsible for working closely with named enterprise customers to deliver solutions that leverage the breadth of Pitney Bowes’s products, services and expertise.

Dobson joined Pitney Bowes in 2008 as executive vice president and chief strategy and innovation officer. In the past year, he has led the development of the corporation’s overall growth strategy with a particular focus on launching new business opportunities to reach both new and existing customers. He has also accelerated the company’s innovation initiatives, and integrated them more closely with the company’s business units globally.

Before joining Pitney Bowes, Dobson was CEO of Corel Corp., with responsibility for the strategy and overall operations of the company. Under his leadership, the company consistently increased both revenues and profits. Dobson previously spent 19 years at IBM, where he held significant leadership roles in both staff and line management positions, including corporate vice president for strategy, and general manager and president of IBM Printing Systems Division.

Printing Industries of America welcomed Robert Adler and Anne M. Northup as Commissioners to the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC). The Obama Administration and the U.S. Senate recently confirmed Adler and Northup as Commissioners to the CPSC.

The association looks forward to working with both Commissioner Adler, a former senior staff member at the CPSC, and Commissioner Northup, who served five terms in the U.S. House of Representatives, to achieve an administrative fix to implementation problems surrounding the regulation of children’s books and other printed matter under the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act (CPSIA).

PIA encourages a swift transition in order for the new CPSC team to continue its mission to improve safety and protect children. At the same time, PIA urges the CPSC to address the continued marketplace confusion and economic uncertainty resulting from the implementation to-date of a strict, overzealous CPSIA passed by Congress in 2008. The new law is causing, and will continue to cause, unintended harm to consumers, printers, and publishers.

PIA urges the new CPSC team to promptly exercise its authority to fix the flaws in the CPSIA for both consumers and businesses. Under the leadership of Chairwoman Tenenbaum and a full five-member commission, the association remains optimistic that a safe, common-sense solution to these problems will be achieved.