New master of the Stationers’ Company named

Hempenstall worked with Metal Bulletin for 39 years, the final 12 as chief executive. He took up that role when the company had a market capitalization of about £20 million and left when the company was sold to Euromoney Institutional Investor for £223 million.

He also oversaw the company’s move from a paper-based to a digitally-based publishing business model, and has been involved in some of the debates on methods of information dissemination and the protection of intellectual property in the digital age at Stationers’ Hall.  

He was elected last week to succeed Kevin Dewey as master of the Stationers’ Company.

Hempenstall plans to continue to carry forward the strategic plan of the Stationers’ Company, as put in place two years ago.

He is to specifically target: an increase in the charitable support the company gives to a wide range of communities in need of support and help; the establishment of a new Stationers’ Academy, a school for the company to partner and support within the Leigh Academies Trust; and to continue to maintain the Stationers’ Company’s 17th century hall, and move forward plans to improve access and allow better use of the available space within the building.

He is keen to look at ways of increasing the international footprint of the Stationers’ Company, and will revisit the idea of having an affiliate chapter in New York. He will also look to foster closer interaction with trade bodies abroad.

Hempenstall said: ‘We are part of a single global market and we cannot afford to become insular.’