NPES President Delmontagne to Retire at End of 2005

Regis J. Delmontagne will retire at the end of 2005 as President of NPES The Association for Suppliers of Printing, Publishing and Converting Technologies, the Graphic Arts Show Company and the Graphic Arts Education and Research Foundation, NPES and GASC Chair Kathryn P. Marx has announced.

Delmontagne was the Association's first full-time professional executive. At the time he joined the Association, then known as the National Printing Equipment Association in December 1976, membership comprised 37 companies; today there are more than 400.

He has been President of GASC since the show management company was created in 1982 and of GAERF since the Foundation was established in 1983.

"His three decades of management transformed NPES and have had a profound impact on the marketing of printing, publishing and converting systems worldwide," said Marx, Vice President and Chief Marketing Officer with Flint Ink. "Many events and programs that are now fixtures of the industry either were created or achieved their greatest growth under his guidance, including GASC, GAERF, the NPES leadership role in the development of national and international safety and technical standards and a worldwide network of cooperative relationships."

"Although Regis will be retiring from his fulltime position, he will be retained as a consultant for several years with NPES, GASC and GAERF," Marx said. An announcement regarding the appointment of Delmontagne's successor is expected soon.

Delmontagne strongly advocated the creation of the Graphic Arts Show Company as a joint partnership of NPES, representing suppliers, and the National Association for Printing

Leadership (NAPL) and Printing Industries of America (PIA/GATF), representing end-users.

GASC events, including the international PRINT® show and the annual GRAPH EXPO® and CONVERTING EXPO®, have grown dramatically. This year marks the introduction of CONVERTINGSM 05 with PRINT® 05 to strengthen the packaging printing dimensions of the world's largest industry exhibition of 2005.