For his dedication and support to UW-Stout, Bill Flesch, chief development officer and treasurer for Gordon Flesch Company Inc., is the 2024 recipient of the Chancellor’s Alumni Award.
Flesch believes the university puts students on a straight road to success.
“I wouldn’t be where I am today without the education I received in Menomonie, Wisconsin. I have a tremendous appreciation for UW-Stout. As a polytechnic, there’s something to be said about teaching with real-life experiences. Being prepared to go to work was a real advantage for me,” said Flesch, a business administration alum from Madison.
“It is humbling to receive this award. It would be naive of me to think there are not others just as worthy. I am grateful and will forever be Stout Proud,” Flesch said.
His impact on UW-Stout students is tangible, as he’s supported the next generation of graphic artists and print professionals to bring their work to life with the finest print production available today.
Flesch’s in-kind gift of new state-of-the-art printing equipment helped with the university’s expansion of the Digital Process Lab, which opened in May 2022. The 3,000-square-foot lab, in the Applied Arts Building, is used by more than 1,000 the School of Art and Design and other related degree students each year.
The gift, valued at $100,000, included three Canon printers: a wide-format inkjet, a color copier and a high-volume Canon imagePRESS C650. The imagePRESS is capable of printing 65 high-definition images per minute and processes more than 30,000 student print jobs each semester. The inkjet printer can print items up to 5 feet wide and 100 feet long.
Within the design fabrication space, students develop projects using 3D printers, large-format ink-jet printing, vinyl cutting and laser etching.
Flesch served as a member of the steering committee for Pathways Forward, a Stout University Foundation campaign, the largest in school history. He contributes to the Chancellor’s Fund for Teaching Excellence and Student Success to support faculty and staff professional development.
“I have always believed in giving leadership the flexibility to enhance and apply resources where they feel it could have the most impact. I have funded the Chancelor’s Fund over the years for just that purpose. Funds without restriction give leaders a vehicle to make immediate decisions; what leaders are hired to do,” said Flesch, who was Cabot Executive in Residence in 2010.
The Gordon Flesch Company was founded by Flesch’s father in 1956. A proud family-owned and operated business, it is one of the nation’s largest independent providers of office technology solutions. Based in Madison, it employs more than 650 people in 23 Midwest offices.
After graduating from UW-Stout, Flesch worked for Kohler Company as a field representative for three years before accepting a position in the family business. He relocated to Saint Charles, Ill., and began as a field sales representative for the Gordon Flesch Company, calling on prospects throughout the western suburbs of Chicago. His roles and responsibilities have grown over the years to include major account sales, supervisor, sales manager, market manager, vice president, senior vice president and chief development officer.
“Looking back on my career, there are some significant, what I would consider, highlights. My accomplishments are not mine alone. Without those who believed in me, my brothers, our father and our strategies, there would be no accomplishments. It is humbling to come to work every day knowing that the team you have played a role in developing is, by all accounts, the finest in the industry,” Flesch said.
Some highlights for Flesch include growing the Chicago Market Division to be the largest market in the company, playing an active role in more than 20 acquisitions, developing a major account team focused on large opportunities, implementing 80/20 philosophies throughout the corporation and growing its employee base throughout the Midwest.
“There is however one accomplishment I consider by far the one that means everything. We, as in the second-generation owners, have successfully transitioned the organization to a third generation,” Flesch said. “Honored to have been a steward of the business for 40 years, I cannot think of anything more gratifying than knowing the company is strong and well cared for as my career winds down. That is something of which I am immensely proud.”
His future goals are to play an advisory role for the family business, enjoy his home and cabin in Wisconsin, contribute to his board roles within Northwestern Memorial Healthcare and Wintrust Banks and stay active with UW-Stout.
Flesch believes UW-Stout impacted his career.
“Simply put, without my degree there is no career. I made a very innocent decision when I chose Stout to advance my education. At the time, I had no idea what a polytechnic education was and how well it would suit me,” Flesch said. “With the opportunity to apply what I was being taught, I flourished. It brought meaning to why what I had learned was significant. I will always be thankful to UW-Stout and my professors for the commitment to my future.
“My career field is often overlooked because of the association with ‘sales.’ That’s unfortunate,” he added. “I met a man many years ago, the CEO of a large insurance company, who said to me, ‘A free economy does not work unless somebody buys something that somebody else is selling.’ That comment rang true to me and brought focus to my career in sales. I have made an excellent living by providing meaningful solutions to thousands of client partners. My advice to young students is do not overlook sales as a career.”
