Ben Franklin Honor Society of Printing Industries of America Inducts Eight Industry Notables

Eight industry leaders were formally inducted into the Ben Franklin Honor Society of Printing Industries of America at a black-tie induction and awards ceremony held November 11, 2011, at Printing Industries’ Fall Administrative Meetings held in Miami Beach, Florida.

Michael D. First, Chairman, Graph Com, Inc.--Mr. First’s contributions to the printing industry are many. He served his local affiliate, Printing & Imaging Association of Georgia, in the officers ranks from 1999 to 2002: as First Vice Chairman in 1999, Chairman Elect and Treasurer to the Board of Directors in 2000, Chairman of the Board in 2001, and Past Chairman in 2002. Further, in 2002, he was selected to represent his affiliate on Printing Industries of America’s Board of Directors, where he also acted as Education Chairman and served on the Executive Committee. He was a member of the Long Range Planning and Presidents Conference Committees.

William J. Gibson, Burton & Mayer Inc.--Mr. Gibson was just recently named as the Illinois State Director for the newly created Great Lakes Graphics Association, which was the merger of Printing Industries of Wisconsin (PIW) and Printing Industry Association Illinois/Indiana (PII). Mr. Gibson has served on the board of PII and is the past President of the Ben Franklin Club in Chicago. He is also Past Chairman of the Education and Presidents Conference Committees as well as Printing Industries of America Board of Directors. Mr. Gibson got his start in the industry by working in his family’s printing company, Gibson Printing Company. He purchased the company from his father in 1982. Mr. Gibson ran Gibson Graphics until 2000, when he sold the company to Rider Dickerson, but remained with the company to serve as its Vice President of Sales.

Ken Rizzo, Printing Industries of America (posthumous)--Mr. Rizzo started working as a consultant for GATF in 1990 and left in 2000 to become a process engineer for Gulf States Paper Corporation, one of the country’s largest producers of packaging products and paperboard, but he returned to the nonprofit world, re-joining Printing Industries of America (formerly GATF) in 2006. Among his most recent accomplishments was the creation and development of 2009 of Printing Industries’ Digital Production Assessment (DPA) and Digital Production Excellence Accreditation (DPEA audit certificate) programs. Sadly, Mr. Rizzo, Director of Technical and Lean Services, passed away suddenly on February 15, 2011, while on assignment in suburban Boston. Mr. Rizzo was a loyal and dedicated employee, author, workshop leader, speaker, and among the world’s most knowledgeable people for production efficiency and excellence.

Diane Romano, HudsonYards--President and COO of HudsonYards, Ms. Romano is also a partner in Caps Visual Communication, Inc., its parent company. Ms. Romano serves on several industry boards and as co-Chair of NYU’s Center for Graphic Communications Management and Technology. She is a well-known industry speaker and the recipient of numerous prestigious industry awards. She previously held the position of Group Managing Director of Schawk, Inc. Prior to that, she was President, Media & Entertainment Group of Seven Worldwide, Inc. and President of Applied Graphics Technologies (AGT).