Dave Savastano, Editor05.13.16
Until this year, there were only two people who have received the three highest awards in the industry – the Technical Achievement Award, the Printing Ink Pioneer Award and the Ault Award – in the more than 100-year history of the National Association of Printing Ink Manufacturers (NAPIM). Bob Bassemir and Dan Carlick, both of Sun Chemical, had received the three awards.
Lisa Fine, technical director for Joules Angstrom U.V. Printing Inks, is now the third person to have earned these three honors. Fine received the Ault Award, the most prestigious award in the North American printing ink industry, during the 2016 NAPIM Annual Convention on Las Vegas, NV.
Fine had previously received the Technical Achievement Award in 2002, and the Printing Ink Pioneer Award in 2010. A holder of eight patents, Fine has been a leader with NPIRI for more than two decades, culminating in two terms as NPIRI president from 2011-14. She is celebrating her 25th year as a NPIRI Summer Course instructor. In addition, Fine has been a member of Ink World’s Editorial Advisory Board since the magazine’s beginnings in 1995.
“I am totally blown away, not only about getting the award, but also about the very select company I am inducted into - not just that of the Ault winners themselves, but also of the folks who have gotten all three awards,” Fine said. “The only other two I know of who also received the Technical Achievement Award, the Printing Ink Pioneer Award, and the Ault Award are Dan Carlick and Bob Bassemir. I knew Bob for many years and he was one of my gurus.”
Fine’s colleagues say she is a most deserving honoree.
Jerry Napiecek, area technical manager/QA, Colorcon No-Tox Products, serves as National Printing Ink Research Institute (NPIRI) president, succeeding Fine.
“I have known Lisa for over 25 years,” Napiecek said. “Not only am I proud to call Lisa a very good friend to both my wife Robin and myself (in-fact ,Lisa and I refer to each other as ‘sister and brother’!), I can think of no one more deserving to be a winner of the hat trick of NAPIM/NPIRI awards (Printing Ink Pioneer, Technical Achievement and the Ault).
“Lisa has always been a tireless advocate of ‘all things ink,’ Napiecek added. “From formulating to knowledge of dispersion theory and principles, to press-side support and regulatory compliance, her wonderful skills at being able to educate audiences in classrooms (as at the NPIRI summer course) and in large auditoriums alike (as at the NPIRI Technical Conference or the NAPIM Convention) and her acute business acumen, Lisa is second to none in my opinion with respect to her range of skills and industry knowledge,” he added. “I have the utmost respect for Lisa and am so honored to be her successor as NPIRI president, a position that she was elected to, and excelled at, for several terms. Trying to fill her shoes in this role is a daunting challenge, but I am trying to do her proud.”
Pete Notti, VP technical director at Ink Systems, has worked with Fine on the NPIRI Board, agreed she is also a tremendously deserving choice.
“She said one phrase that sticks in my head to this day:“Take a holistic approach to trouble shooting,” he recalled.
“Lisa’s service to our industry as a mentor, problem solver, an intellect, and the undying desire to learn and understand this world of graphic communications we live in all make Lisa a deserving choice,” Notti added. “Her magnificent participation in NAPIM and NPIRI is a testament to her character and dedication to our industry. She is a unique and interesting individual who I am glad to know.”
Pat Carlisle, president of Joules Angstrom U.V. Printing Inks, presented Fine with the Ault Award. He said that he and Fine were formally introduced to one other at the 2002 NAPIM convention.
“We agreed to get together back home here in Ohio since her office/lab was a stone’s throw from Joules corporate to discuss some consulting/regulatory opportunities,” Carlisle added. “Simply, Lisa is one of the most dedicated individuals to our industry. She is willing to help anyone in need. You will be hard pressed to find anyone within our industry that volunteers their time, devotes their energies to better serve all involved. Lisa is not about Lisa, she’s about everything that is the graphic arts industry. We are all better people because of her in our lives.”
Early Career
Fine has been working in the ink industry for 32 years, beginning at Dennison Manufacturing (now Avery Dennison), in Framingham, MA.
“Thanks to my stepdad, Dick Galante, I had gotten a part time job in the Carter’s Ink lab while I was finishing my chemistry degree,” she recalled. “Upon graduation, I worked full time at Dennison. One of my responsibilities was to test solvent flexo inks and print them on plastic packaging (I believe we had an old Kidder press for that). I also formulated fabric ribbon inks for typewriters (remember those?) and dot matrix printers (and these???). The Carter’s Ink Division was also heavily involved in crepe paper inks, highlight and marker inks, as well as stamp pad inks – all of which I had a hand in formulating.
“I was always fairly analytical, and when I would report results to my boss, Lee Carlson – he would growl (with a smile): ‘I want information, not data!,” she added. “He also used to assert that famous line: ‘The road to hell is paved with good intentions!’ I never forgot him and I wish he was still around today so we could reminisce. He was one of the memorable influences in my life.”
Fine said that Larry Tighe was another great person who influenced her in the beginning.
“I worked for Larry at one point in those early days at Dennison, and he was easygoing and knowledgeable,” Fine said. “We lost touch for many years, and then, while working a booth for one of my customers at what used to be known as “the Paint Show” (but formerly was called ICE), he strolled by. We immediately recognized each other and it was good to reconnect. Another handful of years went by without us seeing one another. And then sometime after I joined Joules Angstrom in 2009 – one of our sales folks commented, ‘Hey, I met a guy who knows you…’ Sure enough, it was Larry. Larry and I now cross paths here and there at industry gatherings.”
After five years at Dennison, Fine took a brief departure out of ink and printing and spent 1989 at W.R. Grace working on concrete chemistry.
“Yes, there is a lot more going on with that than the average person would ever realize,” she noted. “I was in the process of working on a graduate degree at Northeastern University in analytical chemistry at night. A year of concrete chemistry was quite a departure, but the nice thing about it is it got me thinking about the inner workings of products and processes other than ink. This exercise came in handy in the future when I needed to mentally ‘step out of the box’ to find solutions to printing and ink challenges.”
The next stop for Fine was Cabot Corporation, where she was hired as the technical service manager for printing ink applications in 1990.
“I worked for John Foster – a very kind and supportive soul who I enjoy seeing every year at the NPIRI Summer Ink Course. We have both lectured for many years at the course – I personally started in 1991 and am still doing it to this day,” she said.
“I would have stayed at Cabot a long time, I believe – but then I had a major shift: I met my first husband, Byron Hahn, of Braden Sutphin – at the Lehigh Summer Course, no less. He, of course, lived in the Cleveland area, and I was still in Massachusetts. I agreed to leave Cabot in mid-1991 and move to the Cleveland area, where we would then get married,” Fine noted. “It was a big commitment of faith, as I hadn’t lined anything up career-wise in Cleveland. But I put my graduate degree on hold, sold my Cape Dory sailboat, packed my things into a UHaul – and drove the 12 hours out to Ohio.
“In the midst of this, I was trying to decide what I wanted to do career-wise,” Fine added. “It was not easy to get a job in the ink industry at that time because I was married to Byron. Local ink and coatings companies either competed with Braden, or had large customers who did…and politically, hiring me wouldn’t have worked for them (and they as much as told me that right up front). I remember being a bit downcast about this, thinking that my budding career in the ink industry was over.”
Founding Flexo Tech
Instead of leaving the ink industry, Fine decided to open her own consulting business, specializing in water-based flexo inks.
“I had the bright idea, since water-based flexo was so big at that time, to start an ink company,” she said. “I worked hard on developing a business plan, and I even submitted it to a contest held by a women’s organization. The top prize would have been enough money to jump start the business. But I didn’t win. I noticed, with some irritation, that the folks who won the contest all had businesses that traditionally were more closely identified with women. Printing ink was definitely an outlier in this group
“So I couldn’t get a job in the ink industry, and I couldn’t yet get any funding to start my own ink company. But, the beauty of some things not working out is that it can then channel you down the path of other good things – if you let it.
“It just so happened that our house had a heated garage and a finished half basement that opened right onto the garage,” Fine continued. “So, while I figured out how to get funding to open my ink company, I thought I would do some consulting in the meantime. I decided to differentiate myself at the time from other consultants by having a lab and doing research and development work.
“The nice thing about this idea is that my first customer came to me,” Fine said. “Mike Gerkin at Kustom Blending told me he needed some help with water-based coating formulations, and I agreed to help him out until I got the ink business on its feet. I will forever be grateful for his support at that time.”
Fine quickly realized that a consulting business was the way to go.
“After a couple of months working with Kustom and other companies, however, I realized this is what I want to do! This is the right thing! I mothballed the business plan, gave the company a name (Flexo Tech), and increased my customer base over time. Word of mouth was getting my name and business out there, and it took on a life of its own,” she said.
“Despite the whole thing gaining momentum, being in business for myself made for some lean times,” Fine added. “Every time I look at my Social Security statement and see the big fat zeros in the 1991, 1992 and 1993 income rows, I realize what a long road it had been. It was impossible, in those early years of the business, to save up money for retirement or anything.
“It was during this period that I made a second attempt at getting a graduate degree. I went to Kent State to study organic chemistry and polymer science. Specifically, at the time, I was interested in liquid crystal phenomena. I had postulated from some independent research I had done at Flexo Tech that (in some cases), the transfer behavior and other printability characteristics of water based inks depend on transient liquid crystal domains that formed in the ink during confinement, i.e., at the point of impression. I wanted to prove this hypothesis.
“One thing happened early on that was unforgettable. Marty Cohen (then of BF Goodrich) called me and wanted to hire me to head up a group. I was so honored that he thought of me. It was very tempting, seeing as the nature of my business was variable, especially in terms of income. But – after thanking him profusely for his confidence in me, I told him that I wanted to see my business through – that it just wouldn’t be fair to him (or me) if I switched horses mid-stream and ended up carrying that question in my head: ‘Could I have made it?’ It would have taken away from what I would have been able to contribute to their organization, I believed. Having this incident come into my life focused my mind on the commitment I had towards the path I was on.”
Fine and Hahn separated in late 1996, and she rented a space for the business about 10 miles away in a small town.
“The new space was right down the street from my apartment, so for awhile, I walked to work every day,” Fine said. “At night, I worked nonstop on my magnum opus: a dispersion seminar unlike any other that existed at that time. I wanted to delve into theory, research, applications – and present a two-day course for industry.
“I contracted with a Cleveland hotel to hold the first several seminars there, and advertised in Ink World to get the word out. I also did several mailings. Envelopes and stamps, as opposed to email – those were the days! I really got a first hand education in meeting planning and catering – on top of the work of presenting, on my own, a two-day seminar that covered an intricate topic. After several public presentations of this seminar, I started to do it for customers at their facilities instead, and this also was well-received.
For awhile, Fine published a newsletter called ‘Flexo Facts,’ which she mailed to customers and prospective customers. Later, this became a column in Ink World for a short period of time. By 1996, Flexo Tech started to do well, and it allowed Fine to purchase more equipment for the lab and expand the range of the services she offered.
“I had a part time worker with me up until 1999; in 1999, I moved the business to Columbus, OH, to a much larger facility east of downtown,” said Fine. “While at this facility, I made a point of hiring students from Ohio State University to work with me and learn about ink and chemistry. I had several part timers working for Flexo Tech at one time, depending on their class schedules. I set it up so that they were able to get internship credit for working with me, in addition to being paid for their work.
“At that time, the business had a good mix of printers, ink manufacturers, and raw material suppliers as clients. We specialized in formulation development and raw material testing for the latter two; for the former, we would troubleshoot and solve printability issues in a holistic manner.
“One of my favorite projects involved work with a polymer supplier. This particular supplier had a performance issue with one of their resins. I analyzed a 2” thick stack of batch data sheets and anecdotal evidence, and eventually figured out what the culprit was and which piece of data evidenced this! I think my enjoyment of ‘figuring stuff out’ is what makes me good at what I do – I see problems as something to solve, like a puzzle, and I get some entertainment and a sense of accomplishment in doing so. In short, my customers were paying me to have fun!”
In addition, Fine continued to be involved with the NPIRI Technical Conference, both as a committee member, and as a moderator or speaker. She had presented some NPIRI Lecture Series papers in the past as well, and finally finished her graduate degree.
“I once again got back on the horse, and applied for acceptance to Lehigh University to finally pursue and finish my graduate degree,” noted Fine. “I attended Lehigh from 2002 – 2005, once again parsing the classes in around my work schedule. In those days, satellite programs were starting to become a possibility, so I invested in some heavy duty specialized satellite equipment to get this done. I would attend classes in my conference room, while they were being broadcast in real time. There was a good mix of students actually sitting in the classroom, and a few of us out in ‘satellite space.’ We could interact with the instructor via a phone bridge – so one had to stay sharp – sometimes the professors would do a pop oral quiz, and the folks on the phone were not exempt for getting called upon!
“I had to have a local professional proctor my exams for the classes, so I chose Chuck Finley, a (now retired) printing and paper professor at Columbus State College (near my office). The exams would be sent to Dr. Finley, and then I would appear at the appointed time to complete them – and he would mail them back to Lehigh,” she added. “Dr. Finley was in the midst of writing a new textbook for his classes, called Printing, Paper, and Inks, so I spent a lot of time advising him on the content and proofreading. I also lectured for his classes a few times as needed. We definitely helped one another achieve our goals at the time (mine being a masters of engineering in polymer science and engineering, at last!)”
One of Fine’s hobbies is flying aircraft, and she met her husband Jeff through flying.
“On the personal side, I had met my husband Jeff some years after I had become a private pilot,” said Fine. “I had decided it would be neat to have a plane, and I thought of using it for business to visit clients. Jeff is involved in aircraft sales, and I was introduced to him through a friend. Ultimately, he helped me find the right one, and we hit it off from there. We married in 2004 and he has been my best friend all along. We look out for each other and invariably make each other laugh – a lot! Definitely a prescription for happiness.
“Flying that plane to see clients was always kind of neat, as well – I think folks thought it was rather exotic, but the way I explained it to them was: ‘Well, I’m genetically deficient in golf, so this is what I do instead!’ I sold the plane in 2008 and my flying has been dormant since then. But I’m satisfied with that. I have so many other avocations I enjoy. The care and feeding of a small plane takes a lot of time and money, and I’m at the place in life where I’d rather spend both in other pursuits.”
Joining Joules Angstrom
While Fine was thriving at Flexo Tech, an opportunity to join a local ink company proved to be impossible to pass up.
“In the mid-2000s, I also started doing regulatory work for Joules Angstrom,” Fine said. “I had met Pat Carlisle, the owner, at the NAPIM Convention in 2002, when I was giving a talk to the attendees about the FTA’s FlexSys trainer.
“In 2008, Pat and I spoke about joining forces, and in February 2009, I officially joined Joules Angstrom,” she noted. “One of the things that attracted me to the company was Pat’s supportive attitude towards everyone in his life and his can-do mentality. His story resonated with me because it reminded me of my own. Like me, he started in a garage – and built up a successful business! The key point is that when he puts his mind to getting something done, he just does it. And like my old friend Jimmy Sutphin, Pat takes a personal interest in all the folks he encounters. This breeds a supportive atmosphere, which is so vital in today’s fast paced world. In short, I enjoy working with all the folks at the company, and I am very grateful to be in a work environment that energizes me as this one does.”
“People ask me if I miss being in my own business, whether I look back and wish I was still doing that – and I can confidently say that I do not, ever,” Fine added. “I feel that it was a great 18 years, having done and learned a lot during that time – but I am very satisfied that I achieved what I needed to during those years. There is no unfinished business there, so to speak.”
“I think back to 2002, when I received the Technical Achievement Award – the one thing I remember saying when I was at the podium was how inspirational Jimmy Sutphin had been to me.,” Fine noted. “Here’s a guy who, no matter what, made it a point to really experience people, up close and personal. He would send little cards with inspirational messages and aphorisms to so many folks (me included), and would take the time to really know and care for others, as well as pray for those who needed it. This made quite the impression on me about what it meant to be present for others.
“I tell folks. ‘You know, on the surface, it all seems to be about ink and the chemistry of ink and printing. But really, underneath – it’s all about the people, and the experiences you have with them.’ I (only half-jokingly) tell the guys in our lab: ‘I work for you!’ I realize that is not how it is on paper, but that is how it is in life. It is important to me to be there for our internal folks when they need support, as well as to be there for our external customers. Presence, again.”
Outside of work, Fine enjoys running, skiing, music and water sports.
“This one is the most meaningful: my most notable hobby is running really long distances,” she said. “As in, 50k (31 mile) and 50 mile races. On trails, no less. I am not fast, but I do like the meditative aspect of going out and spending a whole day on the trails. I think that one of the allures of the sport is that no matter what your training level is, you never really know for sure how a given race is going to come out in the end. You can show up one day, confident that you are going to go out and sweep a given race because you trained hard, and then end up dropping out at mile 9 due to a foot problem! Or, the converse happens: you assume that your lack of training means you’ll never finish a given race within the cutoff times, and then you end up going out and running faster than you expected. The whole thing is a metaphor for life, in so many ways. I think of trail running as ‘fast hiking.’ I also do the normal type of hiking, as well. I love being in the mountains and out amongst the trees.
“Skiing has also been a big part of my life,” Fine added. “I do three types: alpine, cross country, and telemark skiing (which is quite a bit more difficult than alpine skiing). I ski raced for about 13 years and retired from that to learn how to telemark ski about six years ago. There was something meaningful in starting over, learning how to move on snow a whole new way. ‘Beginner’s mind’ is a powerful thing, and it cultivates the general ability to weather change and grow stronger. I think it is advisable to start over at something every once in awhile to reset one’s circuits. For example, when I read about successful people and how they got to where they are, invariably, there are times when things for them were low and slow. ‘Unprogrammed beginnings,’ essentially. But the lessons learned at those times were often what propelled these folks to much greater heights.
“Music has always been close to my heart. I was a violinist when I was young, and then evolved into playing oboe and saxophone, and some dabbling in guitar. Now I play a woodwind instrument called a recorder, just for fun. However, I don’t have the cheap plastic variety that most recorder players learned on: I have several professional grade instruments that I enjoy.”
“I used to be a consummate sailor. This was during the years when I lived in Massachusetts and kept my boat in Salem harbor. I’d leave work and drive straight up to the boat on a Friday night and spend the whole weekend there. On vacations, I pointed the boat north and sailed into the Gulf of Maine, stopping each day in a new port. Once I left Massachusetts for Ohio, I felt that there was no body of water big enough for the kind of sailing I liked to do, so I sold the boat and haven’t been sailing since then. Now I get my water fix by paddleboarding and scuba diving. I am also trying to learn how to freedive (one breath deep diving) efficiently.”
Receiving the Ault Award
While everyone agrees that Fine is the ideal Ault Award honoree, she was stunned when it became clear she was the 2016 honoree.
“I was in a bit of shock,” Fine said. “It was such a tremendous surprise to receive this award, and to me, that was part of the beauty of it. I hadn’t a clue. And it made me realize there have been very few times in life when I have been totally surprised (most of those times were bad ones, actually!). So, to suddenly be the subject of such a terrific honor, well – I must say – this is the highlight of my career.
“What I would have liked to have had the presence of mind to say when I went up to the podium to accept the award is that I realize that getting the award isn't just about me and my achievements; it’s also about the folks who have supported me along the way. And I am so grateful for all of them (even the ones who brought strife, for, after all – everything is a part of the big picture of what we have become).
“In addition, it’s about the experiences I had that encouraged me to be a better person, a better student, and a better researcher. Not all of those things have been good things – there were a couple of major almost-derailments in my life and career that at the very least, gave me great pause about my path. But each of the missteps and pitfalls one encounters along the way also has a lesson in it that we can choose to harness to fuel our continued growth.
“When I stepped up to that podium, I brought my whole life and everyone in it up there with me – no one truly walks up there solo, as no one can reach this pinnacle entirely on one’s own,” Fine concluded.
Lisa Fine, technical director for Joules Angstrom U.V. Printing Inks, is now the third person to have earned these three honors. Fine received the Ault Award, the most prestigious award in the North American printing ink industry, during the 2016 NAPIM Annual Convention on Las Vegas, NV.
Fine had previously received the Technical Achievement Award in 2002, and the Printing Ink Pioneer Award in 2010. A holder of eight patents, Fine has been a leader with NPIRI for more than two decades, culminating in two terms as NPIRI president from 2011-14. She is celebrating her 25th year as a NPIRI Summer Course instructor. In addition, Fine has been a member of Ink World’s Editorial Advisory Board since the magazine’s beginnings in 1995.
“I am totally blown away, not only about getting the award, but also about the very select company I am inducted into - not just that of the Ault winners themselves, but also of the folks who have gotten all three awards,” Fine said. “The only other two I know of who also received the Technical Achievement Award, the Printing Ink Pioneer Award, and the Ault Award are Dan Carlick and Bob Bassemir. I knew Bob for many years and he was one of my gurus.”
Fine’s colleagues say she is a most deserving honoree.
Jerry Napiecek, area technical manager/QA, Colorcon No-Tox Products, serves as National Printing Ink Research Institute (NPIRI) president, succeeding Fine.
“I have known Lisa for over 25 years,” Napiecek said. “Not only am I proud to call Lisa a very good friend to both my wife Robin and myself (in-fact ,Lisa and I refer to each other as ‘sister and brother’!), I can think of no one more deserving to be a winner of the hat trick of NAPIM/NPIRI awards (Printing Ink Pioneer, Technical Achievement and the Ault).
“Lisa has always been a tireless advocate of ‘all things ink,’ Napiecek added. “From formulating to knowledge of dispersion theory and principles, to press-side support and regulatory compliance, her wonderful skills at being able to educate audiences in classrooms (as at the NPIRI summer course) and in large auditoriums alike (as at the NPIRI Technical Conference or the NAPIM Convention) and her acute business acumen, Lisa is second to none in my opinion with respect to her range of skills and industry knowledge,” he added. “I have the utmost respect for Lisa and am so honored to be her successor as NPIRI president, a position that she was elected to, and excelled at, for several terms. Trying to fill her shoes in this role is a daunting challenge, but I am trying to do her proud.”
Pete Notti, VP technical director at Ink Systems, has worked with Fine on the NPIRI Board, agreed she is also a tremendously deserving choice.
“She said one phrase that sticks in my head to this day:“Take a holistic approach to trouble shooting,” he recalled.
“Lisa’s service to our industry as a mentor, problem solver, an intellect, and the undying desire to learn and understand this world of graphic communications we live in all make Lisa a deserving choice,” Notti added. “Her magnificent participation in NAPIM and NPIRI is a testament to her character and dedication to our industry. She is a unique and interesting individual who I am glad to know.”
Pat Carlisle, president of Joules Angstrom U.V. Printing Inks, presented Fine with the Ault Award. He said that he and Fine were formally introduced to one other at the 2002 NAPIM convention.
“We agreed to get together back home here in Ohio since her office/lab was a stone’s throw from Joules corporate to discuss some consulting/regulatory opportunities,” Carlisle added. “Simply, Lisa is one of the most dedicated individuals to our industry. She is willing to help anyone in need. You will be hard pressed to find anyone within our industry that volunteers their time, devotes their energies to better serve all involved. Lisa is not about Lisa, she’s about everything that is the graphic arts industry. We are all better people because of her in our lives.”
Early Career
Fine has been working in the ink industry for 32 years, beginning at Dennison Manufacturing (now Avery Dennison), in Framingham, MA.
“Thanks to my stepdad, Dick Galante, I had gotten a part time job in the Carter’s Ink lab while I was finishing my chemistry degree,” she recalled. “Upon graduation, I worked full time at Dennison. One of my responsibilities was to test solvent flexo inks and print them on plastic packaging (I believe we had an old Kidder press for that). I also formulated fabric ribbon inks for typewriters (remember those?) and dot matrix printers (and these???). The Carter’s Ink Division was also heavily involved in crepe paper inks, highlight and marker inks, as well as stamp pad inks – all of which I had a hand in formulating.
“I was always fairly analytical, and when I would report results to my boss, Lee Carlson – he would growl (with a smile): ‘I want information, not data!,” she added. “He also used to assert that famous line: ‘The road to hell is paved with good intentions!’ I never forgot him and I wish he was still around today so we could reminisce. He was one of the memorable influences in my life.”
Fine said that Larry Tighe was another great person who influenced her in the beginning.
“I worked for Larry at one point in those early days at Dennison, and he was easygoing and knowledgeable,” Fine said. “We lost touch for many years, and then, while working a booth for one of my customers at what used to be known as “the Paint Show” (but formerly was called ICE), he strolled by. We immediately recognized each other and it was good to reconnect. Another handful of years went by without us seeing one another. And then sometime after I joined Joules Angstrom in 2009 – one of our sales folks commented, ‘Hey, I met a guy who knows you…’ Sure enough, it was Larry. Larry and I now cross paths here and there at industry gatherings.”
After five years at Dennison, Fine took a brief departure out of ink and printing and spent 1989 at W.R. Grace working on concrete chemistry.
“Yes, there is a lot more going on with that than the average person would ever realize,” she noted. “I was in the process of working on a graduate degree at Northeastern University in analytical chemistry at night. A year of concrete chemistry was quite a departure, but the nice thing about it is it got me thinking about the inner workings of products and processes other than ink. This exercise came in handy in the future when I needed to mentally ‘step out of the box’ to find solutions to printing and ink challenges.”
The next stop for Fine was Cabot Corporation, where she was hired as the technical service manager for printing ink applications in 1990.
“I worked for John Foster – a very kind and supportive soul who I enjoy seeing every year at the NPIRI Summer Ink Course. We have both lectured for many years at the course – I personally started in 1991 and am still doing it to this day,” she said.
“I would have stayed at Cabot a long time, I believe – but then I had a major shift: I met my first husband, Byron Hahn, of Braden Sutphin – at the Lehigh Summer Course, no less. He, of course, lived in the Cleveland area, and I was still in Massachusetts. I agreed to leave Cabot in mid-1991 and move to the Cleveland area, where we would then get married,” Fine noted. “It was a big commitment of faith, as I hadn’t lined anything up career-wise in Cleveland. But I put my graduate degree on hold, sold my Cape Dory sailboat, packed my things into a UHaul – and drove the 12 hours out to Ohio.
“In the midst of this, I was trying to decide what I wanted to do career-wise,” Fine added. “It was not easy to get a job in the ink industry at that time because I was married to Byron. Local ink and coatings companies either competed with Braden, or had large customers who did…and politically, hiring me wouldn’t have worked for them (and they as much as told me that right up front). I remember being a bit downcast about this, thinking that my budding career in the ink industry was over.”
Founding Flexo Tech
Instead of leaving the ink industry, Fine decided to open her own consulting business, specializing in water-based flexo inks.
“I had the bright idea, since water-based flexo was so big at that time, to start an ink company,” she said. “I worked hard on developing a business plan, and I even submitted it to a contest held by a women’s organization. The top prize would have been enough money to jump start the business. But I didn’t win. I noticed, with some irritation, that the folks who won the contest all had businesses that traditionally were more closely identified with women. Printing ink was definitely an outlier in this group
“So I couldn’t get a job in the ink industry, and I couldn’t yet get any funding to start my own ink company. But, the beauty of some things not working out is that it can then channel you down the path of other good things – if you let it.
“It just so happened that our house had a heated garage and a finished half basement that opened right onto the garage,” Fine continued. “So, while I figured out how to get funding to open my ink company, I thought I would do some consulting in the meantime. I decided to differentiate myself at the time from other consultants by having a lab and doing research and development work.
“The nice thing about this idea is that my first customer came to me,” Fine said. “Mike Gerkin at Kustom Blending told me he needed some help with water-based coating formulations, and I agreed to help him out until I got the ink business on its feet. I will forever be grateful for his support at that time.”
Fine quickly realized that a consulting business was the way to go.
“After a couple of months working with Kustom and other companies, however, I realized this is what I want to do! This is the right thing! I mothballed the business plan, gave the company a name (Flexo Tech), and increased my customer base over time. Word of mouth was getting my name and business out there, and it took on a life of its own,” she said.
“Despite the whole thing gaining momentum, being in business for myself made for some lean times,” Fine added. “Every time I look at my Social Security statement and see the big fat zeros in the 1991, 1992 and 1993 income rows, I realize what a long road it had been. It was impossible, in those early years of the business, to save up money for retirement or anything.
“It was during this period that I made a second attempt at getting a graduate degree. I went to Kent State to study organic chemistry and polymer science. Specifically, at the time, I was interested in liquid crystal phenomena. I had postulated from some independent research I had done at Flexo Tech that (in some cases), the transfer behavior and other printability characteristics of water based inks depend on transient liquid crystal domains that formed in the ink during confinement, i.e., at the point of impression. I wanted to prove this hypothesis.
“One thing happened early on that was unforgettable. Marty Cohen (then of BF Goodrich) called me and wanted to hire me to head up a group. I was so honored that he thought of me. It was very tempting, seeing as the nature of my business was variable, especially in terms of income. But – after thanking him profusely for his confidence in me, I told him that I wanted to see my business through – that it just wouldn’t be fair to him (or me) if I switched horses mid-stream and ended up carrying that question in my head: ‘Could I have made it?’ It would have taken away from what I would have been able to contribute to their organization, I believed. Having this incident come into my life focused my mind on the commitment I had towards the path I was on.”
Fine and Hahn separated in late 1996, and she rented a space for the business about 10 miles away in a small town.
“The new space was right down the street from my apartment, so for awhile, I walked to work every day,” Fine said. “At night, I worked nonstop on my magnum opus: a dispersion seminar unlike any other that existed at that time. I wanted to delve into theory, research, applications – and present a two-day course for industry.
“I contracted with a Cleveland hotel to hold the first several seminars there, and advertised in Ink World to get the word out. I also did several mailings. Envelopes and stamps, as opposed to email – those were the days! I really got a first hand education in meeting planning and catering – on top of the work of presenting, on my own, a two-day seminar that covered an intricate topic. After several public presentations of this seminar, I started to do it for customers at their facilities instead, and this also was well-received.
For awhile, Fine published a newsletter called ‘Flexo Facts,’ which she mailed to customers and prospective customers. Later, this became a column in Ink World for a short period of time. By 1996, Flexo Tech started to do well, and it allowed Fine to purchase more equipment for the lab and expand the range of the services she offered.
“I had a part time worker with me up until 1999; in 1999, I moved the business to Columbus, OH, to a much larger facility east of downtown,” said Fine. “While at this facility, I made a point of hiring students from Ohio State University to work with me and learn about ink and chemistry. I had several part timers working for Flexo Tech at one time, depending on their class schedules. I set it up so that they were able to get internship credit for working with me, in addition to being paid for their work.
“At that time, the business had a good mix of printers, ink manufacturers, and raw material suppliers as clients. We specialized in formulation development and raw material testing for the latter two; for the former, we would troubleshoot and solve printability issues in a holistic manner.
“One of my favorite projects involved work with a polymer supplier. This particular supplier had a performance issue with one of their resins. I analyzed a 2” thick stack of batch data sheets and anecdotal evidence, and eventually figured out what the culprit was and which piece of data evidenced this! I think my enjoyment of ‘figuring stuff out’ is what makes me good at what I do – I see problems as something to solve, like a puzzle, and I get some entertainment and a sense of accomplishment in doing so. In short, my customers were paying me to have fun!”
In addition, Fine continued to be involved with the NPIRI Technical Conference, both as a committee member, and as a moderator or speaker. She had presented some NPIRI Lecture Series papers in the past as well, and finally finished her graduate degree.
“I once again got back on the horse, and applied for acceptance to Lehigh University to finally pursue and finish my graduate degree,” noted Fine. “I attended Lehigh from 2002 – 2005, once again parsing the classes in around my work schedule. In those days, satellite programs were starting to become a possibility, so I invested in some heavy duty specialized satellite equipment to get this done. I would attend classes in my conference room, while they were being broadcast in real time. There was a good mix of students actually sitting in the classroom, and a few of us out in ‘satellite space.’ We could interact with the instructor via a phone bridge – so one had to stay sharp – sometimes the professors would do a pop oral quiz, and the folks on the phone were not exempt for getting called upon!
“I had to have a local professional proctor my exams for the classes, so I chose Chuck Finley, a (now retired) printing and paper professor at Columbus State College (near my office). The exams would be sent to Dr. Finley, and then I would appear at the appointed time to complete them – and he would mail them back to Lehigh,” she added. “Dr. Finley was in the midst of writing a new textbook for his classes, called Printing, Paper, and Inks, so I spent a lot of time advising him on the content and proofreading. I also lectured for his classes a few times as needed. We definitely helped one another achieve our goals at the time (mine being a masters of engineering in polymer science and engineering, at last!)”
One of Fine’s hobbies is flying aircraft, and she met her husband Jeff through flying.
“On the personal side, I had met my husband Jeff some years after I had become a private pilot,” said Fine. “I had decided it would be neat to have a plane, and I thought of using it for business to visit clients. Jeff is involved in aircraft sales, and I was introduced to him through a friend. Ultimately, he helped me find the right one, and we hit it off from there. We married in 2004 and he has been my best friend all along. We look out for each other and invariably make each other laugh – a lot! Definitely a prescription for happiness.
“Flying that plane to see clients was always kind of neat, as well – I think folks thought it was rather exotic, but the way I explained it to them was: ‘Well, I’m genetically deficient in golf, so this is what I do instead!’ I sold the plane in 2008 and my flying has been dormant since then. But I’m satisfied with that. I have so many other avocations I enjoy. The care and feeding of a small plane takes a lot of time and money, and I’m at the place in life where I’d rather spend both in other pursuits.”
Joining Joules Angstrom
While Fine was thriving at Flexo Tech, an opportunity to join a local ink company proved to be impossible to pass up.
“In the mid-2000s, I also started doing regulatory work for Joules Angstrom,” Fine said. “I had met Pat Carlisle, the owner, at the NAPIM Convention in 2002, when I was giving a talk to the attendees about the FTA’s FlexSys trainer.
“In 2008, Pat and I spoke about joining forces, and in February 2009, I officially joined Joules Angstrom,” she noted. “One of the things that attracted me to the company was Pat’s supportive attitude towards everyone in his life and his can-do mentality. His story resonated with me because it reminded me of my own. Like me, he started in a garage – and built up a successful business! The key point is that when he puts his mind to getting something done, he just does it. And like my old friend Jimmy Sutphin, Pat takes a personal interest in all the folks he encounters. This breeds a supportive atmosphere, which is so vital in today’s fast paced world. In short, I enjoy working with all the folks at the company, and I am very grateful to be in a work environment that energizes me as this one does.”
“People ask me if I miss being in my own business, whether I look back and wish I was still doing that – and I can confidently say that I do not, ever,” Fine added. “I feel that it was a great 18 years, having done and learned a lot during that time – but I am very satisfied that I achieved what I needed to during those years. There is no unfinished business there, so to speak.”
“I think back to 2002, when I received the Technical Achievement Award – the one thing I remember saying when I was at the podium was how inspirational Jimmy Sutphin had been to me.,” Fine noted. “Here’s a guy who, no matter what, made it a point to really experience people, up close and personal. He would send little cards with inspirational messages and aphorisms to so many folks (me included), and would take the time to really know and care for others, as well as pray for those who needed it. This made quite the impression on me about what it meant to be present for others.
“I tell folks. ‘You know, on the surface, it all seems to be about ink and the chemistry of ink and printing. But really, underneath – it’s all about the people, and the experiences you have with them.’ I (only half-jokingly) tell the guys in our lab: ‘I work for you!’ I realize that is not how it is on paper, but that is how it is in life. It is important to me to be there for our internal folks when they need support, as well as to be there for our external customers. Presence, again.”
Outside of work, Fine enjoys running, skiing, music and water sports.
“This one is the most meaningful: my most notable hobby is running really long distances,” she said. “As in, 50k (31 mile) and 50 mile races. On trails, no less. I am not fast, but I do like the meditative aspect of going out and spending a whole day on the trails. I think that one of the allures of the sport is that no matter what your training level is, you never really know for sure how a given race is going to come out in the end. You can show up one day, confident that you are going to go out and sweep a given race because you trained hard, and then end up dropping out at mile 9 due to a foot problem! Or, the converse happens: you assume that your lack of training means you’ll never finish a given race within the cutoff times, and then you end up going out and running faster than you expected. The whole thing is a metaphor for life, in so many ways. I think of trail running as ‘fast hiking.’ I also do the normal type of hiking, as well. I love being in the mountains and out amongst the trees.
“Skiing has also been a big part of my life,” Fine added. “I do three types: alpine, cross country, and telemark skiing (which is quite a bit more difficult than alpine skiing). I ski raced for about 13 years and retired from that to learn how to telemark ski about six years ago. There was something meaningful in starting over, learning how to move on snow a whole new way. ‘Beginner’s mind’ is a powerful thing, and it cultivates the general ability to weather change and grow stronger. I think it is advisable to start over at something every once in awhile to reset one’s circuits. For example, when I read about successful people and how they got to where they are, invariably, there are times when things for them were low and slow. ‘Unprogrammed beginnings,’ essentially. But the lessons learned at those times were often what propelled these folks to much greater heights.
“Music has always been close to my heart. I was a violinist when I was young, and then evolved into playing oboe and saxophone, and some dabbling in guitar. Now I play a woodwind instrument called a recorder, just for fun. However, I don’t have the cheap plastic variety that most recorder players learned on: I have several professional grade instruments that I enjoy.”
“I used to be a consummate sailor. This was during the years when I lived in Massachusetts and kept my boat in Salem harbor. I’d leave work and drive straight up to the boat on a Friday night and spend the whole weekend there. On vacations, I pointed the boat north and sailed into the Gulf of Maine, stopping each day in a new port. Once I left Massachusetts for Ohio, I felt that there was no body of water big enough for the kind of sailing I liked to do, so I sold the boat and haven’t been sailing since then. Now I get my water fix by paddleboarding and scuba diving. I am also trying to learn how to freedive (one breath deep diving) efficiently.”
Receiving the Ault Award
While everyone agrees that Fine is the ideal Ault Award honoree, she was stunned when it became clear she was the 2016 honoree.
“I was in a bit of shock,” Fine said. “It was such a tremendous surprise to receive this award, and to me, that was part of the beauty of it. I hadn’t a clue. And it made me realize there have been very few times in life when I have been totally surprised (most of those times were bad ones, actually!). So, to suddenly be the subject of such a terrific honor, well – I must say – this is the highlight of my career.
“What I would have liked to have had the presence of mind to say when I went up to the podium to accept the award is that I realize that getting the award isn't just about me and my achievements; it’s also about the folks who have supported me along the way. And I am so grateful for all of them (even the ones who brought strife, for, after all – everything is a part of the big picture of what we have become).
“In addition, it’s about the experiences I had that encouraged me to be a better person, a better student, and a better researcher. Not all of those things have been good things – there were a couple of major almost-derailments in my life and career that at the very least, gave me great pause about my path. But each of the missteps and pitfalls one encounters along the way also has a lesson in it that we can choose to harness to fuel our continued growth.
“When I stepped up to that podium, I brought my whole life and everyone in it up there with me – no one truly walks up there solo, as no one can reach this pinnacle entirely on one’s own,” Fine concluded.
