Idealliance’s nearly two dozen active Working Groups will offer technical and strategic management best practices and benefits to an expanded audience of more than 3,000 companies and tens of thousands of media professionals when the association merges with Epicomm (the Association for Leaders in Print, Mail, Fulfillment, and Marketing Services) on July 1 of this year. “The process-oriented methodology our Working Group members use to create innovative workflow best practices will be augmented by the management considerations that are integral to all workplace functions – a specialty of Epicomm,” said David Steinhardt, President and Chief Executive Officer of Idealliance.
“Similarly, current Epicomm members will have access to the latest standards and best practices for technologies and workflows that continue to transform our industry and enhance efficiency across the end-to-end media supply chain, through active Working Groups such as our Print Properties and GRACoL Committees, Postal Operations and Technologies Committee, and the metadata committees of PRISM,” he added. “Our respective staffs have begun to work together to develop ways to blend our individual association offerings into a powerhouse line-up of resources that can help our members across the entire industry supply chain to gain greater productivity and profitability, by leveraging programs applicable to every industry area – from the pressroom to the mailroom to the boardroom. The wheels are turning as our two associations are coming together to realize the benefits of their complementary missions and services. We’re already collaborating very effectively to develop new programs for our expanded memberships. In fact, we’ll be launching a new program for the certification of mail supply professionals and will be introducing additional program offerings in the coming months.”
The new association will retain the name Idealliance and will be located in the current Epicomm headquarters at 1800 Diagonal Road, Suite 320, Alexandria, Virginia. Steinhardt will serve as President and Chief Executive Officer and current Epicomm President and Chief Executive Officer Ken Garner will be Executive Vice President. Epicomm Board Chairman Tim Johnson, CEO at Impact (Minneapolis, Minnesota), will serve as Chairman of the new association’s Board. Serving companies across the total graphic communications supply chain, the new association will provide members benefits in six primary categories: Best practices and specifications, strategy and consulting, advocacy and standards, certification and training, education and events, and research and resources.
Epicomm was created through the 2014 merger of three of the industry’s best-known trade associations: The Association of Marketing Service Providers (AMSP), the National Association for Printing Leadership (NAPL), and the National Association of Quick Printers (NAQP). Idealliance is a global community of more than 1,600 brand owners, agencies, publishers, premedia and print service provider companies, and their material suppliers and technology partners. A not-for-profit industry association, it provides media creators and technology communities the opportunity to collaborate to craft best practices, advance standards, and certify people, processes, and systems to achieve the highest performance in the creation, production and delivery of graphic communications – both digitally and in print.
Idealliance and Epicomm collaborating to expand member resources and service offerings after July 1 merger
