Todd Kletter

Still, Kletter made it work. For a decade, he led the company, navigating vendors, customers, and the slow but undeniable decline of an industry being overtaken by digital transformation. Printing, once a dominant force, was shrinking rapidly. Kletter realized that no matter how hard he worked, the business could never outperform its past. The market itself was contracting. Growth was no longer a function of effort rather it was limited by external forces.

“I didn’t want to wake up every day knowing it couldn’t be better than yesterday.” So he made a decision that would define his career: he chose to exit. The sale of the business in 2008 was successful—timed just before the acquiring company itself went under. But Kletter is quick to dismiss any narrative of foresight.

“I didn’t predict the future,” he says. “I just didn’t want to be stuck.” That distinction matters. His decisions are not driven by perfect vision, but by instinct, a refusal to settle for stagnation.

After the sale, Kletter  held onto a smaller spin-off business, confident he could scale it. Instead, it became what he calls his “second MBA.”

The business was viable, even interesting, serving law enforcement with photographic tools but it lacked the growth engine needed to expand meaningfully. Three years later, he exited, this time with a harder lesson: not everything worth building is worth keeping. “Just because something means something to you doesn’t mean it has value in the market.”

It was a turning point. For the first time, Kletter was no longer tied to a legacy or expectation. He was, as he puts it, “a free agent.” His next chapter brought him into the world of organic food, where he joined Tierra Farm, not as CEO, but in a deliberately undefined role designed to test his fit. Within six months, he was promoted to CEO.

It was here that Kletter found alignment. Over four years, he scaled the business from $14 million to $33 million, expanded distribution to over 1,000 stores, and immersed himself in an industry that combined manufacturing, branding, and purpose.

More importantly, this is where sustainability entered his thinking not as a buzzword, but as a business philosophy. Working with organic products forced a deeper look at sourcing, packaging, and environmental impact. But the most important lesson wasn’t environmental, it was human.

Sustainability, he realized, is not just about materials or processes. It’s about people. “It’s easy to talk about saving the planet,” he says. “But if your employees can’t sustain their lives, what are you really doing?” This dual lens—environmental and human sustainability—became foundational to his leadership.

After leaving Tierra Farm during COVID, Todd entered a new phase defined by flexibility, but also uncertainty. Consulting opportunities emerged quickly, but something felt off. “I didn’t want to solve problems and walk away,” he explains. “If you’re a good consultant, you work yourself out of a job.” Instead, he reimagined the model.

He began partnering with companies through equity.The approach mirrored that of investors like Marcus Lemonis: step in, fix what’s broken, and grow alongside the business. This shift allowed Kletter  to build a portfolio of companies across industries—from furniture to appliances—while maintaining strategic oversight rather than operational immersion. But his most defining moment was still ahead.

In early 2024, Kletter received a call that would change everything. Crane Stationery had shut down overnight. A 225-year-old brand, gone in an instant. For Kletter, it wasn’t just a business opportunity. It was a responsibility. “You can’t let a brand like that die.” Within 28 days, he and his partners acquired the company. Rebuilding it was far harder than shutting it down. Employees had dispersed. Operations had stalled. Momentum was gone. But what followed was something rare.

At the first all-hands meeting, nearly every employee returned. What could have been an ending became a revival driven not just by strategy, but by belief. “We sat there hoping,” Kletter recalls. “And a month later, we were doing it.” The company stabilized, regained traction, and ultimately was sold—ensuring its future while allowing Kletter to step back.

Today, Kletter’s focus is on the water company Realm.Two brothers in the Adirondacks discovered an exceptionally pure water source and initially sought only to share it during a local water crisis. What followed was a five-year journey of testing, certification, and discovery.

When Kletter entered the picture, he saw something others hadn’t: not just a product, but a gap. “There is no answer to the question—what’s the best bottle of water?” Realm aims to fill that space—not through mass production, but through intention. Glass, not plastic. Transparency, not marketing spin. Experience, not convenience.

But for Kletter, sustainability here goes beyond packaging. It’s about common sense. “If it makes sense, and it works, that’s sustainability.”

He rejects extremes, acknowledging the realities of industries like oil while advocating for incremental improvement. For him, sustainability is not perfection. It is progress. It is also deeply personal.

“You can’t save the world through one company,” he says. “But you can use success to make an impact.”

Kletter’s journey is far from over. If anything, it is accelerating. Across multiple companies, industries, and roles, he operates not as a traditional CEO, but as a builder of systems, someone who identifies potential, aligns incentives, and creates momentum. Yet his philosophy remains grounded.

Focus on what you can control. Build things that can grow. Leave things better than you found them. And above all, never stay where tomorrow cannot be better than today. Because in a world defined by constant change, sustainability is not just about the environment.

It is about building something that lasts.