Kevin Ulwelling came to Wichita for baseball but pushes paper now.

That's literally — Ulwelling is general sales manager at Midwest Single Source, a national distributor of office products, promotional items, direct mail, mailing equipment and printing. He oversees a sales staff of 15 in three offices, in Wichita, Topeka and Oklahoma City.

Ulwelling has been with the company for two years, having joined it from Newman University, where he was baseball coach for seven years and director of athletics for four. The accomplishment he's most proud of from those days is taking Newman from the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics to the National Collegiate Athletics Association Division II. The move was part of Newman's strategic plan to position itself as a more widely recognized institution, he said.

Ulwelling is from Wisconsin and got his bachelor's degree in sports management from the University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh. He earned a master's in organizational leadership from Newman.

How did a background in sports help you in this job?

"The competition. I was ready for a new challenge, and I had never been directly involved in the business world. I was fortunate as a coach and athletic director to be able to handle and lead a team. It's just a different product we're delivering now."

What's been your biggest surprise about this job?

"The number of competitors that each business faces — not only the challenges that everyone's had with the economy but finding a way to be different than everybody else that sells your same product. And it's extra unique with Single Source because we offer such a variety of products."

What's the best sales advice anyone gave you?

"I think it goes back to John — John Osborne (president of Single Source). He said if it was easy, everyone would be doing it. And that's kind of always stuck in my head. What I've learned is it all comes down to relationships, and you never know when you're going to have an opportunity to build those."

How have electronic communication and attacks on "junk mail" challenged Midwest Single Source?

"Believe it or not, that is the one area of our business that is expanding. We've added a shift, and several days a week we go to three shifts in our print center. We have strategically recruited clients who utilize direct mail. We can efficiently print, address and mail under one roof, being in the middle of the country.... Direct mail has been a growth area for us — a large growth. We made an investment about a year ago in a million-dollar digital press."

What's one thing most people don't know about you?

"I enjoy any type of live entertainment, from a sporting event to musical. I love to watch professionals perform. I'm a big supporter of the (Intrust Bank) Arena. I think it's great for the city, and I will do my part to back that up."