Pittsburgh, Pa. – Printing Industries of America (PIA) is pleased to announce that Jules Van Sant, Executive Director of Pacific Printing Industries Association, has been named the 2018 Naomi Berber Memorial Award honoree. Van Sant’s award was presented at the 2018 Ben Franklin Honor Society induction ceremony on November 9 2018 in Grapevine, TX. This award honors outstanding women in the graphic communications industry for their exceptional record of accomplishments, extraordinary contributions toward the development of the graphic communications industry, and for having advanced the interests of the industry.

“Jules has championed the region with forward-thinking strategies for sustainability,” said Laura Lawton in her nomination of Van Sant for the award. “Her high-profile presence on national task forces, committees, and industry networking initiatives, plus her business and marketing acumen, has positioned Jules as a leader and inspiration catalyst for the print and visual communications industry.”

Jules’s career has spanned the gamut of the communications spectrum, giving her a well-rounded perspective in our evolving industry of print. She started working on her 14th birthday for the state of Oregon in Patient Accounts at Oregon Health Sciences University filing, copying, and sorting paper and envelopes for mailing. While attending Portland State University, she was promoted into the insurance billing department where she eventually became a supervisor upon graduation and was instrumental in training employees as systems transitioned from paper to digital claims filing.

Ready for adventure, Jules moved to Los Angeles and worked first as a financial assistant and then as broadcast traffic coordinator for Saatchi & Saatchi Advertising. From there came traffic and print production management positions back home in Portland, Oregon with advertising agencies as well as graphic arts firms. She was fortunate to become well versed in a variety of segments, including large-format screen printing, offset print sales, flexography prepress production management as well as a multi-faceted sign shop. She rolled back into agency work and eventually started Red Joule Communications, creating marketing solutions on behalf of a variety of industries, including Pacific Printing Industries (PPI) Association.

She was asked to apply for the Executive Director position in the spring of 2006, as the PPI Board felt a marketing push was important not only for the regional industry but to help the association thrive in a very volatile time. Twelve years later, the association has maintained its relevance with increased energy, advocacy, and positive can-do attitude.

An area of passion for Jules is ushering the new generation into today’s print industry. From the front office to the back of the shop, Jules works tirelessly to promote how careers in print are cool, relevant, and require a variety of skill sets to accomplish. The region has all but lost any print-specific training programs, so she is meeting as many people as possible to talk about job opportunities and the unique place print occupies in the media landscape. Her goal is to see renewed curriculum engaging tomorrow’s workforce and the creation of pipelines for all regional employers in the future.

For more information on the Naomi Berber Award and a list of past recipients, please visit www.printing.org/berber.