On Tuesday, August 13, EFI announced that industry veteran Jeff Jacobson would be taking on the role of CEO in addition to Executive Chairman with the departure for personal reasons of CEO Bill Muir. Although Jacobson is brand new to the role, he has dealt extensively with EFI in his various industry roles over the years. Here’s what he had to say to Senior Editor Cary Sherburne in his first trade media interview as EFI’s CEO.

WhatTheyThink: Jeff, thanks for speaking with us and congratulations on your new role. It is my understanding that you brought the EFI opportunity to the attention of Siris. Can you give us some insight into the timeline and drivers behind the acquisition?

Jeff Jacobson: Actually, no, that is not true. I want to give credit where credit is due. Siris found the opportunity on its own. Siris is a pure technology fund private equity firm looking at industrial technology relative to analog-to-digital transformations. Companies going through these transformations typically are better off financed privately than publicly. Once they identified the opportunity, they contacted me. The discussions with Siris initially began in late summer/early fall of 2018 but were suspended when the parties failed to reach an agreement. Then EFI posted fourth quarter results below expectations in January, and Siris approached EFI again. All of this, as well as other potential buyers who had been in discussions about acquiring all or part of EFI, is outlined in the proxy documents. It was after cessation of initial discussions with Siris, and with Guy Gecht’s announcement he would be stepping down as CEO, that the Board decided to proceed with hiring Bill Muir as CEO. My taking on the role of CEO this week was actually a total surprise to me. We all thought, and Bill thought, he would continue as CEO, and we wanted him to. But after he sat down with his family, he made the decision he would not continue in that role.