The winds of change: 11 November 2009

This week sees the return of the well-liked industry identity, Garry Muratore and the promotion of Konica Minolta’s David Procter.

Best of both worlds for Muratore
He said he would be back and after a brief hiatus from the printing industry, Garry Muratore has returned to take on the role as Oceania sales manager for GMG.

The affable Muratore, who spent an epic 25 years at Agfa, leaving just after PacPrint has been a very busy man maintaining his various social networking sites and reporting live from Print09.

Now, Muratore, has joined GMG as its sales manager. After being approached by GMG at Chicago09, Muratore was offered the role and decided that it suited his skills and interests.

“My first love in the industry is colour and when I was at Agfa I always enjoyed selling software,” he said. “The role at GMG combines both of these. We are living in the golden age of colour management and I see huge opportunities.”

On top of that, it’s also nice for Muratore to be back. “I was never lost from the printing industry and I never intended to move from it,” he said. “I’m happy to be with a company that has such huge potential.”

Based in Melbourne, Muratore will also work on some other projects through his consultancy. The good news for his many readers is that they can continue following Muratore on his Twitter account and blog.

Pictured: From left to right, Andreas Johansson, Kayell sales director, graphic arts and print markets, Christian Schwarze, GMG vice president sales, and Garry Muratore, sales manager, Oceania, GMG.

Last week, Schwarze visited Australia to meet customers and introduce the latest products from GMG such as the SmartProfiler wizard which is aimed at digital and wide format printers to ensure consistency of colour output across hybrid workflows.

Procter makes a mark at Konica Minolta
David Procter steps up to the role of national marketing manager of the company.

In his new role, Procter (pictured) will be responsible for the marketing department, looking after hardware product management, client solutions and marketing communications for office MFD, production print and printer. In addition, he will continue in his role as national group manager production printing.

“It’s an exciting opportunity to work with an enthusiastic team. This is a very competitive market and we are all fighting for a share of it,” Procter said.

Dr David Cooke, executive general manager, direct operations and marketing of Konica Minolta, said that with over 20 years of experience in the industry, Procter was the ideal man for the job.

"Over the past seven years David's contribution to the Konica Minolta team has been integral to our success, especially in terms of the growth of production printing.  I'm confident that David will add a fresh perspective to Konica Minolta’s brand in the market place.  We congratulate David on his promotion,” Cooke said.