Quad Elevates Honan to President in Strategic Push for Marketing Dominance

SUSSEX, Wis. – February 17, 2026 – Quad/Graphics, Inc. (NYSE: QUAD) has restructured its executive leadership, promoting veteran Dave Honan to President in a move that signals a deepened commitment to its ongoing transformation from a printing giant into an integrated marketing experience (MX) company. Honan will also retain his role as Chief Operating Officer, a position he has held since 2022.

The announcement clarifies the strategic division of labor at the top of the nearly $2.5 billion company. Joel Quadracci, who has led the company as President and CEO since 2006, will continue as Chairman and CEO. His focus will sharpen on long-term strategy, innovation, and key stakeholder relationships, effectively setting the company's north star in a turbulent market. Honan, meanwhile, will assume command of day-to-day operational leadership across all business units, tasked with executing that vision with disciplined precision. He will continue to report directly to Quadracci.

This evolution of Quad's leadership architecture is a direct response to the increasing complexity of the modern marketing landscape and reinforces the company's strategic pivot. "This evolution of our leadership structure supports Quad's ongoing development as a company committed to solving marketing complexity at scale," Quadracci stated in the official announcement.

A Dual-Engine Leadership Model

The decision to split the strategic and operational leadership between a Chairman/CEO and a President/COO is a classic corporate governance maneuver, often employed by large companies navigating significant industry disruption or internal transformation. By creating two distinct but collaborative centers of power, the structure allows the CEO to maintain an outward-facing, long-range perspective, while the President ensures the internal machinery of the company runs efficiently and adapts to the strategic direction.

For Quad, this model appears tailor-made for its current reality. The company exists at the crossroads of two vastly different industries: the legacy world of commercial printing, which faces secular decline but offers opportunities in niche, high-value applications, and the hyper-dynamic digital marketing services sector, dominated by AI, personalization, and rapidly shifting consumer behaviors.

Successfully navigating this dual identity requires a leader who can orchestrate a complex operational symphony. Honan’s promotion suggests the board sees him as that conductor. His mandate will be to streamline processes and drive performance across an enterprise that includes one of North America's largest printing platforms alongside a growing suite of marketing services, including the full-service media agency Rise and creative agency Betty.

The Rise of an Operational Architect

Honan’s 17-year tenure at Quad has been a steady ascent through the company's most critical functions, preparing him for this expanded role. Joining in 2009, he progressed from Corporate Controller to Chief Accounting Officer and then served as Chief Financial Officer for nearly eight years, from 2014 to late 2021. In these roles, he was instrumental in shaping the company's financial posture as a public entity. The press release credits him with helping "build Quad's sophisticated, public-company finance and accounting functions and capital structure."

His transition to Chief Operating Officer in 2022 moved him from financial stewardship to the heart of the company's production engine. As COO, he has been credited with spearheading strategies that improved manufacturing efficiency and drove margin expansion—critical achievements for a company managing the high fixed costs of a massive print operation. These operational improvements have been vital, providing the financial stability needed to fund investments in its marketing services offerings. Recent financial results underscore this balancing act; while Quad reported a 9.4% decline in net sales for 2025 to $2.4 billion, partly due to divestitures, its net earnings saw a dramatic recovery to $27 million from a $51 million loss in 2024.

Quadracci lauded Honan's track record, noting, "During his 17 years with the Company, Dave has consistently demonstrated exceptional leadership in his various roles... I look forward to our continued partnership in his expanded role as he focuses on disciplined execution of our growth initiatives."

Honan expressed his readiness to take on the challenge. "Quad has an incredible legacy and exciting future," he said. "I'm excited to lead our day-to-day operations as we work to accelerate our momentum."

Executing the 'Marketing Experience' Vision

The leadership shuffle is less about a change in direction and more about accelerating the existing strategy. Quad has been vocal about its transformation into a "marketing experience" or MX company, a provider that can seamlessly integrate creative ideation, media planning, and multi-channel production—from print to in-store to online. Its MX Solutions Suite is designed to remove friction from a client's marketing journey, a complex task that requires deep integration of data, technology, and physical production.

This is where Honan's operational expertise becomes paramount. The promise of a frictionless, integrated marketing solution is easy to make but notoriously difficult to deliver at scale. It requires connecting disparate business units, aligning technology platforms, and ensuring that a workforce of approximately 10,000 employees across 10 countries is marching in lockstep.

The market demands this integration. Brands are wrestling with the end of third-party cookies, the demand for hyper-personalization, and the need to create cohesive customer experiences across a splintered media landscape. While print's role has diminished, its power as a tangible, high-impact channel, especially when integrated with digital triggers like QR codes or augmented reality, remains a key differentiator for Quad. Honan’s challenge will be to ensure the company's vast operational capabilities are not just efficient but also agile and interconnected enough to deliver on the holistic marketing campaigns its clients now demand. By entrusting him with the operational helm, Quadracci is free to focus on what's next, ensuring Quad is not just reacting to the market but actively shaping its future.