51-year-old Holyoake started in the role of group sales director last week after 27 years with Xerox. He most recently led the UK and Netherlands as country general manager within the European Graphic Communications division, but his role was set to change after Xerox split into two businesses on 31 December 2016, at which point he made the decision to move on.
“This is an exciting time to join Zerographic. They are on the growth curve and are a very ambitious company,” said Holyoake.
“Part of the plan is to really position Zerographic as a go-to company, not only from a client perspective but for people that are forging careers in the solution spaces.
“They’ve been growing organically for the last four to five years and part of the reason why I got involved is really to help kick it on to the next level, with a combination of continued structured organic growth and moving into new markets, along with some potential tactical acquisitions that we’re looking at."
Holyoake added that he believed he could bring the skills and knowledge developed during his time at Xerox to the role. Based in Zerographic’s Stafford head office, he will be responsible for overseeing the group’s sales strategy and will manage Zerographic’s three sales directors and around 20 other staff.
“Up to now we’ve been punching above our weight, but now we’re confident with the abilities that we’ve got that we can start doing even more work in major graphic organisations,” he added.
Holyoake said he was in communication with Zerographic chief executive Kevin Corbett for a couple of months before taking on the role.
“The more we spoke the more I felt this was a better opportunity for me at this point in my career,” he said.
"Mike’s extensive experience in developing structured sales strategies and knowledge of the document technology and solutions market will be a valuable asset in delivering the growth plans we’ve set for the coming years," said Corbett.
Along with its Stafford head office, 63-staff Zerographic has other sites in Weston-Super-Mare and Wakefield.
