In 2012 a small group of print & sign company owners began discussing meeting together informally to share and learn from each other. The discussions grew and David Handler of Success Handler LLC was engaged to help formalize plans and to lead a planning session to form a new association. David lead the group through a formal process to discuss what purpose and goals the owners had. As a result of these meetings a new organization was conceived with founders contributing their own funds to launch the association.
In early days of 2013, the National Print Owners Association (as it was formally known which is now names National Print And Sign Owners Association – NPSOA) and first board was formed, with Jace Prejean as the President, Barry Martin as Vice President, Dennis Trump as Treasurer, John Henry as Director of Events, Chuck Pappas and Armand Girard, as board members. An Executive Director was hired to manage the association. Mike Stevens was the ceremonial 1st member and he sold the Printowners List to the newly formed NPSOA for what he had paid for it.
In the fall of 2012, the first meeting was planned to be held at Jace Prejean’s shop in Houma, LA., with a handful of fellow owners attending. However, as word spread other owners heard about the plans and started inquiring if they too could attend. As the number of interested owners grew from 5 to 12, Jace soon realized that his small shop could not hold the number of interested owners. Jace contacted his KM copier dealer (NPSOA’s first sponsor) who agreed to host the group in their conference room as they had room for 25 people. With the formal launch of NPSOA the number of folks wanting to attend grew from 25 to 40 to 80 and John Henry was able to quickly secure the Superdome Holiday Inn in New Orleans for a full NPSOA conference with speakers, a good thing as NPSOA sold out the maximum meeting capacity of 120 in March of 2013.
A fun Highlight of the event was a Sunday BBQ brunch provided at President Prejean’s bar Dooley’s in Humna, LA.
The organization has continued to grow and develop to over 500 Members and Sponsorship Suppliers.
In September of 2020, the board changed their name to National Print and Sign Owners Association to include the owners of sign companies in their membership.