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Crisp Imaging staff at a trade show, from left to right: Devlon Hoff, Vice President of OSS/EDMS; Julie Crisp, Executive Vice President; Javiera Ubau, Project Manager; Kimberly Novack-Shipp, Vice President of Business Development; Eddie Harper, Vice President of Customer Service; Carter Crisp, Vice President of Marketing.
Becky Nakano
Account Executive
Tarik Benmbarek
Director of Business Development
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Editor’s Note: Carter Crisp and Hiram Russell are the newest APDSP board members. This article introduces Crisp to the membership. Click here to read a profile of Russell and his business.
By Ed Avis
Carter Crisp was a fifth grader when his parents, Gary and Julie Crisp, launched C2 Reprographics in 2002. Fast forward nearly two decades: The company is now called Crisp Imaging and has 16 locations; Carter is the firm’s VP of marketing; and he was just elected to the APDSP Board of Directors.
“I’m excited to be on the board,” says Crisp, who was formally elected in an open board meeting on September 1. “I’d like to help keep our industry on the cutting edge of services our customers need.”
Crisp first got his hands dirty in the family business during the summer of 2011, when he helped integrate a sign company Crisp Imaging had acquired. He had just graduated from high school and provided some of the muscle needed for the move. He then attended Texas Tech University for two years, and wrapped up his degree in political economy at USC.
“My mom’s parents had met at USC so I was a third-generation student there,” he says. “It was hard to leave Texas Tech, but it made more sense for me.”
He had worked summers during college at Crisp Imaging, and joined full-time upon graduating in 2015. His first position was digital marketing manager.
“That’s where I learned graphic design and basic digital marketing strategies,” he says. “I also started doing the company’s social media and competitive analysis, and my job eventually extended to all of the company’s marketing.”
He became marketing director in 2017. In that position he regularly visits all of the Crisp Imaging locations, provides marketing support to the on-site managers, and sees if they need any other support. He also was responsible for re-doing the interiors of all the stores, and is working on upgrading the interiors of some of the older locations.
The creative nature of his work keeps him motivated: “I like working with the architects, because they’re on the leading edge of what’s next. Same with the construction companies. I feel like we’re in a cutting edge industry. I also like being involved with the building process, because that’s really the future of the world around us. And I like working with the awesome people we have here.”
Crisp has two sisters, but neither is currently involved with the business. Did he always know he would join the family firm? Not really.
“I think in the back of my head I knew, but I was not formally planning on it,” he says. “I started working here and the more I got into it, the more I realized that this was where I wanted to spend my time. I could work somewhere else or I could work for my family – I realized what I had in front of me and what a great opportunity it was.”
Today he says he plans to spend his career at Crisp Imaging. And with the pace the company is growing – they are evaluating several other acquisitions – he’ll have plenty of work on his hands.
“I hope we can continue to grow our company, continue to expand, in a healthy way,” he says. “We don’t want to grow just for the sake of growth – we want stable growth that let’s us keep providing the top-notch services we now provide. I want the company to be around forever.”