Three Generations of Female Ownership

"Millcraft Paper's owner finds her place in the family business"

The Cleveland Plain Dealer, March 26, 2008

"Top 10 Women Business Owners of NE Ohio"

National Association of Women Business Owners 2007

"100 WBE’s Impacting Supplier Diversity"

Women's Enterprise USA, 2007

"Top 500 Woman-Owned Businesses in America"

"Top 100 Woman-Owned Businesses in Ohio"

DiversityBusiness.com, 2006

"Women of Note"

Crain’s Cleveland Business, October 2006

"Top 25 Women's Business Enterprises"

Women's Enterprise USA, September 2006

Kay McKinney Mlakar, Chairman of the Board and Owner of The Millcraft Paper Company, has been recognized locally, regionally and nationally as a leading business woman.   The Millcraft Paper Company has a unique three-generation history as a woman-owned business which was started in 1920 by Kay's grandmother and grandfather.   Today, The Millcraft Paper Company is one of the largest independent paper merchants in the Midwest, with national capabilities and a global network.   Millcraft specializes in supplying printing paper that supports corporate marketing efforts as well as diversity initiatives.      

" Millcraft has always been a part of my family. In 1920, three generations ago, my grandparents, Pauline and Harold Keil, founded The Millcraft Paper Company on its core business philosophy of treating everyone -- employees, customers and suppliers--with honesty and respect. My grandparents' corporate principles truly mirrored their own personal values and today remain their greatest Millcraft legacy...one which I strive to reinforce in our day-to-day business practices.

In 1956, Harold Keil died, passing sole ownership to Pauline. Thus began Millcraft’s history as a woman-owned company.

By the time my sister, Linda McKinney Hart, and I started working at Millcraft during our teenage years, Millcraft was firmly established with a sound reputation as a respected, regional paper company.    Together we learned the business from the bottom up as well as the top down.   Everywhere, the business ethic was the same: a straightforward approach to conducting business as if customers were friends, because most of the time they were.

In 1976, Millcraft was passed on to Pauline’s daughter – my mother, Jane Keil McKinney. She, too, had grown up with Millcraft and understood it well. While the company was poised to enter its greatest period of growth and change, she made sure its core values stayed true to its founding principles.   My mother owned Millcraft from 1976 until 1986, when ownership transferred to my sister Linda and me.    During this phase of our joint leadership, Millcraft faced rapid expansion throughout Ohio.    As time progressed, it became clear to Linda, now living out of state, that Millcraft management should remain in Cleveland.   She eventually sold her shares back to the company, leaving me as majority shareholder and owner.

In 2005, Millcraft was first officially certified by the Women’s Business Enterprise National Council (WBENC), the largest third-party certifier of women-owned enterprises in the country.   We also hold local government certification as a women’s business enterprise from The City of Cleveland. I take great personal pride in having overseen Millcraft become recognized and applauded today for what it has been for three generations:   a successful woman-owned business!”