“My wife thinks I’m mad, but I wanted to try something new. Duplo will go from strength to strength, it’s a great business, with great people and great products – it was just the right timing,” said Lock.
He said he had enjoyed every day of the past decade with Duplo, but had been considering looking for a new challenge since late last year and made his mind up over the Christmas break.
“Duplo, as they always are, have been incredibly supportive”, said Lock, who left the business earlier this month.
He added that while he had no firm career plans at this stage, he hoped to stay within the industry, either on supplier side or print production.
“I would love to stay in the industry and I would particularly like to get into UK print. I’ve been preaching to printers for most of my career, so perhaps it's time to try life on the other side of the fence – there are some amazing print companies in the UK.
“I know that some people moan about margin and pricing, but some of the amazing things going on in the UK, when you compare that to what’s going on in other parts of the world, it makes me incredibly proud. I feel I almost owe it to myself to spend some time working at the coalface, the industry has had such an impact on me.”
Lock joined Duplo in 2008 as international marketing manager, before becoming UK managing director a year later. In the autumn of 2012 he took on an international commercial role with the business.
A passionate advocate of the power of print, during his tenure at Duplo he was also chairman of industry education initiative PrintIT! for two years.
”We are very sorry to see Tony go, his enthusiasm and natural, positive energy will be sorely missed. We wish him all the best in whatever he decides to do,” said Duplo International chairman and chief executive, Robin Greenhalgh.
Duplo is currently looking to recruit a replacement for Lock.
Lock, who trained with the Royal Air Force as an air-to-air missile technical, began his print career, albeit predominantly on the office side, in the early 1990s with technical support roles with Xerox, moving to sales management with Toshiba and OKI, before becoming general manager, marketing and sales at OKI EMEA in 2004, prior to joining Duplo.
