SGIA/PIA Merger Explained

Following the Printing Industry of America’s (PIA) agreement with APTech (formerly NPES) to relinquish its ownership in the Graphic Arts Show Company (producer of Print/Graph Expo), the association was bound by a three-year non-compete agreement, which has now expired. That led to the much-anticipated merger of PIA with the Specialty Graphic Imaging Association (SGIA) effective May 1, 2020. As a result of the merger, Ford Bowers was elevated to President and CEO of the combined organization. Michael Makin, current President and CEO of Printing Industries of America, became an Executive Vice President of the unified organization. We spoke with Bowers to glean more details.

PrintingNews:  Ford, first of all, congratulations on the merger. Perhaps you can explain for our readers why this was a merger and not an acquisition.

Ford Bowers:  In the trade association world, you can’t acquire because there is no stock. There are different mechanisms for combining associations. You can officially do a merger where you create an entirely new corporate entity; or you can have a merger where one survives and the other gets folded in – which is what is happening in the background here. Both organizations were 501c6 trade associations, qualified non-profit organizations. In this merger, the underlying legal entity that was PIA goes away and SGIA survives but will be renamed to reflect the fact that it is, in effect, a new organization. 

PN:  What about governance? Does the board representation change?

FB:  Yes. Eight members of the board will be from the PIA community. We’ll have a total of 29 board members to begin with.

PN:  PIA was providing some level of support to a few other organizations. What happens there?

FB:  We will still provide association management services for the National Print Owners Association (NPOA), as well as the Western States Printing Alliance, a PIA affiliate. TAGA has a separate board and governance, but we will continue to run their conference. In the past, PIA provided some management services for the Print & Graphics Scholarship Foundation, but that was separated out some time ago.

PN:  Can you shed any light on how or whether the affiliate structure will change?

FB:  The affiliate structure is still in place. Each is an independent 501c6 trade association. We are still working out the final agreements between the new entity and the affiliates. As we did prior to the merger, we will continue to provide the services and programs they are used to getting for their members as we work out how to integrate them into one entity. We’ll give them access to even more services in the coming months.

PN:  Has the financial structure changed for the affiliates in terms of the fees they will pay to SGIA now?

FB:  Yes. In most cases they will pay less. We have shifted to a flat fee per printer member. We are still in negotiations on the exact outline of the services agreement.

PN:  You indicated the combined organization will be renamed. Has that name been determined yet?

FB:  As we announced on May 7, the new name will be PRINTING United Alliance. SGIA will be retired as a name moving forward, as will Printing Industries of America.

PN:  What URL will you use for the combined organization’s web presence?

FB:  It will take months to bring everything under one roof. That being said, we are likely to be using the printing.org URL going forward as the portal for the association. We will also register PRINTING United Alliance with a redirect. 

PN:  We noted that Michael Makin is now an Executive Vice President in the combined organization. What specifically will his role be?

FB:  There are two primary things he will be doing in the short term. First, he’ll be working on relocating the offices in Pittsburgh to right size that facility. As of April 30, we had 22 employees there, and now will have 15 or 16. We expect that to take two to three months. He will also continue to work with Lisbeth Lyons on legislative affairs. That’s been very much a focal point with everything going on with COVID-19. Lisbeth will be reporting to him. He’ll be involved in other things as they come up.

PN:  They did a great job on getting printing companies designated as essential businesses.

FB:  Yes, they did!

PN:  What do you see as the overall benefit of this merger for everyone involved?

FB:  If you are looking at it from the perspective of printer members, the idea is that we have an association that has a very broad range of services and programs, regardless of the segment they are in – commercial print, wide format, textiles, industrial. It’s one association where you can get help with resources, research, environmental health and safety, training and more. It gives them a better ROI on their membership investment. Besides, few printers are now just one thing or the other. They play in different ponds. So why not have an association where all the ponds are in one place?

This is especially valuable as they expand the segments they serve. The industry writ large is fragmented from a trade show and association perspective. From a 40,000-foot level, that means we punch well below our weight on major issues like legislative affairs. Lobbying on the Hill heretofore was done on behalf of a print market of some $175 to $185 billion in revenues with 700,000 employees. Now we can add to that packaging, apparel and industrial, and by representing them as a whole, lobbying will be much more effective.

There are also benefits with respect to workforce development, which begins in trade schools and college programs. You need an association that can watch and develop plans across all of the potential disciplines someone might choose, from sales and business management to production. The idea is to have an overarching association that can help solve some of the problems by representing the breadth of the industry. We are not there yet. It will still require partnership and collaboration with other associations and entities. Bigger is not always better, but it does create some new possibilities.

PN:  While we have you, what are your thoughts about PRINTING United in October in Atlanta in light of the COVID-19 pandemic?

FB:  We are hopeful we can conduct it, but it is too early to know for sure or what the effect will be relative to travel and comfort level. There are a lot of events that are scheduled prior to October at the Georgia World Congress Center including the International Woodworking Show in September that typically has attendance of 100,000 and uses the entire convention center. We will only be using Halls B and C. So we will see what happens there. Hall A was converted to an overflow facility for COVID-19 patients. As long as there isn’t a spike, that should be able to be dismantled. So there are questions around whether the Georgia World Congress Center will be open and how many exhibitors will participate. But there is also a question around whether people will want to get on a plane to travel to a large event like this. I believe there will be a lot of pent-up demand to travel, but we need to watch it week by week and make plans accordingly. We are working closely with the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security specializing in mass gatherings on all decisions relating to the health and safety of all our staff, exhibitors and attendees to optimize the onsite experience. We will continue to consult directly with Johns Hopkins on a monthly basis up until our event as well as work closely with staff at each event host site and local governing authorities to ensure that we are adhering to both mandated and recommended practices to make all venues as safe as possible.