Each year we search the globe to find outstanding keynote speakers for the Technical Association of the Graphics Art (TAGA) Annual Technical Conference. After all, the conference has a reputation of highlighting some of the most dynamic thought leaders in our industry.
The print professionals, scientists, and researchers coming to the 67th TAGA Conference, March 22–25, 2015, in Albuquerque, NM, will hear thought-provoking keynote discussions on new print applications; print-centric, omni-channel marketing; national security innovations; and printed electronic opportunities. The headlining speakers bring a wide range of experience and expertise that drives the BIG ideas for the printing industry.
Chris Travis, Director of Technology, KBA
Chris Travis has been involved in the printing industry since he was 15 years old. From an apprentice at a U.K. printing company, Chris went full-steam ahead, landing high-profile positions, including Experimental Printing Manager of Global Research and Development for Flint Ink before he began with KBA as Director of Technology. Chris is a major player in the company’s new and future technologies as well as sales, marketing, and product management.
He draws on this broad experience in his TAGA keynote session “Ink on Substrate—New Printing Processes and Applications that Can Expand the Positioning of Today’s Printer” where he explains how traditional printers can expand their portfolio by offering ancillary services to build new revenue streams using existing internal knowledge and processes.
KBA, headquartered in Dallas, TX, is the oldest and second largest press manufacturer in the world and has a history of influence in the technology market. The company earned multiple InterTech™ Technology Awards, the latest for its Flying JobChange in 2011.
Michael Van Haren, Postal Solutions Sales Manager, Quad/Graphics
Mike Van Haren is a big believer in the power of print—especially when it is strategically linked and aligned with all other channels of marketing. For more than 25 years, he has dedicated his career to the print and media technology industry in a number of technical, marketing, business development, and operational management positions. He’s managed a variety of teams and worked with customers from around the globe.
With more than seven years at one of the largest magazine, catalog, and direct marketing printers in the Western Hemisphere, Quad/Graphics’ Postal Solutions Sales Manager is all about marketing solutions. Mike leads a team of sales consultants who guide customers in strategy and development of targeted, measurable, multichannel marketing solutions and assists them with postal optimization through innovative data management and analytics.
This evolving technology is the topic of Mike’s keynote session at the Annual TAGA Conference in March. He’ll present “Using Data and a Print-centric Strategy to Manage Relevant, Timely Omni-channel Marketing” and show how to successfully use customer and mail delivery data to make print the driver of timely, targeted and relevant omni-channel messaging that will help retain and grow market share.
Patrick Younk, Staff Scientist, Los Alamos National Lab
Before Dr. Younk’s research led him to astro-particle physics at Los Alamos National Lab in New Mexico (where he has published over 40 research articles), he worked for eight years as a research/design engineer in the printing industry. This experience in the printing industry, he says, has benefitted his work in experimental physics.
A graduate of Michigan Technological University, Dr. Younk specializes in a broad range of machine (experiment) design, data analysis, and theoretical physics. His TAGA session, “Scientific and Technology Innovations for a Secure Country” explores the remarkable research activity under way in such fields as national security, space exploration, and more.
His professional accolades include the Director’s Post Doctoral Fellow, Los Alamos National Lab; Alexander von Humboldt Fellow; and Michigan Space Grant Fellow.
Dr. Bruce Kahn, Adjunct Professor, Graphic Communications, Clemson University
It is safe to say that Bruce Kahn is dedicated to the field of printed electronics. He has been involved in the field for more than 11 years, not only teaching the subject at Clemson University but also consulting for companies in printed electronics, organic electronics, nanotechnology, nanofabrication, smart packaging, and radio frequency identification (RFID). Additionally he is a well-known author and trainer.
He discusses the reality of printed electronics and the future of this technology in his TAGA Conference keynote session, “Printed Electronics: Opportunity, Challenge, and/or Hype?”
Before he joined Clemson, Kahn was an Assistant Professor at the Rochester Institute of Technology. Here he started the Printable Electronics Research Program that investigated the influence of scale up and printing process parameters on printed devices using commercial-scale flexographic and gravure printing. His research has pursued the investigation, assessment, and development of the use of printing techniques (particularly high-volume printing processes) and materials for the fabrication of electronic devices. This work has produced (both small and production-scale) transparent conductive films, multilayer devices, chemical sensors, and antennas for RFID tags.
Kahn was recently awarded the 2014 Flexi Award for technology leadership in education from the FlexTech Alliance. Dr. Kahn has a Ph.D. in Chemistry from the University of Nebraska, and a B.S. in Chemistry from the University of Chicago.
Come see these experts in person at the 67th Annual TAGA Technical Conference, March 22–25, 2015, in Albuquerque, NM. Here you will find inspiring sessions and tours, so grab a front seat to witness the research and technologies that are changing the future of the print and graphic arts industry. Register HERE.
