News

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91. Nick Alexander (91) – Garnett Dickinson Holdings

Why Alexander has kept out of the public eye for the past year. Since taking the helm as group managing director of Garnett Dickinson Holdings, Alexander recently struck gold with the win of a three-year multi-million pound contract. His next focus is reducing the firm’s carbon footprint. Outside of work Alexander is devoted to improving his personal best in Olympic distance triathlons with the goal of getting down to 2:30 at the London Triathlon in August, when his ability to smile under pressure may come in handy.

92. Simon Berg (90) – Fresh Media Group

Why It’s been a year of mixed fortunes for Berg, who took over as chief executive of the firm following the decision of co-founder David Brin to step down as joint managing director. Fresh Media Group’s (FMG) magazine repro wing Colour Systems had a tough year, losing work for IPC last summer, and it faces the prospect of more clients moving to in-house production. Berg has been busy bringing in new business to replace those lost revenues. He’s bolstered digital agency BigKid with video expertise by buying Guerilla Productions, e-zine platform Ceros is soaring, serving 1.4m pages in a single day recently, and catalogue production wing Fresh Vision recently won the Harrods account. FMG is also eyeing overseas expansion with a growing Indian operation.

93. Tim Elliott (93) – Elliott Baxter

Why Elliott’s optimism and enthusiasm for the paper industry and life in general has continued to inspire his workforce throughout 2008. In an industry that has seen dramatic consolidation, the family-owned merchant has strengthened its northern presence after it opened its 11th branch in Sheffield following the success of its Manchester site. Since 2004, EBB has opened an impressive five new branches and Elliott has his sights set firmly on expanding further and taking on his competitors. As always, the paper trade’s maverick is bucking the trend and he still finds time to hurl himself down black ski runs and support Aldershot Town FC. His team won the Blue Square Premier by a record 15 points – just one season after Elliott had sponsored the shirts.

94. Noel Warner (NEW) – Inc Direct

Why It’s been a busy year for Inc Direct, with new staff joining its ever-growing team, most notably in the form of former Tesco executive Steve Rowe as operations director in January this year. The PrintWeek Company of the Year 2007 winner has also secured a number of tasty contract wins, including one deal with Sony. Managing director Warner, who sees himself as a bit of a country gent is very innovative, and very customer focused, says colleague Wesley Dowding. While his interests include fast cars, craft fares and country shows, he has an unusual habit of plumping pillows. According to Dowding he can’t walk past a sofa without plumping the cushion on it and it doesn’t have to be his own.

95. Bernard Galloway (NEW) – Buxton Press

Why Whichever end of the printing business you go into, you have to be slick, fast and efficient, Galloway once said. A new entry in this year’s list, he describes himself as a forward thinking optimist and in the past he’s also been quoted as saying that he intends to stick with what we are good at, rather than diversifying. With volume up 20% on last year, no one can argue with his philosophy. The company spent £500,000 last month on two high-speed Fujifilm Luxel V-E platesetters, in order to feed the 1,000 plate-a-day demand of its pressroom.

96. Tony Jones (97) – Pensord

Why If there was a textbook on how to run a print company, it would bear a striking resemblance to the way chief executive Jones runs Wales-based Pensord. The firm’s 130 staff not only have a figurative ‘buy-in’ in the firm’s future, but also literally in the shape of a stakeholder scheme. Only this month Pensord won the Western Mail Welsh People Development Company of the Year award, where it went head to head with firms like Corus, and that is typical of Jones’ £11m turnover firm – in virtually everything it does it punches well above its weight.

97. David Shorto (NEW) – Greenpeace/Friends of the Earth

Why Some might argue that Shorto’s appearance in the Power 100 listing is long overdue, given his growing influence over the green print buying scene over the past few years. His day job sees him straddle a paper and print buying role at green pressure groups Greenpeace and Friends of the Earth, but despite this heavy workload, Shorto still summoned up the time and energy to set up the PPE (paper.print.environment) website – an online resource that aims to arm buyers with the necessary information to make informed choices about the environmental impact caused by their printed materials.

98. Liz Roland (NEW) – Department for Children, Schools and Families’ National Contracts Team

Why Looking after the DCSF’s National Contracts Team’s £17m per year print spend is no small task, but fortunately for Roland she is a woman with big ideas. The Whitehall department, which is headed up by minister Ed Balls, announced earlier this year that it was seeking a single supplier or consortium to provide a wide range of print services. The tender, which aimed to create a central access point for its print, is being administrated in part by Roland.

99. Peter Frings (NEW) – Brightsource

Why 2008 has been a good year for Peter Frings and the company he manages, Brightsource. The company rebranded itself from Target Direct Print at the beginning of the year and a month later reported a turnover of £24.5m for 2007, up £10m on the previous year. The positive figures coincided with Frings placing an emphasis on marketing services away from pure print. According to colleagues, the managing director, who is a keen cyclist and badminton player, has a fantastic managerial style and channels ideas from the bottom up.

100. John Watson (NEW) – John Watson & Company

Why Founded in 1851, Glasgow-based label printer John Watson & Company is one of the oldest printing companies in Scotland but the chairman and chief executive is one of the newest additions to PrintWeek’s power list. Watson took over the reins from his father in 1971 and has steadily grown the family-run business into a major supplier of labels to the drinks industry. One of Watson’s finest hours was in June 2006 when he was awarded an OBE as part of the Queens’ Birthday Honours for services to printing and charity. One supplier describes Watson as charming and friendly – even in difficult times. To cap things off, he installed the world’s longest B2 Speedmaster this year – a whopping 15-unit monster.