Steve Down, president of Herff Jones, says he can’t imagine a business more centered on high school and colleges being open and operating as normal than his organization. But when a pandemic hits, memorializing and commemorating a school year only grow in importance. Innovation took over, with creative solutions to completing yearbooks, virtual book signings, delivery of various items and virtual graduation ceremonies – nearly 1,000 serving 250,000 students. The innovation is here to stay in the now 101-year-old business. Learn more about the company and its leader, a Brit who was new to the pomp and circumstance of education completion when he and his family moved to the U.S. 19 years ago.

Herff Jones (www.herffjones.com)

Steve Down (www.linkedin.com/in/stevedown1)