Matt Aitken tops Power 50 at 2021 ProPrint Awards

IVE Group CEO Matt Aitken has won this year’s Power 50 at the ProPrint Awards marking his first outright win of the award which recognises senior print industry leaders in Australia.

The Real Media Collective CEO Kellie Northwood placed second, with IVE Group executive chairman, Geoff Selig, finishing third.

Cactus Imaging co-founder and general manager – operations, Keith Ferrel, placed fourth, with Kirsten Taylor, of Taylor’d Press in Melbourne, fifth.

Owner of family-owned Eckersley Print Group and a respected member of the Print & Visual Communication Association board, Tom Eckersley, placed sixth but was unable to attend the event due to border closures in Queensland but did submit a video by way of an acceptance speech.

Coming in seventh was IVE Group’s Cliff Brigstocke with Lamson Group CEO Rodney Frost in eighth.

Brother and sister team, Debbie Burgess and John Bright, owners of Bright Print Group placed ninth with Dayne Nankervis the CEO of CMYKhub placing 10th. Dayne was also able to submit a video which was played on the night.

The win rounds out a tough year for Aitken which has included navigating the ASX-listed IVE Group through the pandemic with the business coming through strongly and making some useful strategic acquisitions along the way.

These included the purchase of Australian Community Media’s Western Australian arm and more recently Active Display Group and AFI Branding. IVE has another $30-40m in the kitty for further expansion in third party logistics and fibre-based packaging.

Aitken accepted the award at the ProPrint Awards at the Shangri-la Hotel in Sydney last night with over 180 members of the print industry coming together to celebrate the year that was and honour their hard work through what has been a difficult period with the pandemic.

Congratulations to the 2021 Power 50 Top Ten

Matt Ashman, managing director of Durst Oceania, was the Platinum Sponsor of the evening and presented Aitken with his winning trophy.

Matt Aitken accepts his No.1 trophy from Durst Oceania MD Matt Ashman

The evening, which included a three-course meal and outstanding entertainment from emcee Sam McCool, was a resounding success as it fast becomes the ‘go-to’ event of the year for the industry.

Durst CEO Christoph Gamper sent his congratulations to all the ProPrint Awards winners from Brixen, Italy – which you can watch below.

Special thanks to Platinum Sponsor Durst Oceania, Gold Sponsors HP & Fujifilm and Silver Sponsors Ball & Doggett and printIQ for making this wonderful event possible.

Auditing firm, PKF Australia, partnered with the Power 50 to ensure the peer-voted results were true and accurate.

Supplier 50, Emerging 50 and Industry Achievement Awards were also given out on the night.

This year the Top 20 were ranked in the voting, with the remainder of nominees listed alphabetically. Massive congratulations to all winners. Well done on making it through what has been an incredibly difficult period.

2021 Power 50 Top 20

  1. Matt Aitken, CEO, IVE Group
  2. Kellie Northwood, CEO, The Real Media Collective
  3. Geoff Selig, executive chairman, IVE Group
  4. Keith Ferrel, co-founder and general manager – operations, Cactus Imaging
  5. Kirsten Taylor, creative director, Taylor’d Press
  6. Tom Eckersley, director, Eckersley Print Group
  7. Cliff Brigstocke, CEO Production & Distribution, IVE Group
  8. Rodney Frost, CEO, Lamson Group
  9. Debbie Burgess and John Bright, co-directors, Bright Print Group
  10. Dayne Nankervis, CEO, CMYKhub
  11. Sandra Duarte, CEO, Centrum Group
  12. Mitchell Mulligan, president, Visual Connections
  13. Samantha Bailey-Jensen, director, Bailey Print Group
  14. Simon Carmody, managing director, Spot Productions
  15. Peter Harper, CEO, Visual Connections
  16. Ewen Donaldson, managing director, Vivad
  17. Paul Freeman, managing director, E-Bisglobal
  18. Nigel Spicer, general manager, Cactus Imaging
  19. Trevor Hone, chairman, Avon Graphics
  20. Kirsty & Luke Woodhead, Breen Printing

Rounding out the Power 50 in alphabetical order:

  • Aleks Lajovic, managing director, Impact International
  • Ben Carroll, managing director, Vicon Transfers
  • Corey London, director, Special T Print
  • Darren Delaney, general manager, AllKotes
  • Dean Wright, managing director, ADS Australia
  • Emmanuel Buhagiar, director, Imagination Graphics
  • Gavin Allen, managing director, Crystal Media
  • Glenn Coleman, director, Coleman Group
  • Jamie Xuereb, director, Mediapoint
  • Jeff Barr, general manager, AFI Branding
  • Jenny Berry, member services (print & packaging sector), Ai Group
  • Lindsay Nutley, director of marketing, QLM Label Makers
  • Marcus Marchant, chief executive officer, Vistaprint
  • Nathan Sable, chief executive officer, QMS Print
  • Nina Nguyen, chief executive officer, Pakko
  • Peter Musarra & Kenneth Beck, co-directors, Carbon8
  • Rod Peter, director, Coleman Group
  • Rodney James, director, Insane Signs & Print
  • Roger Kirwan, managing director, Foxcil
  • Romeo Sanuri, managing director, Next Printing
  • Scott Allen, chief executive officer, Direct Mail & Marketing
  • Shane Wildash, Lachlan Finch, Andrew Price, co-directors, Rawson Print Co.
  • Simon Pugh, director, QLM Label Makers
  • Steven Gamble, founder, Man Anchor
  • Steven Matas, managing director, BMS Group
  • Suzanne Lewis, chief financial officer, Latrobe Valley Enterprises
  • Tate Hone, managing director, Avon Graphics
  • Walter Kuhn, president, Print & Visual Communication Association
  • Wendy Bezzina, chief executive officer, Latrobe Valley Enterprises
  • Yianni Moratidis, director, GENR8 Printing
What a great bunch: some of the Power 50 winners gather to celebrate towards the end of the night.

From all the team at ProPrint, Sprinter and the Printer Media Group, we send all the nominees a huge Congratulations on your achievements this year. Also special thank you to our sponsors and partners as without you this recognition for the industry would not be possible.

The sponsors which made the ProPrint Awards possible – thank you:

Platinum Sponsor: Durst Oceania

Gold Sponsors: HP, Fujifilm, DIC, Orafol

Silver Sponsors: Ball & Doggett, printIQ, Cactus Imaging, EFI, Visual Connections, Bright Print Group, Centrum Group, Graph-Pak, Foxcil and Lamson Paragon.

Emerging 50 Foundation Partner: Media Super

Emerging 50 Mentorship Partner: The Real Media Collective

Power 50 Audit Partner – PKF Australia

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