Darrell Moore Preserves the Family Legacy

Darrell Moore has spent his 30-year career leading Modern Litho in Jefferson City, Missouri. Over the course of his career, the one person who inspired him the most was his mother, Jeanie Moore.

The story of Moore’s illustrious career really goes back further in Modern Litho’s history — back to a time when Darrell Moore’s mother was Modern Litho’s office manager.

Discovering Modern Litho

Moore says that when he was in ninth grade, his family moved to Jefferson City after his dad, Dick, was appointed to serve on the State of Missouri’s Parole Board. His mom, Jeanie, had always held a job, but she said that with this move, she hoped to stay home more.

“After two months, my sisters and I were begging her to go back to work — she was always keeping us busy!” Moore chuckles. “So, she went to work for the State of Missouri in the Department of Public Safety, where one of her tasks was to shepherd a print job that Modern Litho would soon have in production. She was able to successfully complete that project despite the fact she never had any experience with printing, she didn’t have a college degree, and there was no one to really guide her. She was just a super-intuitive business person.”

After the project was completed, Moore says Modern Litho’s owner went to Jeanie and asked for feedback on her project. While Jeanie thought the project turned out great, she noticed glaring pain points along the way. Proofs were incorrect. Changes weren’t being made. Invoices were incomplete. She warned the owner that if he didn’t change these things, in her opinion, his business wasn’t going to last.

Moore says after that conversation, the owner tried to get Jeanie to come and work for him, but she refused — again and again. The turning point came for her one Sunday in church.

“My family has always been a family of faith, and one Sunday at church it was like God spoke to her heart, ‘You’ve been praying for a change, and I’ve been laying it right in your lap and you keep saying yeah.’ She called the owner the next day and said that she was ready to talk about coming to work for him. They had lunch and he hired her as the office manager,” Moore says.

In the beginning, Jeanie only had two people reporting directly to her, but over the years, she worked her way up to general manager, and then eventually to president. She ran the show and the owner enjoyed his retirement in Florida.

“It’s funny,” Moore says, “my mom would attend all of the major print shows, but she’d bring my dad with her. All of the men there would try and talk printing with my dad, but he’d just smile and point at my mom and say, ‘You’ve got to talk to her; she’s the boss.’”

Becoming a Family Business

After earning the title of president, Jeanie’s last dream was fully owning the company.

“One day she was getting lunch with her mentor. “He asked her what her dream was and she told him that it was owning Modern Litho,” Moore says. “He asked her, ‘Well, does anybody know it?’ and she said no. His next statement really got her attention — ‘Well, if no one knows it then how’s it going to happen?’”

The next day, Moore says his mom called the owner, and asked if whenever his family considered selling Modern Litho to make sure she was the first one he called.

Moore says his parents eventually got the call, but by then they were in their 50s. He had already gone off to college and pursued a successful career in engineering for several years. However, Moore’s parents knew that for the company to have long-term success, they would eventually need a successor. When the business purchase was finally completed, Moore came on board as vice president. His sister Darla later joined in sales and eventually developed the human resources department and served as president of Brown Printing, a Modern Litho subsidiary. Both siblings followed in Jeanie’s footsteps — always striving to treat people well and produce high-quality printing.

Growing Modern Litho

Fast forward 30 years and today Modern Litho is almost unrecognizable compared to the company Jeanie joined as office manager and Darrell started at years later as vice president. The strength of the company is embodied in the 380 employees and six production locations. Darrell Moore has spearheaded expansion both organically and through acquisitions. He has forged long-lasting business relationships that have allowed Modern Litho to thrive.

What really helped catapult Modern Litho to where it is today was the merger Moore initiated with Brown Printing — the cross-town company that was at the time Modern Litho’s biggest competitor.

“I had become friends with Greg Meeker, who had come to join his family’s print business about a year earlier than me. They were the second biggest printer in our town and our No. 1 competitor,” Moore says. “The way we would describe it to people was that Monday through Friday we would ferociously compete for business, and Friday night we would play cards with our wives.”

Moore explains that at the time of the merger, both print operations were “maxed out” and needed more space, so they joined forces to make the investments necessary to expand as one entity.

And they did just that. By merging with Brown Printing as a sister company, both companies were able to streamline workflows and invest in more equipment.

“That was our first acquisition, and it was the single most-defining thing that jump-started our growth,” he says. “By allowing the Modern Litho plant to really focus on national and regional work, and Brown Printing to focus on the mid-Missouri work, we were no longer competing. That, along with Greg Meeker’s exceptional strengths in leading our sales and marketing efforts, allowed us to get to where we are today.”
That was only the beginning. Since the year 2000, Modern Litho has completed 10 acquisitions. If you ask Moore, a key reason that the acquisitions were successful was because those companies put their trust in Modern Litho.

Moore believes that what prompted the good faith from these smaller shops is simply a good reputation.

“Our company worked so closely with all of the industry leaders: the paper companies, trusted players like Kodak, EFI, and Heidelberg. With all of those interactions, we earned a reputation,” he says. “You know like, ‘Hey these guys are good businesspeople. These guys do what they say, and these guys have integrity,’ so that momentum was already there as we talked to companies about potential partnerships.”

Moore isn’t the only one who can speak for Modern Litho’s reputation. Clarence Penge, executive vice president of sales, market and product management for Heidelberg North America, has known Moore for more than a decade, and believes that Moore’s pragmatic nature is what has helped solidify Modern Litho’s strength.

“What I think is unique about Darrell, in my opinion, is that he is a guy who lives by that golden rule. “He will treat you as he wants to be treated and he is a pragmatic man,” Penge says. “The best way I can describe it is that he has an abundance of common sense. He’s as smart as a whip, but in a calm, cool, very collected way, and that resonates well with many people. When you’re fair, and you’re open, and you’re honest, it goes a long way.”

Carrying Out the Legacy

As Moore looks back on his career, he says what he’s most proud of is the fact that with the legacy he inherited , he feels he has helped create a solid foundation that will keep the company going for years to come — allowing him to keep a years-long promise to his parents.

Just like Jeanie trained him and gave him more responsibilities over the years, Moore became a leader unafraid to delegate responsibility and train and empower his employees.

Jeff Davidson, Moore’s nephew and now the new owner of Modern Litho, has accepted the torch to keep the family business going, and Davidson says that for the past 15 years his uncle has served as his mentor. He gave him the room to come into his own and grow as the leader for this new generation.

Davidson came to Modern Litho after college from his early career in commercial banking. David Whileson was recruited into the family business, he notes that he still had to prove himself.

“Darrell doesn’t have a problem delegating,” Davidson says. “So, when he finds sharp, even young, or maybe a little unproven people, he’ll take that leap of faith and allow that person to take on a project and blossom. I don’t know who could have taught me more about this business.”

As Modern Litho moves into its third generation of family ownership, Darrell reflects on a conversation his parents had with him and his sisters before they bought the company.

“My dad told us, ‘We’ll buy this business, but only if you promise it will never tear the family apart.’ And we’ve kept that promise,” Moore says. “My sister Darla was telling me that this weekend that she wished they could have been there when I retired because I’m sort of the last man standing of our family, so they could’ve seen that we kept our word — my sisters and And they are close.”

Moore’s parents both passed away in 2021, so they couldn’t see Darrell’s retirement, but many colleagues, friends, and family were there to help him celebrate the beginning of the next chapter of his life — a chapter that will be filled with a lot of golf.

“He put in a lot of long hours as a young man, as a young dad, and young spouse who sacrificed a lot of time that he could have been with his wife and kids — but he was here building the company and looking out for our employees,” Davidson says. “I’m so proud of him and so happy to see him enjoy making new memories with his grandchildren, and spending more time with his wife and adult children,” Davidson laughs, “And you know he’s a golf nut, God bless him. If that’s how he wants to unwind now, then so be it.”

In memoriam of Dick “Daryl” Moore and Jeanie Moore.