CPC of the Month honors self-prescribed digital "evangelist"
The CPC of the Month Award for April goes to Michael McGourty, CPC, Digital Foto @ Leavy's, Dundalk, Ireland, a trained pharmacist who has spent more than 40 years in the photography industry in various full-time positions, as well as his current role as consultant and digital photography advocate.
    In the early 1960s, McGourty successfully passed the theory-and-practice photography exam given by the U.K. Photographic Dealers Association. He also studied color processing and quality control at several Agfa plants in Europe, and later at the Kodak Marketing Education Centre in Hemel Hemsptead, England.
    In 1973, McGourty opened one of the first color processing plants outside Dublin, Ireland, and says he initiated the "free film" concept in northeast Ireland, as well as nationwide mail-order processing.
    He sold his interest in the company in 1983 to become a consultant and group buyer for the retail photographic departments of Connor Chemists in Northern Ireland. During his time with Connors, he also privately lectured on all aspects of photography, and ran both practical and theoretical tutorials in the Republic and Northern Ireland.
    McGourty moved to the United Kingdom in 1987 to become the head of quality control for then new Color Photographic Department of the Mirror Group PLC, London, England, which, the following year, became the publisher of daily newspapers in the United Kingdom to run "live color." He also was responsible for the quality of all original color photographs for the chain's titles, which included The Daily Mirror, The Sunday Mirror, The People, The Sporting Life, and The European.
    McGourty says he developed two major innovations while with Mirror: modifying the processing chemistry to shorten the time to make a color print from 11 minutes to 4 minutes. He also devised a film separation system using Polaroid 8-by-10-inch instant print material to make a color print from black-and-white separations.
    In 1992, McGourty says he was assigned the job of assessing the progress and development of digital imaging, as it relates to the role of production images for newspaper publication.
    A family tragedy in 1993 caused him to return to Ireland, after the Mirror Group Newspapers kindly released him from future obligations. McGourty reports becoming the first CPC in Ireland in 1997, and, in 1999, he was invited to address the PMA European Conference on Digital Imaging. He also authors many articles on the topic and pens a regular column for the pharmacy journal IFU Review.
    McGourty currently says he's enjoying his independent role as a "digital evangelist," is involved in the planning of a new photo trade magazine, and is writing a book about his experiences in the newspaper trade.

(Taken from an extract on the PMA website.)