Mike Hartley was born in Jacksonville in 1946, one of Margaret and Dyess Hartley’s seven children – two boys and five girls.
For many years, Dyess Hartley worked for Ambrose the Printer, a well-known local print shop. Although he sometimes considered opening his own business, he remained content until he faced a life-changing situation.
When President John F. Kennedy called up the Navy reserves in 1961 to address the Berlin Wall Crisis, Dyess Hartley spent a year on active duty and returned with a new perspective and a strong resolve to be his own boss. By night, he was a Navy recruiter, eventually becoming the nation’s leading recruiter. By day, he worked diligently in his Southside home carport, using a small hand press to print business cards for a limited number of customers. It was 1963, and, despite the odds against him, Dyess Hartley was determined to make Hartley Press a thriving print shop.
“All of us helped in my parents’ new business,” recalled Mike Hartley. “I’d come home from Dupont High School – now Wolfson – and work on hand-setting business cards – one at a time.”
After Mike’s graduation, and an “aimless semester” at Jacksonville University, his dad recruited him into the Navy, where he spent two years studying electronics. Upon discharge, Mike came home to work for the family business, where he remains today.
“Over the years, all of my Hartley siblings and several of their spouses have worked at the business,” said Mike. “My brother Rick and sister Diane have retired, but I’m still actively involved in the day-to-day operations.”
Mike noted that the printing business has always revolved around equipment, and their modest beginning with hand-fed printers has developed into a print shop with the largest and most productive equipment in North Florida and beyond. This steady growth resulted from a family tradition of taking a leap of faith and buying bigger and better, usually used, equipment, and then working harder than ever to meet customer needs.
From a small carport in their Southside home to their current 75,000-square-foot facility at 4250 St. Augustine Road, Hartley Press has become the largest and most well-equipped plant in South Georgia and North Florida.
“Our big web press is the only one in the country, and allows us to produce virtually all of our products in our own facility,” said Mike, who attributes much of the growth and success of the company to the example set by his father, Dyess Hartley. “Our Dad was a strong man. He encouraged us to keep investing in the future, even when it was challenging to do so.”
As he led a recent tour of the facility, Mike proudly pointed out several modern presses that required significant investments at the time of purchase and have since produced incredible dividends for the company.
“A few years ago, we were approached by Quad Graphics out of Wisconsin, the second largest printer in the country, to print large, beautiful books for their client, National Geographic, because we had equipment that neither they nor anyone else in the U.S. had,” recalled Mike. “North Florida has many small, wonderful printers, but none can produce the kind of products we handle.”
Because nearly everything a printer does is time-sensitive – whether it’s a grand opening, a critical sales campaign, or an event program – and quite often they are not given adequate time to get the job done, Mike says that the larger, more productive equipment gives Hartley Press the edge.
“It makes a big difference,” he said. “For instance, we just produced what would have been an impossible job for anyone else: 850,000 Valentine cards for McDonald’s that had to be done in two days! The customer loved it and wanted another 500,000 by the next day, and we did that, too.”
Rightly proud of his business, Mike is equally proud of his own family. His wife, Cathy, is a retired pediatrician, and their daughter, Sarah, is an OB/GYN in Denver, currently expecting their first grandchild.
“My son, Mike Jr., has a business degree from Florida State and has worked with me for years. He is exploring other interests currently, but still advises and helps at Hartley Press when needed,” said Mike, who now has a skilled staff of 75, many of whom have been with him for several decades.
“We have been so very blessed to have some of the finest professionals in the business working with us and to serve the area’s best companies,” said Mike. “We have developed a lifetime of friends and clients.”
Dan St. John of St. John and Partners has been a client of Hartley Press for 45 years.
“Mike has always come through,” said St. John. “The work is always quality work. He’s an asset to Northeast Florida – a quality man with a great reputation in town, and he continues to invest in the latest equipment.”
In addition to several annual reports for various St. John and Partners clients, and other large printing jobs, St. John noted that he was particularly grateful for the beautiful work Hartley Press did on a donor piece for K9s United. St. John heads the board of K9s United, which is committed to supporting and honoring law enforcement K9s that protect and serve, and has touted Mike’s active involvement in the civic and business communities.
“Mike does a lot for the nonprofit sector, and really makes a difference for the community,” said St. John.
Having served as chairman of both the TaxSlayer Gator Bowl and the PLAYERS Championship, Mike credits his years of involvement with the PLAYERS for many of his other leadership roles in nonprofit organizations.
“I feel that being part of the PLAYERS annual golf tournament led me to become more active than ever in the community,” said Mike, noting that he served on the boards of the FCCJ Foundation, UNF Foundation, Dreams Come True, Boys and Girls Clubs of Northeast Florida, Blood Cancer United (formerly known as the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society), MaliVai Washington Youth Foundation, and many others during the 1990s and continues to support many local nonprofits.
“Reaching out and being part of the community is one of the things you learn as a volunteer at the tournament,” Mike said.
As a past chairman of the PLAYERS Championship, Mike has been honored with a Red Coat, joining his fellow past chairpersons. This coat has become a symbol of annual generous and thoughtful charitable giving.
A couple of years after his chairmanship in 1998, Mike served as Captain of the Red Coats – a two-year commitment that involved serving on the charity board of the PGA Tour and helping decide where the charity dollars would go.
For 63 years, Hartley Press has symbolized the strength, dependability and commitment of a local, family-owned business, printing nearly all the glossy magazines published in South Georgia and North Florida, including the annual high-end charity register, Circles Magazine, produced by the Resident Community News Group.
“We are proud to have partnered with the Resident on such a beautiful project for so many years,” said Mike. “Despite the challenges facing the print industry today, including business slowdowns and the effect of digital communication, we remain passionate about continuing to be the best option for every print buyer.”
