Mark Hinder, formerly head of market development for inkjet at Konica Minolta Europe, joined Ricoh at the beginning of this week in the new role of business development, commercial print and inkjet business.
He had spent six-and-half years at Konica Minolta, and prior to that 15 years at Xerox.
“Konica Minolta has been a great place to grow my European wings and I’ve gained so much experience dealing with so many customers, but this was an exciting new opportunity that came up,” Hinder said.
He said his new role would involve looking at pre- and post-sale programmes to help printers plan their investments, as well as influencing clients in key vertical markets that will drive growth for the business.
“I realised when dealing with customers that everybody loves new technology, but the biggest question is how am I going to get a return on it?” he explained.
“This will be a big programme and a big investment for Ricoh. I’m pleased to be joining an organisation that will put the money into it and develop this as a programme. We have a phrase here at Ricoh – RORI – Return on Ricoh Investment, and that sums it up.
"I'll be helping printing companies to plan their investment and then show a return on it. It plays to my strengths in business development and marketing."
Hinder reports to Erwin Busselot, business innovations and solutions director at Ricoh Europe.
Separately, Ricoh Europe announced today (5 September) that Juergen Freier would be joining the organisation as director of commercial print sales, also a new role.
Freier (pictured below) has spent nearly 30 years in the industry in a variety of roles at both suppliers and printers. He has worked at HP since 2014, most recently as general manager of the Indigo and inkjet webfeb business for EMEA.
Freier will take up his new role at Ricoh on 1 November.
He said: “I am excited to be taking on this role at a time when clients are looking to start or accelerate their move from analogue to digital. I am looking forward to combining my industry understanding with Ricoh’s innovative hardware and software to show PSPs how to capture the market opportunities digital print offers. I can’t wait to start.”
He will report to Eef de Ridder, vice president of Ricoh Europe’s Commercial Printing Group.
De Ridder praised Freier’s “broad perspective and wealth of knowledge” and said he would be “a fantastic addition to our experienced and dynamic team”.
HP had not commented on Freier’s replacement at the time of writing.
Konica Minolta said that its inkjet business for the AccurioJet KM-1 in Europe is being covered by Hinder’s previous boss Hidetoshi Omo who is team manager inkjet business building, and Nuno Sacadura, manager for new inkjet business building.
Omo said: “We would like to place on record our sincere thanks to Mark for his valuable contributions to the AccurioJet KM-1 success story and wish him continued success in his future career.”
Ricoh chief executive Yoshinori Yamashita has laid out ambitious growth plans for the acquisitive business, which include a substantial expansion of its commercial and industrial printing operations.
