SAN LUIS OBISPO -- A reception and banquet featuring the Honorable Robert C. Tapella, the newly appointed Public Printer of the United States, will follow "The Business of Green Media," sustainability conference at Cal Poly on Jan.24. The banquet will be held at the Embassy Suites Hotel in San Luis Obispo. Tapella, who graduated from Cal Poly's Graphic Communication Department in 1991, will discuss what the U.S. Government Printing Office (GPO) is doing to promote sustainability. Tapella will also talk about the nation's efforts to achieve a "greener" America and what the graphic communication industry can do to help. The nation's 25th Public Printer, Tapella was appointed by President George W. Bush and confirmed by the U.S. Senate. Tapella, who now leads more than 2,200 employees at the GPO, previously served as deputy chief of staff and then chief of staff during the last five years. During that time, he was instrumental in transforming the office into a profitable 21st century digital operation. "It is a tremendous honor to have a person of Bob Tapella's stature address our conference banquet," said Harvey Levenson, head of Cal Poly's Graphic Communication Department "I've observed Bob's involvement in transforming the GPO to a more sustainable organization over the past several years, and I look forward to the advice that Bob can share with our industry to do the same." As the chief executive officer of the GPO, Tapella's core mission is keeping America informed through expert printing, publishing and digital media services to the three branches of government. The near billion-dollar government agency produces the Official Journals of Government, including two daily and one weekly newspapers: the Congressional Record, the Federal Register and the Patent and Trademark Official Gazette. Through a partnership with over 1,250 libraries across this country, the GPO provides permanent public access to the documents of our democracy. Because printing is no longer the primary means of communication between the government and the public, the GPO is developing a digital content system to support printing, publishing and permanent public access to authenticated electronic documents that will ensure that digital information created today by our government will be available in perpetuity. The Cal Poly Graphic Communication Institute, supported by the Cal Poly Graphic Communication Department, will host the conference and banquet in conjunction with SustainCommWorld LLC. The conference chair is Don Carli, senior research fellow at the Institute for Sustainable Communication. Conference sponsors include Kodak, Mohawk Papers, Quebecor World, Xerox, and the Cal Poly College of Liberal Arts. For more information on “The Business of Green Media” sessions and activities, visit http://grci.calpoly.edu/sustainability.html.