A Passion For Printing

A life-long printer, Mike Renn has found success through communication and industry involvement.

By Mike Llewellyn

BORN AND raised in Philadelphia, Mike Renn, assistant vice president of Corporate Services at Mellon Financial, is loyal to his hometown—and his employer.

On his sister's recommendation he took a job in the print shop at Philly-based Girard Bank in 1974, a decade before Mellon purchased it. Printing was a great fit for Renn even then, as he was a bit of an art aficionado, and he had taken printing in high school. The job put him close to his passion.

"What I like about printing is that it gives you the opportunity to see the tangible results of your work," he says.

Renn started out in Girard Bank's stock room cutting paper in 1974.

"I moved up basically because people would ask me if I would be interested in trying something and I would always say yes," he says. The wide-eyed young Renn took on a post as prepress supervisor and in 1984, after the shop was downsized to a quick copy shop, he was put in charge.

The Potential Of Color

From the start, Renn's fondness for the arts seems to have influenced his management strategy.

"I thought that we should make a greater move into color work," he says, explaining that the shop, back when he took the reins, focused almost exclusively on black-and-white forms printing. "At the time, color work really only made up about one or two percent of the work."

He gradually convinced the marketing department to utilize the print shop for color material. Renn persuaded marketing that, by using on-demand printing, the in-plant could get Mellon's message out more effectively than by using commercial vendors.

"With the money they were saving, they were able to do more communicating with the public," he explains.

It paid off, and now color accounts for a large majority of the work for which the in-plant is responsible. And as the bank has grown, Renn and his team have begun taking on work from offices throughout the Mid-Atlantic region, Florida and as far away as London, England.

And the work the in-plant prints? Just about everything.

"Brochures, direct mail, a lot of variable data work," lists Renn.

And that variable data work has been a boon for the in-plant, which hopped on the digital wave early, despite widespread skepticism.

"We may have gotten into it early, but the response has been very positive," he says. The in-plant uses its variable data technology to print a range of products, such as letters for the human resources department.

A Top-notch Staff

Renn credits his crack staff with keeping the shop steaming along and winning a slew of industry awards, including several International Publishing Management Association (IPMA) accolades for both management and product quality.

"The staff works together really well, and the customers are happy as a result," he says. "Our customers like dealing with us. They're our friends. It's like we are all running our own small business."

Outside of Mellon, Renn is well known for his involvement in the industry. He is a frequent attendee of IPMA conferences, and served as president of the Philadelphia chapter. He's also a familiar face at other industry shows and conferences, frequently offering his own wisdom as a panel member at sessions. He is speaking on panels at two upcoming events, On Demand and the IPG Conference, both in March.

"I see a lot of managers struggling, and whatever I learn I like to pass along to other people," he explains. "And when I started in this business I had ideas, but I needed advice. IPMA was very helpful, and I want to pass that along."

One of the biggest pieces of advice Renn passes along to colleagues is the need to keep the lines of communication open with management. This helps thwart facilities management firms bent on taking over in-plants.

"Still," he says, "the cyclical nature of this business is the biggest challenge. Printing costs are what lead to in-plants, in-plants get challenged by FMs, and then in-plants have to re-justify their own costs."

But that's something Renn says careful accounting and open communication can help smooth over.

"You can't hide. You have to be up-front and honest all the time and constantly reevaluate your processes with your customers," advises Renn. "That's the only way to keep pace."

Although Renn is loyal to his hometown and his company, that doesn't mean he can't make a break for it any chance he gets. He counts traveling with his wife Sheri as one of his favorite off-the-clock activities. The two recently returned from a trip to China. But the best news in the Renn family is the arrival of its newest member, 16-month-old Nikki.