Today we are announcing a change in leadership as Matt Espe has decided to resign his position as Chairman and CEO to accept a CEO position at Armstrong World Industries, a publicly traded global manufacturer. I will assume the role of Chairman and CEO of Ricoh Americas Corporation effective July 1, 2010 in addition to my responsibilities as Chairman and CEO of Ricoh Americas Holdings, Inc. I have attached a copy of a press release we issued this morning to announce this change in leadership.
Matt has provided outstanding leadership and direction to IKON for the past eight years, and to Ricoh over the past 18 months since our acquisition. He has been instrumental in our synergy work to leverage our combined strengths, and of course, helped us chart a course to begin our integration planning to create a stronger organization. He leaves knowing that we have put in place a very experienced, integrated leadership team that is making significant progress towards integration and is focused on growing our business and improving our operations.
I look forward to working with this team to build on Ricoh's leadership position and create the strongest organization in our industry. I am committed to continuing to foster the strong collaboration, energy and communications that we've seen as we begin our integration planning. We have a tremendous opportunity in front of us, and I look forward to continuing to update you on our direction, our progress and our results.
Please join me in thanking Matt for his many contributions to IKON and Ricoh which will benefit us as we move forward, and wish him all the best for the future.
Thank you,
Kevin Togashi
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