Chris Malley took over from chief operating officer Fabrice Holler at the beginning of this week. 

Malley has wide-ranging experience in manufacturing, M&A and international business. 

Earlier in his career he worked at the then-Smurfit Print and subsequently became commercial director and then finance director at various Smurfit Kappa subsidiaries. 

He then spent more than 15 years in senior roles at plastics business Carclo PLC, including as CEO of its conductive inkjet business. 

Most recently he was CEO at automotive lighting specialist Wipac Technology. 

CPI said Malley would bring a breadth of senior leadership experience to the group, which has 15 factories across Europe in the UK, France, Germany, Czech Republic and Spain, and produces more than 450m books a year. 

Its UK operations include CPI Antony Rowe (three sites), CPI Books in Chatham, CPI William Clowes in Suffolk and the partnership with Wiley in Bognor Regis for on-demand book production. 

Commenting on his new role, Malley said he was excited to be given the opportunity to lead CPI on the next stage of its journey. 

“I am aware of the considerable talent and commitment within our organisation and I am looking forward to support our people to channel that strength and passion to make CPI perform to the highest levels.”

He describes himself as having a “pragmatic and low ego style with very strong emphasis on team creation and development”.

Malley will report to the board of CPI owner Elpis Management. 

CPI Group said Holler, who was worked at the group for 13 years, was leaving to pursue new challenges. It said: “Fabrice has made a significant contribution to the group’s evolution, not least, recently steering the group through the challenges of the pandemic successfully. We wish Fabrice well in his new endeavours.”

Holler retained the COO title when he took over at the helm just under two years ago when Pierre-François Catté stepped down.