The Member Spotlight celebrates our members who work tirelessly to advance sustainability at their campuses and in their surrounding communities.
Dale McIntyre is Vice President, Marketing and Sustainability at Pharos Systems International, an enterprise print solutions provider headquartered in Rochester, New York. Mr. McIntyre provides leadership for all marketing activities and most recently led the company on a journey to become a certified B Corp.
Stewardship, taking care of what we have been given, has always been something very important to him from a young age. “Creative problem solving is in my DNA regardless of the topic. I am a lifelong learner and love to inspire teams to do what they didn’t think was possible,” said Mr. McIntyre. As an organization that helps campus leaders reveal wasteful printing and hidden opportunities to save money and promote more sustainable habits, Pharos was a logical fit for him.
There’s a poster on the wall in the Pharos office that highlights the 19 billion pages saved by Pharos solutions from its inception in 1992 through 2006. It serves as a reminder to continue the inspired work started by the founders of Pharos, Geoff Shaw and Paul Reddy. These two pioneers were approached by the University of Auckland in New Zealand to solve a printing problem. They observed, “You don’t have printing problem, you have a people problem.”
Here’s how the software works: students submit their print jobs to a secure network queue, instead of directly to a particular printer. Documents are held in this queue until the individual walks up to their preferred printer and uses their student ID badge to log into the device. In a few seconds they can see the documents waiting in their personal queue. They can choose to print their documents, or delete the ones they don’t need.
This workflow can also apply to administrative staff and faculty as well. Secure printing eliminates “tray trash,” the piles of documents that people send to printers but forget to pick up, which increases information confidentiality risks. This secure printing workflow can also save an organization millions of dollars every year and help them to reach their sustainability goals.
“A college campus is a great place to teach the next generation to see the difference they can make with each decision to print. A single sheet of paper made from virgin fiber takes 12 ounces of clean water to process from a grown tree,” said Mr. McIntyre. Presenting information like this can cause students to really think if they really need to print something. As an AASHE business member, Pharos values the ability to create meaningful relationships with the sustainability community and the leaders who are driving the advancement of the sustainability mindset at higher education institutions.
Mr. McIntyre believes that sustainability is a lifestyle decision. As a certified B Corp, Pharos has a keen interest in social impact and employee wellness. Mr. McIntyre will introduce Campus Sustainability Month activities throughout the month of October to promote employee engagement & wellness, including:
- Bike to Work Day
- Turning lights off with #DaylightHour on Fridays at noon
- Participation in Yoga and personal fitness hours over lunch
- Continued emphasis on both office and home-to-work composting
How does your campus reduce paper waste? What do you do to live a more sustainable lifestyle? Tell us in the comments below!