Ray Chambers: A True Believer in the Value of In-plants

Ray Chambers

When it came to promoting the value of in-plants, no one was more compelling than Ray Chambers. He came to their defense at every opportunity: counseling worried managers, clarifying their value to skeptical administrators, providing strategies to packed conference rooms, and writing insightful articles rich with advice. When Mr. Chambers died at 80 in his home in western New York state on Aug. 13, the in-plant community lost its strongest supporter.

We also lost a good friend.

“Ray was a remarkable man and incredible resource to our industry,” reflects Jean-Luc Devis, retired director of Oregon State University’s in-plant.

“Ray’s work with our peer organizations is legendary,” says Mike Loyd, executive director of the In-plant Printing and Mailing Association (IPMA). “He believed in this industry and had a passion for service few can claim. He’s what we call a ‘good ole boy’ and will be desperately missed.”

Born in Houston, Mr. Chambers graduated from the University of Texas at Austin with a degree in Business, but a recession at the time forced him to fall back on one of his other skills. He took a job as the official photographer for the City of Austin. When the city’s in-plant manager suddenly left, he moved into that job — without a scrap of printing knowledge.

“Not long after I took over the print shop, a city councilman’s relative bought a press — a 25˝ Chief, or something like that — and opened a commercial shop,” he wrote in a 2009 IPI blog. “The council member started pressuring the city manager to send his relative all of the city’s print work because he could do it cheaper. I had to develop a response to the proposal and explain, with my limited experience, why it was a bad idea. That was my first outsourcing battle, and I’ve been fighting them ever since.”

Ray Chambers gives a presentation at an in-plant conference.

He fought outsourcing in Texas in the mid 1980s, when Printing Industries of America, through its Texas affiliates, started lobbying the legislature to shut down the state in-plants and outsource work to commercial printers. He fought similar outsourcing battles at subsequent in-plants in Iowa and Kentucky, always pointing out the value in-plants brought to their parent organizations.

Even when he was settled in as director of the University of Louisville’s in-plant, he kept fighting, moving the battlefront to other people’s in-plants.

“He helped me in my attempt to fight off outsourcing at one job and assisted me in obtaining another job,” recalls Fred Reese, now retired from Penn State University. “Ray was a great guy and was very instrumental in my career. He was always willing to offer his knowledge and advice. He will be missed by many.”

He was a frequent contributor to a listserv for higher-ed in-plants, quickly responding to pleas for help, always offering detailed strategies. One of those he helped was a young Mike Loyd, then manager of Louisiana State University’s in-plant.

“I was young, ambitious and had so many questions and not that many answers,” he recalls. “I started asking questions on the listserv, and Ray always responded. I came to trust him. Boy, he had plenty to say and was so willing to help. Ray become an ally, friend, mentor and helped me in so many ways as I moved up the ranks at my university. He helped me formulate a very successful fleet program among many other projects.”

Mr. Chambers was always generous with his advice and played an important role in saving many in-plants that were on the verge of being outsourced.

“I remember when I was the State Printer in Olympia, Washington,” says Jean-Luc Devis. “Ray successfully called the legislators at the capital to speak on behalf of our in-plant when we were threatened by outsourcing. He made a difference and cared what happened to in-plants. Ray will be missed.”

At one conference, Ray and Catherine Chambers led an in-depth workshop on strategic print management.

Mr. Chambers began leading sessions at in-plant conferences, and it was at one of these, in Orlando, where he impressed Catherine Gregory of Sewanee: The University of the South. She caught up with him after his session and he invited her to visit him at the University of Louisville. Their relationship blossomed from there and a few years later they were married.

In 1998, he brought his higher-ed peers to Louisville when he hosted the Association of College and University Printers (ACUP) conference there. It was the most well-attended ACUP conference to date, and even drew three attendees from England, beginning an international relationship between U.S and U.K. in-plant managers that continues to this day.

A few years later, Mr. Chambers reciprocated. He was a keynote speaker at a 2011 university in-plant conference in the U.K., sharing his wisdom in a presentation on “Critical Success Factors” for in-plants.

His impact was felt as far away as New Zealand.

‘I often think back to the days when Ray and peers were so influential in shaping my knowledge and career choices,” reflected Wayne Riggill, now Principal Business Analyst at Christchurch City Council, in New Zealand, in a LinkedIn comment. “Ray was a giant among many, and I am very saddened to learn this news.”

Ray Chambers' last speaking engagement was at the DigiGov conference in Washington, D.C. With him are (from left) Davita Vance-Cooks (GPO), Paul Sprow (Arlington County), Ray Chambers (Chambers Management Group), Cathy Chambers (Alfred State), Damian McInerney (Virginia DMV) and IPI Editor Bob Neubauer.

Mr. Chambers spoke twice at College and University Print Management Association of Canada (CUPMAC) conferences, impressing his Canadian peers as well.

“It was readily apparent that his knowledge stretched far wider than the print industry,” says Ray Konecsni, director of Client Services, Information Services, at the University of Regina, in Saskatchewan. “He was a very astute business person with knowledge in topics ranging from offset print production to metrics, benchmarking and the many models of administration such as chargebacks and cost allocation. Ray understood that the value of an in-plant was greater than the print shop's financial results.”

One of Mr. Chambers’ proudest accomplishments was when he led the charge against Adobe in 2007 after it added a link to FedEx Kinko’s onto the new versions of Reader and Acrobat. Knowing that this link would encourage people to send print files to FedEx Kinko’s instead of to their in-plants, he gathered other in-plant managers and made a trip to San Francisco to speak directly with Adobe leaders about their blunder. Adobe subsequently backed down and removed the links.

Mike Loyd joins Ray and Cathy Chambers at IPMA 2022.

After serving as CIO at Juniata College, Mr. Chambers began work on his doctoral degree at Penn State University, studying Higher Education Administration. He and Catherine Chambers started Chambers Management Group to consult with leaders in both the public and private sectors to help them understand and improve their in-plants. In 2013 he was inducted into the ACUP Hall of Fame, and he was honored in 2018 as IPMA’s contributor of the year. In 2019, the couple donated the Ray and Catherine Chambers Resource Library to IPMA, a searchable archive housing work spanning 30 years of in-plant-related research.

Though his voice was muted in recent years by dementia and Parkinson's disease, he and Catherine attended the opening reception at the IPMA 2022 conference in Buffalo, New York, giving his many friends a last opportunity to see him. Their accolades continue to pour in.

“With the passing of Ray we have lost one of our industry stalwarts: a generational leader who had a profound impact in the shaping of the modern in-plant,” lauds Abbas Badani, Senior Director Integrated Graphics Services, at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. “I lost a mentor and a friend. He will be missed. I remember, with fondness and appreciation, him always being generous with ideas and time whenever I was looking for a fresh perspective or a new way to frame an existing challenge to the administration in an effort to enlist their support.”

“Ray, with his folksy Texas twang and wit, was always selflessly willing to share his expertise with any and everybody,” adds Mike Loyd. “The number of managers, directors and operations he assisted are many. And, he always did it with a smile. He was a godsend to lots of us and an icon.”

“Ray Chambers was known to many as a print industry consultant. For those of us who had the opportunity to work with him we saw a visionary, a mentor and a proponent of excellence,” wrote Richard Beto, director of the University of Texas at Austin’s in-plant, in a Facebook comment. “Dedicated to the industry he loved, he understood the challenges and the solutions. I had the opportunity to work on a project with Ray and three other university in-plant managers. He built a partnership on trust and camaraderie. He listened, empathized, and gave tirelessly to the project. He was the unsung hero for the in-plant we were working for. Many in-plant employees, their managers and their universities owe him their thanks. His friends will miss his companionship, his smile, his generosity, his loyalty, his humility and wisdom.”

Ray Chambers led the charge against outsourcing at many in-plant conferences.

“Ray was humble, always willing to listen, and helped me personally to look at issues from a different point of view,” says Paul Jones, Material Services Manager for the Montgomery County Board of County Commissioners in-plant. “Most importantly he taught me to collect data and use that for my arguments to prove a point.  A man of great wisdom that will live with us all forever.”

A memorial service is planned for Mr. Chambers in September.