Westmont, Illinois - Ron Sams has been appointed Vice President, Newspaper Sales at MAN Roland Inc., effective January 1st. He takes over the role from Vincent Lapinski, who becomes the company's CEO in 2007. "Ron's performance, professionalism and expertise have contributed enormously to MAN Roland becoming the leader in newspaper presses here in North American and throughout the world," Lapinski said in promoting Sams to his new post. Since 1994, Sams has served as Central Region Newspaper Sales Manager for MAN Roland, helping many of the Midwest's major dailies to upgrade from letterpresses to MAN Roland web offset technology. His many accomplishments include: initiating MAN Roland's largest newspaper press project in North America with Detroit Newspaper Partnerships, bringing the first Berliner format GEOMAN to North America, and helping forge MAN Roland's ongoing partnership with Tribune Publishing, the nation's second-largest newspaper publisher in terms of revenue and third largest in circulation. Lapinski states, "His promotion is well deserved." A graduate of the University of Iowa in Iowa City with a BBA in Marketing, Sams has served the graphic arts industry for over 23 years. From 1983 to 1994, he held sales and sales management positions in the mailroom/packaging equipment division of Harris Corporation, advancing within that company as it evolved into Harris Graphics and then AM Graphics. Ultimately, Sams was appointed Eastern Regional Sales Manager for AM Graphics. Headquartered in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, he was responsible for running the company's Eastern U.S. sales organization. "My entire career has involved bringing advanced technology to newspapers to equip them to succeed in a changing marketplace," Sams says. "My new appointment allows me to expand that mission to encompass the most vibrant newspaper market in the world. I look forward to working with all of our customers here in North America to help them reach their goals."