Contact: Cynthia Valentino, NAPL
(800) 642-6275, ext. 1329; cvalentino@napl.org
Award to be presented Tuesday, June 13, in Chicago during annual NAPL· PIA/GATF Sheetfed Conference.
PARAMUS, N.J., MAY 15, 2006 – John Berthelsen, president of Suttle-Straus, Inc., Waunakee, Wis.-based graphic communications company, has been named the 2006 Sheetfed Executive of the Year by NAPL, the trade association for excellence in graphic communications management, and Printing Industries of America (PIA)/Graphic Arts Technical Foundation (GATF). The award will be presented to Berthelsen during the annual NAPL · PIA/GATF Sheetfed Conference in Chicago, at a special luncheon sponsored by Heidelberg USA on Tuesday, June 13.
Berthelsen is the 12th recipient of the award, created to honor a sheetfed printing industry leader who had demonstrated exceptional service, initiative, and commitment to his or her community, company, and the sheetfed printing industry. Throughout his respected and productive career in graphic communications, Berthelsen has exhibited these principles.
“In my 30 years in the industry, I have rarely found a CEO of any printing company of any size that has embraced training and education for himself and his loyal employees as passionately as has John Berthelsen,” said C. Clint Bolte, principal of consulting firm C. Clint Bolte & Associates, who nominated Berthelsen for the award. “This has resulted in his firm’s being a leader in a staggering array of initiatives on many fronts, from technology to human relations and from product development to professional management.”
During his tenure at Suttle-Straus, the company’s annual volume has grown from $375,000 in 1979 to $32 million in 2005, and the organization has been recognized by numerous industry and business awards. Under Berthelsen’s leadership, Suttle-Straus was featured six times in American Printer magazine’s annual listing of the “Top 50 Fastest Growing Printers” in the U.S. In 1990, the company received the highest honor in NAPL’s Management Plus competition, the William K. Marrinan Hall of Fame Award, recognizing superior management in nine critical areas. Suttle-Straus was recipient of a Best Workplace in the Americas award by PIA/GATF for six consecutive years, reflecting the firm’s superior employee relations.
Berthelsen has helped advance the company through the ongoing introduction of new technologies, process innovations, and product and service offerings. The company was one of the early adopters of waterless printing, and has embraced UV coating and the use of hybrid inks. In addition to traditional printing, Suttle-Straus provides digital and digital wide format printing, added mailing services 20 years ago and has been running a successful fulfillment operation for nearly a decade.
Suttle-Straus and Berthelsen have participated in NAPL’s Printing Business Panel, a group of more than 300 printers that the Association surveys monthly on a range of key printing issues, since the group’s inception. Through that involvement, Suttle-Straus has been recognized as one of the industry’s most progressive companies and invited to participate on NAPL’s Industry Trends Analysis Group (I-TAG), which is dedicated to the discussion and analysis of the industry’s critical issues.
An active participant in industry associations, Berthelsen is a member of NAPL’s Soderstrom Society and The Ben Franklin Society of PIA/GATF. In 1996, he was honored for his service to the industry with the International Association of Printing House Craftsmen’s International Craftsman of the Year Award. He has a long and ongoing record of service on the Boards and advisory committees of a number of trade associations.
As part of his career-long commitment to professional development, Berthelsen completed all four disciplines in NAPL’s Management Institute (now the NAPL and PIA/GATF Management & Leadership Institute), becoming one of only a handful of Certified Graphic Arts Executives (CGAE) in the U.S.
In honor of Berthelsen’s strong support of industry education, Suttle-Straus endowed a Print and Graphic Scholarship Foundation (PGSF) in his name and he and his family have endowed a second full PGSF scholarship. He is currently serving a two-year term as the chairman of PGSF. Berthelsen readily accepts the many invitations he receives to share at industry conferences Suttle-Straus’ experiences with new technologies, equipment, or product-development initiatives.
Active in community affairs, Berthelsen serves on the Board of Directors of Meriter Hospital Foundation, which supports medical research and education.
About PIA/GATF: The Printing Industries of America (PIA)/Graphic Arts Technical Foundation (GATF) (http://www.gain.net) is the world’s largest graphic arts trade association representing an industry with more than 1.2 million employees. It serves the interests of more than 12,000 member companies. PIA/GATF, along with its affiliates, delivers products and services that enhance the growth, efficiency and profitability of its members and the industry through advocacy, education, research and technical information.
About NAPL: Chartered in 1933, NAPL (http://www.napl.org) is a not-for-profit association representing companies in the $100 billion+ graphic communications industry. Dedicated to excellence in graphic communications management, NAPL’s comprehensive slate of business-building solutions provides company leaders with the strategies, insights, and guidance they can use to make informed business decisions, minimize risk, anticipate change, and profitably grow their business.
