Rochester, NY - October 3, 2007 - PODi, the Digital Printing Initiative, will bring a distinguished slate of keynote speakers to the 2008 PODi Application Forum. The next annual digital print event is January 28-30 in Las Vegas. Two keynote speakers have been confirmed in addition to Rab Govil, PODi president, who will provide insights into the digital print marketplace. Rounding out the slate are Rick Smith, CEO of TASER International, and Joel Cartun, Founder and former Chairman of Vestcom. The gentlemen will speak January 30 in two general sessions.
"Attendees will be pleased with the depth of knowledge and experience of these two speakers. Their stories will tell us a lot about growing a company with digital print," said Rab Govil. "Rick Smith and Joel Cartun bring such diverse backgrounds; yet have success in variable data print in common. Anyone working with digital print will enjoy these different perspectives."
Rick Smith has served as Chief Executive Officer and as a director of the TASER International since 1993. He is also co-founder. After graduating from Harvard cum laude in three years (class of 1991), Smith entered the Master of Business Administration Program at the University of Chicago, the youngest person accepted into his class that year. In two years, he completed both a master's degree in international finance from the University of Leuven in Belgium, and an M.B.A. with honors at the University of Chicago (normally a two-year program in itself), graduating in the top five percent. After completing graduate school in 1993, he co-founded TASER with his brother in 1993. "I'm looking forward to sharing my experiences with other professionals at the AppForum," said Smith. "Hopefully they will benefit from some of the lessons we've learned about the use of complex variable data and successful customer communications."
Joel Cartun is the Founder of Vestcom International, a leading provider of specialized in-store marketing communications. Cartun started Vestcom in 1996 and went public in 1997 by merging his company, Comvestrix, and six other digital printing service companies. Vestcom acquired eight additional companies before it went private in 2002. Cartun is an active angel investor and heads up the advisory board of Remote Play, a company that develops and markets wireless products and networks. He was a founder of XPLOR and serves on the board of the Association for Corporate Growth (ACG) New Jersey. He received a BS and Masters Degree in Mathematics from Brooklyn College of the City University of NY. Cartun has been a member of the EDSF Board of Directors since 1999. "It's an honor to speak to the participants at the AppForum," said Cartun. "This is such a dynamic industry, and every day there is something new to learn. I look forward to telling my story and learning from my colleagues as well."
For more information on the PODi AppForum visit www.podiforum.org.