New Printing Industries president Ross Black has defended the PIAA board against what he describes 'the false picture being painted’ in recent media scrutiny. In a lengthy statement, Black said reports portraying 'a mass exodus of good people from the PIAA' were 'simply incorrect.'
The peak industry association has also named former CEO Bill Healey as its new interim CEO to replace departing chief Jason Allen, who cleaned out his office on Friday.
Here's the full statement:
UPDATE FROM THE PIAA
In response to recent media scrutiny we, the Board of PIAA, would like to clarify a number of issues that have been raised as well as assure you that we are committed to our business plan and vision for the future.
First and foremost, we are committed to our members and the service of the printing community for the long term. We are united in our belief and have full confidence in the new business plan and three-year strategy.
Since we implemented the plan in July last year, we have invested considerably in building best practice member services. This has included signing up a record number of new members, forming a partnership with a significant new sponsor, improving member retention rates and releasing a substantial amount of equity from the sale of the Auburn property.
Our non-audited results will show that we have generated a profit of approximately $200,000 - $300,000 which would not have been achieved without our new model in place. This is all evidence that the business plan is working.
Like any other organisation within Australia undergoing great change, we are striving to build a modern day business model transforming us into a powerful advocate, delivering high quality contemporary business services to support growing and declining business needs within the industry. We needed to change – we needed direction and a vision.
Executives nation-wide understand that they cannot lull themselves into complacency based on past success and revenue streams, but must keep growing and changing for future success. We are no different. Further, our new model aims to increase our profitability and most importantly, contribute to our survival.
In the current complex and fast-changing business climate, it can be easy to underestimate the significance of the level of change necessary to manage transformation across people, process, technology, data management and risk management components.
What is concerning to us, and our long-serving employees however, is the false picture that is being painted, portraying a mass exodus of good people from the PIAA. This is simply incorrect – in fact, we have been recruiting and retaining highly skilled and passionate staff who are aligned with our vision. We are determined to foster a high performance culture, bringing together people with the right qualities and commercial experience to allow the Association to reach its full potential.
This includes interim-CEO Bill Healey who is now leading the highly successful Future Print program. We are incredibly fortunate that we have someone of Bill’s calibre and talent leading the project that he developed for the members, as well as taking on the interim CEO responsibilities for PIAA.
It is also prudent to address the concerns surrounding the loss of staff as a result of the implementation of the new strategy. Mel Ireland and others were offered a position aligned to the new strategy of the PIAA however they declined the offer.
We understand that our decisions impact the vibrancy and health of our industry and are working hard to effectively communicate with our members and to each other in an open, effective, timely and respectful way.
We are excited about the direction that we are headed. We are dedicated to continue to build new service offerings and sponsorship relationships to provide opportunities for members to generate revenue, reduce the cost of doing business, manage their regulatory environment and access high performing, and culturally aligned staff.
We exist solely for the benefit of members and we welcome your voice – your feedback, on how we are progressing with executing our plan. It needs to be understood however, that we are a national organisation, and we will act in a manner that is fair for all members nationwide.
I encourage you to support us on this journey, transitioning the PIAA into a professional association for the printing, design and packaging industry. We need your support to help us to flourish.
Ross Black
President
Printing Industries Association of Australia
17 February 2016