The official printing press of the 2009 Inaugural invitations located in Brooklyn, New York

Your Name:  Jim Donnelly

Your Title and Full Company Name:  President, Precise Continental

Your Work History:
Prior to founding Precise in 1983, I was the President of Corpex  Banknote Company for five years. I begin my  career  as a Purchasing Agent for  Banks and  Insurance  Companies.  I was Vice  President of  Administration for USLIFE  Corporation from 1973-1978.  I then owned and operated  a dry cleaners for three years.

Resides:  West Orange, New  Jersey

Where did you grow up?
Brooklyn, New York about 2 miles from where are offices are currently located.

What was your first job? 
Delivering dry cleaning.  I purchased the dry cleaners years later.

How did you get into the printing industry? 
I started on the purchasing side working for a large insurance company and fell in love with the industry.  One of  my vendors was going to purchase a company and  got me the job running it for the current owner.

Tell us about your company, Precise Continental.  What do you think makes Precise stand out from the rest?
We focus on our clients, learning from them what their goals and challenges are and from their feedback, we make strategic efforts to meet their current and future needs.  In 26 years, we have created a company that has the right equipment and expertise to support all our client’s printing  needs.  And we are true to our mission of always maximizing the value of the client’s budget.

You were chosen out of thousands to be the official printer of the 2009 Presidential Inauguration invitations for the 44th President, how did that happen?
A public relations firm in Washington, D.C. contacted us.  The  owner is the son of one of our Law accounts in the District.  He knew that we were a union engraver and President Obama was making that one of the  criteria for selection.  It was he that put us in contact with the Inaugural Committee. The other criteria was that you had to be a “green” printer and we are FSC Certified.  Those two factors, together with our award-winning work and reputation in the marketplace, got us the job.

We can only imagine what that was like when you were told and you broke the news to your staff.  What was their reaction?
They went crazy!  They felt it was a great honor to be selected and that they felt they were a part of history.

Once you were chosen, there was a lot to get done, how did you handle the pressure and keep everyone focused and on deadline?
Technically, it was not a difficult job for us.  However, it was the quantity:  1,100,000 invitations engraved in 3 impressions is a total of 3,300,000 impressions.  That was the challenge.  It was amazing how relaxed everyone was once we planned everything out, which was essential, i.e. how many presses we where going to use, and how many hours we had to work to get it done on time, delivering the most perfect product.  Once we had the plan, we just implemented it.

What was the absolute best thing about this whole experience?
Two great things:
1) The resulting PR we received in the press – on television, in the papers, etc.
2) The team spirit and sense of pride for all our employees.

Not to be anti-climactic, but if you weren’t doing what you do — printing for Presidents and all (LOL) — what would you be doing?
I love what I do!  So, I never really think about doing something different.  Whatever it would be, it would be something where I would have the opportunity to work with creative, high energy people that challenge me.

How long have you been a member of the Metropolitan New York Chapter? 
I think a year after the Chapter was formed, probably over 15 years.  I also served as Treasurer for 4 years.

What has been the greatest value for you as a member and what would you pass on to others who may be contemplating joining the Chapter?
Networking with really nice people who are always available to help.

As a New Yorker, what’s the favorite thing about being a part of this town?
The energy of the people who live and work here.

Uptown, Midtown, Downtown, the outer boroughs (Brooklyn, Queens, etc.) or the CT, NJ or Westchester suburbs – where’s the best place to hang out with friends? That’s the great thing about New York.  You can have it ALL!  I love to hang out with friends at home with good food, red wine and Jazz in the background

And of course we have to ask, as a true New Yorker, who’s your favorite sports team?
Not me, I am tennis player!

Subway, bus, taxi or walking?  What’s the best way to get around this vast city?
Walking first, then the subway.

What’s your favorite restaurant or cuisine?
Italian

Where’s your favorite place to go to relax, locally or abroad?
I belong to a tennis club in New Jersey that has an adult pool overlooking the New  York skyline, so watching the sunset with good friends.

What could you not live without?
If I have to choose just one:  Friends

If you were stranded on a desert island, what or who would you want to have with you and why?
My wife, Marie, my best friend and the love of my life.

Finally, being chosen as the official printing press of the Inauguration invitations, has it been the highlight of your career?
It was great, but I get the most satisfaction in that I have had the opportunity to hire, mentor and train employees and see them grow as individuals and move up  the economic ladder.

Thank you very much for being so gracious.  Congratulations on your remarkable achievement!

Authors:   Interviewed by Stacy S. Steele, Marketing & Public Relations Manager at Phillips Nizer LLP. Stacy serves as chair and is a member of the Communications Committee. She can be reached at ssalmon@phillipsnizer.com.

Published Date:   03/18/2009

01/27/2009

For many years Kluge presses have been utilized for finishing notable pieces. Examples include hologram stamping a skull on the cover of National Geographic magazine in 1985 and foil stamping and embossing Smithsonian Educational posters in 2005.

Most recently, we were honored and pleased to learn that Kluge presses were used to register and emboss the Engraved gold seal of the Official Presidential Inauguration Invitations for 2009.

Willie Maldonado, Kluge Department Manager and Jim Donnelly, President, Precise Continental

As a renowned producer of stationery, marketing materials, business cards, etc., and a union company with FSC Certification, Precise Continental of Brooklyn, NY was selected by the Presidential Inaugural Committee as the printer of choice for invitations to the inauguration of President-elect Barack Obama.

Kluge EHD presses are currently owned and operated at the print shop. These were configured with brass dies for register embossing the engraved gold seal at the top of the invitation. Kluge EHD 14 x 22 presses continue to be manufactured in the USA and are often called “the workhorse of the industry”. these legendary machines feature patented delayed dwell technology allowing the EHD to start on impression sooner, bottom out, and remain on impression longer ­ doubling impression time with no loss of production speed and assuring flawless foil separation from the stock. Perfect for the 1.1 million piece run of Presidential Inauguration invitations.

Precise Continental’s team of 65 employees is no stranger to the techniques needed to finish such a piece, but timing was of the essence and there was no room for error. Hand engraved brass dies were quickly outsourced as well as foil, ink and paper. All were rushed to the Brooklyn print shop. A cream-colored paper named “Classic Crest” manufactured by Neenah Paper, WI was selected for the stock. This recycled FSC material was an excellent choice, representing both Obama’s vision and the forestry stewardship practices of Precise Continental.

Each sheet was hand inspected at each step of the process for quality and accuracy, which proved essential in making this invitation, the most important piece the company has ever run.

Learn more about Kluge’s line of foil stamping, embossing and diecutting presses at www.kluge.biz or ask us at sales@kluge.biz.

Originally printed on the Kluge Website

January 16, 2009
by  Jessica Kuhn

An ordinary day at Precise Continental, a printing company in Brooklyn, NY, suddenly transformed unbeknownst into something extraordinary as the phone rang. It was a new client calling, but with a very unorthodox order.

The company’s owner Jim Donnelly ran through the whole gamut of emotions as he digested the news from the caller: thrilled, scared and excited. Meanwhile, on the other end of the line, the executive director of the Presidential Inaugural Committee placed a tall order: 1 million invitations for the historical inauguration of President-elect Barack Obama to be shipped out the first week of January—giving the folks at Precise Continental less than a month to scramble.

Making it Happen
What seems like an impossible order within a brisk time period, ran smoothly, as the employees of the union shop got that extra boost of overtime that is well-appreciated during any holiday season—especially one surrounded by doom and gloom of the economy.

“We were running 16 hours a day, but still were able to let our employees have off Christmas and New Year’s Day,” Donnelly says, “It was an incredible accomplishment that took a lot of dedicated hard work, but believe it or not, it was really fun and the employees were so thrilled and so upbeat about the whole thing.”

What about all of those McCain/Palin ticket supporters in the press room? Well, as Donnelly puts it, “We are a union shop and 99%-plus of our employees supported Barack Obama.”

After the staffers unanimously said “Yes” to the increased hours and meticulous expectations, Precise Continental looked to Buzzink for their fine gold ink and Neenah to help fulfill a special request for the order from the client: That it all be FSC certified, including the paper.

All in all, the style of the inauguration invitation is traditional and dates back in history, as it’s always engraved, classic and elegant. The care taken to keep the invite FSC certified and in a union shop differentiates this inaugural invite for Obama from those of former presidents in past years. This invite, like others in history will likely become a collector’s item—perhaps treasured more than any other as America’s first black president ushers in.

The Invitations
They’re engraved on Neenah’s CLASSIC CREST® Papers Recycled 100 Natural White. The finished size of the invitation is 8 ½ X 11. The text is fully copper-plate engraved in the deepest black ink. The inaugural seal is engraved in gold and then the gold is multi-level embossed with a hand-crafted die.

Printing Process
The black text portions of the invitations ran on a two-up 11 by 17 sheet, engraving one invitation at a time, work and turn. The stock was then trimmed to 8 ½ by 11 and ran one invitation at a time to engrave the gold and multi-level emboss (burnish) the gold.

Golden Seal
First, an impression of flat gold is laid down with an engraved plate, this gold impression is always “rougher” and less shiny, Donnelly says. In this case, due to the size of the seal, Precise Continental crafted a screen plate to produce a uniform, solid gold image.

The shine and smoothness is added in a second pass, which is called a burnish or emboss pass. In a completely separate press run, a hairline registration is required as the press operator comes back and hits the gold again to emboss/burnish the gold to add the detail of the inaugural Seal. “This must be absolutely perfect—there is no forgiveness—the gold/emboss impression must register exactly,” Donnelly says.

Typeface
The typeface is a customized Shelley Allegro. “One of the requirements for the job, since time was the essence, was that we be able to set the type right here in our prepress department,” Donnelly says.

Precise has been in business for 26 years and added Continental to the company 5 years ago. They went FSC certified in 2007. Precise Continental, Dumbo, NY. www.precisedtk.com.

Reprinted from HOW Magazine January 16, 2009

By BARRY NEWMAN and T.W. FARNAM
WASHINGTON — Yves Jean-Baptiste, a medical doctor and part-time real-estate agent from Brooklyn, received an envelope in the mail this month. Inside was an engraved invitation to the presidential inauguration with a gold seal on top.

“I’m going to the Capitol,” Dr. Jean-Baptiste said at the bus terminal in Manhattan Monday, boarding a Greyhound to Washington. “My name is on the envelope. They’ll guide me in.”

You’re Invited?

Well, not quite. Dr. Jean-Baptiste, a 55-year-old U.S. citizen and Haitian native, worked door-to-door for the Obama campaign. He registered voters. He joined a group in his neighborhood called “The Audacity of Park Slope.” And on Tuesday, along with a lot of other people, he got as close as he could get to the Capitol — after showing the picture on his driver’s license.

“I can see the Capitol,” he said happily by cellphone from deep in the crowd. “It’s not like I’m in front of it. There’s people around me from Europe. From Japan. It’s chilly and it’s packed.”

Dr. Jean-Baptiste was among the lucky few (as a percentage of the population) to get an inaugural invitation. “The Presidential Inaugural Committee requests the honor of your presence to attend and participate…” it said. He was also among a number of people who didn’t entirely focus on the cover letter that came with it.

If they had, they might have noticed that in the second sentence the word “commemorative” modified the word “invitation.” The “commemorative invitation,” it said, “invites your presence at any of the public events in what will be the most open and accessible inauguration in American history.” That meant their engraving, suitable for framing, wasn’t a signal to bone up on protocol or practice the waltz. It was a memento — an exclusive request to join Tuesday’s all-inclusive inaugural crowd.

The inaugural committee, the official organizer of the event, sent these invitations to a million people. The invitations themselves didn’t have the invitee’s name on them, or any security markings. They also came with a gift catalog offering a $35 set of inaugural tumblers and a $150 recycled-cotton inaugural blanket.

The cover letter, as the committee’s press officer, Linda Douglass, noted in an email, invited recipients “to all PUBLIC events,” which they could enjoy “even if they stay at home.” The mailing list, she added, came from “various sources” including lists of people who gave money to the campaign and people who didn’t.

Tickets to the restricted viewing areas, meanwhile, were handed out to 250,000 constituents by members of the House of Representatives and the Senate. They looked like big movie tickets. Those who had them got closer to the action.

In the absence of perfect clarity, some people with nonticket invitations spent hours trying to get past the ticket takers. Roland Nicholson, 57, a New York lawyer, worked as an Obama poll watcher in Ohio. After he and his girlfriend were turned away at a checkpoint, they walked the mall from gate to gate. No luck. Finally, they showed it to a District of Columbia cop.

“That’s sweet,” the officer said after studying it. “That’s inviting you to the city. It doesn’t get you in anywhere.”

Up to the last day, many invitation recipients were calling Precise Continental, the shop in Brooklyn that got attention on the Web for printing the invites. Jim Donnelly, the president, fielded so many presidential questions that he recorded a special message on his answering machine: “Look at that letter,” it said.

He had emails, too. “Can you help me and clear this matter up before I decide to go and then can’t get in?” wrote someone named Veronica. “We’ve had people wanting to know what they should wear,” said Mr. Donnelly. “Can they bring their sister? It’s been fun.”

Having contributed $100 to the Obama campaign, Mr. Donnelly thought he might be on the mailing list, too. He wasn’t, but he does know that presidents going back at least 75 years have sent out invitations — commemorative or otherwise — using the same gold seal and the same wording. The difference now may be the big print run, the event’s significance — or perhaps the availability of the Internet for public displays of bewilderment.

“I fell to the floor when I opened my envelope only to be picked up by my husband, screaming and crying and asking my husband if this is for real,” someone begging for advice wrote to a blog called “The Journey is the Reward.” Wrote another: “Has there been an area designated for ‘invitation’ bearers and do we need to check in by a certain time?” And another: “I have no political ties whatsoever. I was not planning to go at all — should I reconsider?”

Wiser Web heads soon set these dreamers straight. David Boles, a writer in Jersey City, N.J., got the message fast when his invitation arrived: “It was a pat on the head,” he says. He posted a photo of it on a blog he puts out, called Relation Shaping, with a short comment — “Is it real or not?” — and got 5,000 hits in a day. One was from Brad Smith, a computer instructor in Somerville, Mass.

Mr. Smith says he felt a thrill when he tore open his envelope, throwing the cover letter in the trash. He soon learned the details.

“I was kind of hoping that it wouldn’t be the real thing,” Mr. Smith admitted. “I had no overwhelming need to stand out in the cold in D.C.” So he stayed home on Tuesday and watched the inaugural on television with the uninvited masses.

No so Janet Joseph. A U.S. citizen born in Guyana who recently lost her job in the insurance industry, she was boarding a Greyhound from New York Monday night when she was told that the piece of paper in her bag had no privileges attached. A moment of pique passed. Then Ms. Joseph said:

“So what? It doesn’t matter. I’m going. I’m going to be there in the crowd with four million people. I got invited — and nothing’s going to ruin my ecstasy!”

Write to Barry Newman at barry.newman@wsj.com

From the January 21, 2009 Wall Street Journal Online

The Forest Stewardship Council is pleased to announce that President-elect Barack Obama’s one million inaugural invitations are printed on FSC certified paper.

This high profile use of FSC certified paper represents a milestone for FSC, demonstrating recognition of the importance of FSC certification at the highest levels of the US government and setting a precedent for subsequent procurement decisions. “We are very proud that President-elect Barack Obama and his team chose an FSC certified paper for his invitations. We see this as an indication of the seriousness of his commitment to change,” said FSC Executive Director Andre de Freitas.

Three FSC certified companies helped ensure that the invitations for this historic event reflect the economic, environmental and social values of the incoming administration: Neenah Paper, Lindenmeyr Munroe (a subsidiary of Central National Gottesman, Inc), and Precise Continental. The inaugural invitations, envelopes and inserts all used FSC certified paper; both the insert and the envelope bear the FSC recycled label.

Using recycled paper helps to take some pressure off the world’s forests and FSC recognizes the value of recycled material through its FSC Recycled and FSC Mixed Sources labels. FSC chain of custody certification tracks the recycled content through the production chain. This is checked by an independent certification body that is accredited by FSC.

All three companies in the supply chain are Forest Stewardship Council chain of custody (CoC) certified in order to sell FSC certified products and demonstrate their commitment to responsible forest management.

• About FSC
FSC is an independent, non-governmental, not for profit organization established to promote the responsible management of the world’s forests. It provides standard setting, trademark assurance and accreditation services for companies and organizations interested in responsible forestry. Products carrying the FSC label are independently certified to assure consumers that they come from forests that are managed to meet the social, economic and ecological needs of present and future generations. Find more information at www.fsc.org.

• About Neenah Paper
Neenah Paper employs about 760 people with approximately 245 located at its Whiting mill.  All five of Neenah Paper’s are mills FSC certified. Neenah carries a wide variety of FSC-certified paper products and grades. www.neenahpaper.com

• About Central National Gottesman, Inc
Central National Gottesman, Inc. is a paper merchant with sales offices in 26 U.S. cities, warehouses in 14 U.S. locations, international offices in 17 countries and representatives in more than 40 additional countries. The Lindenmeyr Division in-cludes Lindenmeyr Munroe which is a traditional fine paper merchant. www.cng-inc.com

• About Precise Continental
Precise Continental, a printing shop with 65 employees located in Brooklyn, NY, was selected as the invitation engraver due to its longstanding reputation of quality, its union labor force, and its FSC certification. www.precisecorp.com

Contact:
Alison Kriscenski
Communications Manager
Forest Stewardship Council
Telephone:    + …
email: a.kriscenski @fsc.org