BARONdirect (www.barondirect.com) was the brainchild of BARON president and CEO Henry F. Scarpelli, who in 1978 assumed strategic direction of BARON and its parent company, Empire Paper Corporation. Under his leadership, the fledgling online service was developed and first launched in 1995, long before (in Internet time) the current dot-com frenzy.

BARON was founded in 1960 as a supplier of custom-printed erasable papers for court reporters, enabling for the first time error-free transcripts. The company quickly expanded its offerings to include office and specialty products, business forms, high-quality engraved and printed stationery.

After joining BARON in 1978, Scarpelli instituted a number of initiatives that would set the stage for the company’s reputation for innovation.

In 1983, management began building a network of manufacturing partners strategically located across the country. Over the next few years plants in Los Angeles, Denver, St. Louis, Philadelphia, and New York were brought into the BARON fold. With each company retaining its autonomy and product specialization, the network provided clients with one of the industry’s first successful distribute-and-print models. Relationships with these manufacturing and distributing partners exist to this day.

In the early ‘90s, BARON’s most ambitious and, in retrospect, most far-sighted endeavor… a Web-based online ordering system to help clients reduce procurement costs for business printing and office products was launched.

Partnering with two of the region’s largest law firms, Scarpelli and his team of talented programmers began work in 1995 on the online system. While the mandate was simple (make it easy to use), execution was far more complex (anybody on any system would be able to use it to buy any product).

In 1999, BARONdirect was launched.

In 2000-2002, BARONdirect® experienced explosive growth and today distributes its “showcase” products throughout the world.

In 2003, BARON’s management team decided to commit increased R & D dollars to build additional internet solutions for its existing clients while qualifying as an Ariba-Ready certified supplier to meet the spend management needs of Fortune 500 companies.

Today, many of the region’s largest law firms and corporations employ BARONdirect’s Web-based, platform independent system to purchase and manage their business stationery, on-demand printing, legal index files, forms, rubber stamps, social stationery, promotional and office products… directly from their desktops.