Paul Schulman leaving Global

In an e-mail dated December, 9 to the Global leadership team, Michael Shea announced that Paul Schulman has decided to leave Global effective December 31.

Paul was one of Global’s most visible leaders as President and COO and in his previous position as SVP of Business Development. Paul was well known and respected in both the dealer community as well as within Global. I know his leadership will be missed at Global.

I got to know Paul on a dealer trip almost 15 years back. He is engaging, intelligent, and passionate about the business. The announcement stated that Paul left because “(he) decided his work at Global is now accomplished.” I hope that is true and that we are not seeing the second iteration of the IKON story where politics and egos became the determinant of who stayed and who goes.

Tom Johnson led a great “build-up” as he called it; he let the successful entrepreneurs, and eventually professional management, run their business and quickly weeded out the unsuccessful players. It never appeared that politics had any influence on Tom’s decisions—performance did. Tom made Global the envy of the industry and made his shareholders and investors a phenomenal ROI. Paul Schulman thrived in this environment. As president of IKON NYC I competed against Paul’s company, Carr Business, and I can tell you he was a strong but honest competitor that grew year after year.

I am confident that Paul will use his leadership skills and business acumen to lead another successful venture. I enjoyed the time that Paul spent making the copier industry a better place and wish him continued success.