Following a “watchdog” article in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel written by Daniel Bice claiming that the Institute for Graphics and Imaging (IGI) had all kinds of dire problems and was poorly managed, I contacted Ron Dahl, the executive director, and Joel Quadracci, one of the Board members to find out what was really going on.

Many of the facts in Bice’s article were accurate, but he positioned it as though it were an exposé when in fact the issues he “uncovered” were not at all unknown to Dahl, the Waukesha County Technical College (WCTC) where the Institute is housed, or its Board. Quadracci indicated that Quad/Graphics was a huge supporter of the Institute because there are so many printers within a several hundred mile radius that desperately need the training the center can provide. Quad/Graphics, because of its scale, has internal training, but smaller to mid-sized printers don’t have that luxury and need a resource like IGI.

“Ron has done an incredible job in putting together programs,” Quadracci told me, “but in the last 18 months, the budgets people had to work with on training have all been cut. I have talked to a lot of small printers about this. If they don’t have the money to send people, it doesn’t matter what the program is.”

Bice alleged that Dahl was moonlighting, with a business he owns out of Arizona, intimating that this was part of the issue with the Institute and was somehow under the radar, but both Quadracci and Dahl informed me that this arrangement was in Dahl’s contract from day one. Quadracci said, “The bottom line is we needed someone really good, and Ron is really good. We couldn’t afford him completely on our own, so we agreed to this arrangement where he does some consulting. It is not a significant amount of time, nor does he abuse it. We did this so we could get the best person for the job. If he were doing this without our knowing, that would be a different story.”

Dahl has also been busy talking with printers and others, looking for alternatives. “Printers today are losing money, especially the small to mid-sized printers we were targeting. They tell me that they know they need the training, and will need it even more when the economy recovers. They want the IGI to be around then so they can get the training they need. The talent pool we have assembled to deliver classes is second to none.” Dahl indicates that according to the business plan, some 60% of revenues were targeted to come from classes, with several other sources of revenue, including renting space in the Institute to corporations and others for training. “A year ago today, we were set,” he says, “but the slide started in about April. This past summer there were virtually no classes that we offered that had adequate attendance to justify holding them.”

In light of the situation, this week the WCTC has provided a 90-day notice to the Institute per the contract that is in place between the two organizations, and the Board of IGI will be meeting next week to determine the future of the Institute and what role Dahl might continue to play. “Perhaps we can offer courses on a scaled back basis, renting space as needed,” said Quadracci, “do more online courses—basically all options are on the table.” He added that the Board has been working for the past year to shore things up and WCTC has been very supportive. “At the end of the day,” he states, “the organization has to support itself. The school (WCTC) has its own needs and can use the space.”

Quadracci also informed me that IGI had sufficient cash to pay all back debts and those have been settled this week. “It is too bad this did not work out,” he said. “It is an important initiative for the region, but it relies on people having money to send students to the classes. There is nothing surprising in the chain of events. The timing was simply unfortunate. There are schools, associations and businesses all over the country that are in the same situation.”

It is sad to lose a resource like IGI which had great potential for helping printers adjust to new market realities. Hopefully the Board can come up with some alternative strategies to keep the Institute going in some form. We wish them well, and I am sure our readers do as well. We plan to stay informed on the outcome, and perhaps there are some among our readers who can offer creative suggestions to help Ron and the Board in their decision process.