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Fame Outside the Box
November 1, 2005 By: Tom Andel Paperboard PackagingMost famous people are allotted 15 minutes to make an impression. Paperboard Packaging/AICC Hall of Fame Inductee Jim Haglund's fame is rooted in corrugated but the impact of his time in the industry will have lasting effects outside it.
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When the Association of Independent Corrugated Converters (AICC) and Paperboard Packaging magazine started recognizing "Hall of Famers" among AICC members, inductees were chosen for their contribution to the success of fellow independents, not just for their own success. That contribution came in a package with other deliverables, including industry involvement, impeccable personal integrity, and distinguished public service.
This year's inductee would be notable for how he exhibits those traits as a representative of the packaging industry alone. But Jim Haglund, president of Minneapolis-based Central Container Corp. has made the world his hall of fame. His practice of giving back as good as he gets has made him a well-known figure in politics and academia, as well as in business.
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Here's what Tim Pawlenty, the governor of Jim's home state of Minnesota, has to say about him:
"Jim is a business leader who not only provides jobs and capital investment in the state, but a whole new spirit to the community when he does things like bring international conferences to his state and contributes to worthy causes. That has tremendous value. I always talk about the Minnesota spirit. If you were to draw a caricature of the best of Minnesota and tried to find people who personify it, Jim would fit the description."
This article will render a portrait of Jim Haglund using brush strokes executed by those closest to him. These people have been involved in every canvas exhibited in the Hall of Fame that is Jim's life. The major themes of these works of art include family, business and citizenship. Ordinary people usually keep these elements of their lives separate. Jim has blended them into his own masterpiece of a life.
 Jim Haglund travels to Asia regularly, not only as AICC's overseas director, but to meet with Central Container's equipment suppliers. |
Central in His Life
Jim's primary business connection is Central Container, a company that began long before he was born but whose name foretold how he would combine the central elements of his life into the business. Nathan Hinitz started it in 1906. It made wooden cases until the Depression, when its biggest volume customers, Twin Cities battery manufacturers, switched from wooden cases to corrugated boxes.
Years later, after Jim's schooling and his first few jobs selling corrugated, he decided to make his mark in the industry he had come to love. He purchased half interest in Central Container, coming up with the funds by selling his house, taking $10,000 in equity from that, and borrowing $15,000 from his brother.
He would later recall that that was the scariest check he ever wrote.
 Haglund enjoys frequent workouts in Central Container's employee workout room. It was designed to help employees stay fit and healthy, as well as to relieve stress. |
Partner and Mentor
Many from outside Jim's family would later approach him to give them a similar career opportunity, but among Jim's three children it was his son Mike who chose to walk in Dad's footsteps. But Jim wouldn't let Mike enter that world until he gained some business experience on his own.
"He leads by example," Mike says. "When I bought my business, we had a small company and he owned part of it. He said 'Mike you won't come to work here right away, work for someone else for five or six years.' So we came up with this little fulfillment company doing $100,000 in sales. He wanted me to learn to run and grow a business, learn to deal with the city and state and county and with the attorneys. I was the only employee. Ten years later in 2001, I earned the respect to become part of his company."
Jim has earned the respect of every business partner throughout his career. So much so that potential partners have been willing to share half of their business ventures with him if he would provide the brains behind their brawn. His attorney, Dayton Soby, says people want a piece of Jim's action.
"For the last 30 years, he has invested during the downturns, whether in infrastructure, equipment, buildings, or whatever," Soby says. "They've always paid off. He would plunge ahead when others were pulling in their horns. He took the biggest risk of all when he bought half of Central Container."
Steve Stinski of Spectrum Screen Printing, Plymouth, Minn., has Jim to thank for getting Spectrum started. Stinski got to know Jim growing up playing league softball. Eventually Stinski became production manager of a three-shift company when one day, Jim told Steve: "If you ever want to get into business I want to be your partner." Jim has always told his business associates "I don't invest in companies, I invest in people."
In Stinski, Jim saw someone with a good work ethic who was loyal to his employer.
 Jim Haglund's son, Mike, was the only one of three children to follow him into the corrugated business. Here, Mike, his wife Kelly (left), and his sisters Dawn and Kristin (on either side of Jim) join Mom (right) and Dad at an AICC conference. |
Scott Nelson, president of Foam Industries, offers another account of how Jim partnered up with a young entrepreneur to help get his company started.
"When Jim started at Central Container I was fabricating foam for protective packaging," Nelson explains. "Jim always wanted to be involved with fabricating of foam products for protective packaging because it complements the corrugated industry. He prides himself on how he judges people. He wanted me to get the organization up and running, and give it some time. A year and a half later he bought into the organization. He owns 49 percent of the business. Jim enabled me to go to work and start producing while he handled all the accounting and legalities. It was like turning on a light switch. We were profitable that first month."
AICC President Steve Young admires Jim for diversifying his businesses and points to him as a role model for other independent corrugated companies.
 "Jim is a business leader who not only provides jobs and capital investment in the state, but a whole new spirit to the community," says Minnesota Governor Tim Pawlenty, here with Haglund and his wife Kathy. |
"Corrugated boxes are a wonderful base business, but it's going to be very difficult to maintain that business exclusively," Young contends. "The manufacturing base has shrunk and it's not coming back. There have to be other related packaging lines and businesses to get into in order to be profitable. That's the vision Jim has always had."
Chris Kane, president and co-owner of Fisher Paper Box, the folding carton component of Jim's collection of businesses, shares Jim's vision of synergy.
"He knows folding cartons and setup boxes, which we make, cross over with corrugated," Kane says. "His approach is, if you can't sell them corrugated, maybe that same sales force can sell them chipboard, setup boxes or foam. That makes it easier to create a one-stop shop for customers and a better presence for Central Container."
Citizen Jim
In addition to Jim Haglund's business skills he devotes a big chunk of his time and resources to education. One school that's near and dear to his heart is Augsburg College in downtown Minneapolis. Jim sits on the board and is active in guiding the school into the future. His leadership has been noticed, even at the top levels of state government. Here's what Governor Pawlenty has to say about that:
"When Jim got involved the school was not where it wanted to be in terms of momentum and success, and he helped take it to another level, not only through his personal financial giving but through the leadership role he's played on the board, and getting board members to strategically re-focus and get them excited about new initiatives. He doesn't just write a check, he shows up."
Bill Frame, Ph.D., president of Augsburg College, adds even though Jim didn't attend the school, he is the most generous member on the board in terms of time and money. He has even turned his business connections into a valuable asset for the school.
"He has used his industrial relationships to help the college advance its cause, and he has been one of the few members of the board who has been willing to do that," Frame says.
Education is linked to business for Haglund. Robin Jackson, president of The International Corrugated Packaging Foundation (ICPF), says he is a visionary in his understanding of the need to get students interested in corrugated, and in industry in general.
In 1992, ICPF partnered with Graphic Communications at Clemson and saw the viability of putting a new press into that department and adapting the curriculum to the equipment. Haglund was there when that happened, and years later, as a member of ICPF's CorrAlliance Board, he played a part in its contributing a CAD table to North Carolina A&T State University.
Jim's dedication to making sure future generations get an early understanding of corrugated's importance to industry has impressed and moved his colleagues in the AICC. Joe Palmeri, vice president and coo of Jamestown Container Co., was the 2004 Hall of Fame inductee.
He recalls Jim's pioneering work in reaching out to other professional associations to keep the profession viable, not only for future practitioners, but to consumers, as well.
"In the early 90s this industry was really concerned about plastic," Palmeri says. "Jim was instrumental in putting together a joint project with the Fibre Box Association in getting members to contribute $150 each to run an ad promotion. He was also instrumental in 'Profile of the Independent,' which comes out every year and addresses the health of the independent — the square footage they ship and the market share they have. The purpose of the ad campaign was to educate the consumer that corrugated is more friendly than plastic."
Palmeri also remembers that was not a popular message in the early 1990s. Neither was Jim's vision of a global economy.
World Traveler
"Every board meeting he would say 'You're dealing in a world economy and you have to adjust to that,'" Palmeri recalls. "Some independents did — those with affiliates in other countries — but it's now starting to show he was right about the world economy."
Ever since, Haglund has acted as an ambassador for the corrugated converting industry. He serves as overseas director for AICC and travels the world. He has also argued that if independents can't beat plastics, they should introduce them into their product lines and become entrepreneurs.
That wasn't the only controversial stance Jim has taken that has proven to show his wisdom with the passage of time.
Steve Braun, vice president of sales and marketing at Central Container, says Jim has combined his love for travel with his conviction that we should not only sell in, but buy from, the global marketplace.
"We have recently been upgrading," Braun says. "The opportunity to be a showcase facility for equipment manufacturers was significant in building relationships with Asian vendors. People looked askance at that decision, but it turned out to be a good one for us. He was willing to make the additional travel time to do the verification work."
The AICC's Young says Jim's approach to business, citizenship and life — both public and private — has made him the organization's most influential international ambassador.
"Jim is a great model for a successful entrepreneurial businessman," Young says.
He adds that Jim's concern for people goes beyond even company and industry boundaries.
"That kind of well roundedness is what we look at for the Hall of Fame," Young notes. "When you see the rest of the world that our Hall of Famers have touched, over and above this industry's itty-bitty slice, it's better to recognize these people while they're still with us. And with Jim's regular routine of getting up early in the morning and going for a workout at the gym, I think he'll be around for quite a while."
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