Celebrating 30 Years In North America.
Michel Ritz is currently our Fine Art Key Account Manager based in North America. He is responsible for some of our most important customers.
He celebrates 30 years at Colart, officially on 1st May 2023; however, his journey at Colart started a year and a half earlier, in January 1992, when Michel moved to the USA under a sponsorship program. The French Government set up the VSNE (voluntary du service national en Enterprise) program as part of France's National Service. This initiative allowed French nationals to work for French companies, paid for by the French government, and to build French businesses abroad.
At the time, the newly formed Colart consisted of the Winsor & Newton brand in North America. Our French brand, Lefranc Bourgeois, was then distributed by Koh-I-Nor. Michel was responsible for bringing the brand 'in-house' for Colart Americas. It is incredible to think Colart was created in 1991, and Michel started with us in January 1992.
Since then, Michel has worked on all our brands across most categories, including Lefranc Bourgeois, Color & Co, Reeves, Snazaroo and Winsor & Newton. His career started in marketing, and became an industry-leading key account manager in recent years.
Michel successfully launched several programs whilst in marketing, including Winsor & Newton canvas and brush programs, Arches papers, Reeves and Snazaroo development and Colart Americas' first foray with Lefranc Bourgeois. There are too many programs to mention them all!
His product and industry knowledge transferred seamlessly from a marketing to a key account role, and he continues to set the standard after all these years. He has driven both profitable and strategic growth with whatever he works on, which continues to this day.
We are all enlighted by Michel's successful career, and we can all learn from his tenacity and drive to succeed, which appears as strong now as it was 30 years ago.
Congratulations on your 30 years at Colart, a milestone worthy of celebration.
Thank you kindly for this acknowledgement and recognition! I really appreciate it, and it motivates me to continue to work hard in the years to come. Colart is an amazing company, full of talented and inspiring people, and I am proud to be part of such a great team.
We are delighted to have you as part of the team Michel. I’ve only been in team NA for 5 years but absolutely love working with you, your passion, dedication and attention to detail 🙂 on all of our brands is beyond impressive. Michel’s energy and desire to be curious and learn never falters and he’s still one the most cheerful team members even after 30 years! 🙂 Congrats
You look way too young to have 30 years of service already Michel… you have another 30 to go for sure!
You are an inspiration for sure, not just because you managed to stay with Colart for such a long time, but also your passion, drive and determination.
Congratulations Michel. We are glad to work with you. Best wishes. Canna
Congratulations Michael, with that length of service I’m just a “newbee” 🙂 I hope that we can work together again as we did on the initial rollout of Liquitex “LEGO” merchandising for North America a few years back. Stay strong for another 30 plus years ahead!!