Jimmy Friend Retires from UNT
Jimmy Friend, longtime director of Printing and Distribution Solutions at the University of North Texas, has retired. Today is his last day with UNT, after 23 years at the Denton, Texas, university.
Well known in the in-plant community for his printing expertise and business savvy, Friend is also well respected for his work ethic, his sincerity, his kindness and his ability to make everyone his friend. Under his guidance, UNT's in-plant has won three consecutive Best of Show awards in the annual In-Print contest.
"Jimmy Friend has been a valuable resource, wonderful friend and is a lot smarter than I am," praises Richard Beto, director of Document Solutions at The University of Texas at Austin. "He has offered to many of us sound and thoughtful advice freely and has a genuine interest in seeing us all be successful managers with great operations."
After starting as a press operator at the Drawing Board, a chain print shop, Friend purchased a Chief 11x17˝ press in 1979, and began producing jobs for local businesses and friends. He produced overflow work for Southern Methodist University's print shop, and was eventually offered a position there as assistant director.
In 1989, he joined UNT as assistant director. He admits the in-plant, at the time, had many service issues. Delivery was slow, work quality was low and attitudes were bad. Once he was promoted to director in 1995, he made a deliberate effort to change all that and eventually turned the in-plant around.
Over the years, Friend successfully merged with the mail department and added fulfillment services to the in-plant's repertoire. One of the biggest changes came when he added an HP Indigo 3050 in 2002, followed by an HP Indigo 5500 in 2008. This blend of high-quality color and fast turnaround was a hit with customers and has been instrumental to the shop's success.
In the fall of 2008, the in-plant completed a major relocation and consolidation of its services. In 2012 it bolstered its offset services with a new five-color, 29˝ Ryobi 755XLW press and a Ryobi 3404 DI direct imaging press.
"I know I’ll miss my awesome staff, the many great people I work with at UNT, and the many, many wonderful people and friends I’ve networked with for so many years," says Friend.
The new director of UNT Printing and Distribution Solutions is Richard Griffin, former director of Central Piedmont Community College Campus Printing & Signs.