After more than seven years of leadership, Bill Gagliardi is retiring from his role as executive campus director of Davenport University’s Great Lakes Bay Campus. As he prepares to retire at the end of February, it’s evident that his time at Davenport has been defined by a deep commitment to the university, its students and the Midland community.

Appointed to lead the Midland campus in 2017, Gagliardi was tasked with overseeing faculty and staff, guiding the campus’ strategic direction and fostering strong relationships with students, community partners and local businesses. These duties support Davenport’s broader mission – to provide an outstanding education while maintaining a strong presence in the community. 

Gagliardi is well-known for his open-door policy, welcoming students, faculty and staff to come in and chat regularly. 

During orientation for the nursing students in August, he said he always made it clear, “I’ll be your biggest cheerleader.” And he consistently did just that. 

Amy Stahley, a colleague at Davenport, reflected on Gagliardi’s leadership. 

“Bill’s dedication to fostering strong community partnerships between Davenport University and Midland has left a lasting impact,” Stahley said.” I could always count on his swift and reliable support, especially when navigating compliance issues or securing urgent affiliation agreements for our nursing students. His professionalism, kindness, and unwavering commitment to our institution and its students have been truly commendable.”

Gagliardi has equal praise for his colleagues at Davenport and the students, faculty and staff he worked with daily. 

“It’s been a great role,,” said Gagliardi.“It’s been a pleasure leading this campus. All of our faculty and staff are great, but they do a great job without me. My role has always been to get things out of their way.”

As retirement approaches, Gagliardi is looking forward to spending more time with his wife and two grown children. His first adventure will be a Spring Break trip with his grandsons in March. But he doesn’t plan to be idle for long. Now that he will have the time to commit, he’s planning to volunteer with First Tee Eastern Michigan – a program teaching young kids golf skills and life skills, two things he’s passionate about. 

Here are his parting words for his Davenport colleagues: 

“Keep doing the great job you’re doing. Students on the Great Lakes Bay campus are performing well in the classroom and after – they’re doing great work. Davenport is very much student-centric – we don’t ever want to lose that. That’s what differentiates us from other universities.”