{Q} What’s the best decision you’ve ever made?

{A} Marry my wife, Linda.


{Q} Okay, but what’s the best business decision you’ve ever made?

{A} Marry my wife. To be about passionate about your business and have the freedoms to exercise those passions, you have to have a very patient and supportive spouse. Without that, it becomes very difficult. And then you surround yourself with some very good business colleagues, both inside and outside the business.


{Q} On a personal level, do you have career aspirations beyond the business? Will you be handing the baton any time soon to Ann or Jack, your two children who are in the business?

{A} I’m not looking to retire in the near future. Plus, one of the things that I’ve instilled in my children is that it is not their birthright or their obligation to run the family business. As the largest asset of the family, we would be foolish not to have the most qualified management team to run our business. If they’re qualified to run the family business, great. Nothing would make me happier than if they proved to be qualified. But they are both early in their careers.

 

Liberty’s Diverse Businesses

Many of Liberty Diversified’s 14 acquisitions in the past decade have been assimilated into one of the holding company’s five primary operating divisions.

››› Liberty Carton, based in Golden Valley, produces corrugated packaging, and includes the Presentation Packaging division and Protecta-Pack Systems line of specialty packaging.

››› Liberty Paper in Becker manufactures recycled paper from more than 250,000 tons of old corrugated containers. Its Dreamworks Coating Solutions unit produces specialty colored and coated papers for packaging.

››› Safco products is the largest of Liberty Diversified’s holdings, based in New Hope, and sells office filing, shelving, seating, and other furnishings and supplies.

››› Diversi-Plast is a custom manufacturer of products made from corrugated plastic. Based in Golden Valley, it includes Liberty Diversified’s newly acquired GeoDeck product line.

››› Valley Craft, headquartered in Lake City, is a metal fabricator and maker of material handling equipment.


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