PDF Association appoints Duff Johnson as Executive Director

The PDF Association, the trade association for software developers that create and process PDF files, today announced the hiring of Duff Johnson as the organization’s first Executive Director.

The change represents a milestone in the development of the trade association for software businesses concerned with PDF technology. With over 100 member companies from more than 20 countries, the PDF Association continues to expand along with the global marketplace for PDF technology, now estimated at over two billion dollars per year.

Mr. Johnson is an 18-year veteran of the electronic document industry and has served as the Vice Chairman of the PDF Association since 2010. He started his first company dedicated to leveraging PDF technology in 1996, and since led three others in the PDF space. In addition to his role as Vice Chairman of the PDF Association, Mr. Johnson is Standards Committee chairman at AIIM and one of two ISO Project Leaders for ISO 32000, the internationally standardized specification for PDF.

“Duff has been one of PDF’s most capable and energetic advocates since the early days of PDF technology,” said PDF Association chairman Olaf Drümmer. “Duff brings deep technical and marketplace knowledge to the role, and he’s well-known in the PDF world,” Drümmer continued. “The Board is confident that as Executive Director Duff will enable a dramatic expansion of the PDF Association’s efforts to promote the format and the industry,” he said.

The new Executive Director of the PDF Association, Duff Johnson, said: “Over the past 21 years PDF has facilitated a shift from paper-based to electronic documents; indeed, it’s been a key disruptor technology for business processes worldwide. Over the next five to ten years we’ll see ever-deepening integration of PDF functionality across the ECM, BPM and document-management industries as customers come to see PDF as far more than electronic paper, and begin to grasp the potential of this open, standards-based and universally-accepted technology to address a diverse range of communications and business-process needs.”

“The PDF Association’s job is to promote understanding of PDF technology and adoption of ISO standards for PDF as a platform for business applications.” Johnson continued. “I look forward to driving this mission as the PDF Association’s Executive Director.”

About the PDF Association

First established as the PDF/A Competence Center in 2006, today, the PDF Association is an international organization promoting awareness and adoption of open standards in digital document applications using PDF technology.

The association facilitates education, networking and communication, and the sharing of expertise and experience with interested parties worldwide. The current membership includes over 100 enterprises and numerous individual subject-matter experts from more than 20 countries.

The management board includes industry leaders from Adlib Information Systems Inc., Adobe Systems Inc., callas software GmbH, Datalogics Inc., intarsys consulting GmbH, levigo solutions GmbH, LuraTech Europe GmbH, Nitro Software Inc. and Satz-Rechen-Zentrum (SRZ) zusammen. The association’s chairman is Olaf Drümmer, CEO of callas software GmbH. Duff Johnson, ISO Project Leader for ISO 32000, the PDF Standard, is the association’s Executive Director.

The organization is staging two educational events for IT executives this coming December; PDF Day in Washington DC and PDF Day in New York City.

###