Tasmanian printer Martin Guilliamse is one of two new board members to join the Printing Industries of Australia Association (PIAA) and says he wants to support printers during his tenure.

Guilliamse, the general manager of Moonah’s Mark Media, pipped Peter Clark on a coin toss to claim the board position along with Victoria’s Kevin Pidgeon, co-founder of Lithocraft, who will replace Ron Patterson.

There are now nine members of the board with the election overseen by the Australian Electoral Commission.

Guilliamse says he is thrilled to be coming onto the board and looking forward to getting down to business.

“The issues are the financials and transparency of the association,” he told ProPrint.

“It’s been an issue in the past and I would like to see a move to a more membership driven organisation.”

Guilliamse says printers need help with the running of their businesses on a broader scale, including handling of mergers and acquisitions and how to wind up operations if that is what they want to do.

“They need support in how to run their business because the industry is changing because of the technology so they need help on how to exit the market if they need it."

PIAA CEO Andrew Macaulay welcomes the election of Guilliamse and Pidgeon and says he is looking forward to 2019 with the focus continuing to be vocational education improvements and energy reliability, having met with two state governments on Wednesday.

Macaulay says, “We look forward to having Kevin and Martin on the board.

“The debate is about the cost of reliable energy. We are not pushing any argument about how energy is generated. We are arguing that energy has to be reliable.”

Macaulay says the board has been creating generational change.

“The board that’s just finishing their terms have been leading a process of generational change and are seeking younger printers to come on board.

“I am really excited to see the calibre of the people who have stepped up. We have printers who are highly regarded in the industry.

“There is not any one individual that is more important than any other individuals.”

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