Printing inks are our speciality

Premal A. Desai
Chief Executive Officer (CEO)

Premal A. Desai is CEO and holds the global responsibility for hubergroup. He is also the Managing Director for hubergroup India. Premal holds a German master’s degree in business economics. Seasoned in both German and Indian cultural environments alike, Premal is married and a proud father of four. In his spare time, Premal is a passionate rookie tennis player and an engaged football fan.

Anupam Jain
Chief Financial Officer (CFO)

Anupam Jain is Chief Financial Officer (CFO), responsible for leading the Finance and IT functions across the organization. He plays a key role in driving financial performance and value creation at a global level. With over 25 years of experience in corporate finance, Anupam has held senior leadership roles across multiple industries and geographies. Before joining hubergroup, he spent ten years at Reckitt Benckiser Plc, most recently as SVP – Supply Finance. His career also includes leadership positions at Mondelez International, Standard Chartered, and Procter & Gamble. Outside of work, Anupam enjoys cricket, family time, and long walks.

Dr. Arup Basu
Chief Operating Officer (COO)

Dr. Arup Basu is Chief Operating Officer and responsible for translating strategic priorities into high-impact operational outcomes, strengthening global performance, and advancing sustainability in manufacturing. He is a business leader with over 30 years of experience in P&L Management, Strategy, Operations, Quality Systems, R&D, and Corporate Governance. In his spare time, Arup enjoys literary fiction, theatre, and football.

Carsten Zölzer
Chief Commercial Officer (CCO) Print Solutions

Carsten Zölzer is CCO of the Print Solutions Division. He also has regional responsibility for Europe. The graduate engineer has been with hubergroup since 2004 and has held various positions during this time. In his leisure time, Carsten Zölzer can be found mountain biking or hiking in the mountains.

Taner Bicer
Chief Commercial Officer (CCO) Chemicals

Taner Bicer is CCO of the Chemicals Division. He also has regional responsibility for the Americas. A chemical engineer by education, Taner Bicer joined hubergroup in 2014 and has several years of experience in technology management within the company. Taner Bicer has worked in the coatings and printing inks industry for more than 20 years.

Since the early days of hubergroup in 1765, having the courage to try something new has played an important role in the company. Mathias Mittermayr, a trained mason, decided at that time to forge a new path in ink production. On 29th November 1765, he registered his first patent for the production of the natural inks Vienna Varnish (a rich reddish-yellow colour), Prussian Blue, Carmine Red and the yellow colour of the Munich coat of arms, which he had permission to sell in Germany and abroad. So it was, in Haidhausen a district in Munich, that he laid the foundations for today’s hubergroup.  

Since then, of course, a lot has changed: in 1780, Mittermayr’s son-in-law Georg Huber took over the company and successfully expanded the business before he passed it over to his son Michael Huber (l.) in 1815. Led by Michael Huber, the company eventually became the first German printing ink manufacturer. Huber recognised the future relevance of printing inks early on thanks to his close association with Alois Senefelder, the inventor of lithography (stone printing). In the following years, the company, known as Michael Huber München, went on to become internationally renowned. 

The subsequent Huber generations also worked passionately to expand their ink business: with new production sites, a continually expanding range and constantly improving manufacturing techniques, Michael Huber München continued to grow. The company even recovered quickly from the decline in production during the two world wars: it built up the production facilities once again and at this point specialised fully in printing inks. The company premises in Haidhausen soon became too small and the headquarters were relocated to Kirchheim-Heimstetten in 1965.  

In the 1990s and 2000s, the company achieved success in the international printing inks market with new sites in Europe, South America and Asia. One important milestone was the acquisition of Micro Inks Limited in 2006, because up to this day this enables us to produce a large percentage of the raw materials for our printing inks ourselves. With innovations such as low migration printing inks as well as mineral oil-free and cobalt-free printing inks the company – now called hubergroup – set the environmental standards early on and has therefore become a trendsetter within the printing industry.  

Today hubergroup is one of the leading international specialists for solutions and technologies relating to printing inks, printing aid and raw materials. A contributing factor to this success is having the courage to forge new paths, this plays an important role in our daily work even after more than 250 years. This is the only way that we can continue to develop innovative solutions and technologies for the printing and packaging industry, the paint and coating industry and for chemical companies.