Contact Information: CONTACTS: AT SCHAWK, INC. Alex Sarkisian (847) 827-9494 alex.sarkisian@schawk.com FOR SCHAWK, INC. Patti Soldavini (973) 527-8103 patti.soldavini@anthemww.com
Ken Kauppila Named Chief Information Officer at Schawk, Inc.
Will Oversee Company's Global Information Technology Strategy and Operations
| Quelle: Schawk, Inc.
DES PLAINES, IL--(Marketwire - April 7, 2008) - Schawk, Inc. (NYSE : SGK ), one of the
world's leading providers of visual brand management solutions to the
consumer products packaging industry, announced today that it has appointed
Ken Kauppila to the position of chief information officer (CIO),
responsible for overseeing the company's global information technology (IT)
strategy and the operation of all supporting IT infrastructure and
applications.
"Ken Kauppila's demonstrated experience in managing sophisticated
information technology environments to support and drive strategic business
objectives will be an invaluable asset to Schawk," noted David A. Schawk,
president and chief executive officer. "Ken's impressive background makes
for an extraordinarily good match with the growing needs of our
organization to help companies of all sizes deliver consistent and
compelling brand experiences."
Kauppila's 20 plus years of experience in information technology is both
deep and broad. His background includes playing strategic business
leadership roles in both centralized and decentralized organizations, and
his technical experience includes enterprise-level information technology
optimization of critical areas of information technology, including
architecture/infrastructure, application/systems development, eCommerce,
operations, telecommunications (voice/data), service desk, customer
experience, and organizational efficiency.
Kauppila's notable track record includes participation in domestic and
international mergers and acquisitions transactions where he performed due
diligence and developed and led IT integration plans; management of an
Asia-based worldwide distribution and logistics network; initiation of
industry-first customer relationship management programs; design and
development of one of the world's largest relational databases; and
development of market observation and analyses tools to provide competitive
advantage and enhanced visibility to changing market conditions.
"I am excited about the opportunity to bring strategic business value to
Schawk and its clients by applying information technology intelligence to
the many 'pain points' challenging all businesses today," said Kauppila.
"Applying the right processes and technology will allow us to compete
simultaneously on the competitive dimensions of cycle time to market and
quality, which will, in turn, drive lower total cost of ownership and
result in higher business value. Harnessing the 'data' within a company by
turning it into 'actionable information' and delivering it across the
global network to the decision makers provides extraordinary strategic
value to any business."
Prior to his appointment at Schawk, Kauppila worked in the business
services, retail, healthcare and chemical industries. Most recently, he
served as corporate vice president and chief information officer at The
Bradford Group, and also at Hammacher Schlemmer, a worldwide leader in
direct marketing. Previous experience also includes tenure in the service
divisions at Experian Information Services, Baxter International,
MedPartners, and Ashland Chemical.
Throughout his career, Kauppila and his teams have been singled out for
numerous awards including the IBM Technology Executive Council Award, the
IBM International Information Technology Award, the Winter Corporation
Annual Database Scalability Awards, the Data Warehouse Institute Best
Practices in Data Warehousing First Place Award for CRM, RealWare Awards,
Quality Awards and multiple CEO Executive Achievement Awards. He has also
spoken at International Technology Conferences on various topics.
Kauppila holds a Master of Business Administration in Supply Chain
Operations, Logistics Management and Information Systems from The Ohio
State University and a Bachelor of Science in Information Systems from
Michigan Technological University.
Kauppila is a member of Association of Information Technology
Professionals, CIO Executive Network, Society of Information Management,
and the Direct Marketing Association. He resides in the Chicago area with
his wife and four children.
Schawk, Inc. is the leading provider of brand management services, enabling
companies of all sizes to connect their brands with consumers to create
deeper brand affinity. With a global footprint of more than 60 offices,
Schawk helps companies create consistent and compelling brand experiences
by providing integrated strategic, creative and executional services across
brand touch points. Founded in 1953, Schawk is trusted by many of the
world's leading organizations to help them achieve global brand
consistency. For more information about Schawk, visit
http://www.schawk.com.