A Life Of Showing Up: Eric Frank’s Commitment To PPC And The People BY LAUREN ZUBER 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 indus- try: 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 sit- ting 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 fam- ily open their home through the Fresh Air Fund.
Those experiences quietly shaped Frank’s understand- ing of service. His mother showed him that giving back was often less about what you could provide than the will- ingness 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. CONTINUED ON PAGE 28
26 September 28, 2026
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