Thanks for giving us a few minutes Mike. Can you start off by telling us how the opportunity to join Walsworth came about?

I joined the Walsworth team here in Fulton in September after 28 years in the newspaper business.

I came from Gannett, which is a newspaper publisher that everybody knows for publishing USA Today, and worked at their printing facility in Columbia (Missouri). When they announced that the facility was going to close, it was a whirlwind for me personally in looking for a new job but also the overall concern I had for the 50+ employees who were soon to be out of work as well.

We actually put a job fair together in the plant and had several commercial printers, manufacturers and other businesses come in and meet with the employees. Walsworth was one of them.

I made a connection with Walsworth there and had the opportunity to get to know the management team. Prior to my hiring, several people who I worked with previously were hired. It’s nice to see some familiar faces every day, and I’ve appreciated getting to know the team here as well. They are amazing people.

What was it specifically about Walsworth that appealed to you?

I was focused on local opportunities because I have a son in high school and I wanted him to be able to graduate with his friends.

I knew Walsworth as a premier yearbook printer, and I had been a customer of the Fulton plant for some glossy covers for projects we printed. But until I had the chance to talk with Gary (O’Toole) and the management team, I wasn’t really familiar with the full scope of Walsworth’s commercial capabilities. The more I learned about the company’s rich legacy and plans to continue to drive growth, the more confident I became that this was a great opportunity and a great company to be associated with.

Can you walk us through what your specific role and duties are as the plant manager in Fulton?

I do a little bit of everything – printing and finishing operations, maintenance, safety, quality. I’m like the head cheerleader, and that means diving in, helping folks stay motivated and ensuring we’re all marching in the right direction.

I recently helped with a successful customer visit, walking a potential client through the doors and explaining our processes and capabilities. At times that means addressing concerns too.

One of my main focuses has been on printed waste. Figuring out the drivers of waste and what we need to do to save the expense. We’re always looking at operational efficiencies.

What is it about printing, or manufacturing, that appealed to you enough to make a career of it?

Very early on I realized that there’s the tactile nature of a printed product. It’s instant gratification. It’s very tangible. I think that’s what has always spoken to me about the printed product. Content has value, whether it’s advertising, or photos, or long-form stories, or it’s a catalog with items and prices; all of that content has value for our customers, their readers, their advertisers, or their own customers.

What print brings to the table that digital does not is you can lay it down on your desk or your coffee table. Long after I’ve forgotten about that website I clicked on, or the digital ad that was targeted to me, I can have this printed piece on my desk or my bookshelf to refer to. There’s value to that. It’s the longevity of the medium that I appreciate.

As you’ve gotten started there and gotten the lay of the land over your first 45 days or so, what have you identified as a plan going forward or the keys to success at the Fulton facility?

Obviously, we’re a quick-turn facility, and we’ve had some challenges. But the track record here is really strong. For six weeks now, we’re at 100% on-time delivery.

The future is bright here at the Fulton facility. We’ve got all the tools in place, and we’ve got the people in place.

When quality is good, on-time delivery is good, productivity and throughput are all strong, how does that translate? Well that helps us serve our customers’ needs by getting the product produced and delivered as quickly as possible to help them.

Can you tell us about your family?

My wife Jenny and I just celebrated our 27^th anniversary. She works from home doing accounting for a healthcare company. We have two kids – our daughter Sydney attends the University of Missouri and our son Joe is a junior at Rock Bridge High School in Columbia. Gus the golden retriever and Chief the cat round out the household.

And you grew up in the area?

I grew up in a little town in southern Missouri called Mountain Grove, where the cows outnumbered the people. It’s the kind of place where they roll the sidewalks up at night.

Jenny was my high school sweetheart. We moved away for school and work. My parents have since passed away and her folks retired to the lake so there’s hardly any family there now. But it’ll always have a special place in my heart. 

Outside of work, what is life like for you? Do you have hobbies?

Jenny and I are very family oriented, so a lot of activities revolve around our kids, church and extended family. We like to fish, hike and spend time outdoors. I can’t count how many national parks we’ve visited, but it’s a lot. 

I’m terrible at golf, but somebody has to hit balls into the woods and the water hazards. We like to take the boat out fishing, stuff like that.

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

I serve on the board of elders at my church. I’ve been shark fishing. What else? I love to cook.

Oh yeah, do you have a favorite meal or type of food?

That’s a tough one! Lately we’ve really enjoyed Japanese food. I like to grill steaks, regardless of the weather. I also like to cook one-pan meals and one of my favorite recipes is so easy to make – pasta carbonara. Bacon, eggs, garlic, onions and cheese. Quick and delicious.

Do you have a favorite book?

The Hammer of God by Bo Giertz. I don’t want to give too much of the story away, but it’s set in Sweden and features three different parish pastors, addressing similar challenges at different times. It’s a great story. I highly recommend it.

Favorite movie or TV show?

It’s hard to pick just one. I love 80s comedy movies and John Wayne westerns. We don’t watch a lot of TV, but when we do it’s usually sports.

What’s the best vacation you ever took?

We’ve taken so many wonderful trips over the years. A couple years ago we took a long-planned, multi-week road trip out west. We saw Mount Rushmore, the Badlands, Yellowstone, Teton, the Arches, Canyonlands, the Grand Canyon and the Petrified Forest. There were green forests, beautiful mountains and colorful deserts. The rodeo in Cody, Wyoming, was a highlight of the trip.

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

The mug on my desk has a Kansas City Chiefs arrowhead logo.

I have one at home that’s a better example. It’s designed to look like an Excel spreadsheet and it reads, “This calls for a spreadsheet.” It was a gift from my wife and kids a couple years back, ribbing me because I always begin every family vacation, project or event with a spreadsheet.

Do you have a favorite memory from your career, or a particular accomplishment that you are most proud of?

A big accomplishment for my sister and me was being the first in our family to go to college, and we both finished our master’s degrees.

From a career standpoint, I’ve had a lot of great experiences in the newspaper business. I had a lot of doors open because I volunteered to do tasks that nobody wanted. I got to lead a military base weekly (newspaper) with my previous employer, and we won some high-profile awards. That was very special.

Another cool memory that stands out was when I worked for a small-town weekly, the Ozark Headliner. I was helping take photos of an event, and I got to ride in a Model A car across the Finley River on an old iron bridge that had stood since 1919. That was a neat experience.