Our Team
Steve Ciesielski
As a founding member of Fliwheel Partners, Steve, is passionate about seeing people and organizations realize their full potential. Helping others gain insight into the present reality and the future possibility of their individual lives and business functions is something he deeply desires. Oftentimes having partners to help in that process is critical and he is happy to be able to come alongside.
Steve's expertise aligns very closely with his passions, carrying a broad scope of business experiences in manufacturing and service sectors. These encompass leadership and executive positions, coaching roles with small business and non-profit leaders, and helping drive performance with startups.
Being able to see into an organization and understand what opportunities and challenges may be on the horizon has enabled Steve to be successful in helping drive strategic change and achieve operational excellence, organizational clarity and fruitful people development. These skills help him to empower and enable businesses to navigate the uncertainties of the marketplace.
Steve is originally from northern Indiana. He deeply loves his family and after several relocations he settled into Knoxville, Tennessee with his wife and children.
Charlie Slagle
Charlie was born and raised in Knoxville, TN, and has lived there his entire life. After graduating from the University of Tennessee in 1984 with a BS Degree in Marketing, Charlie started his sales career selling office equipment in the Knoxville metro area. In 1989 he moved to the family Industrial Tools business selling precision tools and accessories throughout the Southeastern US.
In 1995 he became the VP of Sales and Marketing of that company and led a team of up 15 salesmen. In October 2015, Charlie left the family business to become the founding CEO/President for Hoffmann Quality Tools USA, Inc. with a 5-year contract. This company is the US subsidiary of the $1.5 billion Hoffmann Group SE, based in Munich, Germany. While at Hoffmann, Charlie and his team grew the business from $1 million to $11 million in revenue in just five years while leading a team of 8 inside and 20 outside salespeople selling cutting tools, hand tools, and industrial cabinets to mainly German manufacturing companies in the US.
Charlie left the Hoffmann Group in October 2019, and in 2020 he became the COO of a local residential home construction company. Although running this company was a wonderful challenge and an exciting opportunity, Charlie found that his real passion was Coaching and Mentoring Salespeople, Sales Teams, and Leadership Teams and fighting for their highest good. Running Operations for a $50 million construction company was not feeding that passion, so in August of 2021, Charlie retired and left that company to start CharlieSlagle.com, and in 2024 became a Founding Partner in FLIWHEEL Partners.
Gary Bekker
Gary is an entrepreneur and businessman, deeply passionate about disciple-making and developing leaders in the business world. Born in Zimbabwe and raised in South Africa, Gary began his entrepreneurial journey straight out of high school, buying and selling audiovisual technology as an independent sales representative. After four successful years, he joined Dimension Data, a multibillion-dollar international technology company, as an executive account manager for large clients. However, his entrepreneurial spirit soon called him back, and after two years, Gary founded his own company.
Over the next 16 years, Gary led Vastratech from a startup to becoming the leading education technology provider in South Africa. In 2018, following God's call, Gary relocated his family to Knoxville, TN, with his wife, Jolandi, and their three daughters, Annobelle, Emily, and Sarah-Grace. In 2019, he joined the board of Ebenezer Ministries, where his business expertise and passion for helping people played a key role in guiding the ministry through a time of transition and vision refreshing.
Today, as a business coach and consultant, Gary continues to help leaders discover and pursue their true purpose, drawing on his wealth of experience to foster growth and leadership development in others. Gary has a vision to help transform businesses into life-giving workplaces, where people are encouraged to be all they are created to be, utilizing their God-given talents.