PN: Tell us a little about your
company, the segment of the
market it serves, and what you
consider to be your “core” users/
customers.
Colak: Kernow Coatings is the global
leader in optimized high-performance
coatings for print, security, engineering,
and industrial substrates. Printer OEMs
and leading national brands trust
and certify Kernow for wide format
and narrow format specialized print
media—synthetics, self-adhesives,
colors, fabrics, metallics, wall coverings,
fl oor graphics, and much more.
Kernow media is recognized as the
benchmark for quality, consistency, and
best-in-class performance. Proof is in
the Printer OEM Recommended Media
Guides, where Kernow is certifi ed with
virtually every one in North America,
Europe, Asia, and Australia.
Whether wide format, narrow format,
or even something completely new, Kernow
builds more than 43 years worth
of innovation, trust, and reliability into
each of its substrates—serving markets
as diverse as print for pay, high-speed,
narrow-format print, high-fi delity engineering
drawings, security layers, and
so much more. Kernow is also a vital
By Jennifer Wilberschied
Bosy Colak
President, Kernow North America
and Sales and Marketing Director,
Kernow Coatings Global
R&D resource for companies. Kernow
is the provider behind most known,
leading brands in the market.
PN: How did you get involved
with the company? What
is your background before that?
Colak: Before I got involved with Kernow
I was actually a customer of their
specialty fi lms. Kernow, who is based
in the UK, provided us with tinted fi lms
for various aviation applications, which
needed to meet the most stringent
standards.
Prior to being president of Kernow
North America and also sales and
marketing director for Kernow Coatings
Global, I was the business development
manager with NowDocs, a global leader
in web-based document management
solutions, having led e-commerce
solution development and commercialization
of platforms including web job
submission soft ware and distribution
of web printing services.
I’ve also held marketing and sales
leadership roles with Xerox in both the
US and Canada. As business manager
of document solutions, I had P&L
responsibility for the group and led
numerous development program teams
creating such diverse product lines as
high-speed-printer ID cards, xerographic
lightweight papers, specialty labels,
and digital print media.
PN: What do you consider
your greatest achievement in
this market to be?
Colak: Working with a major OEM we
Executive Q&A:
introduced the fi rst full range of synthetic
solutions to the market in 2006
when printing on synthetics was not
common. We grew sales by an average
of 40% a year for a decade, while print
pages were declining each year and
established the market for dry toner
synthetic printing.
PN: If there was anything
you could change, either about
your career in regards to the
print industry, your company,
or the market as a whole, what
would it be and why?
Colak: Th e Print market as we know
it faces major challenges and one thing
we should do is encourage younger
people to enter our industry with fresh
ideas. In going to many shows and visiting
customers, it’s obvious most people
have been in the industry a long time.
We need to create the buzz in industry
with more millennials who have a
diff erent way of thinking, balancing the
exiting, experienced printing workforce
with a new generation of creative thinkers
and risk takers.
PN: What do you consider
the greatest challenge to be for
the industry right now? Why?
Colak: One of the greatest challenges
in our industry is commoditization of
our products and solutions. Instead
of working with customers to develop
more new and creative applications,
which generate value for our end users
and grow profi t, we see many distributors
off ering “me too” products. By
20 Printing News October 2017 PrintingNewscom