Professional Achievement Award

WILLIAM R. STEMPER, ENG '77
Berwyn, Pa.

Bill knows a thing or two about the telecommunications industry. For more than 30 years, he has been a part of it with many of the industry’s major players and today serves as president of Comcast Business for Comcast Cable.

That unit of Comcast provides businesses of all sizes with advanced telecommunications solutions, including Internet, Ethernet, voice, video, and other products and services. Under his leadership, the division’s revenue has increased twelvefold — from $265 million in 2006 to $3.2 billion at the end of 2013.

“Whether it’s medical images delivered to the emergency room, architects and law firms receiving timely updates or schools accessing video from anywhere in the world, access to the Internet and data centers is crucial,” Bill says. 

Previously, he was vice president of Cox Business Services for Cox Communications and has held several executive positions at AT&T Corp.

As a child, Bill thought he would be an electrical engineer. He enjoyed taking things apart and fixing them and even built his own radio equipment from old TV parts.

“My surprise was how my career path came out. I turned my engineering education into business leadership,” he says.

Personally, Bill continues to live Marquette’s mission through his service work at his parish. He is on the board of trustees of Cabrini College in Radnor, Pa., which is modeled after Ignatian teachings and values.

“All actions that we take at home, at work and in public are opportunities to live the Marquette mission,” he says. “That’s really God’s mission for us.”

Hometown: Wauwatosa, Wis.
Favorite book: Heroic Leadership by Chris Lowney
Someone past or present he’d like to have dinner with: “St. John Paul II.”   
Favorite Marquette memory: “Seeing a beautiful woman at freshman orientation and telling his friends that one day he would marry her. He did.”