It all began in 1982 when Steve’s parents purchased the existing business from Ken's Quick Print. At the time Ken's Quick Print was located on the corner of Jenks and 11th street. At 15, Steve began his career at the print shop. His only other first job was busing tables in high school. Guess what? Sheila’s first job was busing tables in a restaurant, too! Steve graduated from Bay High School and then attended Washington Holmes Technical Center, where he furthered his skills in the printing business. One of the biggest influences in his life was his printing instructor at the Technical Center, “He never gave an answer, he helped you work through a problem by asking questions to get you to solve it by yourself”, Steve said.
Steve Ruff is the Owner, Operator and Production Manager of Creative Printing. With a long career in printing services he can step in and provide backup in all the work roles at the print shop including; working as a pressman, helping in bindery, estimating, material procurement, customer service, but when asked which is his favorite hat to wear … he replies with a smile, “my fishing hat”. Steve still loves to go back to the press room and help run the presses, but doesn't get to get back there much anymore.
Meet Bobbie
Bobbie has been with Creative Printing for over 16 years, which means she's been part of the company longer than any other employee.
Bobbie's been in the printing business for over 24 years. Her first printing job was actually in the building that Creative Printing currently occupies. She started working for the former occupants to "help out" at her sister's job and quickly found herself being hired on as a full-time employee. She didn't mind, though, because she had fallen in love with the printing industry.
Here at Creative Printing, Bobbie's experience is not wasted. She works in the bindery department and handles the last steps of almost every single print job we do. In any given day, Bobbie cuts and boxes business cards, folds brochures, cuts and stitches booklets, binds spiral and perfect bound books, and more! In most cases, she is the last person to see a job before the customer so she puts in a little extra effort to ensure that everything is looking good.
Meet Jim
Jim has been with Creative Printing over 15 years and he's our Pressman Extraordinaire. That's not just a job title. Jim really is extraordinary.
On the job at Creative, Jim's been known to do the work of three men without batting an eyelash. He's quiet and dedicated and we always know we can rely on him to show up and just do what he does.
A number of years ago, Jim got into a tangle with one of the presses—literally. One hand was pulled into the rollers, wedging three of his fingers and trapping him. How did he react?
He hollered for help and his co-workers surrounded him. They were frantic and upset. Jim kept calm and steady, giving instructions to his co-workers to bring him this tool or that and he worked to free himself from the machine, just in time for the ambulance to arrive.
“Don't panic. Panic is the worst thing you can do,” says Jim.
Meet Kristin
Kristin Garner came to Creative fresh out of high school over seven years ago. At the time, she worked as a typesetter, making forms and setting up stationary and projects like that. It didn't take us long to figure out that she was capable of a lot more. As it turns out, Kristin's been “getting creative” her whole life!
Her graphics career at Creative began with a challenge. With no formal art training or graphic design experience, we asked Kristin to mock up a business card design. She brought in not one but three different designs and to say we were impressed with the results is an understatement. We knew right away that Kristin had a future as a graphic artist.
Now our pre-press tech and graphic artist, Kristin is the mastermind of all our graphic design projects. Although still without formal training, Kristin learns what she needs to know by keeping up with the industry and putting her skills into practice on a daily basis. “I continue to learn something new every day,” she says. “The industry is constantly changing and we have to keep up.”
Meet Carol
Carol Marrone has managed our front counter operations for the last five years. If you’ve stopped in to see us or called us on the phone, Carol is probably the first person you dealt with at Creative Printing.
As customer service representative and director of first impressions, Carol takes pride in helping customers navigate their printing service options. She uses her keen experience and friendly personality to walk people through their options and help them figure out what they actually want and need from us.
Carol takes the information she gets from customers and uses it to write up orders that kick off nearly every printing job we do.
