President - Kazuhiro Kawabata

Kazuhiro Kawabata is the president of DNP IMS America Corporation. He is responsible for directing the strategies of growth for the IMSA business, and to expand customer relationships and develop new business markets. He received a Bachelors degree in Commerce from Doshisha University in Japan, and shortly thereafter joined Dai Nippon Printing Co. Ltd. in Japan. His career with DNP has spanned 34 years, and he has held many leadership positions within the company. Between 1977-1990, Kawabata worked in the general affairs and human resources operations in diversified professional and managerial positions with responsibilities for office and personnel management operations; labor/legal issues; payroll management; budgeting; office transfer and corporate reorganization. For the next 14 years, Kawabata was assigned to the Sales and Marketing Division, Information Media Supplies (IMS) Operations' business development. He was instrumental in achieving successful product positioning and operational excellence of dye-sublimation ribbons, thermal transfer ribbons, and photo printing systems. From 2004 to 2005, Kawabata served as Project Manager for the digital Photo Promotion Project where he managed and directed DNP's proprietary new digital photo kiosk system—PrintRush. In this key position, Kawabata was extensively engaged in the development and marketing of the PrintRush™ system, and managed the development of software, font, and printer development; and expanded the sales territory. In 2005, he was appointed to serve as CEO of DNP PrintRush Co., Ltd and was responsible for the entire company operations which included planning and developing business objectives, organizational policies, directing and formulating the company's financial programs, and designing public relations policies. In 2008, Kawabata returned to the IMS division as General Manager for the Sales and Marketing Division and, in 2010 he was promoted to Deputy General Manager to oversee the entire IMS operations. In this capacity, Kawabata was responsible for the overall direction of the business which included formulating and developing corporate policies and strategies, assurance of profitability, planning business strategies for bar code and photo businesses, and implementing new business strategies resulting in key growth within the IMS group. This is Kawabata's first international assignment to the United States, and he is looking forward to spending time playing golf on the many fine courses located in the southeast.

Senior Vice President of TTR - Satoshi Kondo

Satoshi Kondo is the Senior Vice President of the thermal transfer ribbon (TTR) business of DNP IMS America Corporation, and General Manager of Global Bar Code Operations. In 1983, Kondo joined Sony Chemicals Corporation of Japan, and in 1985 started the TTR business focusing on sales. He moved from Japan to San Francisco in 1987 to establish a subsidiary of Sony Chemicals to expand the thermal transfer business, and in 1988, Sony Chemicals Corporation of America (SCCA) was incorporated. SCCA moved from San Francisco to Chicago in 1990 where the implementation of thermal transfer ribbon slitting operations was realized. Kondo returned to Japan in 1993 as General Manager of the TTR Department. In 1995, SCCA moved to Pittsburgh and full manufacturing operations of coating and slitting of thermal transfer occurred. In 1997, Kondo became General Manager of the TTR Global Division. He returned to Pittsburgh in 2000 as President of SCCA. From 2002-2007, Kondo worked in various executive level positions at Sony Corporation in Japan until his departure in 2007. His career with DNP began in 2008 with responsibility of operational efficiency, continuous improvement, global service offering, and the marketing and development of new products and services. Kondo is pleased to be back in the Pittsburgh area and is passionate about taking the thermal transfer ribbon business to the next level of achievement and success. He is an avid golfer and enjoys the beauty and scenic golf courses that are located in the United States.

Senior Vice President of Operations - Mineo Yamauchi

Mineo Yamauchi is the senior vice president of Operations of DNP IMS America Corporation. He is responsible for the Concord, North Carolina, and Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, manufacturing operations. In 1981, Yamauchi began his career with DNP in Central Research where he was an integral team member in the research, development, and promotion of thermal transfer record materials. Between 1989 and 2006, Yamauchi held various professional and managerial positions with increasing responsibilities of managing research, developing and marketing of sublimation thermal transfer record materials, directing engineering research, feasibility of studies of new products, directing evaluations, and facilitating quality assurance operations. He was also assigned to the Okayama facility during this time where he was responsible for the entire plant operations. Yamauchi returned to corporate headquarters in 2006 and was promoted to deputy general manager of the Production Division, IMS Operations, and in 2007 he attained general manager where he oversaw four departments and 90 managerial and professional individuals. Yamauchi is directly responsible for achieving 175 patent applications in Japan as well as 64 patent applications in the United States. As senior vice president of Operations, he will be engaged in plant operations, production, product research and development, quality control, quality assurance, logistics, procurement, distribution, shipping and receiving, and warehousing. This is Yamauchi's first visit to the United States and he is looking forward to experiencing a new culture.