Harry Stephens, President and CEO of DATAMATX, Reaches Out to Fellow Xplor Member during Aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.

Torrance, California  — Xplor International, the worldwide electronic document systems association, today named their 2006 President’s Award winner to Harry Stephens, president and CEO of DATAMATX, one of the nation’s largest privately held full-service providers of printed and electronic billing solutions. In the spirit of Xplor, Stephens and DATAMATX opened their facilities to a fellow Xplor member Pel Hughes, a New Orleans-based printing and direct mail provider whose plant was located in the heart of New Orleans and flooded by several feet of water caused by Hurricane Katrina. By making part of its Atlanta facility available to Pel Hughes, DATAMATX allowed its colleague to reestablish critical operations, maintain communication with the customers and subsequently remain in business. 

“The humanitarian efforts exhibited by Harry Stephens and DATAMATX typify the spirit of Xplor and the support of our worldwide membership and network,” said Skip Henk, EDP, president and CEO. “I am pleased to present the 2006 Xplor President’s Award to Harry Stephens and the team at DATAMATX, who opened their hearts, business and facilities to come to the aid of a fellow Xplor member.”

Following the hurricane, DATAMATX made a portion of its Atlanta facility available to Pel Hughes and helped the company establish several critical business operations including a central communications center; telecommunications; Web site presence and email; data communications for receiving transmissions from customers; and a private network for rebuilding automation and processing infrastructures. In addition, DATAMATX assisted Pel Hughes in the purchase of mission-critical equipment and software, including a new, fully configured dedicated Solimar System for document delivery; 2 new Dell servers to provide processing capabilities for data; a Xerox DocuPrint 4635 Laser Print System for centralized print production; and a Pitney Bowes Series 8 system for mail inserting.

(Editor's Note: To see "Thoughts on Katrina" three part story for details, Click Here)

Harry Stephens will accept the President’s Award at Xplor’s Global Document Exchange, in conjunction with Graphics of the Americas, on Wednesday, February 1, 2006 during the opening general session beginning at 4:00 pm in the Jackie Gleason Theater, Miami Beach Convention Center. Skip Henk, EDP, president and CEO will present the award.

“Our goal was to see a fellow Xplor member survive this terrible event; retain its clients and workforce of more than 100 employees; and ultimately remain in business,” said president and CEO of DATAMATX Harry Stephens. “While I wasn’t expecting to receive an award for our efforts, on behalf of everyone at DATAMATX, I am honored to receive it.”

About Xplor International

Xplor’s annual Global Document Exchange Conference is scheduled for February 1-5, 2006 in Miami Beach, Florida and co-located with Graphics of the Americas, February 3-5, 2006 at the Miami Beach Convention Center.

Datamax is participating in the Disaster Recovery Track.

Discounts for Xplor members and officers as well as members of TAWPI, IPA, ECI, NAPL, ISUG, PIA and PAF are also available.

For more information, visit www.xplor2006.org.

Xplor International is a worldwide, not-for-profit professional association that consists of thousands of users and suppliers of the products and services that create, modify and deliver customized information using a wide variety of document technologies. The association provides educational products and programs for its members and the industry at large through conferences, meetings and annual events. Xplor International has its worldwide headquarters in Torrance, California, with affiliated offices around the world.

Further information is available at www.xplor.org.