“We believe in being proactive,” declares Phil Kelley, Jr., CEO of Salem One. That attitude has helped to make the company the largest independently owned packaging, print, and direct marketing/mail operation in the Southeast as well as one of the industry’s most recognized firms for excellence.

A determination to look ahead is also why for more than a decade, Salem One’s leadership group has reached out to universities, community colleges, and high schools throughout the Carolinas as a part of its recruitment strategy. “We've poured our own time into supporting any and all teachers, professors, programs that want some help,” Kelley says.

These relationships have led to hiring, but the company realized that more needed to be done to develop the workforce it needed.