Message from The President: Q3 2024

Olympic Memories & the Value of Competition

This summer, two major events caused us all to stop and take notice:  the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris and the PIAG imPRESS Celebration of Print awards banquet in Atlanta! Of course, one of these events was a worldwide phenomenon while the other was a local celebration. But both were reminders of the value of healthy, honest competition.  

It’s been nearly 30 years since the world gathered right here in our state for the 1996 Summer Games. Everyone who lived in Georgia at the time has an Olympic memory or two. I was 15 that summer, and I remember sitting in my grandmother’s front yard in Thomaston watching the torch relay go right past her house. I watched Team USA take the field against Japan at old Fulton County Stadium. My mom was at the Olympic Stadium watching track & field the night Michael Johnson set a new world record, and my brother-in-law was at Centennial Olympic Park only about an hour before the tragic bombing.

This summer, I watched the Paris Olympics with my 11-year-old daughter who is a year-round swimmer. It was a helpful way to demonstrate the need and value of competing – regardless of results. To show her why competition against equal or better opponents improves your own skills, and how successful people crave that opportunity instead of avoiding it.  

“The first step is you just gotta jump in the pool,” I say to her often before a big swim meet.     

Like the athletes who wore medals in Paris, the winners of the PIAG imPRESS awards also had the courage to throw their hat in the ring and step up against their colleagues to see how they compare. I want to congratulate our winners and finalists again for earning top honors – and give kudos to everyone who decided to “jump in the pool.”  

As always, please reach out if there is ever anything you need from PIAG.

Sincerely,

Jon Krueger
President & CEO