Lutz, FL - Xplor International, the worldwide electronic document systems association, today named the recipients of the Brian Platte Lifetime Achievement Award. This award was presented at Xplor’s Annual Conference, Xploration 17, on Tuesday, March 28th during the awards ceremony.

The Brian Platte Lifetime Achievement Award was established in 2007 and is given to an individual, or individuals, whose efforts and contributions have significantly changed the course and development of the digital document industry. This award is open to Xplor International members as well as non-members.

This year, two Brian Platte Lifetime Achievement Awards were presented.

The first recipient is Kemal Carr. Kemal is the President of Madison Advisors, an industry research and consulting firm that provides project-based advisory services designed to assist clients with business strategy and technology selection decisions. Prior to forming Madison Advisors in 2001, Kemal held various system roles including three years with the industry analyst group at Doculabs and seven years in the systems company of Fidelity Investments. Kemal is also a frequent writer for leading industry publications and speaks at industry events around the world.

Mr. Carr supports the New York University Prism Award Luncheon, has served on the Board of the Colleyville Grapevine Youth Football Association, and volunteered on a committee working with his local City Council to pass a bond for improvements to area schools. He also supports the Woodland Hills Community Park, nurturing 100-year old pecan trees and planting more in an effort to beautify the area for all the community to enjoy.

A second Lifetime Achievement Award was also presented to Harald Grumser, who founded Compart 23 years ago and has run the company like a family ever since. The innovation that the company was built upon gives users the ability to convert any kind of print format to any other kind of print format. The unique approach Harald took to accomplish this any-to-any conversion is called “Docponents®” and remains an idea well ahead of its time that has proven to be a uniquely prescient approach.

In addition to Harald’s contributions to the industry, he has shown his deep social consciousness by sponsoring giving campaigns for victims of earthquakes, floods, famine and the tsunami caused by the Indian Ocean earthquake in 2004. His sense of humanity has been touched by the plight of Syrian refugees streaming into Europe and Germany. Sensing that money was not enough, he initiated a program to teach refugees German, using Compart’s office space, volunteers, and facilities. Volunteers were granted time off from their usual assignments in order to teach both adults and children the language skills they will need in order to thrive in Germany and adapt to their new country.

“I’d like to congratulate both Kemal and Harald for their achievement, it is well deserved.” says Skip Henk, EDP, President/CEO of Xplor International. “Our industry as a whole and the world around us are better places due to their efforts.”

Other Xplor annual awards, recognized and announced at Xploration^® 17, include:

Technology of the Year

Winner - Pitney Bowes / Clarity Solutions 

Honorable Mention - Xerox Corporation / Xerox Direct to Object Inkjet Printer 

Honorable Mention - Elixir Technologies Corporation / Tango+ 

Application of the Year

Winner: BMO Bank of Montreal / GMC Software / The CX Ecosystem and Digital Transformation 

Honorable Mention: Gore Mutual / uBiz 

Honorable Mention: Health First / Ricoh USA, Inc. / RICOH ProcessDirector