Kodak recently marked five years since it filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy. The Rochester company emerged from bankruptcy in late 2013, and recently, WXXI News Director Randy Gorbman interviewed CEO Jeff Clarke by phone.
Jeff Clarke wasn’t around for some of the darkest days at the photo giant -- he was named CEO in 2014 -- but he realizes just how traumatic that process was for a lot of people.
Kodak is, of course, a much smaller company now. It has about 1,700 people locally, just over 6,000 worldwide, and its focus is different: It’s now on commercial printing and packaging.
It is a competitive area they are in. The days of dominance, as they had years ago in the film industry are gone, but Kodak started turning a profit again last year, and Clarke told WXXI News they are competitive with their peers in their new market space.
“Kodak now has a series of products that are doing very well in the marketplace. We’ve got a strategy that is focused on print and advanced technologies and film, and we’re back.”
Although commercial printing and packaging is where Kodak expects to make the bulk of its profits, film is not dead. Kodak still makes motion picture film and notes that a number of the Oscar nominees were shot on Kodak film, a product that is made in Rochester.
And there has been a film renaissance of sorts, Clarke explained, similar to the way vinyl records are becoming popular among some audio enthusiasts.
Recently Kodak brought back a new version of its Super 8 Camera, and at a trade show in Las Vegas this year, they, in partnership with spinoff company Kodak Alaris, announced the re-introduction of Ektachrome, for both motion picture and still film.
And there have been rumors Kodak might want to bring back the iconic Kodachrome. Clarke is leaving open that possibility.
“If we do bring back Kodachrome, it will be very similar to the original, but it will be different because one of the reasons Kodachrome did stop getting made is because of some of the chemicals associated with it that really aren’t appropriate in the labs anymore. And so if we come back with Kodachrome, it will be a different Kodachrome, but it will be pretty close.”
In terms of employment, Kodak did add about 60 jobs recently partly due to the increased production of film, and as far as other additions are concerned, Clarke says that depends on the business overall and also the possibility of more jobs that could be created at Eastman Business Park.
“We run an electro-photographic business out of Rochester, we run our research labs out of Rochester , we run our film business out of Rochester and of course, we have our corporate headquarters. And probably the headquarters area won’t have a lot of expansion, but the other areas, if those businesses grow, we will add employment.”
In terms of Kodak’s headquarters remaining in Rochester, the city where it was founded, the CEO expects that to be the case for the foreseeable future.
“We have a great nexus of both existing employees, the ability to attract new employees from the extraordinary university system in Rochester, it is a reasonably affordable place to do business.”
Clarke, who is basically bi-coastal, lives in California but comes to Rochester frequently. He doesn’t see an issue with that situation, especially because Kodak is a multi-national company.
“Kodak is a global business, I’m all over the world at different times. I am fortunate to get to Rochester, I was there last week. As a native upstate person who was born in Ithaca, New York, and grew up in Hamilton, New York where Colgate is, my parents still live there and have lived there for 40 years and went to Geneseo, it’s great for me to get back to Rochester."
In March, Clarke will mark three years as Kodak’s CEO.
