GMG Americas adds to senior staff

GMG Americas, the US office of Germany-based GMG, a developer of color management software, has made a number of management additions and changes to its organization.

The company has appointed Joe Varone as vice president, sales, North America, and Marc Welch as the new director, strategic accounts. Birgit Plautz and Juergen Roesch have relocated from GMG in Europe to become GMG Americas' new manager of technical services and business development and solutions architect, respectively. In addition, Paulo Monteiro, business manager, Latin America, has relocated to new offices near Orlando, Florida.

Joseph Varone will oversee GMG sales throughout North America. He comes to GMG from Kodak, where he was most recently national sales manager, digital print solutions, Canada, and director, packaging, USA and Canada. In these roles, he specialized primarily in digital printing and electronic pre-press systems and graphic arts consumables sales. Varone also worked at Kodak Polychrome Graphics, where he held a number of sales roles, including global account manager, for key global customers. He has also held senior positions at Sun Chemical Canada, and sales and marketing positions at Kodak Canada. Varone received his BA in economics and sociology from the University of Toronto, and an MBA with emphasis in marketing and international business from Queen's University.

‘We are extremely fortunate to have Joseph join our management team,’ said James Summers, president, GMG Americas. ‘He is a very successful senior general and sales management professional, with a distinguished track record and excellent reputation. Uniquely, he has a long-term understanding of both conventional and digital markets and applications. In fact, Joe began his career operating a student business that specialized in producing artwork for print production.’

Meanwhile, Marc Welch has taken over as GMG Americas' director, strategic accounts. Welch is a 40-year veteran of the printing industry – the first 20 years in print production and, since then, in technology sales and marketing for companies such as Scitex, Pitman, Tripp and, since 2006, GMG. ‘Marc has been instrumental in creating partnerships with leading customers and solution partners," explained Summers. ‘In his new role, Marc will focus on expanding that range of solutions and working more closely with key customers.’

Birgit Plautz, GMG Americas' manager of technical services, previously worked at GMG corporate headquarters in Germany as a project manager and technical development engineer. In addition to proficiency in color management, she is also an expert in print drivers and media. ‘Birgit's a great asset to our technical services team. Her experience, knowledge, effervescent personality, and creative “get it done” approach bring new capabilities to GMG Americas,’ said Summers.

Juergen Roesch has joined GMG Americas as manager business development and solutions architecture. Roesch is an expert on color management for printing, pre-press, digital and wide format production, along with an IT education background with strong knowledge of printing and its processes. He most recently worked in business development, focusing on manufacturers, standards organizations, users and key accounts. He also helped initiate GMG activities in digital and wide format print and provided color management education. He has held a number of technical roles at GMG in Germany, the UK and the US, and originally came to GMG from BestColor.

To provide better service to the rapidly expanding Latin America customer base Paulo Monteiro, business manager, GMG Latin America, has moved his offices to the US. He can be reached at:

GMG Latin America
3807 Shoreview Drive
Kissimmee, FL  34744
Email: paulo.monteiro@gmgcolorla.com

‘GMG Americas has been very busy building distribution channels, working with technology partners and, most importantly, serving our customers,’ remarked Summers. ‘We are fortunate that we have been able to bolster our staff with extremely competent and talented people who can help continue our growth and our ability to help companies build exceptional color management capabilities. Along with help from GMG headquarters, our future looks very bright.’

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