After 11 years of publishing Young Influencer profiles in The Cannata Report, one might get the false impression that young people—those under 40—making a name for themselves in the office technology industry is a new phenomenon.
As someone who has been involved in the industry for 38 years, I can confidently say it is not a new phenomenon at all. There have always been young people in influential positions. Historically, it’s been a fountain of youth even though much of the focus in the press has been devoted to the more senior members of the industry. The problem was, until The Cannata Report came along, no one thought about celebrating these younger individuals.
Looking back, if I were writing about Young Influencers during my first 10 to 15 years in the industry, I would have been profiling many who are now in C-level positions. I could have interviewed Sharp’s Mike Marusic when he was a product manager at Panasonic or Epson’s Mark Mathews and Joe Contreras when both were product managers at Toshiba.
Or how about Flex Technology Group’s Frank Gaspari when he started his first dealership in Chicago? Or Frank Mallozzi when I first met him while he was launching Canon’s CJ10 desktop color copier in the early 1990s? Or Jennie Fisher when she was moving up the ranks at GreatAmerica Financial Services? Those are just a few examples. Trust me, there are many more.
Unfortunately, for the aforementioned individuals who are now more senior leaders, that Young Influencer ship set sail long ago. But it’s not too late to celebrate the six Young Influencers of 2024—three working on the dealer side of the industry and three employed by vendors. Who among them will follow in the footsteps of past Young Influencers who now hold more prominent roles in the industry, including Sarah Custer, Patrick Flesch, Dino Pagliarello, David Scibetta, and Danielle Wolowitz, among others, who have been featured during the first decade of the franchise?
This fills us with optimism and excitement for the future of the office technology industry. What a joy to know that this industry still has a fountain of youth to nourish it for many years to come.
