“You weren’t expecting that were you?”
This was Pat Martell’s amused response to my startled reaction after the stock exchange statement announcing his departure arrived in my inbox on 10 July.
No, I wasn’t.
Not that I would presume that because Martell happens to be a St Ives lifer of 34 years standing that he would need to be carried out of Tudor Street in a box, just that he was so obviously relishing being in the top job I thought he’d be there for a while yet.
I can see, though, that the opportunity presented at mahoosive £1.1bn Informa Group is not necessarily one that will come around again any time soon.
We’re going to miss him in print, I think, even though St Ives is increasingly not about print (although it’s useful to point out that stripping out the marketing businesses, print turnover alone was still £253m last year).
His is a noteworthy career trajectory. To go from being an apprentice printer to CEO of the £320m turnover PLC that owned the print plant in question is no mean feat. By any measure that must require a pretty exceptional level of ability, and indeed adaptability.
Along the way Martell has ditched his Norfolk accent for the cultured tones more suited to city boardrooms.
Also along the way I have enjoyed his pronouncements on various issues of the day, one of my favourite (printable) ones being “hope is not a plan”.
He’s extremely bright, very astute, but also very thoughtful. A useful quality in any business person. He can also be great fun.
It’s a shame that his last few months in charge have been marred by events at what was St Ives Direct in Bradford. I’m willing to bet that if there’s one thing he wished he’d thought about a bit more, it’s the fallout from that decision.
But, as we have pointed out in PrintWeek’s pages, his primary duty is to his shareholders and since he took the top job, St Ives’ share price has rebounded from the frankly disastrous doldrums of 46p to 217.75p this morning. Whether it can ever return to the heady heights of five or six quid seen at the turn of the century is now a matter for incoming chief Matt Armitage.
Martell’s is an inspirational story. Whether it can ever be repeated is another matter. But alongside the Mike Taylors, the David Mitchells, and the Nick Dixons it ranks right up there.
