William G. Gisel Jr. Named President and Chief Executive Officer, Rich Products Corp.
Buffalo, NY – Robert E. Rich, Jr., Chairman of Rich Products Corporation, has appointed William G. Gisel, Jr. to succeed him as President and Chief Executive Officer of Rich Products Corporation. Rich’s selection of Gisel was unanimously ratified by the company’s Board of Directors. Gisel has served as the company’s Chief Operating Officer since 1999 and is also a member of the company’s Board of Directors.
“I am thrilled to see Bill step into the role of President and CEO,” said Bob Rich, Jr. “Bill has already done a tremendous job in his leadership role and I am confident that he will continue to help Rich’s excel as an innovative company passionate about its customers, its Associates and its prospects for long term global growth.”
In his new role, Gisel will continue to be head of the company’s Executive Leadership Team and is responsible for advancing Rich’s overall strategic direction, through its various domestic and international business units and subsidiaries.
Gisel joined Rich’s in 1982 and served as General Counsel. During the eighties, he worked closely with Bob Rich, Jr. on the original entry and later expansion of the company’s involvement in minor league baseball. As Vice-President of Bison Baseball, Inc., Gisel was a primary driver of efforts to fund and construct the downtown ballpark, now known as Dunn-Tire Park.
In 1988, Bob Rich, Jr. charged Gisel with the task of extending Rich’s business into foreign markets as he became Vice-President of the newly formed International Division. For the next eight years, he led the company’s expansion into Asia, Africa, Europe and Latin America, and was elevated to the post of Executive Vice President, International and Strategic Planning in 1993. Today, Rich’s operates businesses in China, Korea, Vietnam, India, England, South Africa, Brazil, Mexico and Canada, and actively sells its products in more than 80 countries.
From 1996 through 2006, Gisel was President of Rich’s Food Group and Chief Operating Officer. During this period, through organic growth, acquisitions and ongoing international expansion, Rich Products more than doubled to its current size of more than $2.4 billion in annual revenues.
Gisel is the recipient of numerous awards and honors including the Thomas Hart Kendig Award for Export Achievement (1995), Rich Products “President’s Award” (1994), “40 Under 40 Award” (1992), The Nichols School Distinguished Alumnus Award(1990).
Gisel has also been active in the food industry as a member of the Grocery Manufacturers of America and the Women’s Foodservice Forum (WFF), where he served as Treasurer from 2003 – 2005. The WFF, an organization devoted to the promotion of opportunities for women executives, honored Gisel with its President’s Award in 2005. Later that year, the Rich Products’ Women Supporting Women organization also bestowed on him its Pioneer Award.
Gisel has also served on more than 20 different charitable, educational, civic and corporate boards. He is currently the President of the Board of Trustees of Nichols School, a member of the boards of Mod Pac Corporation, HSBC-Western Region, and Western New York Public Broadcasting Association (WNED). He is a trustee of the Bell Fund and The Josephine Goodyear Foundation.
Gisel is a 1970 graduate of The Nichols School in Buffalo, New York. He earned a Bachelor of Arts degree from Williams College, in Massachusetts in 1974 and a Juris Doctor from the Emory University School of Law in Atlanta, Georgia in 1978. In 1987, Gisel received an MBA from the University of Rochester William E. Simon Graduate School of Business Administration in Rochester, New York. Gisel returned to Buffalo following law school. Today Gisel lives in Buffalo with his wife Mary and their two children.
Source: Rich Products Corp.