Ken Freek works with CFR clients who want better business performance and fewer surprises. He helps owners and senior leaders in the print, packaging, and graphic communications industries set clear priorities, tighten execution, and make practical decisions that hold up on the shop floor.
What Ken Brings to Clients
Ken is an industry veteran with hands-on experience across marketing, operations, automation, change management, and supply chain and logistics. He has worked in manufacturing, operations, sales, product management, logistics, and executive leadership, so he understands how decisions made in the conference room show up in output, quality, service levels, and morale. Clients often value his straight talk and solutions-oriented approach, especially when the business needs a clear plan that real teams can run. Alongside strategic business consulting and people development, Ken also supports practical digital marketing and communications work, including website structure, SEO and AI search optimization, LinkedIn strategy, content development, and performance measurement.
- Focus area: Operations and performance improvement, with attention to the leadership decisions that affect execution, cost, and customer service.
- How Ken works: He starts with a structured look at what is happening now, then narrows it to a short list of priorities and a workable action plan.
- What clients gain: Clarity on what to fix first, stronger follow-through, and better readiness for growth, hiring, or a future transition.
Relevant Experience in the Industry
Ken’s background spans both production environments and the supplier side of the industry. Earlier in his career, he held plant leadership roles at book manufacturers, with accountability for output, quality, personnel, and cost. He later managed digital printing operations and helped build a digital print technologies department, which gives him a grounded view of what it takes to implement new tools without disrupting the work. At Heidelberg, he moved through senior roles that included logistics and national supply chain responsibility, sales and service leadership for digital products, and vice president-level product management focused on sales support, pricing, promotion, and distribution of graphic arts equipment and supplies. More recently, he has supported subscription and contract programs tied to industrialized print production systems. He holds a Bachelor of Technology in Graphic Communications Management.
How CFR Can Help
Many CFR clients are juggling operational pressure, people gaps, and big decisions about what comes next. Ken is a strong fit when leadership needs a practical business review that connects strategy to day-to-day execution. That can include strategic business consulting around growth, efficiency, risk, and operational discipline. It can also include recruiting and staffing support, especially when the business needs clearer roles, better onboarding, or a plan for succession. When ownership is thinking about timing and readiness, Ken can support early-stage planning tied to mergers and acquisitions and transition decisions, with a focus on getting the fundamentals in place so the business runs cleaner and is easier to value and hand off.
Connect with CFR
If you want a candid conversation about performance improvement, team strength, or transition planning in print or packaging, CFR is happy to talk. Contact CFR
Image by Connecting for Results
