Tim griffiths williams lea biography examples

IN PrintWeek’s Power voted Tim Griffiths, chief executive of Williams Lea, the most influential individual in print.

It was the conclusion of a momentous year for both him and his company.

There was the £m acquisition of The Stationery Office, driving his business process outsourcing (BPO) firm beyond the £m turnover mark and the opening of a £10m transactional mail facility in Norfolk.

Williams Lea has retained a presence in the City since when it was established as a translator of Hebrew texts into English.

It’s a history he is very proud of.

Griffiths arrived at the end of the s when the company was in financial turmoil.

The recession and technical obsolescence was impacting the printing industry and this family-owned and run company was having difficulties in dealing with the inevitable requirement for reorganisation and redundancies.

Using a military analogy he said: “A battlefield promotion ensued which, at the age of 28, propelled me to a group role and I set about reorganising the business.

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This meant moving it away from its traditional staple of print and publishing into what we now call integrated corporate solutions.”

That, he explains, means running documentation services for multinational companies around the world.

“Someone once described Williams Lea as providing the life blood of the document process and movement within an organisation.

“We evaluate how an organisation is managing its information and make proposals to make this more efficient while providing the technology and staff to manage the process.”

In this instance the staff comprises 12, – the majority of whom work in Asia, the USA and Europe.

This year their combined efforts will see Williams Lea break the billion pound sales barrier, a milestone Griffiths describes as “poignant” following the tribulations of first saving, then expanding the company in the early s.

Emphasising the global nature of the business he said: “We have significant opportunities in Japan, China and the US.

In addition to this we are also constantly looking at ways we can effect greater process efficiency for our clients.”

In relation to the business itself he has been looking at the potential movement of processing centres from high cost areas like London into the regions, one of which is Wales.

Although having grown up in England and now a member of the Welsh diaspora, his roots lie deep in the Carmarthenshire countryside.

He was born and spent part of his early life at Newcastle Emlyn where his father was the local bank manager.

In the shadow of St Paul’s Cathedral, which dominates the view from his office, Newcastle Emlyn seems a long way away.

“My paternal grandfather was a fifth generation blacksmith at the Six Bells forge in Llandeilo and my mother’s father was head of music at Llandovery College.

“Both my parents were Welsh speaking.

I was Welsh speaking – so I remember the wrench of leaving a community like Newcastle Emlyn. I was 10 when, in , my father was promoted and we went to live in England.”

This imposed exile he likens to an expulsion from some demi- paradise where he spent an idyllic childhood,

After a time at school in Shropshire he won a sports scholarship to Millfield, crowning his school career with a cap against Wales.

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It isn’t hard for the listener to detect a faint note of embarrassment when he said: “The game was played at Swansea, in front of my Welsh family, David Pickering played that day for Wales, so did Stuart Barnes and I wore the white shirt of England.”

All this is a gentle reverie, an escape from the harsh international business environment in which, as one observer remarked, “Williams Lea has continued on its quest for global domination.”

But it’s not global domination he wishes to talk about.

Following his father’s retirement and move to Llanelli, it’s the Scarlets and their future that now preoccupies him with what could be called the business of good rugby.

There has, he said, always been a strong affinity between his family and the club.

His father has been a Llanelli supporter since the s and an uncle served as club doctor in the s.

Now he is a Scarlets director with a direct input into the region’s rugby future.

The catalyst for this involvement was the announcement that the Welsh Assembly Government had called in the planning application for the new stadium where the Scarlets would play.

He said: “The suggestion was this might be the end of rugby in Llanelli so I made inquiries of friends and it became clear to me that should the planning application fail, it was highly unlikely the club would survive.”

What followed was a meeting with Scarlets’ chairman Huw Evans whose commitment to the region greatly impressed him.

“He was fighting an unequal battle and I felt here was someone I should stand alongside.”

And he did, through two traumatic and emotionally charged public inquiries that divided both friends and families including his own.

Any lingering doubt was dispelled by the late Ray Gravell.

“He was convinced that without a modern stadium and the commercial activity a modern stadium could attract, first class rugby in West Wales would end,” Griffiths said.

What, then, does this mean for professional rugby in Wales at local and national level.

For someone who heads the leading global provider of corporate information solutions, who signed an exclusive agreement with Deutsche Post World Net, the world’s leading logistics group, the complexity of which is beyond the comprehension of the average rugby supporter, his answer is simple.

“In Wales we give ourselves a rough time by focusing on what’s going to go wrong,” he said.

“This is our first point of call rather than applauding ourselves that we are still at the top table of world rugby.

This has happened because there have been people in Welsh rugby and at the WRU, who have managed to take the game into the professional era.

“People keep telling me there is no lack of talent in Wales from a rugby perspective. If this is so then it’s up to us ensure there is a professional environment to develop young players and keep them in Wales.”

With Tim Griffiths’ help and a Williams Lea commitment, the future of regional rugby in West Wales looks bright.

What then of the Welsh economy and will there be a Williams Lea presence there too?

To explain this he refers to the company’s recent involvement in North America.

“We have a business in Chicago, New York and Los Angeles in areas not dissimilar to London – high rents and competition for skilled and unskilled labour,” he said.

“So we built a processing centre in West Virginia, in an area which had been the nation’s industrial engine room during the early years of last century.

Like many such regions it had gone into serious decline but there was an extraordinary commitment by the state to regeneration.

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The area is similar to South Wales – people love their football team, there is a great work ethic, low absenteeism and a political will to improve the economic environment.”

The result was the creation of 1, jobs in West Virginia, something that augurs well for Wales.

There is, however, a moral to his tale.

He said: “You cannot achieve this without the political will and support of those bodies that operate at a local level.

In West Virginia we had support from the county, the town and the state.”

There is no trace of pessimism when he talks of the Welsh economy and he has no compunction about bringing his brand here.

He is, in his own words, “an opportunist with a positive outlook,” two pre-requisites for those intent on becoming involved with professional sport in Wales or anywhere else.

Finally it’s to the rugby analogy he returns when he said: “Whether on the rugby field or in business, Wales has to punch above its weight.

On the latter, at least, recent results show we have been doing exactly that.”

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