Belmark founder Bruce Bell wins R. Stanton Avery Lifetime Achievement Award

The R. Stanton Avery Lifetime Achievement Award, sponsored by Avery Dennison, is bestowed in memory and recognition of Stan Avery’s pioneering spirit and values, and celebrates the outstanding contribution an individual has made to the label printing industry over a minimum of 25 years.

Bell has had a long and distinguished career since founding Belmark in 1977, which opened with just one 5-color press and three employees. Today, the company is an industry leader in pressure-sensitive labels, flexible film packaging and folded cartons with over 650 employees. Belmark has grown four times the industry average and maintains lead times that are half of the industry average.

Outside of engineering Belmark’s own success story, Bell has been involved in nurturing individual talent and has long held the respect and admiration of his industry peers, including being chosen as the 1999 TLMI Converter of the Year and being a 10-times winner of the Eugene Singer Award for Management Excellence.

Further, Bell has been involved with TLMI throughout his career. Joining in 1991, he was asked to serve on the association’s board in 1995. A year later he assumed leadership of the scholarship committee. In five years as chairman, TLMI’s scholarship contribution tripled from 200,000 USD in 1995 to 600,000 USD in 2011. The fund, which stands at 1 million USD for 2016, is used to award scholarships to students demonstrating an interest in the tag and label industry. The TLMI board has named one of the scholarships in Bruce’s honor.

Mike Fairley, chair of the judges, said: 'Bruce truly deserves this award as we celebrate his lifetime achievements and remarkable contribution to the label printing industry. Bruce has made an indelible mark on the label sector and is widely known and recognized for his integrity, honesty and respect in doing business. A true visionary throughout his career, he is a fantastic ambassador for our industry.'

Bell will receive the award at the Label Industry Global Awards ceremony during Labelexpo Americas 2016, and joins prestigious list of recipients of the Lifetime Achievement title, including Finat’s Kurt Walker, Suzanne Zaccone of GSI Technologies, RotoMetric’s Steve Lee, Neil McDonough of FLEXcon and its first-ever winner, Mark Andy’s Dale Bunnell.

The shortlist of finalists in the three other awards categories to be presented at the 2016 Label Industry Global Award have also been revealed, and are detailed here.