2008 Hall of Fame Inductees

Lew and brother Bill Allyn represented the third generation of Allyns to lead Skaneateles Falls, N.Y.-based Welch Allyn. Under their leadership from the late 1970s to the late 1990s, the company built a modern-day sales force, strengthened the company’s ties with distributors, stimulated new-product development, and improved the company’s relationship with its supply chain partners – including distributors – through a series of comprehensive operational improvements. During their years of leadership, they managed to maintain the company’s family culture.

A graduate of the school of fine arts at Syracuse University, with a major in industrial design, Lew Allyn improved the design, look and feel of the company’s products. He was instrumental in new-product development, and developed the company’s international business, first in Europe, then in Latin America and Asia. Under the tutelage of sales leader George Blowers, Lew Allyn learned the value of increasing distributors’ product knowledge and creating win-win relationships with distributors.

Bill and brother Lew Allyn represented the third generation of Allyns to lead Skaneateles Falls, N.Y.-based Welch Allyn. Under their leadership from the late 1970s to the late 1990s, the company built a modern-day sales force, strengthened the company’s ties with distributors, stimulated new-product development, and improved the company’s relationship with its supply chain partners – including distributors – through a series of comprehensive operational improvements. During their years of leadership, they managed to maintain the company’s family culture.

With an engineering degree from Dartmouth and a master’s degree in business administration, Bill Allyn recognized the value to industry of the company’s fiber optic light source and was instrumental in launching Welch Allyn’s industrial division. In the mid-1980s, after witnessing a formal quality and just-in-time manufacturing program, he implemented the techniques at Welch Allyn. He was also instrumental in computerizing the company and in updating its machinery, leading to shorter manufacturing cycles, more efficient manufacturing processes, and improved product quality.