Our Team
In the early 1990s, Mike Gianni launched his career in the printing industry with a sales position at a regional auto sales publication. Over the next few years, he made great professional strides, continuing his career with the #1 rated local daily newspaper. In 1995, he took the next step in his career as a sales representative with one of the premier, high-end printers in the country, Lithographix. Mike spent the next decade working for various high-end commercial printers, learning the industry, increasing his printing knowledge, and building relationships. His growing list of clients learned that his experience and expertise were second to none. In early 2004, they began expressing their desire to have Mike manage ALL of their printing needs, not just the high-end projects. There was a need in the marketplace to have a company that could facilitate all levels of printing. And so, in the fall of 2004, in response to these client demands, Mike, along with his wife, Jody, launched Touch Plate.

Jody Gianni has over 12 years of marketing and sales experience across a broad spectrum of business types. She has worked as a marketing manager for the Clayton, CA office of Better Homes Realty; as a product marketing manager for Premenos, an EDI software developer; as a marketing manager at Net Wireless, where she directed all collateral and direct mail efforts; as an account executive at AT&T's cable accounts division; and most recently as a sales representative at All American Label. Her in-depth understanding of marketing and sales needs across various business platforms leaves her uniquely qualified to help clients strategize and fulfill their own promotional needs.

Robert Alsted is involved in day-to-day management of all Touch Plate sales and production activities. Robert brings over 40 years of business development expertise, including sales and customer service analyses, strategies, and execution. Robert's client base prior to joining Touch Plate has ranged from mom-n-pop entrepreneurs to the world's largest retailer. During the 1980s, Robert honed his commercial printing sales experience for clients Pacific Bell (now AT&T), Bank of America, Wells Fargo Bank, Diablo Valley College, Clorox, and Liquid Air, to highlight just a few. During the late 1990s, Robert was assigned a project that included the hiring, training, and management of a 360-person sales department. Touch Plate is pleased to be able to have Robert aboard for the management of our growing sales team, as well as the management of a number of our commercial printing directions. Robert brings to Touch Plate a "do-it-now" attitude and a full commitment to ensuring that the Touch Plate team always has what is "best for the client" as its mantra.

Pete Strassman brings over 20 years of high-end print experience to Touch Plate. After receiving his BS in Engineering from Cal Berkeley and working as a manufacturing engineer in high tech for seven years, Pete bought in to his father Max's renowned printing operation, Mastercraft Press, in San Francisco. Pete took over the business after Max retired, and sold it after a number of years. After 10+ years as a Print Manufacturers' Representative, Pete joined Touch Plate to tap into its broad spectrum of capabilities. His clients consist of publishers of fine art reproductions, ad agencies, design firms, corporate entities, and more. They are fiercely loyal, citing Pete's strict attention to detail, and his penchant for getting his clients the best value for their print dollar.

Jessica Scherer comes to Touch Plate as our Marketing Manager for the Touch Plate Door Hangers. Jessica has a vast array of knowledge in the publication and advertising industries. She started her 15 years in advertising as an Account Executive promoted to the Advertising Manager position in a very short amount of time. With Jessica's career steaming from the market's largest monthly and quarterly publications, we have the perfect person to run this division.

Our Vendors
Touch Plate has worked diligently to develop relationships with numerous plants throughout the U.S., as well as overseas in China and Italy. Because of these domestic and international relationships, we are able to find the best facility for ANY project. We carefully select our vendors using several criteria, the most important being that they share our vision of "quality first."

Our Projects
Touch Plate has the capacity to facilitate any web, sheetfed, grand format or outdoor display project, including annual reports, magazine/publication inserts, automotive brochures, coffee table books, direct mail campaigns, identity packages, business cards, digital printing, flyer or publication inserts, table tents, banners, bus shelters, POP/POS and complete packaging projects, and more!

Touch Plate is also your one-stop shop for marketing promotional materials! Whether you need indoor or outdoor signage, banners, displays, trade show booths, embroidered or silk-screened items (hats, bags, shirts, towels), or just about any other type of promotional marketing product, we can do it!!!

Please see our Design Services, Packaging Services, and Promotional Products pages for more information.