Tony Strong, who joined the Leicester print, mail and digital communications firm in October 2018 as chief operating officer, stepped up to the top role in February. He replaces acting chief executive Rob Alonso, who departed in January after in turn having stepped up to the position last year to fill in for the departing Paul Brough.
Strong’s executive team now comprises sales and marketing director Richard Farmer, who joined in September, HR director Christine Sampson-Hughes, who joined in October, finance director Simon Johnson and operations director Hayden Savage.
“We are recognised as a paper transactional business, and paper will form part of the customer communications scene for years to come,” said Farmer.
“Over the next few years, however, we see that paper will be less dominant. It will form part of a holistic solution alongside technology-led services. The board changes reflect this.
“Under the new name, our mission statement is: ‘Through innovative solutions and true partnership, we will be at the forefront of customer communications which help our clients deliver superior levels of service and choice to their customers’.
“We have grown consistently over the past few years and plan to accelerate this growth over the next three years. Digital transformation and our ability to deliver it will determine our success.”
Farmer said the next phase of Opus Trust’s investment and growth plans would commence on Monday 1 April and will include investment in IT infrastructure and work to support the company’s multi-channel communications provisions.
Investment is expected to be in excess of £1m across the new financial year 2019/20, with “further significant investment” to follow in 2020/21.
From its head office in Leicester, Opus Trust Communications employs more than 140 members of staff on a turnover set to reach £28m in the financial year ending on Sunday (31 March), up from £26.4m the previous year.