The Cannatas honor this year’s Executives of the Year (L-R: CJ Cannata, Laura Blackmer of Sharp, Rick Taylor of Konica Minolta, Frank Cannata)
If the annual Cannata Dinner isn’t the document imaging industry’s premier networking event, I don’t know what is. I’d be hard pressed to come up with another event that brings together such a diverse group of industry movers and shakers in a relaxed, non-competitive, low-sales, non-educational environment. All the OEMs were there with the mysterious exception of Canon who took some good natured ribbing in their absence. However, mine is not to reason why.
This year’s event, the first ever with a theme (Born in the USA), was especially well attended with 250 in attendance. I couldn’t walk six inches without bumping into someone I knew or someone who knew me throughout the evening.
The awards have always been a big part of the event and the winners this year were mostly those favored by Las Vegas odds makers. Rick Taylor of Konica Minolta won executive of the year for the ninth time (He now has enough awards to field a baseball team.), Lexmark was honored as Best A4 Manufacturer (MFPS & Printers), Toshiba America Business Solutions took home the Best-in-Class Manufacturer award, Best Manufacturer went to Ricoh, and Laura Blackmer of Sharp was selected by dealers as the Best Woman Executive. Additional honors went to Square 9 as Best Software Developer and Konica Minolta for Best Marketing Strategy.
BTA’s Bob Goldberg did a super job as MC and one could only hope that he’ll be offered this gig again next year.
Beyond the networking and the awards, the more important order of business at the dinner was the monies raised for various charities. This year money was raised for Adopt-a-Soldier Platoon (AaSP) and The V Foundation for Cancer Research, this year in honor of Bob Shields, a popular dealer who passed away last year. The total proceeds raised for both organizations was $153,000.
All in all it was the ultimate managed networking event and congratulations go to the entire Cannata family—Frank, Carol, CJ—who were fabulous hosts per usual. The ENX/The Week in Imaging team is already looking forward to next year’s dinner. After all, it’s events like this and the people who support Frank’s efforts that make the document imaging industry so special.
Thanks for reading.
