Reston, VA –PRIMIR, the Print Industries Market Information and Research Organization, the research unit of NPES, announces the leadership appointment of Rekha Ratnam as PRIMIR Managing Director by NPES President Thayer Long. This key research management appointment is made as NPES embarks on new strategic business planning and begins to realign the organization's internal staff resources. Greg Safko, former PRIMIR Managing Director, will continue to serve as a Vice President within NPES to support PRIMIR and NPES research programs, and embrace new and expanding responsibilities in other essential program areas.

Ratnam is a 17-year veteran NPES staffer whose tenure has focused almost exclusively on the NPES and PRIMIR research and market data programs. According to NPES President Thayer Long, "I'm pleased for the opportunity to promote Rekha Ratnam into the position of PRIMIR Managing Director, having spent her career in supporting, managing and leading a multitude of key industry projects. Rekha has played a pivotal role with the PRIMIR Executive Committee and Greg Safko in developing and launching the recent PRIMIR 2.0 strategic initiatives and product innovation to benefit the full value chain of our industry, and will expand her role as a key resource for PRIMIR and NPES members in the future."

PRIMIR Executive Committee Chair, Frances Cicogna, Manager, Business Development and Segment Marketing, for Canon U.S.A., stated, "Rekha has been a key player within PRIMIR management during a time of transformation, managing diverse industry consultancies and projects, to deliver innovative new research formats and delivery systems. Our PRIMIR Executive Committee is enthusiastically supportive of her appointment as Managing Director and looks forward to working with her more closely to provide the strategic market intelligence and analysis that successful PRIMIR and NPES members require to be market leaders in the future."

Ratnam joined NPES in 1999 to support the organization's robust research initiatives and market data programs. With the combining of the NPES Market Research Committee and PIA's GAMIS research unit in 2005, her role became more specialized to support the newly named PRIMIR organization, as an expanding and instrumental research association for the graphic communications industry. Since PRIMIR's inception, she has a proven record of contributing to the published portfolio of quality market research about the industry, for member firms in diverse industry segments.