Glen Taylor appoints insider as next CEO at Taylor Corp.

Businessman Glen Taylor has selected a company insider to be the next chief executive of Taylor Corp., the North Mankato-based communications-services company.

Charlie Whitaker, who joined the privately held company in 2012 and was most recently executive vice president, succeeds Taylor as CEO. Taylor will remain chairman of the company.

"Charlie was a trusted supplier and friend to Taylor for many years," Glen Taylor said during a phone interview. "We were excited when he joined the Taylor team and his energy, experience and enthusiasm made an immediate difference for our company."

Taylor, who also owns the Star Tribune, said Whitaker was instrumental in getting the right leaders in place as they worked last year to restructure the 85 businesses, 12,000 employees and various service, technology and health care product divisions that are part of Taylor Corp. Whitaker led several business restructurings and played a key role in major acquisitions including the 2016 purchases of Staples Print Solutions and the roughly 10 printing facilities belonging to Staples.

Taylor Corp. is one of the nation's largest privately held companies, with operations in nine countries that work on commercial printing, promotional and software services as well as secure mailings, labels, forms and retail signage.

"What an honor it is to be given this opportunity and to be able to make a bigger impact on Taylor," Whitaker told the Star Tribune. "Taylor is a treasure to be protected and built upon. Glen has been both a boss and a mentor to me and it is a privilege to help him continue Taylor's success in this new role."

Taylor, a self-made billionaire who built the company from a small wedding-card business in 1975, took back the CEO mantle at Taylor Corp. last year when his niece, Deb Taylor, stepped down. She had served as CEO since June 2015.

Before joining Taylor Corp., Whitaker spent 30 years in the printing industry, including as president of Los Angeles-based Spicers Paper, a paper and packaging distribution firm operating in the western U.S.

It was when Whitaker was selling Taylor envelopes and stationery from a printing firm in Wisconsin that he met Taylor. They moved from a relationship of supplier and buyer to one of friends, and eventually Taylor asked Whitaker to come work for him.

Asked what he will do with the time he had spent as Taylor Corp. CEO, Taylor noted he still has his basketball teams, newspaper and agricultural companies to keep him busy, and a startup organic-fertilizer business he's excited about.

"I have a lot of companies and they are all diverse," he said. "We have recently expanded into agriculture. So I have plenty of things to do. Whatever Charlie will handle, I will appreciate it."

Dee DePass • 612-673-7725