Taylor Corp., parent company of Minnesota-headquartered Top 40 distributor Taylor Communications (asi/333647/121500), has a new chief executive officer.

Company founder Glen Taylor, who had been serving as interim CEO, has appointed Charlie Whitaker to the top executive position.

Charlie Whitaker, CEO, Taylor Corp

Whitaker, who has been with Taylor Corp. since 2012, most recently served as an executive vice president at the corporation, which is one of the United States’ largest privately held companies. Taylor Corp., which has operations in nine countries, also owns Top 40 promotional products supplier ADG Promotional Products (asi/97270).

“Charlie was a trusted supplier and friend to Taylor for many years,” Glen Taylor told The Star Tribune. “We were excited when he joined the Taylor team and his energy, experience and enthusiasm made an immediate difference for our company.”

Whitaker said he is eager to build on that success.

“What an honor it is to be given this opportunity and to be able to make a bigger impact on Taylor,” Whitaker told the Star Tribune. “Taylor is a treasure to be protected and built upon. Glen has been both a boss and a mentor to me and it is a privilege to help him continue Taylor’s success in this new role.”

Glen Taylor is a self-made billionaire who founded a small wedding card company in 1975; he would grow that business into Taylor Corp., which now has more than 80 subsidiaries and 12,000 employees.

Taylor’s niece Deb Taylor had been serving as CEO of the company until September 2019, when she stepped down. At the time, Deb Taylor ranked 33 on Counselor’s Power 50, a definitive ranking of the most influential people in the promotional products industry. Following Deb’s departure, Glen Taylor assumed the CEO role in addition to serving as company chairman. Glen Taylor now continues as chairman with Whitaker taking over as CEO.

Before joining Taylor Corp., Whitaker held a variety of C-suite positions and sales leadership roles at companies that focused on the printing industry. Those included being president of California-based Spicers Paper.

While selling Taylor envelopes and stationery for a printing firm in Wisconsin, Whitaker met Glen Taylor. Their business relationship grew into a friendship, and the Taylor Corp. founder ultimately invited Whitaker to come work at the company.

As an executive vice president with Taylor Corp., Whitaker has had full operational responsibility for 18 separate Taylor businesses and more than 25 manufacturing facilities that generate nearly $400 million in annual sales.

Some of his accomplishments at Taylor include: Reversing a long-term, multimillion-dollar operating loss within the corporate identity business unit to $20 million in pretax earnings in 2018; pioneering the early business partnership with former Top 40 distributor Standard Register and leading the due diligence team in the ultimate acquisition and restructuring of the company from Chapter 11 bankruptcy; and organizing the consolidation of multiple customer-facing technology platforms across the entire organization to enhance capabilities and reduce operational costs.