James Duckenfield has been appointed as the new CEO of the Hobs Group. Kieran O’Brien will continue his involvement with the company as a non-executive director.
James Duckenfield has been appointed as the new CEO of the Hobs Group. Kieran O’Brien will continue his involvement with the company as a non-executive director.
James has already signaled plans to increase both geographical coverage and improve capability with the Hobs Group. James comments: “I’m excited to have taken over the reins from Kieran O’Brien. He has built a great company with a bright future. We’ve ambitious plans for both organic and inorganic growth and I want to see the Hobs business almost double by 2020.”
Since the beginning of September, James has been travelling the country to learn the Hobs business. “I’ve been delighted to find lots of passion and dedication to our customers. Our people really are our greatest asset; it’s our team’s dedication to excellent service and quality that has enabled the business to grow and gain a superlative reputation. There’s huge potential so watch this space for more news!”
The Hobs Group offers a wide range of services, however many customers don’t always know about all the parts of Hobs Group. The synergies might not be obvious; resolving this will give the Group a big boost. James has already created a new website, Hobs.com, to help start this familiarisation. There is also a strategic intent for all four parts of the company:
- Hobs Repro, our printing, content management and display graphics business, will increase its geographical coverage and customer share in existing cities. Inorganic growth will also come from acquisition of revenue or capabilities where we believe there is a strategic need
- Hobs On-Site, our facilities management business, is looking for strategic partners to grow its managed print rooms and managed/digital mailroom business
- Hobs Studio, our 3D printing and visualisations business, will achieve both organic and in-organic growth primarily in the AEC sector but we are considering additional verticals
- Anexsys, our legal reprographics and e-Discovery/e-Disclosure business, will increase its geographical coverage especially in e-Discovery and digital forensics. We will protect our IP and sell it with other legal systems as a managed service.
About James Duckenfield
James joined us from Xerox where he was running four US businesses in their HR Services organization. Previously James was Xerox’s Chief Innovation Officer, Consulting and Analytics Services and joined Xerox through the sale of his business, NewField IT which he co-founded in 2003. NewField IT is an international consulting, analytics and software business focusing on workplace and print optimization.
James has worked in the print industry for most of his career starting at Kodak and then running Ricoh’s production printing and graphics colour businesses and founding Ricoh’s Imaging Systems Business in the UK.
James is a Liveryman of the Stationer’s Company and a graduate of Imperial College where he read Chemistry.