Print industry news
Clarke, CEO of Kodak. “John is very well
positioned to lead our print systems div-
ision. His industr y experience is
unparalleled.” O’Grady added: “It’s difficult
to follow a leader like Brad, but he’s built
an all-star team and I look forward to work-
ing with them as we continue to deliver
world-class commercial printing solutions.
John O’Grady,
With new products in our portfolio like our
president, Kodak’s
Sonora X plates and our Nexfinity electro-
print systems
photographic press, we’re poised to thrive
division
globally.” Kruchten commented: “Through-
out my career at Kodak, I’ve had the pleasure of working with
scores of fantastic, talented people. We’ve accomplished so
much together, and I wish my Kodak family the very best
moving forward.” Clarke will lead Kodak’s consumer and film
division on an interim basis until a successor is named.
Lisi to succeed Baitz as next
chair of Ryerson GCM
Professor Jason Lisi will be the next chair of Ryerson Univer-
sity’s School of Graphic Communications Management (GCM)
in Toronto beginning July 1, 2018. Lisi, a regular contributor
to Graphic Arts, started teaching at Ryerson in 2003. Prior to
joining the university, he worked in the printing industry,
primarily in prepress and pre-media. During his time at GCM,
he has kept close ties with the industry, and continues to
remain active in key areas of standards and specification
development. Lisi is currently the Canadian head of delegation
for ISO TC 130, and serves as documentation officer for the
Ghent Work Group. He’s also a certified G7 expert. As director
of Ryerson’s Print Media Research Centre, he’s been active
in many areas of research that benefit the industry, and has
worked with start-ups looking to develop new technologies.
He’s also raised over $3 million dollars of funding and equip-
ment for the school. Ian Baitz, outgoing chair, led GCM through
numerous successes during his tenure that began in 2009.
Over his nine years, GCM has seen significant growth in
student applications and enrolment, numerous equipment
and curriculum updates, and many new initiatives to engage
students with the printing industry. After July 1, Baitz will
continue in his regular role as a full-time GCM professor.
Jason Lisi, new chair, Ryerson
University’s School of
Graphic Communications
Management;
10 | May 2018 | GRAPHIC ARTS MAGAZINE
Tokunaga is new Ricoh president
and CEO for the Americas
Joji Tokunaga has been appoint-
ed president and CEO of Ricoh
in the Americas. Bringing 33
years of sales, marketing and
management experience to the
position, Tokunaga will spear-
head Ricoh’s North American
team efforts to bring the global
Ricoh Ignite growth strategy to
its customers and Ricoh Family
Group (RFG) dealer partners.
Glenn Laverty will continue as Joji Tokunaga, CEO,
Ricoh in the Americas
senior vice president of Ricoh
Americas Marketing, and president and CEO of Ricoh Canada,
and will report to Tokunaga. Most recently, Tokunaga served
as executive vice president and GM of shared services at
Ricoh Americas. Prior to this he focused on optimizing market-
ing, IT and operations to align with Ricoh’s services-led
transformation. Ricoh added that it’s continually focused on
empowering digital workplaces using innovative technologies
that enable people to work smarter through its core offerings
of office printing and related services, commercial and indus-
trial printing, visual communications and collaborative
technologies and services.
Heidelberg and KBA finally in the black
Worldwide offset press leaders Heidelberg and Koenig & Bauer
(KBA) are shaking off the decade-old global financial crisis, as
the latest revenue figures for both companies continue to show
substantial improvements. Heidelberg’s latest figures show
incoming orders for Q3 of 2017 up 16% over the previous year.
The OEM cited three key factors for this success – its digital
transformation, its new subscription model and its new digital
packaging and label presses. Meanwhile, KBA achieved – and
in some cases exceeded – its goals for 2017. With revenue up
4.3% over the previous year of €1.17 billion, KBA achieved a
mid-term organic revenue growth rate of about 4% – more than
making up for the further decline of €25 million in revenue
from newspaper presses and commercial web presses. The
group’s new orders rose substantially by 10.1% in 2017 versus
2016. With orders up 29.7% over the previous year, its fourth
quarter was especially strong.
Ian Baitz, former
chair of the school
graphicartsmag.com