Natasha Banke, Kim Hill, Tom Socha, Russell Szadowski, and Xuejun Wang of INX International Ink Co. were honored with achievement and service awards by the National Association of Printing Ink Manufacturers at The Pfister Hotel in Milwaukee on October 1.

The ceremony represented a full circle moment for Socha, who was born in Milwaukee and has spent 45 years in the printing industry. He began a summer job working for his father at Croda Inks Corp. in Cincinnati, and learned the business from the ground up. Involved early with the mixing and milling process, he served in production manager and quality control roles until 1995. His father retired from Croda and he was named general manager of the ink operation.

Ten years later, he began his journey at INX as the director of national accounts and added the vice president title in 2007. After working with customers using energy curable flexo and sheetfed inks, he was promoted to vice president of sales for the liquid ink division in 2019. He currently manages a staff of 15 people selling a wide variety of products.

“I was born and raised in Milwaukee, so receiving the Ink Pioneer award there was special to me. My father received the award in 1981, three years after my uncle did,” recalled Socha. “Following in their footsteps is an absolute honor. I have been very fortunate to have been involved and learned every aspect of the ink industry. Having a background in manufacturing and R&D was critical to my success on the sales side.”

Hill received a Technical Achievement award for her contributions to the science of printing ink formulation, manufacture or application. A talented technical administrator who began her career at INX as a chemist in 2005, she has worked in all facets of the liquid ink division. Following roles where she began as a lab manager in 2009 and as technical director in 2012, she was promoted to vice president of R&D Liquid Solvent Technology earlier this year. She currently manages the solvent ink platform and a team of chemists at R&D and operations.

Hill has earned a reputation as the go-to source for resolving issues and developing new technologies. She has expertise in raw material procurement, manufacturing, ink development, and sales in the United States, as well as with many foreign partners and subsidiaries. She also has contributed to developing control systems synthesizing INX’s in-house proprietary resin systems that are unique to the industry.

“I am honored to be recognized by my peers and those in the industry. For that, I would like to thank NAPIM,” she said. “I would also like to thank INX for always supporting me. I am fortunate to work with a very talented R&D team that is key to innovation in our company.”

Banke and  Wang were presented with the NAPIM Lawter Lecture series award. They took first place for co-authoring a paper on Melamine and Cyanuric Acid Levels Are Keys to Maintain the Dispersibility of Pigment Yellow 150 in Ink Formula.

Banke is the director of analytical R&D and has worked at INX since 2015. In 2018, she won a Best Paper award at the RadTech Conference for authoring Residual building block chemicals in raw materials and finished printing inks – a risk assessment approach to manufacturing and detection limits. Wang joined INX as an analytical chemist in August 2023.

Szadowski was presented with a service appreciation plaque by NAPIM president Geoff Peters. The director of strategic supply and procurement, he will celebrate his 30th year in the printing industry – all at INX – next February. He attended his first NAPIM Technical Conference in 1996, and the awards dinner recognized the end of his two-year term as the NAPIM Technical Board president.