Graphic Arts Awards Central

Lewis Award Honors Tom Quadracci

Staff Report

Tom Quadracci received the Lewis Award after 35 successful years with Quad/Graphics, the company he helped start. He retired in December.
 

Tom Quadracci, the 57th recipient of the annual Lewis Memorial Lifetime Achievement Award, was feted last month at a gala banquet held in conjunction with the 2007 PIA/GATF Presidents Conference in Arizona. The Lewis Award is given to recognize a business leader who has risen far above the norm in shaping the world of printed communications and is viewed as the highest individual honor in the industry. It is named for the Lewis family, which founded Graphic Arts Monthly, the Graphic Arts BlueBooks (www.gabb.com) and the A.F. Lewis equipment database.

Quadracci's career began in 1971, when he helped his brother Harry start up a company in Pewaukee, WI, that would flourish into what is today the largest privately held printing firm in North America. Quad/Graphics now employs 12,000 people and generates $2 billion in annual revenue. The company, thanks to Quadracci, acquired from the beginning a reputation for customer service, technological leadership, generosity in method-sharing and a corporate culture of employee empowerment.

As president of QuadTech, a division he helped found in 1979, Quadracci oversaw the development of computerized controls for press and finishing equipment not only for Quad/Graphics' equipment, but for other printers' equipment as well. Under his guidance, the QuadTech equipment division has attained worldwide leadership with products sold in 85 countries. Its systems repeatedly have been awarded honors by organizations such as the National Society of Professional Engineers and PIA/GATF. In addition, Quadracci assumed the role of executive VP of Quad/Graphics seven years ago.

Following the death of his brother and company founder Harry in July 2002, Quadracci became president and CEO; chairman and CEO in January 2005; and chairman last July. He retired from the company in December 2006.

Throughout his career, Quadracci displayed a commitment to education, community support, charitable programs, employee healthcare, environmental protection, technological development and industry development as a whole. He was instrumental in Quad's contribution of $1 million to establish a printing industry applied technology center on the campus of Waukesha County Technical College in Pewaukee. The Harry V. Quadracci Printing Education and Technology Center opens this month, adjacent to the five-year-old Printing and Graphics Center that also bears his brother's name.

Years of service

Quadracci is past chairman of the Web Offset Assn. (WOA) and served on the WOA board of directors for three terms. Also a recipient last year of the prestigious Vision Award, he came to the Lewis ceremony directly from Graphics of the Americas in Miami, where he accepted the 2007 Graphic Arts Leaders of the Americas award for North America. This nationwide circuit of honors was only the conclusion of his most recent travels, however, bringing him and his wife Susan back from their tour through Cambodia and Laos.

Quadracci was nominated for the Lewis Award by Ed Young, his good friend and VP of Goss International, who was present at the ceremony. Bill Esler, editor in chief of GAM, presented the award to Quadracci. "An award like this really gets its stature from the people chosen to receive it," said Esler, "and this year, with the selection of Tom Quadracci, it is burnished even brighter."

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