Christophe Aussenac has replaced Christian Duyckaerts as Fespa president - a term that runs for three years.
Aussenac is the 18th president of the exhibition organiser, and has been a board member since 2014. He also leads Fespa France, the national association serving the French digital and wide-format printing community. He has been a driving force in the establishment of Fespa’s Southern European Congress and is a vocal advocate for improved sustainability in speciality printing.
The new president is a founding director of Lyon-based ATC (Autorise Toute Creativité), which he established with his business partner in 1991. The company employs 60 people and provides interior and outdoor signage, graphics, display and POS services to corporate and agency clients.
He said of his new appointment: “As a speciality printer myself, I believe that Fespa has a vital role to play in supporting our global community to continue to evolve, innovate and rise to the challenges and opportunities that face us, in particular the imperative to place more emphasis on environmental responsibility.
“This is a critical time for our members. The prolonged global pandemic has put multiple pressures on print businesses, and owners are now re-building and re-imagining their future, with a stronger focus than ever on topics like production efficiency, diversification and automation. Looking ahead to 2022, we hope for the successful resumption of all our global Fespa events, and to being able to re-engage with all members of our community in the real world.”
Duyckaerts - whom Aussenac has supported as vice president since 2017- has been appointed Fespa’s Asia ambassador and also returns to the general duties of a Fespa board member, in addition to his involvement with the Belgian national Association, Fespa Belgium.
Alberto Masserdotti, founder of the Masserdotti group in Italy, and Wouter Van As, commercial director of Van As in The Netherlands were also appointed as new members of the Fespa board. Long-standing board members Anders Nilsson and Enrico Steijn have stepped down. Board members are now as follows: Christophe Aussenac (France), Lascelle Barrow (UK), Christian Duyckaerts (Belgium), Gyorgy Kovacs (Hungary), Olav Skilbred (Norway), Alberto Masserdotti (Italy), Wouter van As (The Netherlands), Thomas Struckmeier (Germany), Daniel Sunderland (Mexico).