If you ask Eric Frank how he feels about being celebrated, he will probably try to change the subject.
Recognition makes him uncomfortable, and praise even more so. Frank would much rather be the one asking questions, making introductions, offering advice, or pulling someone else into the conversation. He is naturally more comfortable helping someone find their place in the room than standing at the center of it himself.
So being named the Paperboard Packaging Council’s 2026 Volunteer Leader Award recipient puts Frank, Senior Vice President of Marketing at Koenig & Bauer (US/CA), Inc., in a position he would never seek on his own: at the center of the story.
But perhaps that is exactly why his story is worth telling. Behind decades of service to PPC is a belief Frank learned long before he entered the printing and packaging industry: giving something back does not require wealth, status, or a grand gesture.
“The most valuable thing in life is time,” Frank said.
For Frank, that idea goes much further back than his years of leadership. He grew up in a large family where service to others was simply part of life. Some of his clearest childhood memories are of watching his mother make time for the people around her. He remembers sitting in the car while she delivered meals through Meals on Wheels, joining her at Paralyzed Veterans Association gatherings where they served food, and watching his family open their home through the Fresh Air Fund.
Those experiences quietly shaped Frank’s understanding of service. His mother showed him that giving back was often less about what you could provide than the willingness to show up for someone else.
“I realized that giving back doesn’t have to be a big shiny item,” Frank recalled. “It can be just your soul or your person or your time.”
That understanding would eventually follow him into an industry he discovered almost by accident, and into a community where showing up became one of the defining threads of his career.
Finding Something Worth Making
Frank’s introduction to printing came in seventh grade, when he enrolled in a printing class. By high school, he was attending a technical program and learning the trade more seriously.
That suited Frank, who has always been interested in finding points of connection. He still uses a conversational principle he learned years ago: FORD. Family. Occupation. Recreation. Dreams. Ask about any of those four things, he believes, and there is almost always somewhere two people can connect.
One project he still remembers was a Jimi Hendrix poster he printed on a letterpress. Other students thought it was cool, and Frank remembers the satisfaction of creating something tangible that other people responded to.
There was something powerful in taking an idea, making it real, and seeing someone else appreciate the result. That feeling never completely went away.
The work also gave Frank something else he valued: common ground. Printing was everywhere, and wherever he went, the industry gave him something to talk about with the people around him.
It is a small detail that says a great deal about Frank. He pays attention to people, wants to understand what matters to them, and has a way of making them feel like they belong in the conversation.
Finding A Home In PPC
Frank became involved with PPC during his years at Koenig & Bauer, when the company’s strong connection to packaging made the association a natural place to engage.
What kept him coming back, however, was the community. Frank remembers arriving at PPC and sensing something different from other associations he had known. The barriers between people seemed lower. People from different companies and different parts of the industry could participate, contribute, and get to know one another.
“I felt at home,” he said.
Over time, that sense of belonging became a sense of responsibility. He wanted them to have a voice.
Frank served on PPC’s Board of Directors, held leadership roles with the Membership and Marketing Committees, contributed to PPC University and the PPCU Task Force, and became a longtime instructor at Folding Carton Boot Camp, where he shared his expertise in printing processes, rotary cutting, cold foil, and other technologies with professionals across the industry.
Yet the list of roles does not fully explain what Frank brought to them.
When he talks about becoming a leader within PPC’s Supplier (Associate) Member community, for example, he does not describe it as another title. He remembers looking around the room and seeing a significant group of suppliers with expertise and something important to contribute.
“I felt a strong obligation and responsibility” to represent supplier members, he said. For Frank, the role was an opportunity to make sure they were not only present, but an integral part of the conversation.
Listening Before Leading
One of the things Frank values most about PPC is the range of experiences its community brings together. Around the same table can be an independent converter, an executive from a large integrated organization, and a supplier partner, each bringing different responsibilities, pressures, and ideas about where the industry should go.
Frank has spent enough time in those conversations to know the goal isn’t to get everyone to see things the same way.
“The key to life is listening and not judging,” he said.
His longtime interest in emotional intelligence has reinforced that philosophy. Frank listens for more than the opinion itself. He wants to understand what is driving it, what matters to the person behind it, and where there may be enough common ground to move forward.
At the same time, he has never believed progress requires perfect agreement. Frank is comfortable offering a strong opinion, considering what needs to change, and then making the decision. Learn from what happens next. Keep moving.
That balance of listening carefully and knowing when to move forward has made Frank a steady presence during some of PPC’s most important periods of change.
It is an approach shaped by people throughout his own life. His mother gave him his foundation for service. His wife, Diane, taught him to look for the good in people and see situations more generously. Mentors throughout his career taught him structure, discipline, and the value of giving someone your complete attention.
Frank has carried those lessons forward in the way he leads others, offering his perspective, sharing what he knows, and giving people room to find their own way forward.
Making Room For What Comes Next
When Frank talks about younger people entering printing and packaging, his enthusiasm for the industry is immediate.
He wants them to understand that this is an industry where people make something real.
A designer can walk into a store and see a structure they helped create. A salesperson can see a customer’s product on a shelf. An engineer or operator can point to a finished package and know the decisions, technology, and expertise required to get it there.
“What you do, you’ll actually see in the real world,” Frank said.
He hopes the next generation sees not just a job, but a career where they can make something real, build a life, and know their work matters.
That desire to help other people see what is possible may be the clearest explanation for Frank’s decades of volunteer service.
The Spirit Of The Volunteer Leader Award
Created in 2009, the Volunteer Leader Award recognizes a PPC member or retiree whose time and talent have strengthened the association. Frank’s years of education, committee leadership, Board service, mentorship, and advocacy embody that spirit.
Yet when Frank imagines receiving the award at PPC’s Fall Meeting in Orlando, he is already looking beyond the moment on stage. What would mean the most to him is what might happen afterward: someone stopping him to continue a conversation, asking him to explain an idea further, or telling him that something he said helped them think differently about a challenge.
He helped build a community. And he did it the way he learned to give so many years ago: by showing up, sharing what he had, and giving people one of the most valuable things any of us have to offer: his time.
