Classic Graphics President David Pitts is 2011 Printing Industry Hall of Fame Inductee

By Erik Cagle

Gaining Some Perspective

David Pitts will be the first one to tell you that he has mellowed out over the years. His partner, Bill Gardner, is a fun guy whose enthusiasm is infectious. That is what makes the two printing executives the ink-on-paper version of The Odd Couple. They balance each other out.

“I've loosened up over the years,” Pitts confesses. “I was very, very rigid—still am—but not a fraction of how much it was when I was young.

“Once upon a time, I’d crawl over some employee’s ass for a small mistake or lapse. Bill would take me aside and say, ‘You know, (that employee) worked 70 hours this week.’ Bill has a perspective, a lot of times, that I don’t have.”

It’s obvious that the one person Pitts is hardest on is himself, and suffice to say he has a healthy measure of perspective. Upon returning from South Africa, he observed how fortunate he felt to be an American. And it is not an all-work, no-play mantra for Pitts, who loves to jump in the car with wife Wendy on a Friday and spend a quality weekend at their second home in New River, VA.

“I can leave there and go straight to work on Monday morning...or Tuesday morning...or Wednesday morning,” he observes. “The great thing about the management team we have in place is, we don't have to be worried about day-to-day operations, just big-picture stuff. I'm trying to enjoy life a little bit more.”

In all likelihood, David Pitts will never win the Mr. Congeniality phase of a contest among printing industry executives. After all, the man describes himself as a "stick in the mud kind of guy."

OK, so Pitts, the president of Charlotte, NC-based Classic Graphics, has no future as a Wal-mart greeter. Who cares? He is one of the most respected Xs and Os executives from a technical standpoint. Pitts, who co-founded Classic  Graphics—a commercial, direct mail and financial printing specialist—along with longtime partner and friend Bill Gardner, also had the good fortune of starting his company at the beginning of what would become the nation's longest and most significant economic expansion.

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2011 Hall of Fame : David Pitts - With Intellect and Intensity