Business - Appointments

Stanford Marsh Group, the UK-based wide format printing equipment, consumables and technical support expert established in 1965, has appointed Kirsteen Davis to the role of Marketing Assistant.

With a BA (Hons) degree in Advertising and Brand Management, Kirsteen joins Stanford Marsh Group on a Graduate Programme in partnership with Wolverhampton University and will be responsible for providing marketing support across Stanford Marsh Group’s core businesses including Stanford Marsh Group Graphics (SMGG), Stanford Marsh 3D (SMG3D) and Cadspec.

On joining the company, she says, “I’m pleased to be starting at Stanford Marsh Group and putting all the theory I have learnt at University into practice in a real business environment.”

Adrian Painter, Director at Stanford Marsh, adds, “We had been working closely with Wolverhampton University for some time on innovation products such as 3D Print and CAD Design Software and - through that relationship - met Helen Hunter within the University’s Careers and Employment Centre.  We wanted to bring some fresh ideas into our business to both challenge what we do and to aid our social media skills and Wolverhampton University seemed the ideal place to start.” 

“We have a genuine desire to help young people get into work,” continues Painter.  “Helen introduced us to the Graduate ‘Step Scheme’ which offers new Graduates the opportunity to develop their skills within a real business environment.  We have high hopes for Kirsteen and are working with Helen on recruiting for two additional Step Scheme Graduate placements within Stanford Marsh Limited and Cadspec.”

For more information on Stanford Marsh Group, please visit www.stanfordmarsh.co.uk

Spandex has named Gabriela (Gabi) Parish Marketing Manager for Europe, reporting to Rob Karpenko, who assumed the position of Director of Marketing for the organisation in July 2013.

Gabi has been with Spandex for six years in the role of Marketing Manager for the UK and Spain. She will retain her UK regional marketing responsibilities in addition to her new focus on strategic group marketing. She is based at the offices of Spandex UK in Bristol.

Gabi has been a key member of the Europe-wide marketing team at Spandex since 2007, and has been instrumental in developing the Spandex brand in her territories. Prior to joining Spandex, Gabi occupied a strategic marketing role for the EMEA region at M2M technology specialist Digi International, and gained experience of channel marketing for UK, Nordics and Benelux.

Gabi holds a Masters degree in Marketing from the University of Leicester. Originally from Brazil, she is fluent in Portuguese, Spanish and English, and has a good command of French. 

Rob Karpenko, Director of Marketing, Spandex comments, "Gabi brings us a wealth of experience gained from within the Spandex business, so she has a real understanding of both the Group vision and the practicalities of managing marketing at the country level. This is the perfect balance in order to drive strategic initiatives and to support their local implementation."

FESPA has expanded its leadership team, with the addition of two experienced senior executives.  Neil Felton now assumes the role of CEO, making him responsible for the overall direction of all the organisation’s activities, including the global exhibitions and events portfolio, interaction with FESPA’s 37 national associations, and direction of FESPA’s Profit for Purpose mission.

Neil retains specific accountability for the strategic direction of FESPA’s developing markets and its online and new media portfolio. The developing market events include the established exhibitions in Mexico, Brazil and Eurasia, as well as FESPA Africa which launches in Johannesburg, South Africa, in July 2014.

Roz McGuinness joins FESPA as Divisional Director, taking full responsibility for FESPA’s market-leading European exhibitions – including the flagship ‘screen + digital + textile’ event, the focussed FESPA Digital edition, and the recently launched European Sign Expo. Roz’s portfolio will also include FESPA’s Asian events. Roz will oversee all aspects of these events, including sales, marketing and operations, working with an eight-strong team.

Roz is an exhibitions management professional with over 17 years’ experience, including four years as Group Exhibitions Manager for printing industry research and consultancy body Pira International. More recently, Roz worked for nine years at i2i Events, where she steered the sustained growth of the Autumn Fair and Spring Fair, annual business-to-business events covering 90000m2 at the Birmingham NEC, hosting 4000 international exhibitors from 11 sectors, and attracting an audience of 75000 professional buyers.

Neil Felton comments, “Roz’s experience of directing a major B2B exhibition addressing multiple sectors will be important in helping FESPA to expand its reach and attract new audiences for our exhibitors. In addition to her grounding in the digital print sector, Roz’s recent career has given her invaluable insights into several vertical markets which represent growth opportunities for FESPA’s community of print service providers, including retail, interior décor and housewares, promotional products and fashion.”

FESPA has also appointed Sean Holt to the position of General Secretary, to coordinate FESPA’s support for its national associations, including the organisation of educational, knowledge-sharing and networking initiatives funded through the Profit for Purpose programme. Sean will foster deeper relationships with FESPA’s community of member associations, supporting them to expand and develop their services to members, and devising new initiatives with FESPA’s financial and practical support.

Sean Holt calls on career experience gained over 17 years in the not-for-profit sector, most recently as CEO of the Chartered Institute for the Management of Sport and Physical Activity (CIMPSA). In more than three years in this role, he set the strategic direction of the organisation, engaging with multiple stakeholders and partners and over 5000 members. He directed and developed CIMPSA’s service offering, which comprises education, training, professional development, events, conferences and other member services. Prior to joining CIMPSA, his 13-year service with Sport England culminated in a two-year tenure as director, with responsibility for planning towards the London 2012 Olympics.

Neil Felton will work closely with the two new members of the senior team, and will continue to draw on the experience of Nigel Steffens, who now assumes a part-time consultative and ambassadorial role. Nigel joined FESPA in 1993 as Assistant General Secretary and has occupied the role of CEO since 2003.

FESPA President and Board Member Lascelle Barrow comments: “In the two and a half years since his appointment with FESPA, Neil has driven an ambitious growth strategy with determination. While continuing to grow and improve our market-leading European and Mexican events, he has directed the successful launches of new FESPA editions in three key global growth markets – Brazil, Eurasia and China – and has formed an important joint venture in South Africa which will establish the FESPA brand on a fourth continent in 2014.

“By attracting these highly experienced people to work alongside Neil, we will be able to give equal focus to all areas of our organisation’s ongoing development. The FESPA Board - which represents the interests of FESPA’s 37 national associations - has absolute confidence that Neil and his enlarged team will continue to deliver all FESPA initiatives with consideration of the rapidly evolving needs of our global community of members, exhibitors, and visitors.”

Archroma, the former textile, paper and emulsions businesses of Clariant, has announced the appointment of Stephan Sielaff as Chief Operating Officer, effective February 2014.

Based in Reinach, Switzerland, Stephan Sielaff will oversee the business' global production, manufacturing and integrated supply chain activities, ensuring the highest level of performance and efficiency to meet the company’s commitment to world-class standards and high service levels.

“With Stephan Sielaff, we have found the experienced operations and supply chain leader we need to help develop Archroma’s supply chain, technology platform and customer service to an unparalleled level in industry,” comments CEO Alexander Wessels.

“Archroma has a tradition of materials excellence and expertise, and a vibrant future,“ adds Stephan Sielaff. “I feel privileged to join a company that places a high value on innovation, performance and in particular, reliability, as foundational elements in the way it serves its customers. I’m passionate about the value added for our internal and external customer through a world-class supply-chain, for me it’s the holy grail of operations when it comes to satisfying even the highest customer requirements in service, quality and innovation at competitive cost.”

Sielaff brings Archroma significant diverse and global materials and process industry expertise. He has spent the past 8 years with Symrise, most recently as the Senior Vice President Global Operations of the Flavor & Nutrition business. He oversees the complete global supply chain operations, which he developed and implemented, for 26 sites in 20 countries. Previously Sielaff held various roles in supply chain, innovation and engineering, as well as marketing at Unilever. He holds a MS, Chemical Engineering from the Technical University of Dortmund, Germany.

Andrea Pizzola has been appointed to the role of Sales and Marketing Director at Pixartprinting.

With a passion for the Arts and a Degree in Philosophy, Andrea Pizzola's career in the printing world started in Arvato Print in Italy. In 2008, Andrea was awarded a Master's Degree by MIP-Business School, Politecnico di Milano; he then joined YOOX where he was in charge of marketing and product development for the Italian market before being posted to Hong Kong as Commercial planning manager for the Asia-Pacific area.

Andrea's printing expertise combined with his knowledge of e-commerce for the fashion world are perfectly in line with his new position in Pixartprinting.  He explains, “Pixartprinting is more than just printing, it is pure technology and logistics. Here I have re-discovered the passion for innovation that enabled Yoox to become a world leader. The transition to the 2.0 version for on-line purchases has been extremely interesting: what Pixartprinting now offers its users, who are mainly business users, isn’t just a finished product but a range of options to personalise that product.”

Pixartprinting boasts 95,000 active clients throughout Europe and, based on its constant growth trends, it is expected to achieve a portfolio of 125,000 users by year end. These numbers are the result of commercial growth strategies implemented in new markets outside the national borders. Pixartprinting has just launched its new on-line shops in Rumanian, Dutch, Swedish and Russian.

“We believe that localisation is crucial to enter into foreign markets. This means not just dedicated e-commerce facilities, but also employing customer care staff who are native speakers. We are also conducting an in-depth customer segmentation research to identify our customers' behaviours and buying habits. Our declared mission is to make our customers' life easy. Bearing this in mind, we want our communication campaigns to target specific requirements, allowing us to satisfy their needs,” continues Pizzola.

Graphics Printing Technologies (GPT) has appointed Jason McNulty as its new Hardware Sales Manager.  Jason has joined GPT from Paperlinx UK, where he was Product Sales Manager.

Jason took up his position at GPT on 1st November. In his new role, he will be responsible for growing the company’s hardware business and also promoting the GPT brand in the North of England. In his previous role, Jason was responsible for the growth of digital hardware within the Paperlinx organisation.

Shaun Thompson, General Manager for GPT, says, “We are delighted to have appointed such an experienced and successful sales professional as Jason. He brings a lot of knowledge and expertise to the company and we look forward to him being a major part of our on-going and future growth strategies. GPT’s core business has been in the midlands and the south, so we have an excellent opportunity to further develop the business into the north, particularly with Jason’s track record in this area.”

Jason McNulty adds, “This is a great opportunity for me to develop my career at a company with an excellent reputation in wide format industry. GPT has excellent customer and supplier relationships as well as the considerable backing of the Amari Group. This means we can compete very strongly in this market, with great products and unrivalled service and support.”