Stephen Whittaker credits his degree in printing management for saving his life. After graduating from RIT in 1968, Stephen married his wife Ann, and by fall he was drafted into the US Army and sent to South Vietnam. A chance meeting with an outgoing soldier who needed a replacement pressman secured Stephen a job in a classified printing plant in a combat zone. Sadly, the thirteen other servicemen who arrived the same day were sent to the field and did not return home. After a fourteen month tour, Stephen returned home and was awarded the Bronze Star Medal, Army Commendation Medal and seven other military decorations. More recently, he was presented with the John Peter Zenger Medal for military bravery by the Printing Industry Alliance of N.Y., N.J., and Pa. 
 
Mr. Whittaker has worked at Monroe Litho, Inc. in Rochester, New York for the past 26 years where he is currently the Vice President of Quality Management and Sustainability Initiatives. A senior member of the American Society for Quality, he manages and organizes third party external audits for quality and sustainability systems within Monroe Litho, and he is also responsible for the management of the firm's FSC and SFI Certifications. In 2008 Monroe Litho became the fifth commercial printer in the US to earn the Sustainable Green Printing Partnership Certification and the company was recognized as one of the sixteen safest companies in the United States by EHS Magazine. 
 
Dedicated to his profession and his community, Mr. Whittaker was an adjunct professor in the School of Print Media, College of Imaging Arts and Sciences at RIT and also a member of the Rochester Area Business Ethics Foundation, a group that promotes business ethics and recognizes local companies for their exemplary ethical practices. A 33o Scottish Rite Freemason, he served on the Board of Governors of the Frank and Bette Paul 32oMasonic Learning Center for Children, a non-fee organization that teaches children with dyslexia to read.