PMA announces Distinguished Service Award recipients

A Certified Public Accountant by profession, Brent Bowyer and his wife, Fran, have owned and operated several retail businesses. They opened their first one-hour photofinishing business in Charleston, W.V., in 1982 and grew that business to three locations, adding portraiture and glamour photography. They joined Independent Photo Imagers (IPI) as the first members east of Denver, Colo., in 1996. Brent became a member of the IPI Board of Directors in 1997 and was selected by the IPI Board of Directors in 2001 to succeed Roger Steitman, a cofounder of IPI and its Executive Director, as IPI’s Executive Director. IPI membership has more than doubled to over 600 members with over 800 locations since Brent became Executive Director and membership has recently expanded internationally to Canada, Australia, New Zealand and South Africa.

In July of 1968 at the age of twenty-four, Larry Carrillo became the founder and sole owner of Shutterbug Camera Shops in Santa Rosa, Calif. During his 40-plus year career in the photo specialty industry, he was actively involved with PMA, serving as the president of the Northern California Division, followed as a Territorial Vice President (TVP), then Trustee-at-Large. Furthermore he had chaired the CPC Committee for PMA. In 1987 his company joined the Photographic Research Organization (PRO), in which he held a position on the Board of Directors, the Executive Committee, then serving as the organization’s Vice-President. He served as a member of the Kodak Medalist Advisory Committee. And, he is a member of the Buck Rogers Group. Upon his 2006 retirement, Larry left Shutterbug Camera Shops in the able hands of his protégé and Shutterbug’s new owner, Mike Paschke.

Chris A. Paschke, CPF, GCF, is a second-generation professional picture framer, artist, designer, educator and consultant who operates her own retail/commercial picture-framing and design business, Designs Ink, in Tehachapi, Calif. She was co-founder of the PPFA Far Northern California Chapter 1987; founding member and first chairperson of the PPFA Competition Board 2003; and is current president of PPFA Greater Los Angeles Chapter along with having served on committees too numerous to mention through the years. She was honored with the PPFA Award of Distinction for Leadership 2008 and the Vivian Kistler Recognition For Innovation Award 2010 for her work on the Competition Board. A popular educator, Paschke has authored numerous magazine series and has self-published four books.