IVE Group executive chairman Geoff Selig is the winner of the 2019 ProPrint Power 50 and once again has been recognised by the industry and his peers for his superior leadership of Australia’s largest diversified marketing and print communications company made up of 1800 staff.

Marking a first for the Power 50 three women of the industry ranked in the top 10 with The Real Media Collective chief executive officer Kellie Northwood taking second spot, Bright Print Group co-chief executive officer Debbie Burgess in fifth position and Kirsten Taylor of Melbourne’s Taylor’d Press in tenth.

Other printing industry leaders to round out the top 10 included Blue Star Group CEO Cliff Brigstocke in third; Ovato executive general manager northern region Craig Dunsford in fourth; Bambra Press owner John Wanless in sixth; IVE Group chief executive officer Matt Aitken in seventh; Franklin Web and Blue Star Web CEO Darryl Meyer in eighth and Digitalpress owner Theo Pettaras in ninth.

Around 130 people attended the event at the Cruise Bar on Sydney Harbour with many of the 100 nominees also making the trip from interstate. It also marked the ninth consecutive year that Konica Minolta, gold sponsor for 2019, has sponsored the event.

Selig, who shared first place last year with Aitken, who was promoted to CEO earlier this year, in accepting his award thanked the sponsors of the night and also commended the introduction of the new Emerging 50 category which he described as a great initiative.

“I’m really fortunate to be the chairman of a business of 1800 people that goes hard every day of the week and every week of the year. It’s a tough space as we all know. We’ve had a difficult year, a number of headwinds. A solid result with paper price increases, postage increases, energy increases for all of us in the room its not easy but we can continue to work hard to ensure that all the channels we operate in can stay open. It’s been challenging but it is a great industry to work in full of wonderful people, many of whom are in the room tonight,” Selig told the gathering.

Northwood on accepting her trophy thanked her members and board members and everyone else in the room for the work they continue to do to push the industry forward.

“I’ve worked in the print side, sales rep in production and I’m passionate about this industry. Our industry has a terrific future and together we can be really impressive if we get that collective mentality right so congrats to everybody,” Northwood said.

Konica Minolta Australia chairman and managing director Dr David Cooke was in attendance along with Sue Threlfo, general manager of production and industrial print, plus a large contingent of Konica Minolta representatives.

Dr Cooke presented the trophies to the top 10 winners and congratulated all in the room and those working in the broader printing and related industries for their hard work and dedication.

“The printing industry and its associated industries makes an enormous contribution to Australia not just to the economy but really to the whole fabric of society in Australia and it is vitally important, so thank you to anyone that is involved in anyway,” Dr Cooke said.

Global technology company Esko was the silver sponsor of the evening with workflow solutions provider printIQ the bronze sponsor.

The event was also supported by three partner sponsors. Peter Scott from Screen sponsored the bar tab while EFI’s support provided the media wall for the night. The trophies were supported by Michelle Lees from HP.

As was the case last year, ProPrint’s auditing partner PKF, an Australian and New Zealand accounting and business advisory service, audited the raw data to reach the final Power 50 list for 2019 with Reeve Ransfield and Jude Low also in attendance on the night.

In addition to the usual judging panel that decides on the top 50 from the 100 nominees received, the option for judging was also this year opened up to all nominees. A large number of nominees took up this opportunity.

Introducing your ProPrint Power 50 for 2019:

1. Geoff Selig, executive chairman, IVE Group
2. Kellie Northwood, chief executive officer, The Real Media Collective
3. Cliff Brigstocke, chief executive officer, Blue Star Group
4. Craig Dunsford, executive general manager – northern region, Ovato
5. Debbie Burgess, chief executive officer, Bright Print
6. John Wanless, owner, Bambra Press
7. Matt Aitken, chief executive officer, IVE Group
8. Darryl Meyer, chief executive officer, Blue Star Web and Franklin Web
9. Theo Pettaras, owner, Digitalpress
10. Kirsten Taylor, owner, Taylor’d Press
11. Trent Nankervis, chief executive officer, CMYKhub
12. Kevin Slaven, chief executive officer, Ovato
13. Keith Ferrel, general manager, Cactus Imaging
14. Andrew Macaulay, chief executive officer, Print & Visual Communication Association
15. Jenny Berry, member relationship executive, Ai Group
16. Jamie and Jason Xuereb, cofounders, Mediapoint
17. Aldo Burcheri, director, Courtney Colour
18. Natalie Taylor, national sales director – web print divisions, IVE Group
19. Lachlan Finch, director, Rawson Print Co.
20. Brad Wruck, general manager, Colorcorp
21. Kelvin Gage, general manager – engagement and strategy, The Real Media Collective
22. Leo Moio, director, Print Media Group
23. Alex Coulson, general manager, Hero Print
24. Anthony Karam, executive chairman, TMA Group
25. Ben Testa, general manager, Labelhouse
26. Dan Mantel, operations manager, AFI Branding
27. Mel Ireland, federal president, Lithographic Institute of Australia
28. Mitch Mulligan, federal president, Visual Connections
29. Emmanuel Buhagiar, owner, Imagination Graphics
30. Kenneth Beck & Peter Musarra, co-directors, Carbon8
31. Aleks Lajovic, managing director, Impact International
32. Corey London, managing director, Special T Print
33. Craig Honey, chief executive officer, MSP Photography
34. Ben Newberry, owner, TK Print
35. John O’Brien, vice president & managing director, CCL Australia & New Zealand
36. Tom Eckersley, managing director, Eckersley Print Group
37. Gavin Allen, owner, Crystal Media
38. Flora Zhao, Skyline Print and Design
39. Charles Batt, owner, MBE Parramatta
40. Peter Harper, general manager, Visual Connections
41. Wayne Sidwell, executive chairman, Wellcom
42. Atish Shah & Manish Shah, directors, Quality Press
43. Ian Smith, general manager, Advance Press
44. Jon Clarke, general manager printing, Australian Community Media
45. John Schreenan, director, Revolution Print
46. John Georgantzakos, managing director, Spotpress
47. Rod Dawson, managing director, Southern Colour
48. Peter Orel, executive chairman, Finsbury Green
49. Greg Hourigan, manager, marketing and business integration, AAB Holdings
50. Kevin Pidgeon, executive chairman, Lithocraft

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