Page 30 - Print21 Magazine May-June 2021

Profile
Mesaros, the
modernising man
The industry’s biggest supplier, Currie Group, has a new CEO, Rob Mesaros, and he has wasted no time in setting about modernising the 70-year-old business. Wayne Robinson reports.
When he was invited into the role of strategic advisor
at Currie Group
six months ago, corporate high-flyer Rob Mesaros did not know what to expect. His brief from chairman David Currie was
to provide a holistic assessment of business health and future industry opportunities for the group.
What he found was a family- owned and run business, that had become the biggest ANZ supplier in print, an industry that was rapidly evolving, and a business that was, he told me, based on three core pillars, “trust, technology and industry IP”, that meant its fundamentals were strong.
He saw an opportunity to move the business to the next stage by leveraging existing core strengths whilst acknowledging the many opportunities for growth through modernisation and evolution. The core objective is to adapt and serve the rapidly evolving needs of their customers, who themselves are looking at ways to transform and respond to the new digital era.
Modernisation became the mantra, not that Currie Group could ever be described as old fashioned or backward looking. Its ability
to read the winds of change and back winning technology solutions are major reasons for its success over the years. Nonetheless, David Currie after half a century with the company recognised that to stay on top, fresh impetus was needed.
Mesaros’ entry into Currie Group was a sliding doors moment in life. After 15 years running various parts of HP in Singapore, Hong Kong and ANZ, the onset of Covid and the age of his children brought a recognition that Australia was the place his family wanted to call home again.
His HP career had seen him given serious responsibilities at a young age, at 34 he was HP’s managing
30 Print21 MAY/JUNE 2021
director of ANZ after having spent time in Singapore and Hong Kong, where he was entrusted to lead and run several restructures and business turnarounds.
A year ago, as Covid hit he called time on his HP life shuttling around Asia, settling back into Australia.
He was acquainted with David Currie through various business dealings. Through conversation and circumstance an opportunity for both parties became more obvious, with Rob accepting the offer to join as strategic advisor. Six months in, David Currie had seen enough to entrust the running of the business to him. In February, Mesaros became CEO, and David stepped back from an active role, whilst remaining as Chairman of the Group.
Swapping cultures from a giant
US corporate to a family-owned Australian business, takes some adjustment. Mesaros says, “I liken it to the difference between running a MacDonald’s franchise verses Nonna’s famous local family restaurant.
“The worlds of technology and print are fusing together at an increasing rate. Whilst we serve the print industry, fundamentally what we’re enabling is communication.” — Rob Mesaros
Mesaros took on the initial strategic advisor role with relish, as David Currie told him, everything was on the table. Mesaros says, “The deeper I got, the more I fell in love with the opportunity. I became deeply aware of the company’s strengths and the opportunity
for further modernisation and expansion in our market offering.”
With the world at his feet, I asked why he joined the print industry,
he refutes the legacy perception as an uninformed view, saying, “The worlds of technology and print are
fusing together at an increasing rate. Whilst we serve the print industry, fundamentally what we’re enabling
is communication. Collectively our ecosystem is enabling brands and companies to communicate and reach a target audience. I think the worlds of digital and physical communication will continue to fuse.”
Acknowledging the above, Mesaros believes that in years to come, Currie Group will need to transform as a supplier. “There will always be a
need for physical content, but if you can offer an integrated solution for brands within your capabilities, you will thrive.” Mesaros said.
According to Mesaros in any transition there are going to be winners and losers. He believes
there will be a continued industry consolidation. To thrive, suppliers will have to become more central and core to the revenue stream of customers.
Of the three core strengths Mesaros says, “Trust is the hardest to achieve, the easiest to lose, but the most valuable to have. And trust is what Currie Group has, it has been