Timothy Warren Jr.
Chairman of the Board and Publisher, The Warren Group
Age: 75
Industry experience: 50 years

Timothy Warren Jr., the fourth generation of Warrens to lead The Warren Group, started as many CEOs do – in the mailroom. Warren pulled back from the day-to-day management of the company this year and will “retire” at the end of it – although it could be argued that a member of a family business serves a lifetime appointment and never fully retires. In an interview for the company’s 150th anniversary last year, he reflected on his 50 years with The Warren Group and the achievements of the company and the staff over the past five decades.

Q: What were your early years like at The Warren Group?
A: I started in 1973, I think in March. I started at what I think was minimum wage at the time, $3.30 an hour. I would do some of anything, and my father asked me to start helping out with the book publishing business. We were publishing maybe one or two titles a year. I got involved in direct mail marketing of the books and eventually expanded into acquisition of new titles and more of the marketing and managing of that business.

I eventually took over the management. We had maybe three or four people working it in, so there wasn’t much to it. But it was good experience, especially at that time, getting involved in direct mail. I was a math major in college and I was interested in the calculations about when a mailing was profitable and when it wasn’t, analyzing different mailing lists so we could determine which ones were worth buying and mailing out to and which ones weren’t. Experimenting with marketing was pretty interesting to me.

From left: The Warren Group’s former head of data solutions Karen Loh, Tim Warren Sr. and Tim Warren Jr. are pictured sitting on a couch together at a company function in this undated photo. Photo courtesy of Judy Gannon Healey

Q: What are your thoughts about Banker & Tradesman?
A: When I first joined the company, Bill Mallard was the editor of the newspaper, and he was doing a little writing – he’d put in a few press releases, there would be two or three pages of quote-news-unquote, but he was also selling advertising, so he was wearing two hats. … He was also the coordinator of all of our relations with the registries of deeds, so he had a really big, important job.

But eventually we hired a reporter, a real journalist, Nina Groskind – she started writing and she was very thorough. She wrote long, long stories, with tons of research and lots of work. With that editorial content we had an opportunity to sell advertising, so we hired Jeff Keller to help Bill. So now Bill had an editor and an advertising sales rep. That was back in the ’80s, when newspapers were doing well, and we found that the combination of editorial content and advertising was a big boon for the business. That was pretty special. We had a succession of good editors and sales reps after that.

I think B&T is a treasure. I’m really proud of the kind of news coverage and thoughtful planning of its editorial content. I don’t think it’s ever been as high-quality as a newspaper as it is now.

Q: What’s your vision for the future management of The Warren Group?
A: I am [President & CEO David Lovins’] biggest fan and have complete confidence in him. I’ve told my family and the stockholders that I think David can run the company very, very well, and that it’s good that I’m still there to be a sounding board and look out for the family interest, and give him advice on anything he needs advice on. But if I get hit by a bus they shouldn’t panic, they should just set up an executive committee to check in with him to see what the issues are. He seems like he’s unstoppable. I can’t get him to take a vacation or stop planning ahead or giving assignments to me and the rest of [the executives].

So the plan is for me, nominally one day a week. … I’d like to continue to join the senior staff meetings, continue to meet with David weekly. I’ll keep an eye on the P&L and the major decisions … David and I rarely disagree. I might suggest a 10-degree change of course, but never a 90- or 180-degree change. I think we’re in good hands for as long as he remains healthy and committed.

If David says “Ok, I’m going to retire in a year,” I don’t think we should do a chief executive search, bring in somebody from the outside and expect them [to succeed]. We’ve tried to hire mid-level managers in the past and we haven’t been very good at it, is what I would say.

We had a whole string of them … we just haven’t had somebody really gel. I think a lot of it is winning the confidence of the staff, because the staff is good and they’re competent. Somebody has to impress [them] almost on day one.

Q: At 50 years, are you the longest-running employee of the company?
A: Not even close. [Editor’s note: Prior to Tim Warren’s time at the company, George Glendining was Banker & Tradesman’s editor for more than 60 years, beginning in 1907 and ending with his death in 1968.] When I first started, the woman who was in charge of our shipping was named Winnie Church, and she worked for us I think for somewhere around 50 years. By the time I got there she was in her 60s or 70s. Her sister was an even longer-term employee, Virginia Coulter, who eventually stayed for around 70 years. She was in charge of what we would now call data entry, and all of the paste-up of the newspaper every week – two newspapers, Banker & Tradesman and The Commercial Record. She was terrific. She was the only person who worked for all four generations of the family.

Above, Tim Warren Jr. participates in an “Office Olympics” event at the company’s former offices in Boston’s Fort Point neighborhood on Oct. 2, 2015. Also pictured, The Warren Group assistant controller Olga Khalaydovsky, left, data operations manager Tammy Dandurant, second from left. With back to camera, then-President David Lovins, left, and former sales representative Bob Holzhacker, right. | The Warren Group file photo

Cassidy Norton is Banker & Tradesman’s associate publisher and a 15-year veteran of The Warren Group. She may be reached at cnorton@thewarrengroup.com.