I am a Prepress Technician and Digital Press Operator with 13+ years of end-to-end prepress and print production experience, leveraging a deep background in desktop publishing, web production, and information architecture. My career is rooted in a formal education in printing and technology from the Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT). My fascination with the intersection of printing and computers began in childhood, when I used an Atari and a dot-matrix printer to create custom cards, signs, and banners using The Print Shop software.
Today, I bring that same enthusiasm to the production floor, preflighting and prepping files, and running digital presses with technical accuracy from setup to final delivery. Over the past decade, I have built a a deep knowledge of modern prepress and digital print operations. On any given day, I'm working in Adobe InDesign, Illustrator, Photoshop, and Acrobat, or setting up runs through Fiery Command WorkStation and Digital Front Ends (DFEs).
EXPERIENCE
• UTAP Printing (Current): I run the prepress and digital printing departments for a commercial and trade shop, where I focus on preflighting, preparing, and imposing files, handling CTP plate making for Heidelberg offset presses, and running our high-volume digital presses.
• CopyMat (9 years): I handled advanced commercial prepress workflows, including complex file impositions, custom packaging die lines, and variable data templates, while running digital presses for corporate, tech, and Fortune 500 accounts adhearing to strict brand and color standards.
• Copy Central (2 years): I worked as a print production specialist, running solo shifts at neighborhood shops and managing every step of a print job from front-counter customer service to final bindery finishing.
• Tech Sector Career Chapter (15 years): I advanced from Web Producer to Senior Information Architect, starting with guiding businesses through their initial web presence and moving on to blueprinting comprehensive, paper-based design specifications for websites, web portals, e-commerce platforms, and complex CRM systems.
• Kinko’s (4 years): I built my foundational roots at a high volume, 24-hour campus copy shop, moving up from Key Operator to Production Manager while learning print operations and production scheduling from the ground up.
EDUCATION
I earned a Bachelor of Science with Honors in Information Technology from RIT, beginning in the School of Printing. After switching my major to IT, those courses became the foundation of a custom concentration in Printing Management.
GEOGRAPHY
I grew up in the suburbs of Cleveland, Ohio. After graduating college, I moved to New York City for a few years before moving out West. I have lived in the San Francisco Bay Area for over 25 years and currently reside in the East Bay.