Tony Mash was born in Guildford, Surrey, but spent most of his formative years in North London. He was educated at the Stationers’ Company’s School in London, read chemistry at University College London, and gained an MBA after studying at Manchester Business School and the Institute Supérieure des Affaires in Paris.
He was awarded the British Institute of Management Medal for his university thesis on pension fund performance appraisal then spent 27 years with ICI and AstraZeneca in a range of international business development, procurement, and change roles in the plastics, refrigeration gas, agrochemical, and coatings sectors.
He later worked for British, American, Japanese, and Australian companies and spent a total of 16 years working in the US, where he took American citizenship.
Mash first visited Stationers’ Hall in London in 1962 as a member of the Stationers’ Company’s School choir.
“I was 12 when we sang in the crypt of St Paul’s Cathedral. We had rehearsed for this Ash Wednesday service for months and it was an astonishing moment in my life,” he recalled.
“Afterwards we paraded back to Stationers’ Hall where the Master of the day gave us sausage and mash in the stock room – I’ll never forget it – and a shilling from the will of John Norton, who was a Master in the early 1600s.
“I then walked into the Hall and just fell in love with it. I can only describe how I felt with an American word – awesome! I thoroughly enjoyed going back to the Hall with the choir for the next six years.
“I was very impressed every time I met each year’s Master, but I never dreamed that one day I’d become Master.”
On becoming the President of the Old Stationers’ Association in 2002, Mash was invited to join the Stationers’ Company and became a Liveryman in 2003. First appointed in the role of trade association liaison, he later ran the company’s Innovation Excellence Awards for its first four years.
He joined the court of the Stationers’ Company in 2014 and has since chaired the Industry and the Marketing Advisory committees. He is now the treasurer of the Friends of the Stationers’ Foundation in the US. Given his 15 years history in the plastics industry, Mash became a Liveryman of the Worshipful Company of Horners in 2012.
Mash now lives with his wife of 40 years, Melissa, near Godalming, Surrey and they have a second home in Pennsylvania. They have three daughters who live in San Francisco, London, and Madrid.
In his spare time, Mash is a pianist, composer of music, amateur acting enthusiast, and “a struggling golfer”. As a student, he performed at the Nottingham and Edinburgh Fringe Festivals and later acted in and composed music for amateur productions in Hertfordshire.
Mash has taken over from Moira Sleight, editor and publisher of the Methodist Recorder, who was elected as Master a year ago, becoming only the second woman to hold the role in more than 600 years. The first female master was Helen Esmonde, appointed in 2015.
Separately, The Stationers’ Company said 18 companies have been shortlisted for its Innovation Excellence Awards 2023.
Winners will be selected from each of the six categories; Business Process, Communications including Marketing, Customer Experience, Product Design, Service Development, and Start-up.
The six category winners, plus the recipient of the Overall Innovator of the Year Award, will be announced at an Awards luncheon at Stationers’ Hall on 25 September.
The luncheon will be preceded by an exhibition of shortlisted companies and 2022 winners’ innovations, with a champagne reception.
The shortlisted companies are, for Business Process: Contact Originators, LoveReading and Virtusales Publishing Solutions; Communications including Marketing: Fantom Factory, JGBM and Rose Calendars; Customer Experience: Class Professional Publishing, Pearson and Xerox; Product Design: Cengage EMEA, Parkside Flexibles and Renz (UK); Service Development: Glassboxx, Pearson and Office Power; and Start-up: A-dapt International, Graide and Read and Raise.
