AIE charts new course: former APCI group helps leaders hone their business skills.

Once an organization solely for professional lab imagers, the Association of Imaging Executives (AIE) took a new direction during the past year--starting with its name.

The former APCI (Association of Professional Color Imagers), which enabled pro lab owners/managers to meet and discuss business and technical issues, adopted the AIE name last year and altered and expanded its course. Its annual convention is now a leadership conference designed to assist owners and high-level managers from all photo-related businesses, not just pro labs.

"AIE is a network focused on leading our companies and facilitating changes in our businesses," says current AIE President Mark Lane, president of American Color Imaging Inc., Cedar Falls, Iowa. "I believe it is my personal contact network that keeps my company competitive in the industry and even possibly in business."

The evolution from APCI to AIE came as a result of meetings in Stowe, Vt., in 2002 and Park City, Utah, in 2005. Association executives concluded the group must provide an interactive format where business leaders can learn from experts and colleagues and continue the valuable networking process. The group held its first AIE Executive

Learning Conference this past May in Kansas City, Mo., where attendees spent two days in an interactive learning session.

Longtime member Kim Toren-Freeman, owner of Allied Photographic & Imaging, Grand Rapids, Mich., and AIE president-elect, says, "I never worked so hard. It was like going back to school. It's hard work to look at your organization.

"It's a great opportunity. You can spend thousands of dollars to go to an MBA-level class at a local university, or you can attend AIE and get the same training, all with people who are in the same industry."

A look back

AIE today is totally transformed from its beginnings in 1969 as APCL, the Association of Professional Color Laboratories. Most members at that time had the words Color Lab or Color Processing somewhere in their name. Today, most labs feature the word "Imaging" to reflect their variety of services and the changing industry.

A few decades ago, many photographers were processing their own black-and-white work, while sending color work to the labs. Technical questions revolved around chemistry, processing control methods, copy negs, and more.

"When we joined, the professional lab industry was just coming into its own," recalls Steve Troup, president of Buckeye Color Lab, North Canton, Ohio. His father, Walter Troup, joined the association in the late 1970s, and Steve began attending meetings in the early 1980s. "Labs were a somewhat new creation, and the changes that occurred when color printing was introduced allowed a new business model to develop. Labs were much more 'regional' than they are today, and sharing information was not threatening."

Both annual and regional conventions during the APCL days enabled lab executives to network with colleagues and meet with suppliers to discuss technical issues. Paul Fuller, who opened Full Color Inc., Dallas, Texas, in 1978, said he quickly learned after attending his first convention in 1979 that small and large businesses could share and learn invaluable information in such settings.

"We had only three employees at the time. I met someone who had more than 200 employees and was trying to figure out a business problem I had just encountered," Fuller recalls. "I told him what we did about it, and he told me I had paid for his trip. That convinced me I could both contribute and learn by attending, and I have not missed a meeting since then."

The association continued to evolve, and, even as early as 1985, members speculated on the role of "electronic imaging" in their businesses.

APCL members voted to merge with Photo Marketing Association International in May 1989, and officially became a section of PMA. Seven years later, in October 1996, members voted to become APCI--with the last letter in the name reflecting growing professional imaging labs. When it became AIE in 2005, it opened its membership to all imaging industry leaders.

Benefits of association

The AIE association provides a number of member benefits, including an annual executive conference, a monthly e-newsletter, marketing research, business resources, and more. Longtime AIE members also say the friendships and networks they've established are an invaluable benefit.

"I have made many lifelong friends in the organization," says Richard Miller, CEO of Miller's Professional Imaging, Pittsburg, Kan., the largest portrait and wedding lab in the United States. "We continue to share ideas and information." Miller attended his first APCL convention in 1974.

Says Troup, "Since we are all private business owners, we share the same concerns and opportunities. There is no where else we can find friends who understand what we face the way our fellow APCI/AIE members understand. Fellow members are our equals, our sounding boards and our moral support." Fuller says support is critical. "The biggest benefit of association with others is the opportunity to put everyday problems into the proper perspective. Your business can be unique, but the challenges you face every day are universal."

The relationships forged at the conventions carry over into business and beyond.

"For me, the friendships continue and the trust remains," says Larry Capodilupo, owner of ICL Imaging, Framingham, Mass., and the association's past president director-at-large. "I still discuss--openly--our plans, solutions and our results. I still call my AIE friends to discuss new equipment options, and we share our experiences with purchases we have made. We visit and host each other whenever something, or someone, new joins our businesses."

A different direction

AIE continues to provide the networking opportunities, as well as the benefits mentioned above, but the focus now is on helping owners and managers better lead their business. All business owners in photo or imaging-related industries are welcome to join.

"We all take leadership skills for granted and we really shouldn't," says Toren-Freeman, who began attending association conventions in 1979. "We need to address this every year, and we need to learn to be better managers. These skills (often) don't come naturally. And many times you don't know what you don't know."

The AIE organization is smaller now than in the APCI days, due to closings and consolidations resulting from changing business conditions. Members like Miller and Fuller say the format will need to continue to adapt to members' changing needs, and having an official gathering where the group can meet is a must.

Says Troup, "ALE will evolve just as APCI did. It is a new structure designed to meet the needs of the new business model we are facing today. It will help us learn how to run our businesses better and it will provide us those friendships we cannot get anywhere else--just as APCI did for so many years."

As AIE moves forward, Toren-Freeman says all imaging industry business leaders can benefit from AIE conventions. "You pick up invaluable information--some of it just from a remark that someone makes, and it clicks with you. If you don't get out and go and immerse yourself and embrace it, you don't know what you're missing."

Mark the dates

Two upcoming conventions will feature sessions of interest to AIE members. First, PMA 07, held March 8-11, 2007, in Las Vegas, Nev., will offer sessions sponsored by AIE covering business issues, such as search engine marketing. Second, the AIE Annual Convention is scheduled for June 27-29, 2007, in Minneapolis, Minn.

For more information

If you would like more information on joining AIE, contact [phone]. Also, check out http://pmai.org/aie for information on the organization or for a list of board members.