As a division of Quad/Graphics, QuadTech is an employee-owned company. Since our beginning, we have kept our management structure remarkably lean. Our egalitarian structure facilitates communication and our ability to be agile, despite our ongoing growth. It also enables us to be extremely proactive on your behalf.

• Karl Fritchen, President
• Randy Freeman, Vice President and General Manager of Packaging
• Vince Balistrieri, Director of Engineering and General Manager of Commercial and Newspaper
• Lisa Hansen, Director of Finance
• Jeff Karch, Director of Materials Management
• Dan Piergies, Director of Manufacturing and Field Service and General Manager of Quad/Graphics Support Business Unit
• Chris Thompson, Director of Sales and International Operations

Karl Fritchen, President

When he was named to serve as President of QuadTech in August 2002, Karl Fritchen had already made many major contributions to the company's growth and evolution. Fritchen started with QuadTech in 1985 as a Field Service Representative. He spent considerable time in Japan and the Asia-Pacific region, absorbing the art and science of printing, learning all he could about the markets, studying every aspect of press technology and, most importantly, servicing and getting to know auxiliary press and finishing control customers. Later, Fritchen advanced to Customer Service, where he worked with customers worldwide supporting their press and finishing control orders and helping them with new product training. Due to his excellent rapport with customers, Fritchen was asked to serve as Sales Manager for Asia-Pacific in 1991. Four years later, he was promoted to Director of Worldwide Sales and, shortly thereafter, he was named Vice President of Sales. Currently, Fritchen has his leadership team and the entire QuadTech workforce focused on “Quest to be the Best,” a program utilizing the Lean Transformation business process and Kaizen events for rapid and sustained change.

Randy Freeman, Vice President and General Manager of Packaging

During the 20 years Randy Freeman spent as a Vice President, his list of responsibilities included marketing, engineering, sales, service and international operations. Freeman started with Quad in 1983 as a service coordinator, learning printing through hands-on installation and servicing of QuadTech equipment in web offset pressrooms. A year later, he earned a promotion to management where he focused on marketing and product development. From there, Freeman moved to product management, playing a leading role in determining how QuadTech products are designed for use in world markets. His role as Vice President of Business Development gave him additional in-depth experience in business development, strategic partnerships and acquisitions. Freeman now applies this knowledge and experience to his current role as Vice President and General Manager of Packaging where he has been overseeing the development of innovative products and services for the packaging market since 2009. Freeman has a Bachelor’s degree in marketing from the University of Illinois-Champaign and an Associate’s degree in electronics from CDI in Milwaukee, WI.

Vince Balistrieri, Director of Engineering and General Manager of Commercial and Newspaper

Vince Balistrieri joined QuadTech in 2005. In his position, Balistrieri focuses on continuously improving the speed, quality, and cost-effectiveness of product innovations to help QuadTech customers be more competitive in their markets. This involves implementing process improvement methodologies such as Kaizen, Lean, Six Sigma and others. Bringing 20 years of experience to QuadTech, Balistrieri arrived at our company from Johnson Controls, where he served as Director of Engineering for four years. He led the Fortune 100 company’s efforts to develop and support controllers and software tools for building automation systems. Previously, he held several engineering positions in a 16-year career with Rockwell International and Rockwell Automation, including management of software and firmware development. Balistrieri holds a Bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering technology and a Master’s degree in engineering management from the Milwaukee School of Engineering.

Lisa Hansen, Director of Finance

Lisa Hansen brought a wealth of international accounting and financial expertise and experience to her position as QuadTech’s Director of Finance. Since assuming the role in 2007, Hansen oversees all accounting and finance functions for QuadTech’s worldwide network of offices. Hansen began working with Quad/Graphics in 2000, spending her first three years as a Financial Analyst, where she assisted in the accounting for the company’s international joint ventures in Argentina (Morvillo) and Brazil (Plural) as well as in its wholly owned facility in Poland (QuadWinkowski). In 2004, Hansen moved to Corporate Financial Accounting, where she was responsible for maintaining various balance sheet accounts and coordinating Quad’s external financial audit. Before coming to Quad, Hansen held a variety of positions in the audit department of Deloitte & Touche, a public accounting firm. She was an Audit Manager when she left the firm after six years. Hansen holds a Bachelor’s degree in accounting from the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater and is a Certified Public Accountant.

Jeff Karch, Director of Materials Management

As Director of Materials since 2008, Jeff Karch oversees QuadTech’s Purchasing, Planning and Quality teams. His main responsibility is the development and implementation of programs to drive continuous improvement in the supply chain. Karch’s QuadTech career started in manufacturing in 1988. Five years later, he moved into Engineering where he mastered circuit board and electrical design. Promoted to management in 2000, Karch accepted responsibility for the Press Automation Team. In 2006, he was one of the founders and manager of Quad/Graphics’ service and support team. Karch holds degrees in electronic technology and circuit board design from Waukesha County (Wisconsin) Technical College.

Dan Piergies, Director of Manufacturing and Field Service and General Manager of Quad/Graphics Support Business Unit

His multiple titles require handling many roles, but Dan Piergies comes to these positions after having mastered numerous roles throughout the company. Originally hired as an external manufacturing coordinator, Piergies later worked as service manager for the material handling product lines. There, he oversaw service scheduling, inventory and customer training. In 2000, he moved into management as the manufacturing manager of Finishing products. As the Director of Manufacturing, Piergies coordinates activities pertaining to the quality production of all QuadTech products, including receiving, warehousing, painting, assembling, testing, packaging and shipping. His position as Director of Field Service requires him to oversee the coordination of product installation, ensuring a positive and effective customer experience. Piergies also serves as the General Manager of the Quad/Graphics Support Business Unit, coordinating all aspects of order management, engineering, manufacturing and field service required to support Quad/Graphics. As an employee of Heidelberg and Contiweb, Piergies was not only familiar with QuadTech’s equipment, but had purchased it, before he joined the company in 1998. He brought a solid 15 years' experience in auxiliary printing equipment to the job.

Chris Thompson, Director of Sales and International Operations

As Director of Sales and International Operations, Chris Thompson oversees QuadTech's Sales and Administration Operations around the world, including the Kaizen Promotion Office and Employee Development. Through the power of cross-functional teams utilizing Lean/Sigma (waste reduction) techniques, Thompson's teams help to develop innovative strategies to enhance QuadTech's competitive advantage and bring greater value to its clients. Thompson came to her current position with more than 25 years of experience in manufacturing, information technology, business process, leadership and continuous improvement. She joined QuadTech’s Manufacturing Engineering department in 1998, and moved to Information Technology the following year. In 2001, Thompson was named into management, where she has been instrumental in developing and implementing organizational changes supported by business software development. In 2004, she joined QuadTech’s executive team in introducing a company-wide cultural shift to continual improvement. After helping to consolidate European operations into the Netherlands location in 2007, Thompson’s role has continued to expand, overseeing the cultural shift into the Asia region (Japan, China, and India) as well.

top