Cheryl Beller, Anita Pursley Lead Award Winners at
2002 Addressing/Distribution Spring Conference

Joe Bailey, Edward J. Conrad and James W. Schemmel also honored with Innovator Awards

CLEARWATER BEACH, FLORIDA (March 26, 2002) - IDEAlliance (formerly GCA - Graphic Communications Association) honored Anita Pursley of Quebecor World and Cheryl Beller of the U.S. Postal Service during IDEAlliance's 2002 Addressing/Distribution Spring Conference at the Sheraton Sand Key Resort in Clearwater Beach, Florida. The Addressing/Distibution Conference is jointly held by IDEAlliance and industry partners the Alliance of Nonprofit Mailers, PostCom - The Association for Postal Commerce, Gravure Association of America and Printing Industries of America/Graphic Arts Technical Foundation.

Cheryl Beller, Marketing Specialist with the Product Redesign Office of the U.S. Postal Service, was named the 2002 recipient of the Donald A. Mumma Award. The award is presented each year to the person who makes a significant contribution to advancing cooperation between the U.S. Postal Service and the mailing industry. During the past year Beller demonstrated consistent and productive efforts to improve the efficiency of mail processing to the benefit of both the Postal Service and the mailing industry as a whole.

Beller presently works closely with the mailing industry, presort software vendors, and postal representatives to develop flexible cost-based presort, preparation and entry; define additional workshare opportunities; improve USPS value to customers; incentivize mailing practices that drive costs out of the total system; and create prices and products that generate growth, volume, and contribution. She has been involved in all areas of mail preparation and classification since she began her career with the Postal Service in 1973, and is known for her customer responsiveness.

Anita Pursley, Vice President of Postal Affairs, Quebecor World, was named the first recipient of the Norman W. Scharpf Award. Pursley was presented with this award for her many contributions to IDEAlliance and the U.S. Postal Service. This new award was created to recognize industry professionals who in the past year have supported the improvement of mail preparation programs and services. The award is named after the long-time president of the Graphic Communications Association (now IDEAlliance) whose commitment and vision have contributed greatly to the mailing industry.

Pursley's present responsibilities with Quebecor World include establishing corporate postal policy and serves as the primary liaison with the Postal Service involving all matters affecting Quebecor World and its customers. An active IDEAlliance member, Pursley serves as co-chair of the Addressing/Distribution Committee and co-chair of the Printers' Operational Issues Study Effort (POISE) and has worked tirelessly in advancing the U.S. Postal Service's MERLIN program.

IDEAlliance also presented its annual Innovator Awards, which recognize individuals and organizations whose creativity and leadership have contributed to increasing productivity and market responsiveness in the mailing industry.

This year's winners were James W. Schemmel of Communications Data Services, Edward J. Conrad of Forbes Inc., and Joe Bailey of Monticello Software. Schemmel was recognized for developing a process to merge multiple attached mail streams into a single fully presorted mail stream thus allowing substantial increases in postage discounts. Conrad was presented with his Innovator Award for implementing a major supply chain transformation involving all aspects of preparation and distribution at Forbes. Bailey was recognized for providing innovative software enhancements for its Mail.dat software applications, which have substantially streamlined the entry point analysis, logistics, postage payment and mail acceptance processes.

"Each year IDEAlliance recognizes the best in the industry," explained David Steinhardt, President and CEO of IDEAlliance. "All of the people honored with awards at this year's Addressing/Distribution Conference have exhibited a tremendous commitment to advancing the mailing industry. Their efforts to improve productivity and customer responsiveness industry-wide make them well-deserving of these honors."

About IDEAlliance

IDEAlliance (International Digital Enterprise Alliance) is a not-for-profit membership organization. Its mission is to advance user-driven, cross-industry solutions for all publishing and content-related processes by developing standards, fostering business alliances, and identifying best practices. IDEAlliance has been a leader in information technologies since 1966 (founded as Graphic Communications Association) having fostered the development and adoption of standards such as ADIS, GRACoL, ICE, JIFFI, Mail.dat, papiNet, PRISM, PROSE XML, SPACE XML, SGML, and XML. Learn more about IDEAlliance at www.idealliance.org.

Contact

Georgia Volakis
703.837.1075
gvolakis@idealliance.org