Canon Appoints New President & CEO for Europe, Middle East and Africa

LONDON, April 2, 2012 /PRNewswire/ --

Canon, world-leader in imaging solutions, today announced the appointment of Rokus van Iperen as the new President & CEO of Canon Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA). He becomes the first European to lead Canon's business across the EMEA region, succeeding Ryoichi Bamba, who is retiring after four years in the role and 40 years with Canon.

Van Iperen takes over an organisation that delivers world leading imaging products and services to millions of consumers as well as business and medical customers throughout the EMEA region, and contributes the largest regional share of total revenues for Canon Inc. He moves to his new role from within the Canon Group, having served as Chairman & CEO of Océ N.V. since 1999. Océ N.V. was acquired by Canon Inc. in March 2010.

"I am honoured to be the first European to assume leadership of Canon's business in the EMEA region," said Rokus van Iperen, President & CEO, Canon Europe, Middle East and Africa. "I have always admired Canon for its world-class track record in innovation and strong business performance. After working closely with Canon over the last few years, I look forward to overseeing the integration of Canon and Océ in EMEA, and to driving continued business growth for Canon throughout the region."

Van Iperen joined Océ in 1978. After several posts within R&D, he became responsible for the Printing Systems business unit in 1989. He served as Managing Director of Océ-Belgium N.V. from 1992 until being appointed to the Executive Board of Océ N.V. in 1995. Key achievements for Van Iperen at Océ N.V. include the acquisitions and subsequent integration of the Siemens Nixdorf Printing Division and Imagistics Inc. into the Océ organisation. He is a graduate in Mechanical Engineering from the Technical University of Eindhoven.