Profile

Paul L. Gange

New position: Senior vice president, multivendor services, Danka Systems, St. Petersburg

Previous position: Vice president, North American sales, Mitchell International, San Diego.

Since Jan. 1, Paul L. Gange has been bicoastal, alternately spending two weeks in St. Petersburg as senior vice president of Danka's new multivendor services division, then one week in San Diego as husband and father to three.

By June, when his children are out of school, Gange expects to be completely relocated with them and his wife, Angie, to the family's new home in Safety Harbor, leaving behind the California lifestyle he has known since college.

Gange's travel schedule will continue to take up at least 50 percent of his workweek, only the focus will be on expanding Danka's office services for products beyond the traditional photocopiers that it has long supplied and serviced.

"I've always had jobs where I travel a lot anyway," Gange said, but his new schedule will be more contained within the business week. "Business travel isn't difficult when it doesn't impact the weekend," he said.

Gange's role is to expand Danka's "worldwide image as a service provider." His division offers in-office servicing for products from PCs to handheld devices, he said, allowing companies to consolidate maintenance for their equipment. "The idea was incubated in 2002. In '03, we're really bringing it on staff."

Danka's transition from hardware supplier to provider of a wide range of services is reminiscent of the transformation of companies such as Xerox and IBM. Gange acknowledges Danka is "entering a space populated by others, providing services across multiple devices. But our direct competitors are not actively pursuing this.

"It's a good business move for a company like Danka with a large sales and service force," Gange said, adding that Danka has a service presence in all 50 states and 25 countries.

The expansion to multivendor services is already "running full speed," Gange said. For example, Danka recently "won a very large contract with Northwest Airlines for consumable supplies and desktop printers," he said.

Before joining Danka, Gange worked for seven years with Mitchell International in San Diego. He left Mitchell, a leading provider of data, software and e-business solutions, as vice president of North American sales.

Earlier, Gange, 34, worked for five years at two software development companies in Southern California after graduating from the University of Southern California at Los Angeles in 1990 with a bachelor's degree in business administration.

"I knew I wanted to go into small business and make a difference," Gange said. "When I came out of college, that's where the startup business was -- technology. I got into software very quickly."

Gange said he is attracted to what he calls "fleet-of-foot companies. They're quick. Software companies are typically companies not mired in bureaucracy, companies willing to take a chance, aggressive, growth-oriented companies," he said. "They provide opportunities for people like me who are high-energy, who are not bureaucratic. You have to be willing to wear many hats, and I've always liked that."

He said he took the job at Danka because he sees a chance to make a difference.

"What appeals to me most about this particular opportunity with Danka is that it's a small division within a large company," Gange said. "I see an opportunity to make an impact. We're all myopically focused on the health of this business. This is a key strategy."

Gange said he looks forward to relocating his family to Florida and continuing their water-oriented lifestyle, with some adjustments. "We do a lot of water sports and water skiing. Someone just has to teach me how to water ski without bumping into a gator," he said with a laugh.

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