Durst Appoints Christoph Gamper as New CEO

Durst has appointed Christoph Gamper as CEO of the Durst Phototechnik AG and its subsidiaries. In addition to the head office and the industrial production site in Brixen, South Tyrol/Italy, the Durst Phototechnik AG includes the research- and production facility Durst Phototechnik Digital Technology GmbH in Lienz/East Tyrol and various sales offices in North- and South America, Europe, Asia and India. Gamper took office with the start of the new business year on May 2. 2013. He succeeds Dr. Richard Piock, who has been in charge of the group for more than twenty years, and has been instrumental in restructuring Durst as the leading producer of industrial inkjet technologies. Dr. Richard Piock will join the Board of Directors as President of the Durst Phototechnik AG.

"We are very happy to have found a worthy successor for the outstanding achievements of Dr. Richard Piock," says Christof Oberrauch, as representative of the owner family and outgoing Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Durst Phototechnik AG. "Under Dr. Richard Piock, Durst managed the transition to a globally leading producer of industrial inkjet applications. It is now Christoph Gamper's task to continue this development, to access new markets and to advance our internationalisation. In tune with the motto 'think globally, act locally', we are very pleased to have found Christoph Gamper, who is a local Southern Tyrolean, with strong leadership qualities, who has gained international experience by successfully managing globally active companies."

Gamper was born in South Tyrol in 1970. Growing up in South Tyrol, he acquired the basics of business management at the Management Center Innsbruck (MCI), and later refined his strategical, technological and international marketing expertise at the Boston Business School. The generation change at the top of Durst Phototechnik AG has been planned well in advance. Since July 2011, Gamper, the designated CEO and Executive Vice President, has been responsible for the industrial segments of the Durst Phototechnik AG and the organization and development of the new textile division.

Prior to his career at Durst, Gamper, who is a passionate photographer, was European Managing Director and then Vice President of the listed colorimetry company Datacolor AG. In Zurich and New York, he was responsible for developing the company's European business activities, and later for the division's global expansion. Other stepping-stones include managerial positions with kdg AG (production and sales of optical data media), as well as with Koch Media, the leading media production- and distribution company. Before his move to Zurich and New York, Gamper, initially started his career with a Tyrol based company, the Athesia GmbH.

"I am very happy to be given the chance to incorporate my international experience here at Durst, and to advance the adaptation of high-end technologies in different industries," says Gamper. "We have the technological know-how and the innovative drive and we will continue to expand our presence in the international markets. We will continuously develop our corporate culture, aiming to create technological innovations that optimise the value added for our global customer-base and provide them with the competitive edge. South Tyrol and high-end technology is our origin, internationalisation is our future."