Jackson, MI—PMA is honoring three outstanding members of the imaging industry with the 2014 PMA Distinguished Service Award, in recognition of their contributions to the photo-imaging industry. The 2014 recipients are Manny Almeida of Fujifilm North America Corporation; Ron Kubara of Noritsu Canada; and Jim Miller, MCPF, GCF, of Artframe Inc.
Almeida, Kubara and Miller will be recognized during an awards presentation on January 6, 2014, during the 2014 PMA@CES, at the LVH in Las Vegas, Nevada.
“Manny, Ron and Jim exemplify the spirit of service and dedication that makes this industry so remarkable,” said Allen Showalter, president of PMA. “These three individuals have each worked tirelessly throughout their careers to promote the growth of the imaging industry, which is the mission of PMA. It is a real pleasure to honor them for their efforts, which have benefited so many, with a 2014 PMA Distinguished Service Award.”
Manny Almeida. Almeida started his career in the photo-imaging business in 1978, when he began working in a camera store while going to school in Boston for Applied and Industrial Photography. He joined Fuji Photo Film Inc. in 1980 as a sales representative in its consumer products division. In his many years there, he was named Fujifilm Sales Representative of the Year and Fujifilm Special Accounts Manager of the Year. Almeida moved up through the ranks, running the 35mm camera business, directing Fujifilm’s launch of the Discovery camera line, leading the Fujicolor film and QuickSnap one-time-use camera business, revamping the branding and packaging of Fujifilm’s film line, leading Fujifilm’s entry into digital imaging in the U.S. market, launching Fujifilm’s APS product line, and directing the launch of the Frontier digital lab system and the development of networked solutions.
In 2003, Almeida left Fujifilm to become the executive vice president of Rimage Corp., leading the expansion of its business in Asia and Europe, and also into the medical and retail segments. By maintaining close contact with customers as well as suppliers in the photo world, Almeida evolved Rimage into photo applications. Almeida returned to Fujifilm in 2009, as vice president and general manager of Fujifilm’s U.S. Imaging and Electronic Imaging divisions. He is now senior vice president and general manager, Imaging and Electronic Imaging divisions, where he is responsible for sales, marketing and support for the company’s consumer and commercial photographic products and services business.
Ron Kubara. One of the photo industry’s leading experts, Kubara spent many years in wholesale photofinishing quality control and joined Fujifilm in 1983. Half of his 21-year Fujifilm tenure was in technical management and photofinishing sales management. He worked with Don Spring, Sr., then the director of PMA Canada, as they successfully fought Canadian regulators to allow photo labs to continue to use sewers across Canada, eventually creating Best Management Practices guidelines that prevented the need for photofinishers to have waste professionally hauled away for disposal.
In the mid 1990s, Kubara and his brother researched theories in digital imaging and began educating the photo industry on what they’d discovered. They created the first interactive, educational CD for photography for Fujifilm, which helped countless photo industry members transition from film to digital.
Kubara joined Noritsu in 2003, where he challenged the company’s R&D department to develop algorithms to improve prints from low resolution and over-compressed files, and he requested that kiosk vendors remove a feature that prevented 640×480 and smaller files from being printed. These algorithms remain in use in Noritsu software and are now used by international law enforcement agencies to improve Facebook and other low resolution and poor quality images for legal use.
Currently vice president of Noritsu Canada and vice president of World Wide Strategic Sales and Planning for Noritsu Japan, Kubara has inspired Noritsu’s R&D department to develop revolutionary hardware and software for photofinishers and to bring numerous retail products and services to fruition.
James Miller, MCPF, GCF. Miller founded his framing business, ArtFrame Inc., in suburban Columbus, Ohio, in 1988. He specializes in protective framing of art, heirlooms and 3D objects. An accomplished calligrapher, Miller, who holds a bachelor’s in business administration, has served the Professional Picture Framers Association (PPFA) in numerous capacities.
He earned the Certified Picture Framer (CPF) designation in 1990 and has served as chairman of the PPFA certification board, helping to update the Certified Picture Framer exam and to develop the Master Certified Picture Framer program. He earned his own Master Certified Picture Framer designation, the highest credential for picture framers, in 2004. He also received the Guild Commended Framer designation from the Fine Art Trade Guild in London, England, in 2002, served as chairman of the Fine Art Care and Treatment Standards education committee, and is chairman the PPFA Guidelines Task Force, which authors and updates instructional books for PPFA.
Miller is the author of two books, The Complete Guide to Shadowboxes and Framing Objects and Mounting Objects with Clear Film. He also writes regularly for Picture Framing magazine on a variety of framing subjects. pmai.org
