George Lossius – Keynote Speaker

George Lossius was the CEO of Publishing Technology plc, the largest and most influential provider of technology in the global publishing sector, until April 2014. Previously CEO of VISTA International, also a publishing systems provider, George was CEO of their operations in France, the USA and then globally. In 2007, recognising the need to become highly active in the digital and online publishing arena, George led the reverse takeover of Ingenta, so establishing Publishing Technology as the first full service digital and print publishing systems provider, as well as listing the business on the London Stock Exchange.

Whilst in the grips of global recession, George decided that, as the publishing sector was changing so radically in its shift to digital and the global market, rather than retrenching on its core products and markets, it was time to invest heavily in creating fresh new product for the new age of publishing and pushing the business to operate across the world, and catch the digital trend at the back end of the recession.

With more than 20 years in the publishing sector now, George Lossius has started technology and publishing consulting businesses in France, Brazil and most recently in China. Each has provided its own unique challenges, but leading the business into China and in the first year creating certainly the largest digital publications import gateway (www.cnpereading.com) the country had seen, brought George very quickly into close business relationships with key publishing individuals in China. In 2013 he was appointed by the State Council for Information to the China Book International (CBI) Advisory Board.

With extensive experience of talking at industry events worldwide, George delivers on the one hand a chilling view of the changes afoot, and on the other, an optimistic outlook for the opportunities publishing and any industry face during a period of seismic shift.

George Lossius is British and Norwegian, has lived and/or worked in several European countries as well as the USA and Argentina, and speaks French, Norwegian and Dutch as well as some Spanish.

“IT has for long periods been the servant of business, but in today’s world it is the creator of trends of major significance. In most businesses these days, information technology needs to be viewed as a science that will inform consumer and business behaviour, and few businesses are set up for this change.”