Larry Vaughn owned and operated a successful print company – Ideal Printers – for 26 years and helped found two premier, international business cooperatives.  Larry recently wrote and published a personal memoir, Business Cards and Shoe Leather, revealing how his small-town upbringing emphasized his personal ethics, relationship building, and mentoring.  He built his career in the commercial print business on the principle that business thrives on cooperation, not competition.

Larry earned a reputation as a forward-thinker and pioneer in the digital print industry.  He was the first commercial printer in Texas to install an HP Indigo digital press; a new technology that would prove revolutionary to the print industry.  He became a vocal advocate of the then new technology helping to usher in a new age of print.

On a local, national and global level Larry has enthusiastically served the print industry through his volunteer efforts on multiple groups, boards, and councils.  Larry’s cooperative work proved that success lies in mutual respect.  Open dialogue provides a forum for shared learning and growth.  Success is not measured in finite and exhaustible amounts.  There is enough to go around!

Larry has had the most positive impact on my life both professionally and personally. He had mentored me for over a decade. Now, as Managing Director of a major entrepreneurial hub in Houston, The Cannon, I get to hire him to speak and contribute his years of experience for generations well after me. He bridges the information gap to teach entrepreneurs and business owners the fundamentals of developing lifelong business relationships and that’s a rare skill. 

MAIGEN SAWYER – MANAGING DIRECTOR, THE CANNON