Contributor

Yolanda Simonsis is a 38-year veteran of the packaging and converting industries. She has held past editorial positions with two former publications of Delta Communications and Cahners...more

Jackie Marolda Joins as PFFC Expert Advice Contributor

Have you noticed that the homepage of PFFC-online.com looks a little different? Unlike the wife or husband sporting a new look that goes unnoticed, I won't leave you guessing as to why it looks different. Actually, there are a couple of reasons why.

Jackie Marolda

The most significant change is the welcome addition of a new expert advisor on PFFC's contributing staff. I'm pleased to announce that Jackie Marolda, a skilled development and marketing expert with over 25 years of hands-on experience in the paper, film, foil, and converting industry, has graced the PFFC masthead with her expertise.

If my recollection serves me right, I first met Jackie over 20 years when she was a colleague of AIMCAL's Craig Sheppard during their Rexam Release days (now Loparex). She was impressive back then as a knowledgeable marketing communications manager who grew in her competence to eventually serve as market development manager for Avery Dennison, then as a consultant for HIlltop Innovations, then becoming VP/senior consultant at AWA Alexander Watson Assoc. It was here at AWA that we renewed our relationship in concert with Corey Reardon, having frequent opportunities since 2005 to consult, exchange information , and complement each other's organizations with newsworthy and reliable content support and distribution. Fast forward to late 2015, and both Jackie and I discovered that we each had mutual interests that could be used to each other's advantages utilizing PFFC-online.com as the medium by which both of us could reap benefits.

Over the years I've profited from the knowledge of an incredible number of experts in the converting, printing, packaging and label industries. Many have retired now but some have managed to stay active in the industry they love; sadly some have died but have left a wealth of expertise upon which others who are highly focused experts are continuing to build.

Jackie may be a fresh face to PFFC's regular contributing staff, but as a 25-year veteran of our industry she has an in depth understanding from the ground up. She is presently the president of August Lion, Inc., offering training and consulting services in business development and opportunity assessment disciplines, creating new business opportunity ideation that allows converters, in particular, to uncover unmet market needs by providing market segmentation analysis and product/service launch support.

Prior to Jackie consenting to share her wisdom via her new "Innovation Station" blog, we talked at length about some of the critical issues that our very horizontal yet specialized industry must address in order for it to remain relevant to the customers it serves in a manner that's imaginative, novel, stimulating, and compelling to meet their needs. If we can liberate ourselves from the commodity images that so many of us use to describe the nature of our businesses and the products we manufacture, we will self-engineer a path to success despite the difficulties of a problematic geo-political map that's fraught with economically challenging issues. We truly have a great story to tell that's rich with technological opportunities that could really change the world for the best.

I invite you to learn from Jackie as she shares techniques that will help you grow and succeed at her Innovation Station blog at: http://www.pffc-online.com/blog/marolda.

While you're at it, please also take note of another change on the PFFC homepage. All our contributors are now easily accessible with all their past and present content under EXPERT ADVICE with options to read their most current contributions as well as hotlinked archived content along with their bios. Here's where you'll find along with Jackie's new blog, Mark Miller's Coating Matters, Tim Walker's Web Lines, Dr. Kelly Robinson's Static Beat, Dr. Dene Taylor's On Print, Tom Bezigian's Poly Ploys blog, Mark Lusky's Label PRomotion, Stephanie Millman's Marketing Mojo, and my own Yo's Yarns blog.

My friends call me Yo

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