Hans Offringa

(March 18. 1956) publisher, author and internationally renowned whisky connoisseur, studied English and Business journalism. Having completed his professional graphical education and specialized in electronic media as early as the 70`s; he is considered as one of the pioneers in this field in the Netherlands.
Employed by Tijl in Zwolle in 1974, one of his first jobs was to publish nations` stock reports on teletext. A career change took him to a media-adviser company in 1984 where he was part of the team to introduce Viditel.
After a leading role in the Miniware (Zwolle), Hans decided to start a media-adviser company focussing on multimedia. In this role he advised many companies in the Netherlands and the UK. Some of these companies are: Euronet, Aberdeen College, NUON, Telecable, Friesian Press, Royal Dutch Meteorological Institute and Broadcasting company Friesland. During this period he stayed active and published several studies, manuals and many articles.
His first novel, The House, was the first publication of Gopher Publishers. The House is also the first book to have been electronically published and personalized on-demand.
Together with pianist Jan Vayne in 1999, Hans produced the concept-CD, Media Plaze Movements. This was a new perspective to Music-on-demand and together with Jan they regularly give lectures on this subject.
In his spare time, Hans regularly gives lectures and holds Scotch whisky nosing & tasting sessions. He also arranges business-study trips to what he affectionately calls his second home, Scotland. In this country he quickly became know as `the media animal` (in honour of his passion for the Apple Macintosh) and `MacOffringa`. Hans is a father of two sons, and his hobbies include driving his Citro�n and listening to Frank Zappa.

Joost ten Zijthoff

Born in Zaltbommel, August 20. 1962. Studied French at the university of Amsterdam. During his study he worked for a copy centre in Amsterdam and discovered a hole in the market; the vast amounts of money spent by students on copying. This seemed more appealing than his study French and together with his business partner Jolijt Dijkstra, also a student of French, he moved to a different city filled with students: Groningen.
It was in this city that he, in 1985 founded RCG. The Reprografical Centre Groningen was born. In 15 years of time RCG became the printing-on-demand market leader in the North of the Netherlands.
Joost and Jolijt sold their share to commit themselves to RCG. They have helped to make Gopher into what it is today.
Since founding Gopher Publishers, RCG has been the preferred supplier of Gopher because of it`s focus on quality.