CIP4 Fellows

In appreciation of outstanding contributions to CIP4 and JDF

The CIP4 Fellowship Award Program was initiated in 2004. The CIP4 Fellowship Award recognizes individuals whose contributions to the development of the JDF Specification are both substantial and of significance to the integrity and function of JDF, as well as individuals who may have contributed to the industry’s adoption of JDF by educating manufacturers of JDF systems and JDF users and/or by actively disseminating information about JDF. The CIP4 Fellowship award is made at the discretion of the CIP4 Board of Directors. CIP4 Fellows are granted a life-long individual CIP4 membership.

At this point, 13 CIP4 Fellows have been appointed:

Dennis Carney

September 20, 2023

Dennis Carney (RICOH Graphic Communications) has been working with CIP4 since 2017 and is very active in defining the ICS documents and Specifications. His extremely focused eye for detail ensures that the CIP4 specifications are consistent and correct. He is a member of the CIP4 Advisory Board and the Technical Steering Committee.

Dennis, a mathematician and computer scientist, with over 25 years in the printing industry, experienced the transformation of the IBM Printing System Division to Ricoh first hand. Prior to working on the CIP4 standards, he has coauthored various standards by the Printer Working Group such as the Internet Printing Protocol, IPP. He is currently also the Secretary and Treasurer of the AFP Consortium, where he is also the technical owner of 6 of the 8 currently-active AFP architectures. "I have no idea how one person can carry much responsibility and still do such stellar work."  says Rainer Prosi, CIP4's Technical Officer and Senior Workflow Architect at Heidelberger Druckmaschinen AG.

In addition to his many technical contributions, Dennis has also organized an Interop in Boulder Colorado and has been a valued participant in many Interops.

Thanks to Dennis as well as Ricoh for their time and efforts to make the CIP4 specifications the best they can be, and this gratitude is a small gesture to the contributions of Dennis and Ricoh.

The award was presented to Dennis on September 20, 2023, at the CIP4 Interop Meeting in Timisoara, Romania.

Prof. Dr. Thomas Hoffmann-Walbeck

November 15, 2018

Prof. Dr. Thomas Hoffmann-Walbeck (Hochschule der Medien) has been a Professor at the Hochschule der Medien in Stuttgart since 1998, where he specializes in applied computer science, prepress, CTP, workflow automation and integration. Thomas completed his Diploma in Mathematics at the Free University of Berlin 1982, then went on for his Ph.D. in Mathematics at the University of Queensland in Brisbane, Australia. He has held positions at graphic arts manufacturers including Siemens, Linotype-Hell, and Heidelberg.

He has also served as Head of the German-Chinese Course of Studies in Printing Technology (B.S. and M.S. programs). He has also written several books on the subjects of CTP, JDF, and graphic arts standards, including “Der JDF Workflow,” which was translated to English and published by PIA in 2012. Between 2008 and 2018 he organized an annual symposium about JDF Workflow at the Stuttgart Media University.

In 2018 Thomas was presented with the CIP4 Fellows Award, in appreciation of his contributions to CIP4 and JDF.

Steve Hiebert, †

October 15, 2014

Our 2014 award of a fellowship was a well-deserved reward for the hard work and dedication of Steve Hiebert (HP Inc.). Steve was an active member of CIP4 for many years, and was an integral contributor of the origins of the CIP4 Digital Printing. His experience, and defense of it, often sparked debate and guidance as we were forming our methods to handle the newly emerging field. Steve's experience with specifications and Digital Printing allowed us to implement portions of the specification with complete professionalism.

A 36 year veteran Software Architect employee of HP, Steve always ensured that our implementations were technically, but also logically sound. If anything we were trying to attempt was not sound or on a wrong path, Steve made sure we knew. We are proud to have Steve's expertise as part of what is in the JDF specifications today.

Steve was always passionate to show us his insights, often with lively discussions and shared expertise. Steve is missed, and is spoken highly of by all.

The award was presented on October 15, 2014, at the CIP4 Interop Meeting in Barcelona, Spain.

Stefan Daun

October 15, 2014

Stefan Daun began his work with CIP4 while working for the Fraunhofer Institute for Computer Graphics IGD (Darmstadt, Germany) from 1986 until now. Stefan was active for over 20 years with the CIP3 and CIP4 organizations as he performed in many important roles in the early development of what was to become JDF today. 

Stefan worked in many administrative, technical, and structural roles for the CIP3 and CIP4 organizations from 1997-2015. His extensive contributions to the initial technical formation of what was to become the JDF file format, as well as his attention to detail made his contributions essential. Stefan was always additionally very effective at administering memberships, accountancy, reports, as well as the CIP4 organization’s meetings, records, Interoperability Matrix, and trade show presence and awards. For many years, Stefan was the front-face to JDF and the behind-the-scenes coordinator for much of what was to become CIP4, including the initial development of our internal, and external websites and online collaboration systems.

From 1999 to 2015 Stefan was appointed to the CIP4 Secretariat to perform these duties, and was involved greatly with the organization as it evolved. He was present at, photographed, and administered details at nearly every meeting, and did an outstanding job for the benefit of CIP4, well deserving his fellowship appointment.

Rainer Prosi

16-Oct-2013

Prior to the foundation of CIP4, Rainer Prosi (Heidelberger Druckmaschinen AG) was involved in the development of the first rough draft of the JDF specification and schema, along with colleagues from Adobe, Agfa, Heidelberg and Manroland. Dr. Prosi has served as CIP4's Technical Officer since the foundation of CIP4 and is responsible for orchestrating multiple working groups and interoperability testing events, and oversees development work on CIP4 software development kits and tools made available to the public, such as the JDF Editor.
As CIP4's Technical Officer, Prosi also serves on CIP4's Board of Directors and is the Chair of the Technical Steering Committee or "TSC". The TSC consists of all technical working group chairs and is responsible for maintaining the integrity of the JDF architecture.

"Where the individual working groups have their own area of specialization, Rainer is the person that needs to carry around the entire JDF specification in his head," said CIP4 Executive Director James Harvey. "When one group requests a change or new feature that impacts what another group is doing, or where a group is considering functions that have already been addressed elsewhere in the specification, it is most often Rainer who resolves these issues and provides the explanation that members need. He also often takes the lead, drafting new features such as JDF device capabilities and even today he continues to work on JDF developments that may not make it to the market for several years. I think nobody would argue with me when I say that no one else knows JDF as well as Rainer, and without Rainer we would not have the JDF specification we have today."

In addition to serving as CIP4's Technical Officer, Prosi has also worked to educate new members and the public. Prosi has spoken on JDF subjects at numerous industry events and has also coordinated and led many free one-day technical seminars offered to new CIP4 members and the general public prior to the biannual CIP4 meetings around the world. Prosi also led several of the sessions in the online JDF Expert Certificate training program provided by IDEAlliance.
"For new members, particularly developers with no JDF experience, getting involved with CIP4 working groups and beginning development can be overwhelming," said Tim Donahue, Managing Consultant at Kodak Digital Printing & Enterprise and Chair of the CIP4 Digital Printing Workflow Working Group. "He is well known for his thoughtful demeanor and his well-intentioned and well thought out answers to even the most complex questions related to JDF and JDF- enabled workflow automation. I have worked with him in CIP4 for many years and can say without hesitation that Rainer has earned the deepest respect of his CIP4 technical working group peers. JDF is the key technology behind open workflow integration and automation and Dr. Prosi is the key person behind JDF."

Prosi received his Ph.D. in physics from the University of Kiel, Germany in 1992, and continues to live in Kiel with his wife and two sons. He started his career working at CERN and DESY where he evaluated the debris of colliding protons, electrons and positrons. Prosi began work in 1998 at Heidelberg where he was initially involved in variable data workflow and PDF optimization. He has served as CIP4's technical officer since 2000 and is one of the primary authors of the JDF Specification and its many related Interoperability Conformance Specifications. He continues to work at Heidelberg as a Senior Workflow Architect, where he is responsible for the ongoing development of the Prinect suite of print automation and productivity tools.

The award was presented to Rainer on October 16, 2013, at the CIP4 Interop Meeting in Ghent, Belgium.

Koen Van de Poel

7-May-2012

Koen Van de Poel (Agfa Graphics) has served as the Chair of the CIP4 Origination and Prepress working group since April 2001. The Origination and Prepress working group is one of CIP4’s most active working groups, and includes subgroups that focus on content creation and layout creation. The Origination and Prepress working group has authored several Interoperability Conformance Specifications or “ICS” (used in JDF Product Certification and by most companies as a development guide), including the first two ICS documents in 2005, which focused on the creation of impositions and the communications between prepress systems and offset presses. The Origination and Prepress working group has worked on key JDF developments over the years, such as how layout and preflight data are managed within JDF.

In addition to his key role within CIP4 as the Chair of the Origination and Prepress working group, Koen is also a member of the Technical Steering Committee, which reviews all changes to the JDF specification to ensure that its architecture remains intact. Koen has also provided valuable input on the CIP4 open source projects such as the JDF SDKs and the JDF Editor. Beyond his technical input, Koen has also helped as an instructor at several CIP4 JDF technical tutorials and authored a significant portion of the JDF Expert Certification training program.

"Koen's input to the JDF specification and schema cannot not be overstated," says Rainer Prosi, CIP4's Technical Officer and Senior Workflow Architect at Heidelberger Druckmaschinen AG. "JDF wouldn't be what it is today without him. Koen is also very approachable and has been a welcoming presence at many interoperability meetings, where new and old member vendors come together to test ideas and software; he is one of a select few people who define CIP4."

The award was presented to Koen on May 07, 2012, at the 2012 CIP4 General Meeting during drupa 2012 in Düsseldorf, Germany.

Margaret Motamed

10-Nov-2010

Ms. Margaret Motamed (EFI) has served in leadership positions with CIP4 for eight years. From 2002 to 2006, Motamed served as CIP4's Education and Marketing Officer. During her tenure she oversaw the first major public demonstration of JDF-enabled products at drupa 2004, and since then has been involved in major interoperability and workflow demonstrations conducted by cooperating members at key trade events around the world. She helped create JDF-awareness programs, ranging from the "JDF Now" and "JDF Works" campaigns to educational seminars and printer outreach programs. She was also involved in the creation of the JDF Marketplace, the JDF Bulletin, international JDF users groups, the JDF Expert Certification program, and the establishment of the JDF Product Certification program.

Motamed became the CIP4 CEO in 2006, and served in that position until September of 2010. During her time as CEO of CIP4 she was involved in the integration of NGP into CIP4's Business Networking Group, the formation of Japanese CIP4 groups, and the establishment of JDF and CIP4 trademarks worldwide. "Margaret's focus was on helping users to understand JDF and what process automation could do for them," says Jim Harvey, CIP4's Executive Director. "She was always willing to try new ideas and take new approaches to reach printers. In board meetings she was always a calming voice who was great at crafting consensus and finding solutions to sticky problems. She's left a lasting impression on the industry and I'm glad I had the chance to work with her over the last eight years."

In addition to recognizing Ms. Motamed, CIP4 also recognizes EFI for their support for CIP4 and JDF. EFI has been a steadfast supporter of CIP4 and JDF, in the market, in their products, and in its commitment of time and energy from employees such as Ms. Motamed. "During her four-year tenure as CEO of CIP4, Margaret's passion for advancing the technology and dedication to educating the marketplace was evident in everything she did," said Ghilad Dziesietnik, CTO of EFI. "Margaret was particularly energized by the cross-company collaboration that took place, as companies throughout the industry worked together to enable cross-vendor solutions for their end customers.

The award was presented to Margaret on November 10, 2010, at the CIP4 General Meeting Fall 2010 during the InterOp in Nice, France.

Henny van Esch

22-May-2010

Mr. Henny van Esch (Optimus) has been involved with CIP4 since its formation, and through the years has been an instructor at numerous tutorials held by CIP4 for developers, and he has participated in nearly every interoperability event hosted by CIP4. Furthermore, Henny has served as the Chair of the MIS Working Group within CIP4 since its inception in 2003; contributing significantly to both the JDF Specification and the many Interoperability Conformance Specifications that involve print MIS. “Henny is one of the most active members of the technical working groups,” said Rainer Prosi, CIP4’s Technical Officer and Senior Workflow Architect at Heidelberg. “Henny’s contributions to JDF have been instrumental to the integration of print MIS into print automation workflows and JDF- enabled print systems. His sense of humor and way of approaching contentious technical issues has helped us reach solutions that all members have found acceptable and have become common practice at printing shops around the world.”

The award was presented to Henny on May 22, 2010, at the 2010 CIP4 General Meeting during IPEX in Birmingham, UK.

Doug Belkofer

02-June-2008

"Doug is both a friend and a colleague whose opinion and expertise I've come to value and respect," said CIP4 Technology Officer Rainer Prosi of Heidelberg. "He's been involved in every aspect of the creation and development of JDF, and has always approached it with a sense of humor, a willingness to help others and he's tackled a considerable share of the work."

Doug Belkofer (EFI) has been involved with CIP4 since its inception; first as a representative of PrintCafe, and later as a representative of EFI, after it acquired PrintCafe in 2003. Doug was involved in the drafting of the first (1.0) edition of the Job Definition Format (JDF) Specification, and as a member of the Technical Steering Committee. He has been a key participant in the creation of all editions of the JDF specification since then, as well as many of the interoperability conformance specifications and updates to the PrintTalk Schema and Reference Implementation. He has also served as the co-chair of three CIP4 working groups (System Behaviour & Interoperability, Device Messaging/Job Tracking and MIS) and is involved in many other CIP4 working groups as a participant. Doug has also been a regular participant in JDF interoperability events.

In addition to his technical contributions to the specification, Doug has also actively promoted JDF through participation in speaking and educational programs. He has spoken at many conferences and shows, including Digital Smart Factory, drupa, DDAP Annual Conference, IPEX, Seybold and Print, and is a regular presenter at many of the free JDF tutorials CIP4 has presented in conjunction with JDF interoperability events and with major tradeshows, such as GraphExpo and Xplor.

At EFI, Doug oversaw design and development related to technical integration efforts, including JDF-based integration. Prior to EFI, he worked in a similar role at PrintCafe Software, and prior to PrintCafe, Doug worked at Programmed Solutions (PSI) for eight years as a senior software engineer. At PSI, he designed and implemented major parts of the PSI Print Management System. Prior to PSI, Doug worked for a flexographic printer in Toledo, Ohio, as a systems analyst and network administrator. There he developed many systems to automate their operations including a full estimating system. Doug attended the University of Akron, majoring in Electrical Engineering, and Bowling Green State University, majoring in Computer Science.

The award was presented to Doug on June 02, 2008, at the 2008 CIP4 General Meeting during drupa 2008 in Düsseldorf, Germany.

Martin Bailey

02-Mar-2007

Martin Bailey (Global Graphics Software) served as CIP4's CEO from the organization's inception in 2000 until October of 2006. He has led the development of the CIP4 organization itself, including the development of its bylaws and operating procedures, and has made significant technical contributions to the Job Definition Format as well as the Interoperability Conformance Specifications. Furthermore, he has played a leading role in promoting the adoption of JDF through numerous speaking engagements and by authoring articles on the subject of JDF for various trade publications. He has more than 20 years of experience building, using, supporting and improving products for the electronic publishing and graphic arts industries in programming and technical support as well as in consulting, service bureaus, and production management.

Bailey is Chief Technology Officer at Global Graphics where he specifies and designs many aspects of Global Graphic's industry- leading printing and document technology which extends across several page description languages including PostScript®, PDF and XPS (XML Paper Specification). He is active in representing Global Graphics on a number of industry bodies and standards committees including chairing CGATS, and chairing the ANSI/CGATS SC6 Task Force 1 and also the ISO TC130 WG2 TF2, both of which are developing aspects of PDF/X.

Martin continues to be an active member of CIP4 representing Global Graphics on CIP4's Advisory Board and participating in several technical working groups. He is also involved in standards work relating to variable data printing and reliable print workflows.

The award was presented to Martin on March 02, 2007, at the Xplor International 2007 conference in Miami/FL, USA.

Tom Hastings 

6-Nov-2006

Tom Hastings (Xerox), an Electrical Engineering alumnus from MIT, is a member of the Production Systems Group at Xerox Corporation in El Segundo, California, where his primarly focus is on Systems Interoperability. Prior to Xerox, Tom worked for Digital Equipment Corporation in the Boston area for 27 years. He has been working on standards committees throughout his career, including committees for Unicode, ISO DPA 10175 ( Document Printing Application ), IPP (Internet Printing Protocol) and JDF. Tom has a long history of working to make standards be as complete and accurate as possible; a quality which he immediately brought to CIP4 when he started working on JDF for Xerox in 2001. His thorough analysis of the specification brought a new level of quality to JDF, helping to move it from a 1.0 Beta style format to a robust industry standard. Recognizing that different interpretations of a specification are the silent killer of interoperability, Tom's "ambiguity meter" is second to none. He concentrated mainly on issues related to digital printing such as the mapping of IPP to JDF, the Interoperability Conformance Specification for Integrated Digital Printing and the complete specification of click counters. In his position as chair of the CIP4 system behavior and interoperability working group, he drafted the initial Base ICS. Tom was responsible for organization and evaluation of the first Interoperability Events, which established open testing and an honest exchange of thoughts and insights even between companies known to the marketplace as rivals.

The award was presented to Tom on November 09, 2006, at the CIP4 Interop Meeting in Quebec, Canada.

Graham Mann

13-Sep-2005

Most recognized for his sterling service editing the first three versions of the JDF schema and the current version (v1.3), Graham Mann (Adobe) began working in 1999 for Adobe as a UK-based Computer Scientist in Norwich Print Workflow Products Development Group. In 2001, shortly after CIP3 accepted the request of the JDF standard originators (Adobe, Heidelberg, AGFA, and MAN Roland) to take over the stewardship of JDF and reorganize as the CIP4 association, it became apparent that JDF would play a central role in the development of Adobe's Print Workflow Products. Graham immediately took an active role within CIP4 as a contributor to the development of products that would utilize the JDF standard.

The award was presented to Graham on September 12, 2005, at the 2005 CIP4 General Meeting during Print 2005 in Chicago, USA.

Alfred Bürkli

09-May-2004

An electrical engineer from Switzerland, Alfred Bürkli (Müller Martini), joined Müller Martini in 1969. He developed state-of-the-art electronic controls for various postpress machines, before becoming the manager of the electrical engineering department. When Müller Martini joined CIP3, Alfred represented the company and worked on the definition of the postpress parameters of the PPF specification, driving the specification forward into finishing operations, well beyond the original plan of simple prepress to pressroom connectivity. When CIP3 was transferred to CIP4, he took an active role in establishing the legal issues for the new organization. In his position as chair of CIP4's Finishing Workgroup, Alfred worked tirelessly to ensure that JDF covers the bindery as completely as possible and recently finished a draft of the Binding Interoperability Conformance Specification (ICS) just weeks before retiring from Müller Martini.

The award was presented to Alfred on May 09, 2004, at a special reception at the CIP4 booth during drupa 2004 in Düsseldorf, Germany.