NextGen Label Group

The Evolution of Brand Custodianship in Modern Packaging

 

In a highly competitive packaging and labeling industry, success relies on more than production scale or printing technology. It requires a deep understanding of brand identity, a commitment to innovation, and a culture built around partnership. For NextGen Label Group ™, these principles come together under one defining philosophy: brand custodianship. This concept guides how the company empowers employees, supports customers, and invests in technology for long-term success.

Formed in June 2022 through the merger of two established, employee-owned organizations with shared values and complementary strengths, NextGen Label Group set out with a clear mission. The company’s purpose is to preserve legacy, provide security for employee owners, and sustain growth in a highly competitive marketplace.

Today, the organization represents the combined efforts of three divisions: Syracuse Label, Macaran, and Van Alstine. Together, these divisions combine decades of experience with forward-thinking innovation to deliver next-generation product solutions and customer experiences.

Leadership with Industry Depth

At the center of NextGen’s continued growth is an experienced leadership team with deep expertise across the packaging and printing industry. The executive team brings decades of operational, technical, financial, sales, people and IT and business systems leadership experience, creating a balance of stability and strategic direction. The leadership team is committed to leading with the core values at the forefront of the decision-making process. By embracing brand custodianship and maintaining a focus on being employee, customer, and solutions-centric, the team works to ensure that actions strengthen our employee-owners, while delivering exceptional value to our customers. These values guide how the company prioritizes initiatives, solves challenges, and positions the organization for long-term success.

Dan Rosenbaum serves as President and Chief Executive Officer of NextGen Label Group, guiding the company’s overall direction and long-term vision. He is supported by a strong leadership team with extensive industry experience across the entire business. Andrew Horvath, Chief Financial Officer, oversees finance and accounting while helping shape the company’s growth strategy. Andrew also serves as the President of the Van Alstine division, a distributor partner providing cutting-edge, end-of-line packaging products and equipment to its customers. This division is one of the Northeast’s leading suppliers of industrial consumables, equipment and services.

Nick Noyes, Chief Operations Officer, focuses on operational performance, systems, and production management to ensure efficiency and strong customer outcomes. Paul Roux, Chief Technical Officer, leads research and development, purchasing, and quality control, bringing extensive technical expertise from the packaging and printing sector. Jessica McCarthy, Chief Human Resources Officer, leads talent development, retention, marketing and organizational culture, helping ensure the company continues to grow with its people at the center. Tom Mason, Vice President of Sales, drives the company’s sales strategy, drawing on decades of experience across food, beverage, and personal care markets. Rounding out the team is Bob Friedburg, VP of Business Process Engineering & IT, who drives the integration of operational excellence and enterprise technology while safeguarding the performance of NextGen’s network infrastructure.

Leadership continuity plays a fundamental role in the company’s strategy. As an employee-owned organization, NextGen emphasizes long-term thinking over short-term gains, allowing investments and decisions to align with customer needs and sustainable growth.

Scale with Operational Agility

NextGen Label Group operates two label printing facilities, in Syracuse and Cohoes, New York, totaling approximately 165,000 square feet of manufacturing space. The company operates 20 presses ranging from seven to twenty-two inches in width and produces pressure-sensitive labels, flexible packaging, shrink sleeves, RFID labels, and semi-rigid reclose solutions.

The breadth of press technology includes flexographic, hybrid, digital inkjet, HP digital, and combination screen flexo processes. This range allows the company to meet diverse customer requirements while maintaining efficiency and consistent quality.

Operating with approximately $65 million in annual revenue, the company still emphasizes responsiveness and care. Its structure enables it to operate with the capabilities of a large converter while maintaining the agility and attentiveness of a smaller partner.

This agility is strengthened by the company’s ownership structure. Unlike organizations controlled by outside investors or private equity groups, NextGen’s employee ownership model allows decisions to be made quickly and efficiently.

Brand Custodianship as a Guiding Philosophy

At the core of NextGen’s identity is brand custodianship, a framework built around three core values that guide daily operations and long-term planning. These values include employee-centric thinking, customer-centric execution, and solutions-centric innovation.

The philosophy reflects the promises the company makes to its stakeholders. These include protecting the organization’s and employee owners’ legacy, overperforming for customers, and delivering solutions through technology and innovation.

This mindset shapes how the company approaches partnerships and reinforces its role as a steward of the brands it serves.

Employee-Centric Culture

With employee ownership at its core, NextGen places strong emphasis on employee well-being, communication, and growth. The Employee Stock Ownership Plan provides employees with an opportunity to build long-term wealth through ownership without requiring personal financial investment, reinforcing the company’s commitment to its workforce. In addition, employee-owners are encouraged to engage like stakeholders, fostering a workplace built on accountability, collaboration, and shared success.

As an employee-owned company, stability, clarity of communication, integrity, and growth and profitability are emphasized as expectations for employee owners. And this culture produces measurable benefits. Transparent communication builds trust, higher engagement supports retention, and stability during leadership transitions helps employees remain committed to long-term success. As an employee-owned company, the shared ownership keeps employee-owners aligned with the brand custodianship core values and ensures the team is working together toward the same goals.

From Concept to Completion

Delivering a next-generation customer experience requires attention to detail, collaboration, and strong execution. NextGen focuses on understanding customer vision, aligning project requirements, and exceeding customer expectations while tracking performance through customer satisfaction, growth, and retention metrics.

The company supports this approach through technical guidance, collaborative project planning, and a service model built around partnership and long-term success. By aligning production capabilities with customer objectives, NextGen helps brands move efficiently from concept to finished product.

Working Together to Drive Brand Success

NextGen’s solutions approach centers on collaboration with customers, suppliers, and technology partners. By leveraging these relationships, the company gains access to advanced press technologies, raw material expertise, and innovative solutions that support operational excellence and market competitiveness.

The partnership-driven strategy positions NextGen as more than a vendor. The company’s expertise spans markets including wine and spirits, food, beverage, ready-to-drink products, health and beauty, medical, and industrial sectors.

By understanding market-specific needs and trends, NextGen helps customers strengthen brand presence and improve packaging performance, with the ultimate goal of driving customer sales.

Flexibility in a Changing Market

In a market increasingly influenced by consolidation and external ownership, NextGen differentiates itself through its employee-owned structure and customer-first mindset. The company emphasizes teamwork, creativity, and responsiveness while maintaining the capabilities of a large-scale operation.

The organization’s culture encourages fast decision-making, strong collaboration across departments, and a willingness to invest quickly when customer needs evolve. This approach allows the company to produce solutions aligned with customer requirements while maintaining flexibility and efficiency.

Innovation Built for Performance and Growth

Innovation is another defining pillar of NextGen’s strategy, and a key part of how the company supports long-term customer success. The organization prioritizes ongoing investment in technology, research and development, and close collaboration with suppliers to ensure customers have access to advanced, state-of-the-art solutions that evolve alongside market demands. By staying closely connected to emerging trends and new technologies, NextGen helps brands adapt quickly while maintaining consistency and quality.

This solutions-centric mindset drives continued investment in advanced technologies and expanded capabilities designed to improve performance, increase efficiency, and strengthen brand differentiation. Whether through new press/equipment technology, enhanced production processes, or innovative labeling solutions, the company continues to seek ways to deliver practical value to customers while helping them stand out in increasingly competitive markets.

Expanding Capabilities Through Technology

NextGen continues to invest in technologies that help customers improve efficiency, sustainability, and consumer engagement.

RFID technology represents an area of innovation, providing enhanced tracking, traceability, and inventory accuracy through encoded inlays that transmit product information to software systems. These solutions help customers improve inventory management, reduce out-of-stock situations, and strengthen customer loyalty. NextGen Label Group offers a complete RFID label solution that includes printing, inserting, and encoding, enabling brands to seamlessly integrate RFID into their operations. As part of its commitment to delivering innovative labeling solutions, NextGen also offers advanced NFC-enabled labels that create meaningful consumer engagement at the point of interaction. By simply tapping a smartphone to an NFC-enabled label, consumers can be directed to personalized digital experiences such as games, videos, social media, recipes, promotions, or brand websites, with the ability to leverage geo-location for localized content and messaging. Beyond engagement, NFC technology can also support product authentication, batch and bottle identification, and counterfeit prevention, helping brands strengthen trust while turning packaging into a powerful digital connection with consumers. Additionally, in 2026, NextGen Label Group is further expanding its capabilities with the installation of additional RFID equipment, significantly increasing production capacity and reinforcing its commitment to delivering innovative solutions.

Another example of innovation is the company’s partnership with Kingston Aluminum Technology, which allows brands to create custom-shaped aluminum containers using patented shaping technology. These containers can be paired with NextGen shrink sleeve labels and offer sustainability benefits through aluminum’s infinite recyclability and reduced material use.

NextGen also offers advanced resealable label solutions designed to improve convenience and product freshness. These technologies provide tamper-evident security while supporting sustainability and consumer usability.

Strategic Investments for Future Demand

NextGen’s commitment to growth is reflected in significant investments in state-of-the-art equipment. A first-of-its-kind in North America, Gallus “G5” hybrid press enhances design flexibility and operational efficiency while offering advanced features such as cold foil, spot varnish, tactile laminations, and two-sided printing.

A third twenty-two-inch Nilpeter press became operational in Syracuse in early 2026, adding incremental capacity for pressure-sensitive labels, shrink sleeves, and flexible packaging while supporting growth for existing and new brands.

Additional planned investments include a new HP Indigo press with improved color control, stronger uptime reliability, and tighter scaling accuracy. Additionally, new RFID equipment is expected to be operational in early 2026, as noted above. NextGen’s continued focus on equipment investments reflects the company’s solutions-centric value, ensuring the company has the technology and capabilities to deliver innovative, high-quality solutions that meet the evolving needs of customers.

Focused on Long-Term Value

As NextGen Label Group continues to grow, the company remains focused on the principles that brought its founding organizations together. Preserving legacy, supporting employee owners, and sustaining growth through innovation and customer partnership remain central to the company’s vision.

Through continued investment in technology, a collaborative approach to brand development, and a culture built on ownership and accountability, NextGen is positioned to help brands navigate changing markets while strengthening their connection with consumers.

By combining experience, innovation, and a commitment to partnership, NextGen Label Group continues to redefine what it means to be a true custodian of the brands it serves.

AT A GLANCE

Who: NextGen Label Group

What: An employee-owned packaging and labeling company focused on innovative, customer-driven solutions.

Where: New York

Website: www.nglabel.com