It is a time of change for the National Association of Printing Ink Manufacturers (NAPIM). The ink association has brought in a management company, Seven 12 Management, to manage NAPIM . Meanwhile, John Copeland, NAPIM’s executive director for the past six and a half years, is retiring.

During his 44 years in the ink industry, John has seen the industry evolve. He began his lifelong in-terest in the graphic arts as a high school student. After high school, he enlisted in the US Army and served for three years, from 1975-1978. Upon his return home, he attended Sinclair College, Dayton, OH, graduating with a degree in graphic arts technology/printing science.

In 1978, John began his career in the printing ink industry with Sinclair & Valentine in Dayton, OH as a lab technician. Over his 44-year career, John has held various positions including lab manager, technical service, product development manager, plant manager, sales representative, technical director and VP of operations. His last position before joining NAPIM was president of Toyo Ink America, LLC.

In 2007, John was elected to serve on NAPIM’s Board of Directors and later, as an officer. John received the Printing Ink Pioneer Award in 2011. In 2015, John joined NAPIM as executive director. He will retire from NAPIM in April 2022. 

John is married, has five children and eleven grandchildren. His main hobbies are playing guitar, golf and studying the history of printing and printing inks.

As he heads toward retirement, John offered his thoughts on NAPIM and the ink industry.

IW: You have been leading NAPIM for six and a half years. How has NAPIM and the ink industry changed during that time?

John Copeland: Thanks Dave. NAPIM as well as the printing ink industry has seen a number of changes during the time frame you’ve mentioned. We have seen a number of member companies sold, bought and or merged, supply chain issues worsen to all-time highs, virtual meetings and confer-ences grow, increased tariffs, the importance of our industry as essential grow and all-time high price increases for raw materials, to name a few!


IW: How did the COVID-19 pandemic impact NAPIM, and how did NAPIM evolve during the pan-demic (virtual conferences, etc.)?

John Copeland: Of course, all of our live events were cancelled during this recent time. The 2021 Fall Technical Conference was held in Oak Brook, IL this past October. This was the first live event in nearly three years. The silver lining for NAPIM is that we were able to adapt a couple of our events virtually and even add two new conferences in 2021! We had to learn the new technologies to make these events work. We were successful with the virtual events and now we will be able to continue using these technologies as needed.


IW: How will NAPIM continue to play a major role in the future?

John Copeland: I personally believe print is still a foundation of communication. It is still important and relevant. Print will remain necessary for commercial marketing, packaging of all types, education, specialty applications, publications, for reading and for emergency distribution of documents in times of crisis.

NAPIM has been in existence for over 100 years. Print application and technology will continue to evolve and change but the need for NAPIM to represent the industry will remain. Environmental issues, industry training, safety, government regulations and compliance needs will still be ever changing and confusing for many. NAPIM will still be needed for all of these reasons.


IW: What have you enjoyed most as NAPIM executive director?

John Copeland: I’ve enjoyed meeting and getting to know so many great people within our industry from so many great companies and organizations. This has been the highlight for me!


IW: Is there anything you would like to add?

John Copeland: It has been a great industry to work in since 1978! I wish all the best success to all of our member companies, the printing ink industry and to Seven 12 Management as they now manage NAPIM.

I appreciate all of the past presidents and board members that have worked so hard to keep our industry focused. I appreciate all of my predecessors since 1916, and especially Jim Coleman and Brad Bergy for their time and help to me as the two recent executive directors before me. Lastly, it has been a pleasure and privilege to work with George Fuchs during this time. George works very hard for NAPIM and does a great job for our industry!