Thanks for taking some time to chat Jim! As a start, tell us how long you have been with Walsworth and how you joined the company?

I joined the company back in June 2001, so I just had my 24th anniversary here.

Professionally, I started out as a teacher. I played college football and was still really into football when I was done playing, so I became a teacher and a high school football coach. I taught for about 11 years before I came to Walsworth.

How did you make that connection with Walsworth and the yearbook business?

I reached out to (sales rep) Carolyn Henderson. Carolyn had married a high school friend of mine, Ray Henderson, and she is a very successful yearbook rep with Walsworth. I asked if there might be an opportunity for me to get into the yearbook business.

Coaching and teaching was the time of my life, but I was at a point where I needed a change and a new challenge. I wasn’t making enough money for my family and was looking for a new opportunity. Carolyn introduced me to her sales manager at the time, Jim Kimmitt.

After meeting, he said he’d like to hire me but didn’t have a spot available right then. Actually he said, “Why don’t you go and talk to Jostens or Herff-Jones, maybe they’ve got a spot available?” So I did, and within a day I had an offer on the table from Jostens.

I called Jim back and told him I’d much rather work for a company that’s family-owned and where I already knew people, like Carolyn. He said give me an hour and then called me back saying he had a spot for me. I worked basically north Florida and southeast Georgia.

How long were you a sales rep?

Two years. I got pulled into management pretty quickly. I think my coaching background lent itself to that kind of coaching/mentoring leadership role. I was excited to jump in and I’m thankful that I did.

Let’s go back and talk a little bit about your coaching and teaching days. Where did you work for those 11 years?

For the last seven years coaching, I was the first head coach at Pine Ridge High School in Deltona, Florida, and then I was also the head coach at Seminole High School. The first school I coached at was at my alma mater, Taylor High School in Pierson, Florida.

Do you ever miss teaching or coaching? Or do you still get that outlet through your job with Walsworth?

I do still get that outlet here. Initially, during the first couple years when I was a sales rep and going in and out of schools every day, I was actually still using my coaching experience. I would go talk to the football coaches and offer to do some scouting for them or see if I could help them review tape or anything like that.

That practice got me a few leads and actually helped me sign my first school through one of those connections.

You’ve now carved out a successful 20+ year career in the yearbook business with Walsworth. What is it about yearbooks and this business that you enjoy the most?

Walsworth has an open environment to experiment and figure out how to be successful. We’ve got a good sales process, but you can also be creative on how you choose to solve each school’s problems.

There are many reasons I’ve chosen to remain with Walsworth. I was national sales manager there in Kansas City for seven years, and Don Walsworth valued me enough to say it was acceptable for me to change roles and move back home to Florida. That was a big deal to me.

Can you walk us through the different roles you’ve had?

I was a sales rep, then I became an Area Sales Manager out in Colorado. After that, I was in Kansas City as National Sales Manager.

I’ve been back here in Florida now for 13 years. I was an area manager again, but then five or six years ago Jeff Bell promoted me back to Regional Sales Manager. Five of the area sales managers report to me and I am also responsible for the Yearbook Price Book.

Florida has always been where you consider home, right?

Yes, I was born in Orlando, so I have roots here. My mom still lives in the area, as well as a lot of friends.

What’s a typical day or week like for you?

Depends on the week really (laughs). I wear a lot of different hats.

Sometimes I’m being an area manager, which means I’m riding and talking with sales reps and helping work with them to solve their problems and strategizing, that sort of thing.

But a big chunk of my job is working with the area sales managers and dealing with the difficult situations we run into and managing through those. I am very proud of how the management team has grown through the years.

I’m also part of the interviewing team where we interview every sales rep we hire, and I work closely with Shelley Mosley on the Yearbook Price Book.

Yearbook has been in a strong trajectory these last couple years. What do you see as keys to continuing that success going into the future?

We’ve done a good job of hitting the $8 million mark in new business and have had pretty strong growth for about the fifth year in a row now. Our reps have done an excellent job of targeting and winning larger schools during this time as well.  The average new order has been up dramatically.  We have been renewing nearly 100% of our volume during this time which is the biggest factor in our growth.

Since the pandemic, we’ve seen a surge in book and ad sales, especially those senior tribute ads. We’ve seen an uptick in pages the last two years in pages over the contracted amount.  Our reps also strengthened their skills in virtual selling and appointment setting during the pandemic and I believe that has helped us build a stronger pipeline.

Do you think the pandemic and everything schools and parents went through was a turning point for the business?

For sure. I just think the nostalgia and the fact that people lost those things for a couple years… it made parents and kids want items like yearbook even more.

It gave them more of an understanding of what they lost and that momentum has continued thanks to our outstanding sales force. Our reps have done an amazing job upgrading their customers and being opportunistic.

Can you tell us a little bit about your family?

My wife, Kristen, and I have a daughter, Brooke, who is 26. We’ve been very fortunate that the last couple years Brooke lived close to us, so we were able to spend a lot of time with her and her boyfriend.

She recently got a job in Denver, and they moved there to follow her dreams. She’s an environmentalist, loves the outdoors. She’s doing great.

What do you guys like to do for fun?

Kristen and I like to travel and explore. We enjoy going out and trying new restaurants and finding fun happy hours.

Living in Florida, I imagine you’re outdoors a lot.

Yes, I have fun playing golf. I’m in a golf league that keeps me connected to my competitive nature. I like to go to the beach and float in the pool to unwind too.

My mom lives not far from us. I talk to her just about every day. She’s in her early 80s, and I try to stay engaged with her since my dad passed a few years ago.

You played football in college, right?

I had a full scholarship and played at Duke, where I was a middle linebacker.  It was the most challenging thing that I’ve ever done and it has shaped much of who I am today.

Do you still follow the Blue Devils pretty closely?

I do, especially during football and basketball seasons. We had a great team last year and I felt we had a chance to win it all in basketball, but we came up short.

I had the chance to play for coach (Steve) Spurrier, and he was really the one who inspired me to get into coaching.

What’s one interesting thing about you most people don’t know?

We live on the edge of the Wekiva National Forest and have a hole in our back fence that serves as a bear crossing. We have cameras set up to enjoy the coming and going of these amazing creatures.

Do you have a favorite book?

I’m not the most voracious reader, but back in the day I really enjoyed it. Let’s see, probably Atlas Shrugged. That book was a beast. I read it one summer while my wife was getting her master’s degree in Vermont.

Do you have a favorite movie or TV show?

Ted Lasso and Ozark are my favorite shows in recent years.

Do you have a favorite food or meal?

I love steaks, but Italian is probably my favorite. I love pasta and red wine.

You mentioned that you guys like to travel, is there a particular trip that stands out as your favorite?

I’d say our northern Italy vacation a couple years ago. We went to Venice, Cinque Terre, and Lake Como. It was a blast exploring all of these new places and the food is phenomenal.

If you had a personalized coffee mug, what would it say?

Play to win.

Do you have a favorite memory from your career, or an accomplishment that you’re most proud of?

I think it was when many of us went to the plant to help out with yearbook delivery season in 2022. We basically assembled 50 sales reps and managers. Gary O’Toole made the decision, and the area managers had really pushed for it because we wanted to make sure we got books out to our schools before school was out.

Everybody was willing to roll up their sleeves and put in the work, and I think ever since then we’ve had a lot more people engaged and bought in. The growth of the last few years has been amazing and I think (2022) helped drive us forward.  Our reps and managers had to work with their customers during the day to handle the emotion of the situations, then go in during the B-shift primarily and work a full shift until midnight.  It was a challenge but well worth it in the end.