Returning to the print industry after a five-year stint at Amazon Web Services (AWS) – most recently as head of enterprise retail – O’Brien has over 30 years of sales experience across digital services and IT portfolios.

At AWS, she was responsible for driving year-on-year growth, and spearheading key initiatives from the senior leadership team. O’Brien joined AWS from Xerox, where she had been promoted to UK general manager.

Taking up her role at Ricoh on 4 March, O’Brien now leads a team of over 250 salespeople.

Glenn Griggs, Ricoh UK CEO, said: “I am delighted to welcome Paula to the Ricoh family. 

“Our customers and sales teams are set to benefit greatly from the wealth of experience and the people-first approach that Paula brings to the role.

“Paula’s leadership and clear vision for the future will be crucial in underpinning Ricoh’s market position as we further develop our service offerings, starting with becoming the leading workspace integrator in the UK.”

O’Brien said: “It’s an incredibly exciting time to be joining Ricoh as both the company and the market are in a period of evolution. We have a great opportunity to help our customers solve a plethora of business challenges and support their business and technology functions, in what is an increasingly complicated digital journey.

“I look forward to working with Glenn and the rest of the leadership team to deliver success for our people and our customers and can’t wait to meet and listen to my new colleagues as I get to know the business.”

Griggs, who joined Ricoh in 1995, was himself appointed chief executive at Ricoh UK in July 2023, and had been temporarily overseeing Ricoh’s direct sales channel in addition to his CEO role since that time. He will now focus his full attention on his role as CEO.