Eric Olsen
Marketing Director, 3i Graphics & Displays, Binghamton, NY
CAST members since 2001
CAST President, 2007-2008
What does your company do?
3i Graphics provides a variety of two- and three-dimensional graphics solutions, such as signs, banners and displays, for indoor and outdoor use. Our customers include a wide variety of businesses.
What’s your role in the company?
As marketing director, I’m responsible for capturing business from new customers and existing accounts and then managing every phase of their projects from inception to final delivery.
Tell us about the special challenges you face in your job.
Because our company is small—with just 15 people—we collaborate a great deal, and I get involved in every aspect of my customers’ projects. The internal challenge is managing our time while working on multiple projects at once. The external goal is always to serve and satisfy each customer.
What training and prior experience led you to this point in your career?
I started out studying architecture, made a transition to art and graduated from Empire State College with a B.S. in communications studies. I worked for General Electric and then, through a series of mergers at the facility in Johnson City, for Martin Marietta, Lockheed Martin and BAE Systems. Starting as a paste-up artist, I worked my way into doing design and then moved into leadership positions that involved exhibit marketing, marketing collateral development and video production. All of those roles included responsibility for project management.
How have you benefited from your membership in CAST?
Through CAST, I’ve been able to make people in this market more aware of my capabilities, and the capabilities of 3i Graphics. As a result, I’ve developed relationships with people who eventually became customers. I’ve also gotten to know the capabilities of other members. That helps me make more informed decisions, and make them more efficiently, when my company needs products or services.
I just finished a term as chairman of the board of IAPHC, The Graphics Professionals Resource Network (www.IAPHC.org). I hope to take what I’ve learned from that experience on an international board and help CAST further its objectives, with a particular emphasis on making member-to-member connections.
To learn more about 3i Graphics, call 607-723-8941 or visit www.3igraphics.com
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