Founded: 1982
Generations: Three
Employees: 40
DOVER – Three weeks after getting married, Herb and Kim Glanden decided that they wanted to start another adventure together: founding a small business.
Though they wanted to go into business for themselves, they didn’t know what to take on. A friend suggested to Herb that they look at packaging, noting that he needed to procure a number of boxes before the holiday shipping season.
Herb called box manufacturers around the region and connected with one in Baltimore who would become his mentor for more than 30 years.
“My friend told me not to worry about the big guys but concentrate on the small independent retailers. So, that’s what we did,” recalled Herb, the president and CEO of what’s now known as Mid-Atlantic Packaging Company.
For decades they increased their clientele as a bulk distributor, eventually moving to a Dover warehouse and servicing local customers throughout the Mid-Atlantic as well as internationally to multi-million-dollar annual revenues.
In the past few years, Mid-Atlantic Packaging has expanded to offer a custom printing shop, specifically targeted to capture branded paper bags as states around the region enact plastic bag bans. Most of that print has moved overseas, but the Glandens saw an opportunity to offer the service locally.
“That has really changed our business,” Herb said.
In 2008, Herb and Kim were excited to welcome their daughter Julie Rotuno into the company’s operations after a career in education. Today, Julie serves as chief operating officer and is preparing to take over the CEO seat next year.
“We never talked to the kids about it, and they grew up in it and they still wanted to be part of it,” Herb said. “We started our own business because we wanted to have some control over our life schedule … Because of that, we probably made 95% or more of the kids’ sports games or events over the years.”
Within their community, Mid-Atlantic Packaging supports the Delaware Veterans Home annually, Adopt-a-Family and the Food Bank of Delaware each holiday season, and donates products generously to several school districts. The Glandens also each support various charities individually and encourage employees to do the same.
