OUR PEOPLE

The core of what makes Mooney Keehley such a special print shop are the minds and bodies that run the machines, punch out the paper, press the ink to paper, manage the workflow and connect to you our customers. Our people reflect so much more than the sum of their individual skills — skills that were born from a print mecca- Rochester New York. Most of these folks cut their teeth in the industry at a very early age or were born into it.

The individual biographies tell the story of each. Ken Hampson has collected each skilled craftsman with the vision of developing a team with a renewed purpose to share the knowledge of where each came from. Ken has assembled this team and supplied them with vintage familiar machines to apply their individual skills within this team structure to an honorable application — creating keepsake mementos of people we love and wish to hold in our memories and hearts for generations.

people we love and wish to hold in our memories and hearts for generations.

Ken Hampson

Owner | President

When Ken Hampson graduated from Rochester Institute of Technology he wasn’t clear on where he wanted to go or what exactly he wanted to do. He did know
there was something about manufacturing – taking disparate parts and processes of machinery, and putting them together to create something of quality that had a clear purpose to a specific audience, that had him intrigued. There was something about manufacturing, not the Andrew Carnegie type, that gave him a satisfaction.

SOMETHING ABOUT MAKING THINGS

Ken saw the light and after graduating college. He began building his experience working at a technical publishing company (Connors Publishing) doing layout, buying paper and all the functions of a publisher. Then he went to work for International Paper in 2000 – then, Strathmore in 2005 to further expand his knowledge and provide for his family.

IN THE FAMILY

In 2005 Ken purchased Mooney Keehley from the Hedges family, a craft print specialist with a very specific customer base – the funeral home industry. This situation was perfect to execute the idea he had since college. Ken also liked the idea of running a small family owned company and giving back t o the community by supplying good jobs to great people.

COMMITTED TO THE CRAFT

Since purchasing the company Ken has upgraded and expanded his specialty print capabilities through acquisition of several fine print companies that could not weather the constant change of recent economic conditions. Next, he went on to create a team filled with skilled craftsman in a trade-craft to be handed down to another generation.

THE NEXT LEVEL

Ken’s refocus and expansion on what he does best – providing the highest quality and innovative print products for the funeral home industry and keepsakes to share in a time of grief – has generated a rebirth for hand-done print-craft funeral and memorial keepsakes and has provided new directions for future product development. To do this all in Rochester New York, Mooney Keehley couldn’t be in a better place.

Jeff Haak

General Manager

As in any manufacturing operation the general manager is the final say on most all operations that take place inside Mooney Keehley on a day to day basis. Jeff is touch with vendors, suppliers production supervisors and at the mercy of all the guys who run the machines and move the jobs inside. You might say it takes a special individual.

LEARNING THROUGH WORKING

Jeff came up through the business as most of the people working the floor at Mooney Keehley, he ran a 2color Ryobi Offset Presses (among others) for a company (Printegra) from 2006-07. He did everything asked him and beyond until he decided he needed a new challenge. That’s when he decided to work with Ken.

A HANDS-ON APPROACH

The nature of the hands-on experience found in print craft is something the work offered Jeff and continues to. Working several different machines, Jeff became proficient in many areas on the floor at Mooney Keehley. He also paid attention to job set-up, make-ready and estimating to name a few. He began to develop his own processes. Jim Courtney, the previous GM, will tell you his real talent and love is problem solving-particularly mechanical issues but the requirements of the GM role put him squarely in the front office performing administrative duties tha treally didn’t suite him. Jim was looking for a behind the scenes role.

SIEZE THE DAY

Jeff sensed a moment of opportunity and actually requested an interview with Ken for the GM role. Itsurprised the staff that Jeff was interested. When the idea was presented-it was an obvious perfect fit. Jim, olderand very experienced in all phases of the print business with a big concentration on the mechanical really was aninside guy. He loved the floor, while young Jeff loved working as an intermediate between craftsman on the floor,where he once worked, and the customers needs and wants. He is open for new designs and new ideas. So theyswitch jobs-no fuss, no winning. Nowthey are a stronger as a team working together.The learning that goes on at MK each day is incredible. Jeff is keenly focused producing a high-quality,printed, well-crafted, beautifully produced, keepsake. The core team are veterans in their specialty,in the business ofhand crafted print and in life. Printing and its specialists are just that way.

Jim Courtney

Print Shop Foreman

In every successful team, be it a football or the robotics design team, you will find a Jim Courtney. We like tocall him, not only our shopforeman, but a title that describes what he means to all of us here at Mooney-Keehley, Jim Courtney is our glue guy. Noitdoesn’t mean he is in binding. He is the guy that holds everythingtogether.

ALWAYS THE PROBLEM SOLVER

This Rochester native came by his profession of 43 years through a mechanical aptitude developed over years of his love of tinkering and working on cars. He loves to solve mechanical problems. He thinks about them all the time once he digs into the problem. The answers to many of the challenges presented by mechanical processes found in the print shop-or the entire building for that matter-seem to visit him in the middle of the night. Jim’s mind, once presented with a challenge, never seems to shut down. He says pressure is a good thing in that it motivates. We know, printing and all the special processes at MK, coupled with our customer’s expectations certainly can create pressure. We also create a bit of our own with high expectations for our work.

MADE IN ROCHESTER

Rochester offered a 20 year old Jim, through a company called Lawyers Co-op (International Thomson Publishing) the opportunity to work as a pressman on web offset, Heidelbergs and a dizzying array of presses and machines-the kind of opportunity a mechanical wiz like himself loved. He knows what a quilt job looks like. He knows how to estimate and quality control anything in the shop. Initially he functioned as our general manager based on his extensive knowledge and skill.

BETTER TOGETHER

When Jeff was hired as shop foreman the two men recognized what each of them brought to the table and promptly switched jobs. Jim loved the challenges of the machine and process problem solving while Jeff had great skill in being that intermediate bridge from shop to customer. Their ability to understand the skills of the other and find their place without drama is a classic MK story. Jim is a little older and Jeff the younger of the two. Together they solve problems with few words but to great results that only such a pairing could accomplish with mutual respect and a shared interest in the work. Jeff says without Jim we are not Mooney Keehley. Quite an endorsement of what may have been a competitive situation.

Mike Bestram

Specialist / Foil Stamp / DieCut/ Bindery

Mike found his way to the printing industry at the age of 16. This Rochester native benefitted from the many companies that were printers serving the printing industry during the Rochester Print Town USA. heyday. He started at a direct mail company that serviced the likes of Xerox, Kodak and many other large and midsized firms in the region. He was able to gain invaluable experience in the bindery from craftsman that were willing to share their knowledge. He logged in his 10,000 hours early, on a polar cutter and various folders and scoring machines.

A DIAMOND IN THE ROUGH

As the industry went through its changes based on digital and a new economy, Mike was hired by several top name craft printing and fabricating houses. He did stints at Cohber Press, Tucker Printer, Monroe Litho and finally Riverside bindery where he was a 2nd cutter operator. Ken and Jeff found Mike after Riverside closed down. He came under one condition. He wanted to run the foil stamp machine. He got a taste of running one in his previous jobs and knew he wanted to pursue it. Not only did he ultimately get that opportunity at Mooney Keehley but he got to work with and develop a great relationship with Rob Carbone. If you know anything about Rochester printing you know Ron’s father, a true foil stamp master.

A DEDICATED GRINDER

Mike has learned his craft from men with 40 years in it and has been working himself over 30 years.  Not only that, Mike is known for riding his bike into work some 10 miles one way every day. And if you know anything about Rochester weather, well… Needless to say Mike’s reliability and dedication to his craft, his trade and fellow Mooney Keehley workers in unparalleled. Leave it to say without Mike, Mooney Keehley would not be what it is.

Mike Conte

Letterpress / Print Business Specialist

Mike Conte was running a letterpress and setting type at the age of 12. Mike’s father was running Park Printing in the very stylish Park Avenue neighborhood in Rochester-so Mike was literally raised in the business. Life and work really were one. Mike got to work on every machine in the shop as well as taking on administrative, customer interface and internal workflow, issues. Mike went to East High in the city of Rochester. It featured a pretty fair graphic arts program at the time that really allowed for hands-on experience.

BORN TO RUN-A PRINT SHOP

In 1972, Mike finished high school and got a position in the Bausch & Lomb print-shop where he became a 4-color negative stripper. The corporate life wasn’t for Mike so he returned home to work at Park Printing. His father needed his help so in 1975 Mike stepped up and took control of the business. He had worked in every area of the company so he was familiar with his father’s way. He did it all, ran the Multilith, the Kluge, set type, estimated jobs, corresponded and spoke to the clients–alot to handle but Mike will tell you he wouldn’t trade it in for a corporate job. He loves the freedom and engagement of taking jobs all the way, bearing the weight of responsibility and quality of the product like his next meal depended not it-which it did.

EXPERIENCE MATTERS

Ken connected with Mike after he closed the doors to Park Printing and quickly got him involved in the MK inventory, production, set-up for the operators in the shop and general work. Mike instituted efficiencies from having completed more than his share of projects throughout a 40-plus year history. Mike Conte is the kind of addition to the Mooney Keehley team that really separates it from other craft printers. Having one with Mike’s experience locked onto an account, he makes sense of a project, finds a right solution, delivers on-time, on-budget, and at a keepsake level-and is clearly reflected in the kind of product we can deliver at Mooney Keehley.

Rob Carbone

Specialist / Foil Stamp / Letterpress

The name Carbone in the printing circles of Rochester really needs no introduction or explanation. Rob is the son of a foil stamp master, Robert-Bob Carbone-Senior. Rob changed his first foil roll on his father’s converted Kluge at the age of 6.

FATHER KNOWS BEST

Bob Carbone started a letterpress stationery printing business determined to stay true to the craft of hand done printing using a letter press–that old-fashioned and mostly obsolete printing press from the 19thcentury.“See, it’s all gotta be set by hand,” as Bob was quoted in the Rochester Business Journal in 1998. He moved into the specialty of setting up a foil stamp business in 1948 and was the only game in town. Bob was a student of the game. He pushed the medium experimenting with different substrates and viewed his business as much a craft as production house. He was a film collector and friends with master die makers-always probing, always learning, always interested. His small business produced all the foil stamping on the US Proof Set boxes for the Franklin Mint for many years. He produced countless paperback covers for Warner Publishing and just about every Kodak film box that featured foil to name a very short list of Bob’s clients. All the while Rob was learning from his father the master, dedicating his entire work life to the craft.

A MASTER IN FOIL

After Rob’s father passed away in 2005, he came to bring all that experience and love of craft to Mooney Keehley. He continues to love the challenge of a new surface or way of applying the delicate foil on printed material to give it a classy and flashy look and feel. He thinks of his father as he works on one of his original stamping machines that Ken and Jeff had purchased. When he encounters a problem or challenge the thought that stays in his mind long after he has gone home at the end of a day is, “what would dad have done?” The student becomes master.