Shining Stars

With age comes experience, but these rising talents bring fresh faces 
and even fresher ideas to the printing industry

Many leaders and executives at today's print companies started their careers in the industry decades ago. They know the history of the industry and provide experience that helps businesses stay successful and even thrive during some of the worst economic times.

But, then there are the others. The group that grew up watching MTV, leaving voicemails and having Prozac as an option when they needed a little help coping (all inventions during the past 40 years). The 40 and under crowd may lack candles on their birthday cakes, but make up for it with fresh ideas and a deep understanding of new technology. And, before long, these rising stars will represent the future of this industry. Nevertheless, it's best to let them speak for themselves. Check out the biographies, opinions and thoughts of some of the print industry's young, up-and-coming professionals.

Name: Sam Vignjevic

Age: 37

Company: growll.com

Title: eCommerce Director

Education: Youngstown State University

Explain how you got started in the print industry: I started out my career bouncing around ad agencies in traffic then print production. After one agency laid me off, they called me back and asked if I would manage some print projects for them. That started a five-year run of managing and reselling over a million dollars worth of print a year from home. Today, I use that experience to service growll.com's print reseller customer base.

Your biggest influence: My belief that there is always a better way to do something.

Where do you see yourself in the future: Continuing to grow growll.com and fighting to find new ways to get print pricing down for our members.

The biggest challenge associated with your age: Trying to keep up with the constant changes in this industry and maintain somewhat of a personal life. There are so many changes and challenges in the print industry right now and specifically, how to market print.

The biggest advantage associated with your age: I'm old enough to recognize how much I don't know about printing and young enough to have plenty of time to learn a good bit of it.

Name: Jason Lambert

Age: 30