The Sustainable Green Printing Partnership (SGP) has announced that two new members have been elected to the SGP Board of Directors. Adrian Cook, digital print portfolio manager, 3M, and Frank Bailey, director of operational excellence, Smyth Companies, join the existing board of 16 members representing all areas of the print supply chain.

Cook has been involved in several different industries and product categories during his nine years at 3M. For the past two years, he has been responsible for print media-commercialization, including new products and programs to address the sustainability needs of the industry.

In 2019, 3M launched an initiative requiring all new products to have a “Sustainability Value Commitment” that demonstrates how a product drives impact for the greater good. 

“I joined the SGP Board of Directors because I am passionate about reducing waste and increasing efficiency. I look forward to helping printers and suppliers integrate sustainability more deeply into their operations and leading our industry’s contributions to a circular economy,” states Cook.

As director of operational excellence, Bailey works closely with Smyth’s business teams to drive the highest levels of quality through continuous improvement. Sustainability practices have come to play an integral role in all improvement and quality initiatives at Smyth, since the company received its first sustainability certification in 2009. The first Smyth location became an SGP Certified Printer in 2019.

Bailey challenges his teams to think beyond “doing it better,” encouraging a sustainability-focused mindset to do it better while using fewer resources, recycling more papers and substrates, and reusing as many materials as possible. 

“Smyth has always looked at our responsibility to the environment as a necessary part of our business, especially as a provider of innovative solutions to our customers,” says Bailey. “The sustainability initiatives that we implement are aimed at every step of our process – from the materials we source on the front end, to how we manage them, and how we recycle on the back end. As an organization in the printing industry, we want to be part of the development of sustainability practices today and help widely promote the efforts in the long run.”

In addition to the two new board members, SGP also re-elected Dr. George Glisan, Reese Distinguished Professor of Graphic Arts and Imaging Technology at Appalachian State University, for an additional term. Glisan has been a board member since 2016.