Gerhardt appoints new North American management

Gerhardt has named Ian Bates, pictured, to serve as the company's group executive vice president, and has promoted Jim Doedderlein to vice president of sales, North America.

Bates had served as group operations manager for Paragon Print and Packaging, the UK's largest self-adhesive label producer. He has 23 years of experience within the labeling industry, having held a range of general management, operations and production roles. The new executive appointment is effective immediately.

Klaus Damberg, Gerhardt's group managing director & CEO said, ‘Ian provides decisive leadership and has demonstrated a deep understanding of our products and business through his extensive hands-on experience within the industry. Ian will serve as a key role in introducing North American converters to the benefits of utilizing flexible die technology that has been the standard in Europe for more than a decade. We feel extremely fortunate to have someone of Ian's stature leading our management team.’

Bates said, ‘I am excited to join the Gerhardt team and look forward to utilizing my experience and success with Gerhardt's flexible die technology to introduce markets that are unfamiliar with this proven concept.’

Gerhardt has promoted Jim Doedderlein, Gerhardt's US sales director to VP of sales, North America. ‘Jim has played a key role in the success of Gerhardt's North American sales strategy,’ said Damberg. ‘He will now manage all North American sales functions and continue to expand our ever-growing North American market share.’

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