Every Friday we’ll profile a prominent figure from Australia’s IT, telecommunications or video gaming industries in the Friday Five.

Richard Bailey is HP’s vice president of its Imaging and Printing Group at HP for the South Pacific region — but he wasn’t always. At one stage his job was working on the family farm. Just don’t ask him his footy team, the West Coast Eagles — he’ll probably talk your ears off!

1. What was your first job ever?

Coming from a farming family in Western Australia, my first job was helping out on the family farm, in particular driving farm machinery during the seeding and harvesting periods.

2. What do most like about working in the IT industry?

I love working in an industry where we’re able to provide the latest in technology innovation from the home through to large enterprise and assist customers across the board to boost productivity, save money and reduce their environmental footprint.

3. What’s your hobby?

I’m a keen golfer and avid West Coast Eagles supporter (I have lived in Melbourne on & off for the past 22 years, so I have had a lot of fun irritating my Victorian friends with West Coast’s continued on-field success)

4. Where do you think the Australian IT industry will be in five years?

I think we will see continued advancements in mobility and web enablement driving smarter printers for the home through to the office. Printers will be available for organisations to get information on to and off the network and there will be continued innovation in print solutions which improve productivity, reduce environmental impact and reduce cost. Areas like environmental sustainability will become a given component of IT equipment, so in printing land that will mean energy, paper and process efficiency will be a very competitive area.

5. What/who has been the biggest inspiration in your career?

In my former years I had the opportunity to sell a business — of which I was a principal shareholder — to General Electric. I found Jack Walsh to be an extremely effective and inspirational leader. I spent 8 years in senior executive roles at GE and many of their leadership standards underpin the way I lead at HP today.

Image credit: HP

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