Alexandria, Va. – Idealliance, the leading developer of specifications and certifications in the graphic communications industry and a global association of brands, printers and technology companies, announces that effective immediately Idealliance is appointing Dick Ryan, former Vice President of Sales at LSC Communications, Inc., and a former chairman of the Idealliance Board of Directors, as Acting CEO of the organization. The former Idealliance CEO, Timothy Baechle, has no further connection with Idealliance, and we wish him well in his future endeavors.

The appointment of Mr. Ryan is a core component of the Board of Director’s initiative to focus on the Association’s unique strengths of standardization, training and certification in the graphic communications supply chain. Over the next six (6) months Ryan’s mission will be to assess and streamline Idealliance programs and initiatives in collaboration with the Board of Directors and staff. Furthermore, he will also coordinate the selection of a new CEO and strengthen membership and partnerships for Idealliance. Future interaction with Idealliance should be directed to Mr. Ryan – see biography and contact information below.

Todd Maute, Idealliance Board Chair said, “We are pleased that Dick Ryan, an industry executive who has extensive experience with Idealliance, has accepted appointment as Acting CEO of Idealliance. He has worked in the industry for more than 35 years and has first-hand experience with all three of the Idealliance portfolios – digital, distribution, and print. Additionally, Ryan has experience as a member and executive on the Idealliance Board of Directors and various association working groups. In his new role, he will work with the Idealliance membership, elected leadership and staff to guide the Association into the future.”

As part of the Board of Director’s initiative, David Steinhardt, former President & CEO of Idealliance from 2001 to 2018, will serve as a Managing Director for six (6) months. He will partner with Mr. Ryan, the Board of Directors, and staff on management and operations and contribute to set a strategy for the future.

“Idealliance continues to uniquely serve the graphic communications industry,” said Acting CEO Dick Ryan, “No other industry group does what it does. I was lucky to have been introduced to Idealliance over fifteen (15) years ago and served as a volunteer on its working groups where core industry supply chain standardization efforts begin. Idealliance’s unique DNA is collaboration across customers, creators, suppliers, and users and as a result is positioned to redefine supply chains and workflows. Idealliance goes further by developing training and certification programs for evolving professionals and graphic communications processes. Its role in the industry – globally and here at home in the United States – must be maintained and strengthened so that it can continue its mission of helping to build the industry’s supply chain architecture of the future.”

ABOUT DICK RYAN

Dick Ryan has worked in the publishing and media business since 1980, starting his career with two daily newspapers, The Milwaukee Journal and The Milwaukee Sentinel. Since then Dick Ryan has held a variety of positions in publishing over the course of his career, including Advertising Sales Director, Publisher, President, and CEO. Ryan has worked at publishing houses such as Harcourt Brace Jovanovich and Crain Communications, internet startups B2BWorks and Performics, and has led niche publishers Financial Communications Co., in San Francisco, and Zweig White Information Services in Chicago and Boston. He has also served on the Board of Directors of Idealliance, serving as Director, Vice Chair, Chair and Past Chair from 2012 through 2018.

Since 2008, Dick Ryan served as Vice President of Sales & Marketing for Publishers Press, one of the country’s largest printers of niche magazines and catalogs. At Publishers Press he was a co-founder of The Magazine Channel, an article-based mobile reading application, and served on that start-up company’s Board of Directors until 2017. In 2017 Ryan managed the sale of Publishers Press and The Magazine Channel to LSC Communications. He stayed on with LSC to assist in the transition and integration of Publishers into LSC’s printing and distribution platform.

Dick Ryan is a graduate of Northwestern University with a degree in Economics and Political Science and attended Marquette University’s Graduate School of Journalism while working at The Milwaukee Journal and Sentinel.

Ryan has been an active member of the American Business Media Association, as well as the Software & Information Industry Association (now Connectiv), serving as chairman of the ABM’s small publishers’ ad hoc committee from 2002 to 2004. His charitable works include serving on the board of Project Rush, a fund-raising resource for shelters serving at-risk/homeless mothers and their children in Chicago. In Vermont he supports and volunteers for Vermont Adaptive Ski & Sports, a leading ski and sports program for outdoor enthusiasts with disabilities.

Contact: [email protected] or 773.600.9454