ACTEGA, a manufacturer of specialty coatings, inks, adhesives and sealing compounds for the print and packaging industry, has announced several high-profile management appointments. These include the appointment of Jan Franz Allerkamp to head of Global Business Line Paper & Board of ACTEGA and the external hire of ex-Heidelberg Board Member, Stephan Plenz, as interim general manager of ACTEGA Metal Print.

The appointment of these experienced and talented business leaders reflects ACTEGA’s commitment to customers and its continuous drive towards innovation and sustainable solutions for the Graphic Arts Industry.

From October 1, Allerkamp, who was previously the managing director of ACTEGA Metal Print, will assume the role of Global Business Line Head for ACTEGA’s Paper & Board Business. Allerkamp replaces Andreas Gipp, who, after having successfully established the Paper and Board Business Line, will become the third managing director (CCO) of ECKART, another division of the ALTANA group, starting October 1.

Commenting on his new role, Allerkamp says, “After four and a half years in my Metal Print role, I would like to take the chance for a new challenge. Although the Paper & Board Business Line was only founded two years ago, a lot has been achieved by the team. Andreas did a great job in setting up the structure and building a well-run organization and successful team.”

“As a result, Paper and Board is a business on an upward trajectory. For instance, its barrier coatings initiative has huge potential and the folding carton market, with its mega trend towards increased sustainability, also represents major growth for us and for our customers,” continues Jan Franz.

Joining ACTEGA Metal Print as its interim general manager is Plenz. Having worked for Heidelberg for over 30 years and as a previous board member, Plenz was responsible for several Heidelberg business divisions, including sheetfed, labels, post-press and digital. With a mechanical engineering background and with sustainability close to his heart, Plenz is ideally placed to further build on the success of EcoLeaf and lead it to commercialization.

Thorsten Kröller, ACTEGA chairman, comments, “With Stephan, we have gained someone with the right experience to seamlessly fill the ACTEGA Metal Print role and to transition the EcoLeaf technology from a successful beta program to commercialization. I am also happy to keep Jan Franz in our division in another important leadership role for our Paper & Board business. Keeping and attracting the right industry experts plays an important role for us. In this way, we can further drive all of our important initiatives for more sustainability in our industry as these need people who understand the market in order to be successful.”

Commenting on his appointment, Plenz says, “I’m very excited to join ACTEGA. EcoLeaf is such an important technology, poised to eliminate foil waste from the traditional metalization process – it will change the market forever. To achieve this, and following the beta phase, our next big step is to industrialize the solution. This is where I will use my experience of bringing technologies to market, to enable a smooth and successful series-ramp-up.”