Consensus Builder

With deep family roots, however, the printing industry was never far away, and, in 1986, his father asked him to help run a new upstart division called Label Specialties. "It was the stepchild to the main sheetfed offset business and badly needed some integrating/upgrading as compared to the rest of the business," says Hickey. "I cut my teeth in labels, essentially learning the business from the ground up as I fought—even internally—for my division to become as world class as the traditional Smyth cut-and-stack business. It was an education in family dynamics, hiring well, and perseverance that could never be taught at any university."