Shop Talk Speakers
Nathan Anderson, FM Expressions
CEO at FM Expressions developing web-to-print, low minimum order quantity, fast-turn heat transfer service. Second-generation, 18-year apparel decoration industry veteran.
Nick Buettner, ISW
Nick Buettner has neen in the digital print industry since the late 80’s. He printed my 1st transfer off an Alps printer with Neenah Duratrans paper and micro dry resin wax ink. Nick currently work for Imaging Supplies warehouse as Director of Business Development managing all of North America (including Canada) and the Caribbean. He has been working with different forms of DTF since 2011. Sublimation since the late 90’s.
Jacob Edward, Jakprints
Jacob Edwards co-founded Jakprints originally to supply his band and a few buddies with merch. It has grown to enormous proportions providing all kinds of printing from paper to hoodies and an on-line selling platform called Indiemerch. This one time professional skateboarder made a customer friendly business that now has literally had thousands of customers.
Ilan Elad, Kornit Digital
Ilan Elad is a visionary leader driving the future of the apparel industry as President of Kornit Digital, the global pioneer in digital apparel technology. With Kornit doubling down on its investment in customer success in 2025 and beyond, no other company is better positioned to lead the digital transformation in apparel. Under Ilan’s leadership, Kornit has reshaped the industry in North America, helping screen printers and apparel decorators embrace the future while staying true to their craft and building long-term success.
With over two decades of global experience, Ilan has a proven track record of delivering extraordinary growth and empowering businesses to reach new heights. He has led sales operations across 170 countries, achieved triple-digit revenue growth in key markets, and implemented strategies that foster innovation and profitability. At Kornit, Ilan is focused on helping businesses expand their capabilities and future-proof their operations by integrating cutting-edge digital production into their workflows.
For screen printers and creative entrepreneurs, digital production might feel like a big change—but it’s one that can’t be ignored. The companies that embrace this shift and expand their capabilities will be the ones that thrive in the years ahead, while those that don’t risk being left behind. Ilan is making sure that Kornit is here to help it’s customers stay competitive by driving demand generators and providing the tools and support needed to grow in a rapidly evolving market.
Join us as Ilan shares his vision for how the market will change and evolve in the years to come, and what screen printers need to be thinking about in order to secure their place in the future of apparel and continue to grow in a market where standing still is no longer an option.
Josh Ellsworth, STAHLS’
As Executive Vice President of Sales and Marketing for GroupeSTAHL North America, Josh is responsible for leading and supporting a nationwide team of experienced team members with a focus on growing the company’s enterprise and dealer sales and marketing efforts. His in-depth understanding of the technical side of garment decorating, combined with a sincere interest in seeing businesses succeed, make him a sought-after and trusted resource for information industry-wide.
Jeff Flink, Hydro Engineering, Inc.
Jeff Flink is the International Sales Representative for Hydro Engineering, Inc. (HEI), a global leader in innovative equipment solutions for washing, collecting, and recycling wash water. HEI’s product lineup includes cutting-edge Hydroblaster Pressure Washers, Hydropad Wash Racks, and Hydrokleen Filtration Systems, tailored to meet the needs of diverse industries.
With over 13 years of experience in both automated and manual wash systems, as well as expertise in wash water filtration and recycling technologies, Jeff brings a wealth of industry knowledge to his role. His career began as a Territory Sales Manager in the car wash sector, where he specialized in automatic tunnel washes and in-bay automatic wash systems. He has also worked as a chemical representative for leading brands, including Ecolab, Blue Coral, Turtle Wax, and Blend-CO.
Jeff’s entrepreneurial spirit led him to own and operate Sparkle Express Car Wash, a full-service tunnel car wash, further broadening his hands-on expertise. At Hydro Engineering, Jeff applies his skills to develop advanced wash and filtration systems for industries such as mining, heavy equipment operations, and specialty applications like automatic screen reclaiming systems.
Jeff’s dedication to delivering tailored, high-performance solutions makes him a valuable asset to both Hydro Engineering and its global client base.
Florian Freilinger, MHM
Florian Freilinger began his professional career in the textile industry in 1997 with his own embroidery business and joined MHM Screenprinting in 2000 as Sales Director for South America and the USA. For 10 years he was significantly involved in the success and growth of MHM. In 2010, he moved to Rutland Ink and was responsible for EMEA and APAC as International Sales Manager. After that, he started working as an independent consultant until he joined aeoon technologies as Sales Director in 2019. On November 1, 2023, he returned to MHM as Vice President. Initially, he will focus on establishing and expanding sales activities and optimizing sales processes in general. He is also known for having thrown some of the best parties in the industry.
Ian Hinkley, DGI Apparel
Ian Hinkley is the CEO & Co-Founder of DGI Apparel, a purchasing platform that combines every blank apparel wholesaler into one simple website. DGI Apparel is actively used by over 2,000 decorators and was the 2024 Shirtee Awards Product of the Year. Prior to DGI, Ian worked as a screenprinter in high school and earned degrees in Mechanical Engineering and Business from MIT.
Pam Ikegami, Mirror Image Inc.
Pam is currently the Ecommerce and Marketing at Mirror Image Inc., Pawtucket, Rhode Island. Director of Operations at Doing Good Merch, operating online retail stores– from design of decorated apparel to order fulfillment, in partnership with non-profits and political organizations working for positive change both to promote progressive messaging and to earn income for these organizations. She is a partner at Ink Kitchen, providing screen printers and garment decorators with real-world garment decorating knowledge packaged into posts, interviews, and videos by and about hands-on industry experts. www.inkkitchen.com. She is a 2017 MBA graduate at Paul College of Business and Economics, University of New Hampshire. She is a producer of the Pawtucket Film Festival in Pawtucket, RI. For many years she was a senior lecturer in Japanese at the University of New Hampshire, responsible for planning and teaching all levels of Japanese language taught at the university. She has over 25 years of professional Japanese to English translation, interpreting and consulting experience.
Kevin Kauth, Chromaline
Kevin Kauth is Chromaline’s Technical Sales Representative for the midwest/western region and has been with the company for the past 13+ years. Prior to his time at Chromaline, he held the Applications Specialist position at Sefar and has a Graphic Communications Management degree from the University of Wisconsin – Stout. His extensive knowledge base for mesh and emulsion provides the perfect combination of screen room support and he continues to give back to the screen printing community by teaching numerous seminars on the topic as well as being active in the Apparel Decorators Committee for Printing United Alliance.
Howard Levine, Alliance Graphics
Howard Levine is the President of Alliance Graphics, a union screen print and embroidery shop based in Berkeley California. He is the co-founder of the Middle East Children’s Alliance. A recovering journalist Howard has been a freelance writer, staff writer at the San Francisco Examiner and Oakland Tribune and the editor-in-chief of the Daily Cal.
Cole Lundstrom, Merch Troop
Cole Lundstrom’s business, Merch Troop, is a leading custom printing company based in Southern California providing top-quality custom apparel and promotional items, wholesale DTF transfers, and live event printing services.
Cole also founded Shirt Agency in 2012, the company has completed over 6 million prints using a variety of methods, including screen printing, direct-to garment, and embroidery.
Cole began the podcast in 2017 which contributes to it being the #1 search result for Tshirt Podcast on Google. He has interviewed close to 50 Founders and worked with brands like Bella+Canvas & ScreenPrinting Magazine to create high-quality content for their platforms.
Andy MacDougall, Squeegeeville
Andy MacDougall helped establish Wachiay Studio on Vancouver Island in 2015. He retired from day to day duties in 2021 but continues to work on special projects & educational initiatives, including screentheworld.org. In 2007 he was inducted to the Academy of Screenprinting Technology for ongoing contributions to the industry including producing the books ‘Screenprinting Today – the Basics’, and a ‘History of Screen Printing’, numerous magazine articles & live screenprinting demonstrations from Montreal to Milwaukee to Long Beach. He currently hosts the podcast & column ‘Art, Ad, or Alchemy’ for Screenprinting Magazine in the USA.
Alex Mammoser, Easiway Systems
Alex is the Chief Revenue Officer (CR) at Easiway Systems. He previously founded Bluewater Labs in 2021 and before that was Digital Sales Manager at M&R where he worked for ten years.
Jody Mazade, Howard Custom Transfers
Jody Mazade is the Director of Sales and Marketing at Howard Custom Transfers, an industry leading custom transfer manufacturer. In her current role, she lends a focus to customer acquisition and retention, customer experience and loyalty, company branding, market trends, product knowledge, and content creation. With over 15 years of industry experience, Jody’s motivation is to drive the success of local print shops, high-end apparel brands, and all those in-between by providing innovative transfer solutions and service options in a fast-paced, ever-changing industry landscape.
Tonie Mignogna, 613 Originals
Tonie is the VP of Technical Sales at 613 Originals, a leading source for custom heat applied graphics. For over 20 years, Tonie has helped and mentored countless customers, businesses, and colleagues in the heat transfer industry. She has worked within nearly every department, from reception and customer service to production planning and R&D to sales and beyond. Never one to sit idle when there’s something to be learned or improved, Tonie found her true passion at the intersection of solving unique decoration challenges for her customers and the technical aspects of print production. Tonie leads a team of highly trained and customer-focused staff that provide the incredible customer service 613 is known for. Her ultimate mission is to keep raising the bar on what’s possible in the apparel decoration industry.
Jason Murphy, SanMar
Jason currently serves at Senior Channel Manager at Sanmar where he has worked since 2016. Prior to that he was National Sales Manager at Stahls where he worked starting in 2007. He had a long career in embroidery and transfers prior to that. He served in the US Navy in the early 90’s in avionics.
Nicole Pape, Embellishr
Nicole Pape is the owner and CEO of Embellishr, a trusted Pre-Owned Marketplace for premium garment decoration equipment. Nicole has nearly 20 years of experience in the decoration industry, from reclaiming screens for Reebok, venturing into manual printing, transitioning to automation, and eventually becoming a partner in a large commercial contract embellisher on the west coast. Her wealth of experience includes valuable insights gained during her tenure with the ROQ US team, where she delved into the nuances of new equipment manufacturing. This experience fueled her desire to address a niche problem in the industry, leading to the birth of Embellishr in 2022. She is also a mom, a wife, an avid art lover, chicken farmer and even a mead maker in her part time.
Frens Peters, Lotus Holland
Frens Peters is the Owner/Manager of Lotus Holland based in the Netherlands. He started the company in 2006 Before that he was at Bauhuis B.V. as Chief Commercial Officer.
Alex Phelan, Merchadise
Alex Phelan
Sergio Ramirez, Supacolor
With several years of experience in the decorated apparel industry and over a decade of experience in the content creation world, Sergio specializes in creating disruptive digital content for both DTC and B2B.
Under his helm, he helped grow Supacolor’s user base internationally and social media equity tenfold.
In addition to his professional experience, Sergio is also a streetwear designer and artist in his free time to keep his creative eye refreshed. He is widely recognized as an industry expert on taking your social media content to the next level.
He studied with The Art Institute, Universita Bocconi, London Business School, UC Irvine, and UC Davis to cultivate a knowledge base for growing a brand in the decorated apparel industry.
Sergio has already been a guest speaker on Ink Kitchen’s Shop Talk once, this will be his 2nd time, so you won’t want to miss this opportunity to hear from the expert on how to take your brand’s social media content to the next level.
Rick Roth, Ink Kitchen
Rick Roth is the primary interviewer for “Shop Talks” which are free garment and decoration information sessions at Impressions shows featuring the industy’s best and brightest. Rick has been screenprinting t-shirts since dinosaurs ruled the earth. Actually he started by printing “Save Old Bio” shirts and the classic building on his college campus slated for demolition still stands. He went on to print thousands of shirts in his basement with only a primitive set-up. He formed his unionized company MIrror Image in 1989 and has won every award imaginable and is known for innovation, crazy special effects printing, fine art reproduction, and supporting progressive causes. He and Pam Ikegami run the Ink KItchen a website and youtube channel (and soon a podcast) dedicated to sharing solid information at all levels of the decorating industry and for coordinating projects that benefit the entire community. Besides screenprinting he has two music radio shows on WMBR in Boston (wmbr.org) and is very active in the human rights organization Amnesty International and he is the US representative to the One Caucaus borderland project in the country of Georgia. He founded and still produces a film festival in the City of Pawtucket, RI where he also was just honored by being selected to the City’s Hall of Fame.
Ronen Samuel, Kornit
With over 25 years of international business management experience, Ronen Samuel has been the CEO of Kornit Digital since January 2018. Before joining Kornit, he held various leadership roles at HP, including VP and GM of the Indigo and PageWide Presses divisions for Asia-Pacific, Japan, and EMEA, where he significantly expanded and scaled businesses. Known for his passion, hands-on leadership, and proven track record in driving growth, Ronen specializes in developing innovative business models and market opportunities. He holds degrees in Business Administration, Law, and an MBA from Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management.
Jed Seifert, Stakes Manufacturing
Jed Seifert is the Co-founder of Stakes Manufacturing, a DTG & DTF print-on-demand apparel company out of Cleveland, OH where they are passionate about inclusion and currently employ a number of individuals with different disabilities. Stakes was recently awarded the APSE 2022 National Employer of the Year recognizing their hard work building an inclusive workforce employing people with disabilities. Jed is on the Board of Directors for SEEC, an organization dedicated to helping individuals with disabilities attain meaningful employment opportunities and independent living in the DC metropolitan area, who supports his brother’s employment. He is a Board Member for the National Fragile X Foundation, an organization dedicated to serving all those living with Fragile X with a focus on community, awareness, and research in the pursuit of treatments and a cure. He is a Board Member of U.N.I.T.E. Together, an organization empowering and reinforcing a collective commitment to embrace inclusion in the print industry. He serves on the CEO Commission for Disability Employment founded by Voya Financial, the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM), and the National Down Syndrome Society (NDSS), to be a source of research and information, actionable steps, and advocacy opportunities for member companies to recruit and onboard individuals with disabilities into their organizations.
Bill Smith, Saati
Bill Smith is the National Sales Manager at Saati Americas with over 46 years’ experience in the screen printing industry. Bill worked part time decorating uniforms for a local sporting goods retailer while attending Penn State University to earn a degree in Business Administration. He started up a screen printing operation for that retailer out of college, and it grew to a large supplier of team wear, ad specialty, and retail POP displays in the Philadelphia tri-state area. Since 1996, Bill has relied on his real-world experience to help other screen printing shops become successful while working at Saati. He resides in the Philadelphia suburbs and enjoys his wife of 42 years, and his 3 children and 2 grandchildren.
Nathan Sprowell, 613 Originals
President, Direct to Film Operations, 613 Originals
With 18 years in the apparel industry, Nathan Sprowell leads Direct to Film Operations at 613 Originals. His diverse background, spanning retail sales, production, systems, and customer relations, fosters strong connections across all levels of the organization. Nathan’s experience includes owning a retail franchise, DTG/DTF/embroidery technician certification, and managing retail stores and production teams. Beyond his professional pursuits, he’s a dedicated father of two and husband.
Gavin StGeorges, Seps.io
With over 15 years of leadership and managerial experience in both corporate and entrepreneurial settings, Gavin’s professional zone of genius lies in managing and building teams using proven and simple business systems and processes. He owned and grew a successful screen printing business for even years before launching seps.io, a remote art department for screen printing shops. Gavin holds a degree in Management Information Systems.
Rum Walia, Supacolor
Rum has been the President and COO of Supacolor since 2019. With a strong entrepreneurial mind set he embarked on his first business venture during his freshman year of college. Since joining Supacolor, Rum has leveraged his wealth of experience, skills and knowledge gained from his entrepreneurial endeavors and diverse sectors experience which includes finance, real estate, hospitality and decorating + manufacturing to help scale the business, build the Supacolor brand and to create a great company culture. Rum has a passion helping others grow.
Tony Wavering, PromoHunt
Tony is the Founder of PromoHunt, which provides a free browser extension that saves decorators money by comparing prices and finding discounts as they shop supplier websites. With over 7,000 industry professionals using the platform, PromoHunt has won the PPAI Pyramid Award in Technology and has been featured on podcasts such as Success Stories and 2 Regular Guys. Tony’s journey in the industry began during his time at the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School, where he started selling decorated apparel as a side hustle while earning his BS in Economics with concentrations in Finance and Accounting. That side hustle grew into a full-time career as a promotional products distributor, and ultimately led him to develop PromoHunt to solve the real challenges he experienced in the industry.