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About Holden</h1> Our history begins with Harold L. Holden. Harold, the Founder of our company, grew up on a farm near Aitkin in a family of twelve children. His father died when he was a young man. Following graduation from high school, Harold worked in a grocery store before entering the University of Minnesota. He acquired his initial printing and graphics experience first in advertising sales and later as business manager for the campus newspaper, the
In 1933, while looking for work, Mr. Holden met a man who had a small printing business that was being taken over by creditors. Even though Holden didn't have any money, he made an agreement with the bank, the creditors, and the owner to run the company and if the business could be made solvent, he would receive a 50% interest. Mr. Holden was successful and in 1937, he borrowed money to purchase the balance of the company. In 1940, he changed the name to Holden Printing Company.

Over the years, our company has grown and changed dramatically. In the late 40's, Mr. Holden helped start a money order business and the printing of money orders soon became the foundation for a new company, started in 1954, named Holden Business Forms Company. In 1974, Harold's son, George, became President of Holden Business Forms. In 1976, Harold Holden retired, and in 1977, the decision was made to sell the commercial printing business and specialize in business forms. In 1996, we changed our name to Holden Graphic Services to better describe our expanding company and product line. In 2000, after several more diverse acquisitions, we created an umbrella organization, Holden Communications, and divided the company into two operating groups - Holden Graphic Services and Holden Marketing Group.

In growing our business, our most important strategy is Customer Quality First. CQ1 is a Deming-based quality process. Our mission is to raise quality and lower costs, which is achieved through continuous improvement by everyone, everyday. Our organization believes that it is not enough for each of us to do a good job. Our responsibility for which each of us is held accountable is to do a better job every day than we did the day before.

In 2005, Holden marks its 65th anniversary. With seven facilities, 19 sales offices nationwide, and over 500 employees, Holden is in the top 90 (of the over 35,000) printers in the country, in the top 50 of telemarketers, and in the top 12 of direct mail printers. More than that, we continue to grow because of our dedication to customer service and responsiveness, quality, and technological leadership.