PR: Triple board member appointment at tax stamp trade body

An international trade association has welcomed three new board members to its leadership team.

Tim Driscoll, Kelly Smith and Marietta Ulrich-Horn (pictured left to right) have joined the board of the International Tax Stamp Association (ITSA) in a move which will continue to cement the trade body’s reputation as an authoritative voice on illicit global trade and effective revenue protection solutions.

Kelly is Senior Vice President of Ashton Potter Security Printers, a leading provider of security printing and advanced technology for the world’s governments and manufacturers and one of the founding members of ITSA when it was formed in 2015. Since joining the company in 1994, he has been in senior management positions, building an extensive knowledge of tax stamps and supply chain track and trace solutions and has been actively involved in the security printing industry for nearly four decades.

Marietta is the co-founder and Co-Managing Director of Austria-headquartered product security firm SECURIKETT, which specializes in security labels and stamps and their traceability. She has been delegated by the Austrian Standards Institute to actively contribute to the emergence of European and international standards on authentication, traceability by unique identifiers (UIDs), tax bands and tamper evidence.

Tim holds a dual role as Senior Vice President and General Manager of Currency and Tax Stamps at Authentix, which provides authentication and track and trace solutions for governments, central banks and commercial products. As well as leading the expansion of the company’s tax stamp business, he was also instrumental in the launch of the Ghana tax stamp programme and has been involved in the design, development and implementation of authentication solutions for banknotes and excise tax recovery for almost 25 years.

In addition to making the three appointments, ITSA has also confirmed the reappointment of Juan Carlos Yañez Arenas as Chairman.

Juan said: “We are delighted to welcome three highly experienced individuals to our board as we look to cement our position as a strong advocate for the use of tax stamps in track and trace systems and the development of industry best practice.

“Going forward, we are looking to expand the membership to include tax revenue authorities who want to get involved in our work and be able to present their position and have a voice in our association.”

The growing recognition of the critical role of tax stamps prompted several high-profile companies and stakeholders to come together to form ITSA. More than 150 revenue agencies (national and state governments) globally use tax stamps to collect valuable tax duties and excise payments, involving the worldwide production of some 150 billion stamps annually. As well as providing visible proof of tax payment and revenue collection, tax stamps have also taken on product authentication, anti-tampering and track and trace applications.

ITSA now has 23 members but other organisations are being urged to join. Membership is open to legally incorporated companies that supply tax stamp components and features, finished tax stamps, equipment for stamp design, manufacture, application and authentication, and systems for coding and marketing stamps.