2007 Printing Industry Hall of Fame — Building a Golden Dome - Tim Poole

September 2007 By Erik Cagle
Senior Editor

multipage

FROM THE time he was a young man, Tim Poole wanted to be in the position to make a difference in a printing company. That he loves every aspect of printing—from planning to manufacturing and distribution—and has worked down in the trenches himself makes him an ideal candidate to be a leader.

“Some of my greatest enjoyment comes out of watching people around me succeed,” says Poole, 48, president of Dome Printing in Sacramento, CA, and a 2007 inductee into the Printing Impressions/RIT Printing Industry Hall of Fame. “I challenge our people to maximize efficiency and deliver a high-quality product. There’s a level of respect on the floor; they know that I’ve been there in their position. They know I’m going to provide an insight about what I can do or offer to make their job better.”

Tim Poole is one of three brothers, along with Bob and Andy, who have helped guide Dome Printing, a general commercial printer that also specializes in direct mail and publications. The Northern California printer boasted sales of more than $33 million in 2006, a 22 percent increase over the previous year, and is also projecting healthy growth for 2007.

Poole almost didn’t make it into the family business, as the unpredictabilities of life made the path to printing anything but clear and straight. His parents divorced when he was very young; his father, Ray, stayed in Sacramento, where he would purchase Dome Printing in 1969. His mother set up home much further east, in York, PA. Tim Poole lived with his mother and spent one month each summer with his father.

It was during those month-long visits as a young teen that Poole got his first taste of printing. A pressman at Dome taught him how to operate an ATF Chief Multilith, which began his fascination with the full gamut of the printing process. Though he was just 15, Poole started to envision a future for himself.

“I was enrolled in a vocational school,” he says. “My mom had five kids, and my dad married into a large family. College was never really an option and, since I was a hard-working guy, I saw vocational school as my way into the work world.”

After the unofficial internship on the ATF Chief, Poole switched his vocational studies from electronics to printing. (“I liked taking components apart and putting them back together.”) After graduating from high school, Poole’s father asked him to join Dome Printing. Hesitant at first, a series of personal setbacks prompted him to pack up and head West in search of a career in the graphic arts.