2024 Hall of Fame Inductee Joel Shapiro Is a Printing Industry Pillar

Joel Shapiro

Joel Shapiro never expected to get into the printing business. If his past self were to look into the future, he’d be surprised that he has led a successful, 49-year-long career in the industry. His influence as president and co-founder of Golden Valley, Minnesota-based Shapco Printing has been so profound during that period, however, it’s not surprising that he has been named a 2024 Printing Impressions Printing Industry Hall of Fame inductee.

Family Ties

When he was growing up, Shapiro’s father ran his own print shop, where Shapiro and his brothers, Alan and Robert, helped out. However, their father sold the company after 20 years of business because he developed early-onset Alzheimer’s disease.

“My father got ill when I was 13 years old,” Shapiro recalls. “He sold the company when I was 17, but between that period of time, the business really deteriorated and he didn’t get much for it. So, our family was in a financial, rocky situation.”

Fast forward four years to 1976: Shapiro is finishing his bachelor’s degree in accounting at the University of Minnesota when he’s presented with a problem. His brother Robert, who was a year younger than him, dropped out of college.

With their father passed on, Shapiro says he took on the role of Robert’s “consultant,” and tried to help him figure out what he wanted to do for a living. Because Robert was still working in the printing industry then, Shapiro suggested they start their own printing company.

“It would be kind of cool to resurrect a small printing operation, because that’s what my father had done,” Shapiro thought at the time. “My father started from nothing and ran a little business, and I thought, ‘Wouldn’t it be nice from a nostalgic standpoint to resurrect?’”

For three-and-a-half months, Shapiro’s attention was divided between helping his brother get the new company — Shapco Printing — off the ground, and an internship at a national accounting firm. Initially, he intended to get Shapco rolling and then move on to a career in accounting, get a master’s in finance, and potentially join a private equity firm.

“As it turned out, I was offered a job at that accounting firm, but I thought they were dysfunctional for many reasons and decided I wouldn’t accept a job there,” Shapiro explains. “I thought, ‘Temporarily, I’ll really work hard to help my brother create a business out of this one-man print shop in downtown Minneapolis.’ And here I am 49 years later.”

What a journey those 49 years have been. Starting out with just Shapiro, his two brothers, and a part-time employee, Shapco Printing generated $124,000 in sales its first year. With older brother Alan dedicating himself to sales, and Robert tackling both sales and inside management, Shapiro says the three collaborated to nurture that little print shop into a successful business.

Eyes on the Prize

Today, Shapco Printing has 85 full-time employees and 15 part-time workers, and brings in $31 million in revenue annually, per the most recent Printing Impressions 300 annual ranking of the largest printers in the U.S. and Canada. This alone is an impressive feat, but what makes Shapco unique is that the company is — and almost always has been — entirely debt-free.

“Most of my career, we’ve had zero debt on the books,” Shapiro says proudly. “I’m very debt-averse, so that’s one reason that we’ve been able to stay in business for such a long time. And we’ve been profitable every year.”

Shapiro says the only times he’s taken on debt were when they first opened Shapco’s doors — he paid off the loan in 22 months — and when he purchased his brothers’ shares of the company to become the sole owner.

When it comes to purchasing equipment, Shapiro says Shapco Printing uses cash rather than rely on credit. But that has not stopped Shapco from keeping up with industry trends and converging into multiple product applications and services. The company boasts digital, offset, and hybrid printing capabilities and produces jobs ranging from retail signage to point-of-purchase displays, packaging to direct mail, and booklets to high-end coffee table books, among others.

Plus, they’ve been early adopters of the newest technologies and qualifications, including up to eight-color, 40" sheetfed UV offset printing capabilities, and G7, SOC 2, HIPAA, and HiTrust compliance. “We like to have the latest and greatest equipment, and that’s probably kept us current in the eyes of the print world,” he says.

Don Johnson, vice president of business development at Shapco — who has known Shapiro for more than 40 years — says that his ambition is what makes Shapiro stand out among his peers.

“It’s that passion for quality and his tenaciousness of wanting the very best, not only out of the people who work for him, but from his vendors,” Johnson says.

Industry Impact

In terms of leadership style, Johnson says Shapiro is “tough, but he’s fair,” if an employee makes a mistake. Shapiro will say, “Let’s not make that mistake twice,” and then offer his thoughts on what should have been done instead.

“Even though Joel is the owner, he has an open-door policy to anyone that wants to discuss anything.” Johnson says this transparency is highly appreciated among employees. “He treats everybody as adults. He expects them to make decisions as if it were their own company.”

The impact Shapiro’s leadership has on his employees can even be seen from the outside.

“Joel does a great job of delegating and allowing his leaders to actually manage their respective areas of responsibility,” points out Chris Carson, director of sales for general commercial industrial print, North America, at HP. Carson has known Shapiro for about 20 years, but has worked more intimately with him since he began his tenure at HP.

Shapiro is just as forthcoming in business dealings with suppliers as he is with employees — and he has the technical knowledge about, and passion for, printing to match.

“He wants to know in detail a lot of the components of — in our case — the HP Indigo digital press and what it will do for them specifically, and how it’s different than current technology,” Carson notes. “He’s very hands-on, and that shows his commitment level to his company as well as to what he’s buying.”

Shapiro is also a proponent of advancement for the entire industry, Carson adds.

“He’s been a really big supporter of the printing industry associations,” he explains. “So, when the Printing Industries of America (PIA) was active, and the affiliates like the Printing Industry of Minnesota, which is now Printing Industry Midwest (PIM), he was very committed and dedicated to [adding] benefit for everybody in the industry — not just for himself, but for the greater good.”

In It for the Long Haul

Ten years ago, when Shapiro was nearly 40 years into his print career, he was presented with an offer he couldn’t refuse: A competitor, the late Bob Lothenbach, offered to purchase Shapco Printing for an amount of money that Johnson says was “way above what the business was worth.”

At the time, Shapco was not for sale and was making good money. “Our company profits were $650,000 just in one month,” Shapiro says. While some encouraged him to take the deal, Shapiro says it was hard to let go because the company was his “baby.” He did end up accepting the deal — but with a caveat.

“I told [Bob Lothenbach] that if he altered the agreement at all, Joel’s gonna walk away,” recalls Johnson, who thought of himself as a sort of a “mediator” for the proposed M&A transaction. Ultimately, on the day of closing, that’s what Lothenbach tried to do.

“I told him, ‘Well, that’s not gonna work. See you later, goodbye; we’re done,’” Shapiro recalls. “… It was such a euphoric feeling. I guess my heart was not into selling the company; I realized it at that moment, because I was so glad that the deal fell apart. I’m happy it turned out that way.”

Since then, Shapiro has doubled down on his work. Within six months of the failed sale, he moved the company to Golden Valley, Minnesota, and added $3 million worth of equipment.

Forward Thinking

One of Joel Shapiro’s favorite hobbies is snow skiing, which he enjoys with his wife, Cindy.

Reflecting on his career, Shapiro says he is grateful to have worked with his brothers for as long as he did (like their father, both Alan and Robert developed early-onset Alzheimer’s and passed), and for the contributions they made to Shapco Printing.

Joel Shapiro is now the last family holdout at Shapco. That, plus his 49 years of service to the industry, might make you think he is looking into retirement and succession planning.

You’d be wrong.

“I think I’d be bored,” Shapiro says of retirement. “I’m already down to working only about 65%-70% of the time, and I just think I’d be having trouble filling my day.”

Right now, he fills that extra time with his hobbies — mostly skiing, golfing, boating, and traveling — as well as giving back to the community. Carson says Shapiro has even successfully led a fundraising campaign for his synagogue.

But Shapco’s success continues to be his priority; Shapiro has his sights set on taking the company to the next level, perhaps through mergers and acquisitions. Over the next five years, he foresees continued industry consolidation, since he has watched the number of printing companies decrease every year.

“The printers that are out there are generally running at less than 100% capacity — actually quite a bit less — so it makes a lot of sense to put a few companies together and have that one run 24/7,” Shapiro says.

He hopes to get in on the action, too. “I haven’t completed an acquisition yet,” he says. “I’m still working on a couple right now. I’m hoping to get them done.”

With some mighty goals still ahead of him, Shapiro will continue to impact the printing industry for years to come.