Walsworth Publishing Company, the book, magazine, and catalog printing company with facilities in St. Joseph, has announced it has hired printing industry veteran Andy Billett as the company’s new Chief Operating Officer (COO). Billett will be replacing Walsworth’s current COO Jim Mead, who is retiring from the company in November. Billett will be based out of Walsworth’s corporate office in Marceline, Missouri.
Billett comes to Walsworth with 25-plus years of printing and senior leadership experience at Taylor Corporation, Custom Ink and Jostens. Billett said meeting the company leadership team during the interview process made him feel right at home.
“Walsworth reminded me of my days at Taylor Corporation – genuine, honest and sincere. The values and culture at Walsworth are very strong, and the Walsworths have a compelling growth strategy for the future. Discussing this strategy and my potential role, and how I can help the team achieve it, drew me in.”
According to the company’s announcement, Billett will be responsible for developing and overseeing the strategy and execution of plans to help the company achieve its short- and long-term operational goals. He will help establish the company direction and be responsible for developing operating budgets and establishing operational policies and procedures.
Billett said he will spend his first month or two visiting all of Walsworth’s locations, getting to know the operations and the employees.
“I want to gain an understanding of what is being done. Why is it being done? What are the key projects,” said Billett. “My approach will be to learn, understand and just ask a lot of questions.”
Billett graduated from Clemson University in Clemson, South Carolina, with a bachelor’s degree in horticulture, due to a love of botany and gardening growing up. He got his start in the printing world with Navitor, a commercial print division of Taylor, where he quickly became a plant general manager due to the process improvements he implemented.
