2007 Printing Industry Hall of Fame — Master of the Deal - Chris Colville

Colville arrived in 1994, just after CGX had gone public, and helped the company complete a pair of deals almost immediately—Jarvis Press of Dallas and Frederic Printing of Denver. He would go on to orchestrate the finalizing of roughly 50 acquisitions, an almost unheard of track record. And while the economic slump that culminated with 9/11 effectively sank the fleet of printing industry consolidation companies, CGX was better positioned to endure the major downturn and re-emerge as the pre- eminent M&A maven on the block. To say that Colville played a large role in this is not an overstatement.

Again, there was little in Colville’s history to suggest he would make a name for himself in printing circles. He grew up in West Texas, the oldest of five children. Colville’s father was a salesman for a cement manufacturer, who later started his own ready-mix concrete firm.

“It was an entrepreneurship-type company—a lot like the printing establishments CGX bought—that required about $4 million in capital investment and was a customer service-based, relationship-type business,” Colville recalls.

Learning the Ropes

Ironically, the elder Colville ended up selling the $10 million business to a regional consolidator, which in turn blended into a national consolidator. “Maybe I learned an appreciation about the business dynamics that helped me relate with the printing company owners when I worked for Consolidated Graphics,” he remarks.

Colville graduated from Texas Tech in 1980 and earned his master’s degree in 1982. A year later, he went to work for the prestigious Arthur Andersen accounting firm, where he worked in the energy division as an auditor—handling various accounts, including Texaco. Colville spent 10 years there, achieving numerous managerial positions.

He then took a position as controller for Trident NGL, an oil and gas concern. When the company went public, Colville was assigned the task of seeing its initial annual report produced, making it his first taste of print production. It was also during this time that he was introduced to a man who also boasted an Arthur Andersen background: an individual looking for someone to help him seek out acquisition opportunities for his fledgling, but fast-growing, printing company. The man was none other than Joe Davis, founder, chairman and CEO of CGX, and a fellow CPA.