Greg Dyekman’s Lifetime of Service

 

This Medallion Service Award recipient embodies the values of service learned in Boys Scouts.

When Greg Dyekman was 13 years old cleaning out the stands at Cheyenne Frontier Days with his Boy Scout troop, he discovered something that would shape the rest of his life — the profound satisfaction that comes from serving others. “There was just that intrinsic good feeling of serving others,” Dyekman says. “It was the first time I realized how much I enjoyed doing it.” 

That realization would become the foundation for a lifetime of extraordinary service to the University of Wyoming and to the state. Dyekman is this year’s well-deserved recipient of the UW Medallion Service Award, the university’s highest honor for volunteer service. 

“Service is a requirement for advancement in scouting,” Dyekman says. “You can’t be an Eagle Scout without having done several service projects. But it also was the first time I realized how much I enjoyed doing it.”

More than five decades later, Dyekman continues to serve on the Boy Scouts board for his local council — a commitment spanning 30 years. He has chaired the Scout Committee for the Kiwanis pancake breakfast for over two decades and organized high-profile fundraising events, including a dinner featuring President Gerald Ford, who also was an Eagle Scout. 

At East High School in Cheyenne, Dyekman joined the debate team — which turned out to be foundational for his future. The topic that year focused on the jury system, which immersed him in legal research. “Debate makes you synthesize all the other skills you were learning into a competitive framework,” Dyekman says. The experience was so powerful that, by high school graduation, he knew he wanted to attend law school — eventually. 

His strategic thinking — another Scout value — led him to seek advice about college: “I asked judges and lawyers if there was some subject matter that you would have gotten more of in college, if you knew then what you know now. Every single one said accounting.” And so, for undergrad, he majored in accounting. He then graduated from the UW College of Law in 1980 in the top 10 percent of his class, returning to Cheyenne to practice with Dray, Thomson & Dyekman. 

The combination of accounting and legal expertise made him invaluable not only for his career, but also to the nonprofit organizations he serves. “I started getting on boards right away out of law school,” he says. “I started in leadership roles in nonprofits. And then I became involved in raising money for nonprofits.” 

 

Dyekman’s deep involvement with UW began with a chance encounter in Jackson in the mid-1990s. Secretary of State Thyra Thomson beckoned him over to her table: “Greg, I loved that event (with President Ford). I’m on this board at the university — the A&S Board of Visitors — and I think they could use your help.” 

That invitation launched Dyekman’s extensive university service. He served on the College of Arts and Sciences Board of Visitors, chairing it for six years. The College of Law lacked an advisory board, and so he helped form one and served on it as well. Later, he joined the UW Foundation board and eventually the College of Business board — completing service to all the colleges where he had studied. “The running joke on campus was that I was a business graduate and had chaired the A&S board, but I had never been on the business board,” Dyekman laughs. 

His Scout training in leadership has proven invaluable: “There’s just not that many people who are doing nonprofit leadership at the level I’ve done it. I’ve always appreciated being asked — so much that I feel like, if it’s something I can do, it’s probably something I should do. Service has brought me tremendous fulfillment, friendships and joy.” 

Today, Dyekman’s service portfolio reads like a who’s who of Wyoming organizations: UW Foundation board chair, College of Arts and Sciences Board of Visitors chair, Boy Scouts Board president, College of Business Advisory Board chair, Cheyenne Symphony Orchestra president, church treasurer for 39 years, countless campaign leadership roles, and much more. 

His total giving to UW exceeds $2.4 million, including the recent establishment of the Gregory C. Dyekman Fund for Debate — a transformational gift that, with state matching funds, totaled $500,000 to support the program that helped shape his career. “Debate was the greatest educational experience I had in high school and in college,” Dyekman says. His previous funds include the Debate/Forensics Excellence Fund and the Dyekman Law Professorship.

For Dyekman, the Scout Oath’s promise to “help other people at all times” isn’t just a childhood memory — it’s the principle he lives by.