Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania - The Technical Association of Graphic Arts (TAGA), the only global professional technical association for the graphic arts industries, is pleased to announce the 2015 incoming officers and members of the Board of Directors. The new board entered their positions following the conclusion of the 67th TAGA Annual Technical Conference, which took place in March this year in Albuquerque, NM. These new members are key industry and academic leaders from top companies and technical universities supporting the graphic arts industry worldwide.
 
President—David Niles, Sappi Fine Paper 
David Niles, Senior Print and Converting Scientist, Sappi Fine Paper, has been with Sappi/SD Warren for 30 years and involved in the graphic arts industry for 25 years. His responsibilities include implementing printing and publishing research strategies and market feasibility studies. He works with marketing, sales, and operations representatives on new product development, current product reliability, and quality efforts. An expert on ink and paper interaction, web offset, commercial offset, flexo printing, and digital printing paper products, David also manages cooperative research projects with co-suppliers to the printing industry. He is Sappi’s technical representative to the printing industry and works on a number of technical committees, which include: Printing Industries of America’s (PIA) Research Committee, Print Properties Committee, GRACoL Committee, SWOP Committee, and CGATS.
 
New officers include (full biographies are listed at the end of this release):
 
Executive Vice President—Dr. Liam O’Hara, Associate Professor, Department of Graphic Communications, Clemson University
Immediate Past President—Dr. Don Duncan, Director of Research, Wikoff Color Corporation
Vice President, Marketing—Udi Arieli, Sr. Director of Product Management, EFI
Vice President, Membership—Tim Payne, Director of Printing and Technical Services, Gateway Packaging Company
Vice President, Education—Dr. Yu-Ju (Mandy) Wu, Assistant Professor, Department of Technology and Environmental Design, Appalachian State University
 
New Board members include:
 
Paul Cousineau, Vice President, Prepress, Continuous Improvement and IT Operations, Dow Jones and New York Post
Bruce Leigh Myers, Ph.D., Resident Assistant Professor, School of Media Sciences, Rochester Institute of Technology
Dawn Nye, Production Print Solutions and Services Marketing Manager, Konica Minolta Business Solutions USA
Brenda Pang, Executive Director, Advanced Printing Technology Centre (APTEC)
Birgit Plautz, Manager of Technical Services, GMG Americas and Head of Global Support, GMG GmbH & Co. KG
Don Schroeder, Director of Solutions Development and Director of the National Technology Center, FUJIFILM North America Corporation
Hart Swisher, Chief Research and Innovation Director, Hammer Packaging Corporation
Wandee Poolpol, End Use Manager for Graphic Arts, Eckart America Corporation
 
The TAGA Board performs an essential role in helping the organization meet its overarching objective of providing a worldwide forum for sharing and disseminating theoretical, functional, and practical information on current and emerging technologies for graphic arts print production and related processes. For more information on TAGA, or to become a member, visit www.printing.org/taga.
 
Full Biographies:
 
Executive Vice President—Dr. Liam O’Hara, Clemson University
Liam O’Hara, Associate Professor of the Department of Graphic Communications at Clemson University, currently teaches courses on print metrics, color management, inks and substrates, and supervises undergraduate research projects. He is actively involved in roll-to-roll printed electronics application research. Liam has been a TAGA member and the Advisor to the Clemson Student Chapter for the past ten years, has served on the Board of Directors for five years, and has previously served as Editor of the TAGA Journal of Graphic Technology and as VP of Education.
 
Immediate Past President—Dr. Don Duncan, Wikoff Color Corporation
Don Duncan, Ph.D. is an organic chemist who received his PhD from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He led the research group of Wikoff Color Corporation for 19 years. Don recently completed simultaneous but unrelated terms as President of RadTech North America and a President of TAGA. As a 2014 inductee into the Ben Franklin Honor Society, he is well known in the graphic arts industry as a technical leader and speaker on a variety of topics.
 
Vice President, Marketing—Udi Arieli, EFI
Udi Arieli, Sr. Director of Product Management, PrintFlow dynamic scheduling and Digital Workflow at EFI, has been actively involved with many organizations, including the Vice President and then President position of the Israeli Printing Industry unity of the Small Business Association of Israel. He has dedicated his life to educate and bring efficiencies, smart software, and automation to the industry. Since that time, he has focused on creating the Theory of Global Optimization (TGO), and on bringing intelligent software products—PrintFlow based on TGO—to   education programs. Udi has written numerous articles, has been interviewed many times, and has lectured widely about intelligent automation and TGO.
 
Vice President, Membership—Tim Payne, Gateway Packaging Company 
Tim Payne, Director of Printing and Technical Services at Gateway Packaging Company, spearheaded the offset print genre entrance into flexible packaging markets featuring the high-end offset electron beam platform; for which Gateway Packaging is recognized as an industry pioneer. Tim’s experience includes 20 years of commercial offset heatset web/sheetfed, 10 years of offset electron beam and water-based flexo, and most recently solvent-based flexo platforms. He oversees graphics, color management, customer projects, capital projects, coatings development, and various technical and operations projects.  
 
Vice President, Education—Dr. Yu-Ju (Mandy) Wu, Appalachian State University
Yu Ju (Mandy) Wu, Assistant Professor of the Department of Technology and Environmental Design at Appalachian State University, has been a TAGA member since 2003 when she attended her first TAGA conference in Montreal, Canada. Mandy began her leadership with the organization when she joined the TAGA Board Committee in 2011. She also serves as a TAGA student club advisor to help students become acquainted with professional development for their career and other aspects of graphic communication outside the classroom.
 
New board members for 2015 include the following:
 
Paul Cousineau, Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
Paul Cousineau, Vice President, Prepress, Continuous Improvement and IT Operations at Dow Jones and New York Post, is a past president of TAGA (2011–2013) and has served on the board since 2003. He is currently serving as the PIA Research Committee Chair and on the PIA Executive Board.  He is the Chair of the Journalism Advisory Board and First Vice Chair of the Graphic Communications Advisory Board at California Polytechnic State University in San Luis Obispo. Paul’s experience spans 38 years in the printing industry, including 31 years with Dow Jones/News Corp. in various capacities within the production organization.
 
Bruce Leigh Myers, Ph.D., Rochester Institute of Technology
Bruce Leigh Myers, Ph.D., Resident Assistant Professor of the School of Media Sciences at Rochester Institute of Technology, holds his doctorate in graphic communications from New York University and is a veteran of the printing industry for more than twenty-five years. Bruce began his career with Agfa in 1985 where he held several laboratory, sales, and technical management jobs. He also worked for X-Rite for fourteen years in various sales, account management, and training positions, including Global Sales Training Manager, where he traveled extensively in China supporting the international sales force.
 
Dawn Nye, Konica Minolta Business Solutions USA
Dawn Nye, Production Print Solutions and Services Marketing Manager of Konica Minolta Business Solutions USA, has more than 30 years of experience in the graphic communications industry. Her background ranges from typesetting to product management and education. She was a tenured professor at The New York City College of Technology and has taught graduate classes at Pratt Institute. In her role at Konica Minolta, her objective is to understand customers’ needs and create a seamless integration of solutions, services and hardware via appropriate messaging. Dawn is the recipient of a Gold Key Award from the International Graphic Arts Honor Society. 
 
Brenda Pang, Advanced Printing Technology Centre (APTEC)
Brenda Pang is the Executive Director for Advanced Printing Technology Centre (APTEC), a non-profit organization located in Hong Kong under the Hong Kong Printers Association. In recent years, she led APTEC to develop various kinds of industry training and create certification programs in printing standardization, research programs, and organizing international conferences. She is now a member of the TC170 in China, an ISO/TC130 Expert, and Fogra PSO expert partner.
 
Brigit Plautz, GMG Americas
Birgit Plautz is a Manager of Technical Services at GMG Americas and Head of Global Support at GMG GmbH & Co. KG, a German-based company providing color management solutions. She started her career in the printing industry with seven years as a media designer in a global acting prepress house, where she also focused on packaging and catalog creation. Her time in research and development for Heidelberg Printing, as well as her master’s work in Printing Technologies from Stuttgart Media University, rounded out her education and provided a strong push into digital color management. Before moving to America, Birgit spent five years in technical development at GMG headquarters.
 
Don Schroeder, FUJIFILM North America Corporation
Don Schroeder, Director of Solutions Development and Director of the National Technology Center at FUJIFILM North America Corporation, has enjoyed a diverse career within the graphic arts industry spanning nearly 30 years. His accomplishments include the industry-recognized, award winning Color Path Sync Solutions that allow color control, validation, and alignment of color, all performed over the Internet to one or multiple site locations. Prior to his career at FUJIFILM, Don was a 14-year veteran of the U.S. Army. He is very active in the graphic arts industry, participating in the industry committees, assisting in the development of standards, contributing and authoring many articles for industry trade publications, white papers, and video interviews.
 
Hart Swisher, Hammer Packaging
Hart Swisher, Chief Research and Innovation Director of Hammer Packaging Corporation, has been with Hammer Packaging since 1990. Hart’s career began at a large commercial printer, Case-Hoyt, as Testing Lab Technician. He was later promoted to Manufacturing Technical Coordinator. In his current role, Hart is responsible for research and development (equipment, materials, and processes), technical services, new product support, process management, and testing lab and ink room functions. He holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Printing Management from the Rochester Institute of Technology.
 
Wandee Poolpol, Eckart America Corporation
Wandee Poolpol, End Use Manager, Graphic Arts at Eckart America Corporation (formerly Obron Atlantic Corporation) has held various management positions in product management, Sales & Marketing, and Technical Services been since 1990. In 2010-2013, she fulfilled an overseas assignment as Head of Technical Services and Product Development with Eckart Asia, training and building a competent technical team as well as reorganizing the technical services department at the Technical Center in Zhuhai, China. She is a long-standing TAGA member and had served on the board previously. Wandee received her Master of Sciences from RIT in Printing Technology, and had her Bachelor of Sciences degree in Photographic Sciences and Printing Technology from Chulalongkorn University, Bangkok, Thailand. She also finished the Executive Education programs in Business Administration and Marketing at the University of Michigan and University of Wisconsin-Madison.