Who we are

Editor
MAURICIO HERZOVICH
editor@leatherpress.com

Mauricio Herzovich has been a professional journalist for 33 years. He has worked for Argentina’s main newspapers and in several magazines. As of 1982, he dedicated to working exclusively for media vehicles and the event and the marketing sectors of the leather, footwear and leather goods industry and its suppliers.

His relationship with the sector dates back quite a while. His family had links to the leather and leather goods industry since 1910 Argentina and his father, Rafael Herzovich, was president of the sector’s entrepreneurs’ chamber for fifteen years.

Mr. Herzovich put together his journalist career and the knowledge derived from the family business and from 1982 to 1996 his own Buenos Aires company published magazines for local leather goods and footwear trade association as well as the journal of the leather technicians’ association.

He also created a directory of tanners and their suppliers – the PAMPA GUIDE – whose issues helped promote Argentina’s leather industry abroad.

In the 1990s, Mr. Herzovich was the South American representative for international shows Semaine International du Cuir (Paris), Panamerican Leather Fair (Miami), Asia Pacific Leather Fair (Hong Kong) and All China Leather (Shanghai).

He has been Central and South American and Brazilian commercial representative of and contributor to Leather International Journal since 1995. For seven years, he was Latin American Editor of Curtido Y Calzado, a magazine published by the same company as Leather International Journal up till 2002.

In 1998, he founded CueroAmérica (www.cueroamerica.com), an Internet portal in Spanish containing international information that is currently one of the most important sources of information for the leather and footwear sectors.

Manager
RICHARD SMITH
sales@leatherpress.com

Graduated from London University and the University of Marburg-an-der-Lahn (Germany) in 1971 in Modern Languages and subsequently in 1974 studied for a Masters Degree at the same University in the Institute of Germanic Studies. In 1978 continued postgraduate studies at the Polytechnic of Central London (now University of Westminster) and successfully completed a course on International Marketing conducted in Spanish and German.
From 1974 to 1985 worked in the City of London in commodity and metals futures, specializing in grains and finally in currency traded options. This experience provided a solid background in international financial matters, and combined with a strong experience in international marketing opened the route to conceive and launch an International Marketing and Financial Course at postgraduate level for the Central University of Venezuela in 1984, which he taught personally in its inaugural year.

From 1985 onwards joined a international media group on a construction magazine specializing in European media sales and in 1992 was seconded by the same company Sales and Advertisement Director of the Spanish group of electronic and computer magazines based in Madrid. In 1994 returned to the U.K as manager of a group of international leather magazines including one directed at the Latin American market place.

In 1997 moved to Caracas Venezuela and has been contributing to various leather and footwear magazines writing on the Latin American and Asian market places in both Spanish and English.

More recently edited the Venezuelan Footwear magazine as well as a Hardware publication in the same country. He is currently an international contributor and investigator on the leather, footwear and related industries concentrating on both Asia and Latin America, with the objective of portraying this industrial sector in the wider context of macroeconomic forces, so as to indicate “where the industry as a whole is headed”. This is one of the bases which conforms the editorial line of Leather Press, which will undoubtedly fill a much needed information gap on a global level.