Serge Crasnianski (born 3 July 1942) is a French

entrepreneur Entrepreneurship is the creation or extraction of economic value. With this definition, entrepreneurship is viewed as change, generally entailing risk beyond what is normally encountered in starting a business, which may include other values th ...

who founded in 1963 the

Grenoble lat, Gratianopolis , commune status = Prefecture and commune , image = Panorama grenoble.png , image size = , caption = From upper left: Panorama of the city, Grenoble’s cable cars, place Saint- ...

based Key Independent System (KIS). This is the company that brought to the world the compact machine that cuts

key Key or The Key may refer to: Common meanings * Key (cryptography), a piece of information that controls the operation of a cryptography algorithm * Key (lock), device used to control access to places or facilities restricted by a lock * Key (map ...

s, prints

business card Business cards are cards bearing business information about a company or individual. They are shared during formal introductions as a convenience and a memory aid. A business card typically includes the giver's name, company or business aff ...

s, engraves

bracelet A bracelet is an article of jewellery that is worn around the wrist. Bracelets may serve different uses, such as being worn as an ornament. When worn as ornaments, bracelets may have a wikt:supportive, supportive function to hold other items of ...

s etc. and can be seen in thousands of corner hardware shops around the world. KIS was formed as a result of Serge Crasnianski filing his first patent in 1963 for an automatic key machine – this was the first automatic machine to make keys. Since then he has filed several hundred patents. The latest ones refer to the production and printing of

organic Organic may refer to: * Organic, of or relating to an organism, a living entity * Organic, of or relating to an anatomical organ Chemistry * Organic matter, matter that has come from a once-living organism, is capable of decay or is the product ...

and

inorganic In chemistry, an inorganic compound is typically a chemical compound that lacks carbon–hydrogen bonds, that is, a compound that is not an organic compound. The study of inorganic compounds is a subfield of chemistry known as '' inorganic chemist ...

cells in a non

vacuum A vacuum is a space devoid of matter. The word is derived from the Latin adjective ''vacuus'' for "vacant" or "void". An approximation to such vacuum is a region with a gaseous pressure much less than atmospheric pressure. Physicists often dis ...

environment. After taking KIS worldwide he was bought out by Photo-Me International in 1994 022 Re-named ME Group and since then KIS has been Photo-Me's manufacturing business. He became a non-executive Director of PMI in 1990 and an

executive director Executive director is commonly the title of the chief executive officer of a non-profit organization, government agency or international organization. The title is widely used in North American and European not-for-profit organizations, though ...

in 1994. He was

CEO A chief executive officer (CEO), also known as a central executive officer (CEO), chief administrator officer (CAO) or just chief executive (CE), is one of a number of corporate executives charged with the management of an organization especially ...

between 1998 and late 2007, when he was ousted from this position by a group of major

shareholder A shareholder (in the United States often referred to as stockholder) of a corporation is an individual or legal entity (such as another corporation, a body politic, a trust or partnership) that is registered by the corporation as the legal own ...

s following a decline in the profitability of the Group (it made a pre-tax loss of £6.3 million in the year to 30 April 2008) He was reappointed to the Board as a Non-Executive Director in May 2009. He was subsequently appointed Deputy

Chairman The chairperson, also chairman, chairwoman or chair, is the presiding officer of an organized group such as a board, committee, or deliberative assembly. The person holding the office, who is typically elected or appointed by members of the grou ...

and Joint

Chief Executive A chief executive officer (CEO), also known as a central executive officer (CEO), chief administrator officer (CAO) or just chief executive (CE), is one of a number of corporate executives charged with the management of an organization especially ...

and in May 2010 assumed the full role of Chief Executive. Following his reappointment, a major restructuring was carried out at KIS and the Group recorded a pre-

tax A tax is a compulsory financial charge or some other type of levy imposed on a taxpayer (an individual or legal entity) by a governmental organization in order to fund government spending and various public expenditures (regional, local, or n ...

profit of £1.6 million in the year ending 30 April 2009 before producing significantly improved results in the year to 30 April 2010, a year in which the Group’s loss-making wholesale photo-processing labs business was also sold. Pre-tax profits were £14.0 million with a £31.6 million improvement in the overall cash position meaning the net cash on the Balance Sheet was £8.1 million compared to net debt of £23.5 million the previous year. Crasnianski remains the largest shareholder in Photo-Me International with a holding of 22.11% as at 30 April 2010.] The company has diversified into the laundry business, with a division called 'Revolution'. Revolution is a 24/7 outdoor self-service launderette. This division is trading beyond expectations with 2000 units planned for the end of 2015. Serge Crasnianski won the Entrepreneur of the Year Award 2016 in the PLC Awards 2016, sponsored by FinnCap.

References

External links

Founding of KISApril 2008 Photo-Me's ex-CEO seen in boardroom power play
Living people 1942 births {{France-business-bio-stub