Business - Appointments

UK-based UV LED innovator Integration Technology Ltd has appointed digital print industry professional Yasushi Katsuta as Business Development Manager for its operations in Japan which will be opened in March 2012.

The Oxfordshire-based company's offices in Fuchu-shi, Tokyo, will provide technical sales, parts stores and administration functions for the territory and for ITL's exclusive distributors.

Osaka-born Katsuta joins ITL from NEopt, where for the past two years he represented ITL interests in Japan.  He previously worked extensively for inkjet print head maker Xaar as Development and Sales Engineer.   

ITL has operated in Japan since 2001 in conjunction with NEopt supporting its digital graphics market business and Finesensing handling a growing number of specialist industrial applications for ITL technology.

Yasushi Katsuta will be showcasing ITL UV curing systems on the NEopt stand at the Printable Electronics exhibition from 15th to 17th February in Tokyo.

X-Rite has appointed Vic Stalam as Senior Vice President of Sales and Marketing overseeing all sales, marketing and services activities for the Americas and EMEA regions.  He will also serve on X-Rite’s senior leadership team as a corporate officer. Stalam will be based in Grand Rapids, Michigan, and report directly to Thomas J. Vacchiano, Jr., Chief Executive Officer of X-Rite.

“Vic has an exceptional track record of success in developing and growing businesses,” said Vacchiano. “His broad set of experiences will bring great value to X-Rite as we pursue our strategic growth opportunities.”

Most recently, Stalam served as the Vice President, Commercial Sales in the U.S. and Canada for the Eastman Kodak Company. His team was responsible for selling the complete portfolio of Kodak products and solutions delivering approximately $1 billion in revenue. Stalam advanced rapidly through a succession of sales, marketing and senior management positions at the Eastman Kodak Company, including head of the Global Key Accounts & Channel Management and Vice President - Packaging Business, and General Manager and Vice President - Digital Products and Systems. During his career at Kodak, Stalam led the teams that built several new businesses, like its Approval, DigiMaster, and Flexo Packaging solutions.

Stalam holds a Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering from the Osmania University, India, a Master’s of Science degree in Industrial Engineering from Illinois Institute of Technology, and a Master’s of Business Administration in Marketing from the Rochester Institute of Technology.

Over the past year, wide format manufacturer Roland DG, has been spearheading a marketing strategy change, with an increasing focus on web and social media marketing. This can be seen in the recent launch of the Roland forum and online Creative Awards competition.

To further develop Roland DG's web marketing strategy, they are now recruiting an Online Content and Academy Training Manager.

This position involves running live training sessions at the Roland DG Academy, as well as developing online videos, blogs and tutorials. It also includes finding new ideas and samples for the Roland Creative Centre, to show customers what is possible with wide format. Plus, the role will involve working with our dealers at open days and at Roland events.

Head of Marketing, Gillian Montanaro states, "This is a really exciting role within print. We are looking for a person who has the unusual combination of technical, creative, social media and sales skills. It could be someone who has run their own print business, comes from a training background, or even a designer who has since moved into the production environment."

For full details of the role please contact gillian.montanaro@rolanddg.co.uk

Manel Martinez has been named as Vice President & General Manager for the HP Graphics Solutions Business in EMEA. He will be responsible for driving HP's graphics arts portfolio from signage and packaging to technical printers and publishing amongst the different printing communities across the region.

Manel brings over two decades of experience in the printing industry in both a worldwide and regional capacity.  His background will enable him to promote and exploit the migration towards digital print amongst the design, branding and marketing communities, demonstrating the power of print as an integral aspect of brand communication.

For the last two years, Manel has been in the role of Vice President and General Manager of the HP Imaging and Printing Group (IPG) in the Iberia Region. He was responsible for optimizing efficiency, effectiveness and critical growth and increased performance across the region.

Prior to this role, Manel was the General Manager of the Large Format Printing design business at a worldwide level. This role included the responsibility for the strategy and direction of the business targeted at both the technical and creative industries. Manel directly managed the design focused teams in Barcelona and Shanghai.

Manel joined HP in 1989 and has held a number of different positions covering overall business group management, R&D and marketing. He has also worked as an engineer developing firmware for Large Format products.

Manel holds a degree in Computer Science from the Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya and a MBA from ESADE in Barcelona.

More information is available at www.youtube.com/hpgraphicarts or follow HP on www.twitter.com/hpgraphicarts.

Chun Yip Man has been named as the new Project Manager for Viscom Germany, succeeding Christian Hruschka who is leaving the organisation after 10 years to pursue new professional challenges.

Prior to joining Viscom, Chun Yip Man worked with a Düsseldorf IT company in the logistics sector for more than ten years. As Project Manager, he organised international events.  Most recently, Chun Yip Man was responsible for the company’s marketing and trade fair planning as Manager of International Exhibitions.

At Viscom, Chun Yip Man will take over the management of a trade fair which, since its revamping in 2006, has increased its visitor numbers by 60 percent overall, and its exhibitor numbers by 78 percent. The recent viscom 2011 in Düsseldorf attracted 306 exhibitors and more than 10,000 trade visitors from a number of sectors including advertising technology, light advertising, digital printing, textile finishing, digital signage and display/PoS.

The overall management of viscom düsseldorf and frankfurt will remain in the responsibility of Event Director Petra Lassahn.

Neil Felton, FESPA’s Managing Director of Exhibitions and Events, has been appointed to sit on the Board of the AEO (Association of Event Organisers).

Joining a dynamic group of AEO Board members, Neil was selected alongside Austen Hawkins of F2F Events, Carsten Holm of Diversified Business Communications UK and Phil Soar of Transec Exhibitions at the recent AEO annual general meeting.

Neil Felton comments, “I am honoured to be part of this highly accomplished organisation. AEO has had great success in uniting the industry and represents the leading events organisations from around the world. I hope to bring something different to AEO’s Board by representing a not-for-profit event organiser, however as my background is commercial, I can contribute from both perspectives.”

He continues, “There has been a distinct lack of a marketing voice for the event industry, underlined by the recent success of FaceTime* in such a short space of time. FaceTime’s results are very encouraging, demonstrating what I have always believed in, the power of exhibitions. The face to face interaction visitors are able to have with brands and products at a show can never be underestimated.”

“FESPA is a not-for-profit organisation renowned for creating platforms for our community to share its collective commercial knowledge and wide-format print expertise. As the only organisation on the AEO Board that represents trade associations worldwide, FESPA anticipates that my involvement with the Board will enable our organisation to work with a variety of different people and exhibition organisers in countries where FESPA has no presence currently.”

The AEO Conference 2012 will take place on 13th January 2012 at the Business Design Centre, London.