FINAT’s former president Kurt Walker has been chosen as the recipient of the R. Stanton Avery Lifetime Achievement Award at the 2015 Label Industry Global Awards. Judging for the 12th annual awards program took place during the recent FINAT European Label Forum (ELF) in Amsterdam, the Netherlands, where the judging panel met to consider nominations across this and three additional award categories. The annual FINAT ELF is formerly known as the FINAT Congress.

Sponsored by Avery Dennison, the R. Stanton Avery Lifetime Achievement Award is bestowed upon an individual who has made a substantial and key contribution to the label industry over a minimum of 25 years. After graduating from university, Walker entered the printing industry where he has held various positions in sales and marketing. In 1988, he joined the label industry and acted, until his retirement in 2012, as CEO of tesa Bandfix in Switzerland. Walker became a member of the FINAT board in 1999 and has also served as vice president, membership committee member and treasurer before being appointed president of FINAT in 2011.

Known for being innovative and forward thinking, Walker has been influential in unifying the global label industry. A supporter of the L7, now L9, Walker has been instrumental in helping grow the alliance’s profile and importance, while also helping secure and ensure the ongoing success of FINAT’s Young Managers Club. Walker joins the ranks of distinguished past winners: Suzanne Zaccone of GSI Technologies, Tomas Rink of Ritrama, RotoMetric’s Steve Lee, Helmut Schreiner, Nilpeter’s Lars Eriksen and FLEXcon’s Neil McDonough.

During the same meeting at the ELF, the judging panel also announced details of the finalists for the three other categories. Finalists for the Award for Innovation (companies with 300+ employees), sponsored by Flint Group Narrow Web, are Esko, HP Indigo, Revo, Super
Film and Xeikon.

Finalists for the Award for Innovation (companies with up to 300 employees), also sponsored by Flint Group Narrow Web, are Any Graphics, GEW, Hybrid Software, Iwata, Lake Image Systems, Rotas, Troika Systems and Web Resources.

The Award for Sustainability finalists, sponsored by Xeikon, are Avery Dennison, Bio4life, Lintec and Dr Fischer.

Mike Fairley, chair of the judges, comments: “Kurt Walker was the unanimous choice of the judging panel. His impressive long-term industry pedigree as CEO of tesa Bandfix, as well as terms as treasurer, vice-president and president of FINAT – where he encouraged and built global links and supported the establishment and growth of the highly successful Young Managers Club – made him the standout choice for this year’s Lifetime Achievement Award. We look forward to honoring Kurt and the other winners in person at the awards ceremony in September.”

Judges for this year’s awards, under the chairmanship of Fairley, were: Thomas Hagmaier, incoming president of FINAT, Steve Katz, editor of Label & Narrow Web, Andy Thomas, group managing editor of Labels & Labeling, Armin Karl Geiger, editor of NarrowWebTech, and Tony White, label industry consultant.

The winners will be announced at the Label Industry Global Awards ceremony and dinner on September 29 in Brussels.