Mountain Lakes, N.J.  – Michael Wurst, former owner and CEO of Henry Wurst, Inc., Kansas City, Missouri-based, 4th generation, family-owned web and sheetfed printing company, has joined Graphic Arts Advisors (GAA) as a Director. GAA, Mountain Lakes, NJ, is a strategic financial advisory and consulting firm devoted exclusively to all sectors of the graphic communications industry, primarily assisting company owners with mergers, acquisitions, restructuring and related services.

“Michael is a highly respected professional whose lifelong dedication to the printing industry will be of great value to GAA’s clients as they consider a company sale or acquisition as a means of achieving their strategic and financial objectives,” said GAA Managing Director Mark Hahn. “During his tenure as CEO, Michael grew the Henry Wurst company and diversified its service offering by making multiple acquisitions throughout the country and established a substantial western presence through acquisitions and plant consolidations in the Denver, CO, area. He will leverage this considerable first-hand experience in providing professional guidance for our clients.”

Wurst completed the sale of Henry Wurst, Inc., in 2019. During his tenure as CEO, he achieved sales growth of 124% over six years, became one of the top three printing companies in the Denver market through six acquisitions, reached $110 million in revenues, and maintained ranking in the top 50 printers in the U.S.

Active in both industry and civic organizations, Wurst has served on the Printing Industries of America (PIA) Board of Directors, was named PIA MidAmerica Kansas City Printing Executive of the Year in 2002 and was inducted into the Printing Impressions / Rochester Institute of Technology Printing Industry Hall of Fame in 2018.

“I’m delighted to join GAA and use my knowledge and experience to help our clients grow through acquisition or achieve a successful sale of their company,” Wurst said. “To be successful in today’s highly competitive, capital-intensive graphic communications industry, you have to continue to grow and stay in step with emerging technologies. However, the print market is not getting larger, and that makes achieving growth organically very difficult. A better strategy is to grow through acquisition, which also gives companies an opportunity to add new services and to acquire and serve accounts that they might not have been able to penetrate otherwise.”

The addition of Wurst to GAA’s team of professional advisors strengthens GAA’s position in the Midwest and reinforces GAA’s commitment to provide expert guidance to help owners of graphic communications companies achieve their strategic objectives, including a sale of their company or growth via acquisitions.