BizTimes Milwaukee | February 19, 2018

Corporations give startups a leg up

plus SBA LOANS CAN HELP MAKE SMALL BUSINESS PROJECTS A REALITY 26 CORPORATE EVENTS MOVE BEYOND PANEL DISCUSSIONS 29 IN-HOUSE CLASSES SUPPORT EMPLOYEE WELLNESS 31

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BizTimes Milwaukee (ISSN 1095-936X & USPS # 017813) Volume 23, Number 23, February 19, 2018 – March 4, 2018. BizTimes Milwaukee is published bi-weekly, except monthly in January, July and December by BizTimes Media LLC at 126 N. Jefferson St., Suite 403, Milwaukee, WI 53202-6120, USA. Basic annual subscription rate is $42. Single copy price is $3.25. Back issues are $5 each. Periodicals postage paid at Milwaukee, WI and additional mailing offices. POSTMASTER: Send all UAA to CFS. NON-POSTAL AND MILITARY FACILITIES: Send address corrections to BizTimes Milwaukee, 126 N. Jefferson St., Suite 403, Milwaukee, WI 53202-6120. Entire contents copyright 2018 by BizTimes Media LLC. All rights reserved.

Contents

4 Leading Edge 4 NOW

BY THE NUMBERS 5 BIZTRAVELER 6 GETTING THERE 7 FROM CONCEPT TO COMPLETION 8 MY FAVORITE TECH 9 THE FRANCHISEE 10 IN THE NEIGHBORHOOD BIZ POLL WHO’S ON THE BOARD? 11 REV UP

12 News 12 T HE AD AGENCY BEHIND MILWAUKEE’S EDGIEST CAMPAIGNS 14 MADE IN MILWAUKEE

16 Real Estate 29 Corporate Event Planning COVER STORY

21

33 Strategies 33 STARTUPS Kathleen Gallagher 34 COMMUNICATION Jo Gorissen 35 MARKETING Robert Grede

David and Goliath

37 Biz Connections

Corporations give startups a leg up

Special Report 21 Banking & Finance

In addition to the cover story, coverage includes information on SBA lending as a vehicle for small business growth.

37 NONPROFIT 38 PERSONNEL FILE 39 SBA LOANS 40 GLANCE AT YESTERYEAR COMMENTARY 41 AROUND TOWN 42 THE LAST WORD

W E ’ R E D E D I C AT E D TO

WISCONSIN

414-273-3507 | www.townbank.us

biztimes.com / 3

Leading Edge

BIZTIMES MEDIA – Like us

NOW

Bon-Ton files for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection

By Arthur Thomas, Corrinne Hess and Andrew Weiland, staff writers The Bon-Ton Stores Inc. has filed voluntary petitions for a court-supervised financial restructuring under Chapter 11 of the U.S. Bankruptcy Code.

The Milwaukee and York, Pennsylvania-based department store operator (the parent company of Boston Store) said it is “currently engaged in constructive discus-

sions with potential investors and its debtholders regarding the terms of a financial restructuring plan.”

“Bon-Ton intends to use this court-supervised process to explore potential strategic alternatives…which may include a sale of the company or certain of its assets,” the company said.

Bon-Ton said it has received

BY THE NUMBERS Roadrunner Transportation Systems Inc. says it overstated its net income by

$

66.5

million from 2011 to 2016.

4 / BizTimes Milwaukee FEBRUARY 19, 2018

a commitment from its existing asset-based lenders for up to $725 million in debtor-in-possession financing, which it says is expected to support its operations during the financial restructuring process.

The U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware approved all of Bon-Ton’s initial motions related to its bankruptcy filing.

The approval will enable Bon-Ton to meet its financial obligations throughout the financial restructuring process.

Bon-Ton has 260 stores. The company recently announced plans to close 47 of them this year, including nine in Wisconsin. The only store in the Milwaukee area that is slated to close is the Boston Store clearance store on South 27th Street in Milwaukee.

A group holding $223 million in Bon-Ton debt is objecting to portions of the company’s bankruptcy plan and wants to see an immediate orderly liquidation of the company’s inventory and other assets. The group called any suggestion of ongoing or continuing restructuring discussions “both incorrect and misleading” and said Bon-Ton’s survival as an operating business is “at best, uncertain, and in reality, unlikely.”

In a court filing, the group says it has determined an immediate liquidation is needed “following repeated missteps” by Bon-Ton’s

board and management “who proved themselves unwilling and/ or unable to adapt to the fierce headwinds facing brick-and-mortar retailers.”

Bon-Ton is seeking court approval to pay $54.2 million in claims. The group is objecting to the payment of $18.5 million to “critical vendors,” another $19 million in prepetition taxes and nearly $9.1 million in various employee-related obligations.

Bon-Ton has 22,745 employees.

The company said in court filings its monthly payroll liability is usually around $33 million.

When Bon-Ton filed for bankruptcy, the company reported having $1.74 billion in debts and $1.59 billion in assets as of Oct. 28. The company also reported millions in outstanding trade debts to suppliers. The company’s creditors include Estee Lauder, which is owed $5 million; Hanesbrands, $3.6 million; Keurig Green Mountain Inc., $3.6 million; Michael Kors USA Inc., $2.8 million; Perry Ellis, $2.4 million; Ralph Lauren, $2.2 million; and the city of Milwaukee, which is owed $1.9 million. The city provided a forgivable loan if the company keeps at least 750 full-time equivalent employees in Milwaukee at its downtown headquarters and Boston Store.

Bon-Ton has not had a profitable year since 2010. n

B I Z T R AV E L E R :

LO S A N G E L E S

ANDRE A FOS TER Senior vice president, Marcus Hotels & Resorts

Andrea Foster is senior vice president at Milwaukee-based Marcus Hotels & Resorts, where she focuses on growing the company’s hotel portfolio. She travels often for work, and a couple times per year, Foster’s travels take her back to Los Angeles, where she lived for four years. n

T R A N S P O R TAT I O N : “I typically fly American, as I have status and an Admirals Club membership (both are nice benefits of frequent flying), but Southwest offers direct flights from MKE to LAX. There is a song, ‘Nobody Walks in L.A.,’ because it’s true – you will need a car, or to depend on Lyft/Uber…and traffic is a bit of a bear.”

ACCO M M O DAT I O N S A N D F O O D :

E XC U R S I O N S: “To fill a leisurely day (or two or three), I suggest The Grove—an outdoor shopping/entertainment spot that has been called ‘Disneyland for adults’ by many of my visiting friends—The Getty Museum off the 405 freeway, Walt Disney Concert Hall in downtown L.A. and The Broad museum. For shopping, I gravitate toward Robertson Boulevard in West Hollywood, Malibu Country Mart, and no shopping trip to L.A. is complete without a stop at the famed Fred Segal. And many people don’t realize how much undeveloped and protected land there is in Los Angeles County…be sure to explore some of the beautiful terrain and views by going for a run/hike in Runyon Canyon in Hollywood, Tree People in Studio City, or in Malibu and Pacific Palisades.”

“My favorite place to stay in L.A. is The Garland in North Hollywood. For coffee stops, I lean toward Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf, with several locations around LA, or eclectic local hot spots like Coral Tree Café in Brentwood or Aroma Coffee & Tea in Studio City.

For dinner, PACE in the Canyon is a favorite of mine for an amazing meal in a quiet atmosphere. If you prefer a more bustling see-and-be-seen spot, The Ivy on Robertson Boulevard or Ivy at the Shore in Santa Monica are paparazzi-laden, high-end eateries.”

T R AV E L T I P : “When driving from The Garland to West L.A./West Hollywood/Beverly Hills, take Coldwater Canyon or Laurel Canyon Boulevard to see some tucked away areas and homes in L.A. And if time allows, veer off for a drive along Mulholland Drive for gorgeous views across L.A. County and the Pacific Ocean.“ biztimes.com / 5

Leading Edge

GETTING

THERE

March 15 | 5:30pm - 7:30pm The Garage at the Harley-Davidson Museum® Ignite your passion for leadership by joining some of Milwaukee’s most inspiring women leaders and Jennifer Buffett, Co-President of the NoVo Foundation, for a transformational evening of empowerment and celebration.

Appetizers, cash bar and silent auctions included at event.

For more information, visit: pearlsforteengirls.com/witl18

Best thing about your job?

“The complexity of the projects. I am currently working on Froedtert’s Center for Advanced Care vertical expansion. When we do a great job, it seems seamless and the hospital appreciates that we don’t impact the patients or anyone’s daily routine. There is gratification of getting the job done without the hospital noticing we did it.”

Did you always want to be an engineer?

“No, no, no. I wanted to be an astronaut and work at NASA or be an actor. I still do some acting now. I just auditioned for a few shows and I’m currently waiting to see if I’ve been cast. “

Biggest surprise moving to Milwaukee?

“There were a lot of things. How nice everyone was. How many people say ‘hi’ to you, who don’t even know you. How slowed down it was. And the amount of drinking.”

In your spare time?

“I like to work out and do obstacle course races like the Warrior Dash, Spartan Race.”

Ultimate career goal?

TAKING CHARGE OF CHANGE

“At the end of the day, I want to be a really good senior superintendent.

I don’t know if I want to go further than that. I think the further up you go, the further away you get from enjoying what you were doing in the beginning.”

Manufacturing Matters! 2018 will take place at the Hyatt Regency in Milwaukee on March 1st, 2018 with preconference programming presented on February 28th.

Keynote Speaker: Matt Fitzgerald Vice President - Product, Rethink Robotics

ADEOLA GIWA Assistant superintendent of Milwaukee operating group M.A. MORTENSON CO. AGE: 31 HOMETOWN: Brooklyn, New York

Tammy Schwarzbauer

Space is limited, register today! www.ManufacturingMatters.org

6 / BizTimes Milwaukee FEBRUARY 19, 2018

WMEP, Client Services Specialist schwarzbauer@wmep.org 920.915.2582

EDUCATION: Bachelor’s in civil engineering from Marquette University. Master’s in civil engineering with an emphasis in transportation and construction management from Marquette.

PREVIOUS POSITION: Project engineer at Mortenson

from

Kohler Waste Lab

CONCEPT

to

COMPLETION OCTOBER 2013: The Kohler Waste Lab forms out of conversations at one of the company’s Innovation for Good retreats.

Modern manufacturing is all about constantly refining production processes to improve productivity and reduce waste. Inevitably, some materials may still be destined for the landfill. Even though Kohler Co. has reduced the amount of waste sent to landfills by 46 percent since 2010, a small team working from a corner of the company’s enamel shop is trying to find creative ways to drive it even lower. The goal of the Kohler Waste Lab is to use 100 percent landfill-destined materials from the company’s Sheboygan County campus to create several tile collections for Kohler’s Ann Sacks line. The larger mission is to change how people think about waste streams when they’re designing new products. “We haven’t applied new product development to waste streams and that’s what this is really about,” said Theresa Millard, project manager.

1 2

LATE 2014: The team begins experimenting with different materials. Using broken pieces of toilets and urinals for clay, along with foundry dust, enamel powder and iron slag, technical designer and artist Jim Neiman creates early samples, although some are far from looking like finished tile.

2018: The WasteLab team is delivering 100 square feet of tile for an internal Kohler project, documenting differences in color, quality and other characteristics to perfect the line. It is planning a soft launch at the Greenbuild conference in November and a full launch at the 2019 Kitchen and Bath Industry Show.

5

3

4

DECEMBER 2017: The team moves into a dedicated space in the enamel shop and begins establishing a workflow to scale up production. “We have two very difficult challenges at once,” Neiman said. “One is standardizing what we know we want to send to market and the second is finishing the offering.”

EARLY 2015: A yellow-green sample tile finds its way to CEO David Kohler, who shows it to the product director of Kohler’s Ann Sacks line and asks the WasteLab team to develop a formal business case for the project.

biztimes.com / 7

Leading Edge

MY FAVORITE TECH KENZI ENRIGHT Community manager, Ward4

80% by 2018 Screening Saves Lives Colon Cancer Awareness Month

We invite you to join in supporting Colon Cancer Awareness Month by placing your LOGO on the front cover of BizTimes Milwaukee “80% by 2018” is an initiative in which dozens of organizations have committed to eliminating colorectal cancer as a major public health problem and are working toward the shared goal of reaching 80% of adults aged 50 and older screened for colorectal cancer by 2018.

Space reservation:

YOUR LOGO on the FRONT COVER of BizTimes Milwaukee:

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March 19, 2018

Contact your account executive to support the 80% by 2018 Campaign at 414.336.7112 or go online to biztimes.com/logo sign up and submit your logo.

8 / BizTimes Milwaukee FEBRUARY 19, 2018

As community manager of Ward4 – a co-working space for startups, entrepreneurs and technologists in the historic Pritzlaff Building in Milwaukee – Kenzi Enright oversees its memberships, social media, marketing and events, in addition to hosting Milwaukee Women’s Entrepreneurship Week. While working at the busy pace known to startups, Enright relies on a few tech tools to help manage her schedule and for fun. Here are a few of her favorites:

ROVER “It’s a pet care app that offers dog boarding, doggy day care, dog walking and drop-in visits. Ward4 is dog-friendly, so I usually bring my dog to work with me, but some days are just too crazy. On days that I leave Tully at home, Rover totally has my back. Plus, they send you updates and pictures, which makes me feel so much better about leaving him for the day.”

YAHOO FANTASY FOOTBALL “I am the proud commissioner of two fantasy football leagues and an ashamed loser in said two fantasy football leagues. It consumes way too much of my time considering the results I reap. The real stinger is that, this year, both winners auto-drafted.”

INSTAGRAM “OK, full disclosure: I am on Instagram so often because I manage an account that I made for my dog. But hear me out. Dog Instagram is so much better than human Instagram because, dogs. I will never be ashamed of this.”

SKYSCANNER “It’s an app that finds you the cheapest flights during the best travel times in a specific location. Working in startups is exhaustingly rewarding, emphasis on exhausting. Skyscanner has helped me find the best flights for a quick getaway whenever I’ve needed one.” n

the

FRAN C H I S E E

RITA COLLINS IKOR

“I wanted to be in a role that can make a difference in people’s lives and in the quality of life that they’re living,” Collins said.

THE FRANCHISE: Omaha, Nebraska-based IKOR is a life care management company that specializes in helping seniors and those with disabilities through patient advocacy and financial management. The company has 66 operating territories in 23 states.

OCTOBER 2016 After 12 years in a corporate role, Rita Collins, a former business owner, begins exploring opportunities to own her own business again. Collins works with a franchise broker, who identifies six potential franchises for her, including IKOR. JANUARY 2017 Having personally experienced the challenge of navigating the health care system while caring for family members, Collins is drawn to IKOR’s mission. She decides to pursue opening her own IKOR location.

MARCH 2017 After traveling to Pennsylvania, where IKOR’s headquarters was located at the time, for a “discovery day,” Collins signs her franchisee agreement with IKOR to open a Milwaukee-area location.

JUNE 2017 Collins hires a full-time nurse – her only employee – and opens an IKOR office at 1025 W. Glen Oaks Lane in Mequon.

“We don’t do the hands-on care, but we act as what I like to say is a general contractor,” Collins said. “If someone needs home health care, I will vet different home health care agencies.

I don’t take referral fees, so I look for what’s in the best interest of the client.”

JANUARY 2018 Collins says she is seeking clients for whom she can advocate.

IKOR helps seniors and those with disabilities.

“I’ve known what it’s like to not know where to turn, when facing a life-changing event, not knowing where to turn and who to go to.

IKOR can help be that one point to direct people to the right place,” Collinns said.

She has been raising awareness of IKOR’s services by reaching out to financial planners, elder law attorneys, and senior centers and Aging & Disability Resource Centers in the region.

THE FRANCHISE FEE The fee to open an IKOR office is $35,000.

biztimes.com / 9

Leading Edge

@BIZTIMESMEDIA – Real-time news

IN THE NEIGHBORHOOD

FLOAT MILWAUKEE LLC 211 W. Freshwater Way

How did you come up with the idea to open Float?

“I found a place that was doing it in Waukesha so I went there to try it and I was blown away. Initially, I got in the tank and wondered what I was going to do for an hour, and then I let go and relaxed and it was this unbelievable experience. For me, it was the meditative state people talk about. I had never felt so relaxed or at peace in my life.”

NEIGHBORHOOD: Walker’s Point FOUNDED: August 2015 OWNER: Andy Larson EMPLOYEES: 10 SERVICE: Sensory deprivation

Was it hard to get financing?

“Not as hard as I thought it would be. I am a CPA and worked

BIZ POLL

A recent survey of BizTimes.com readers.

in corporate tax for more than 10 years before I left my job to do this. My wife and I had a decent amount of savings.

So the combination of our own savings and an SBA loan, plus the fact that I was a CPA with experience in the financial field helped.”

How would you describe ‘floating?’

“It is different for everyone. But you are in 10 inches of water that has 1,000 pounds of epsom salt dissolved in it, so the water is more buoyant than the Dead Sea, so you can effortlessly float.

The water is skin tem-

perature, so after a while, you forget you are in water. You can control the light and music. Because you are weightless, there is no pressure on your muscles and joints and you are able to experience pain relief and stress relief.”

Who are the types of people who ‘float?’

“People who are clinically anxious and depressed really find it to be beneficial.

Athletes use it, too.

Steph Curry (Golden State Warriors) and J.J. Watt (Houston Texans) are both people who talk about recovering mental focus before games.” n

Who’s on the Board?

Where do you usually shop?

Mayfair Mall:

21%

14% Brookfield Square: 12% Southridge Mall: 9% The Shops of Grand Avenue: 4% The Corners of Brookfield: 4% None of the above: 36% Bayshore Town Center:

Share your opinion! Visit biztimes.com/bizpoll to cast your vote in the next Biz Poll.

10 / BizTimes Milwaukee FEBRUARY 19, 2018

THE MANITOWOC CO. INC. • Kenneth Krueger, chairman, retired chief operating officer of Bucyrus International Inc. • Jose Maria Alapont, retired president and chief executive officer of Federal-Mogul Corp.

• Robert Bohn, retired chairman and CEO of Oshkosh Corp.

• Donald Condon Jr., president of IDSM Distribution Services Inc. • Anne Cooney, president of the Process Industries and Drives

Pennypacker

division of Siemens Industry Inc. • Jesse Lynn, general counsel of Icahn Enterprises L.P. • C. David Myers, retired president of the Building Efficiency Group of Johnson Controls Inc. • Barry Pennypacker, president and CEO of The Manitowoc Co. • John Pfeifer, president of Mercury Marine and vice president of Brunswick Corp.

REV UP

STONEHOUSE WATER TECHNOLOGIES LLC LEADERSHIP: Hensley Foster, president H E A D Q U A R T E R S: Milwaukee

W H AT I T D O E S: Develops water purification systems F O U N D E D: 2012

N E X T G O A L S: Complete first full-scale manufacturing run for Water Pod 8.

REVENUE: Projected 2018: $2.25 million

Stonehouse Water Technologies gears up for first production run

By Molly Dill, staff writer

LILA ARYAN PHOTOGRAPHY

E M P L OY E E S: Eight

What if the residents of Waukesha had water filtration systems installed in their homes to correct the city’s water quality issues?

Milwaukee’s Stonehouse Water Technologies LLC has developed a water filtration system for just that purpose, with the tagline: “Making the unthinkable drinkable.” The Water Pod 8 provides a compact whole-house water purification system that can handle as much as 20,000 gallons per day. It eliminates bad odor and taste, destroys 99.9 percent of bacteria and viruses, and reduces heavy metals such as lead.

“We came up with this new design last summer and have been engineering it and testing it,” said president Hensley Foster. “Our whole idea is it’s going to be like an appliance that you put in your house.”

Stonehouse raised a $1.55 million funding round in November, which will help fund manufacturing and inventory of its Water Pod 8. It plans to roll out the product into the new construction, agriculture and private well markets in Wisconsin once it is produced.

One of the first tenants of the Global Water Center in Walker’s Point, Stonehouse credits its growth in part to the collaborative water innovation atmosphere in the building. Foster, a retired engineer, and vice president Anne Wick, a registered nurse, initially focused on developing countries in Africa and Asia. But

Hensley Foster

then they learned there were areas much closer that needed its products.

Kewaunee, Wisconsin is one example right in Stonehouse’s backyard. It became a pilot site for the Pod 8.

“Kewaunee County is a very agricultural county. There are more dairy cattle in the county than humans, so there’s a lot of agricultural runoff, meaning manure. Unfortunately, a lot of that runoff ends up in the water table,” Wick said. “They had to take baths with bottled water for years.”

The pods can be customized depending on a customer’s water quality concerns, and the modular design will allow Stonehouse to add new filters later as they are developed. Stonehouse can remotely monitor their performance.

They are currently being manufactured at Romus Inc. in Roselle, Illinois, and Moldmakers Inc. also makes some of the parts locally. Moldmakers is a division of Germantown-based MGS Mfg. Group, which along with founder Mark Sellers was a lead investor in Stonehouse’s funding round.

Stonehouse plans to introduce at least three new products in 2018: a nitrate removal cartridge, an LED disinfection system and an arsenic removal cartridge for the pod.

“There’s just no way that we’re going to be able to stop global pollution—so we’re just going to have to deal with it,” Foster said. n biztimes.com / 11

BizNews FEATURE STORY Serve Marketing has developed several campaigns to show teenagers the cost of teen pregnancy.

The nonprofit ad agency behind Milwaukee’s edgiest campaigns

By Lauren Anderson, staff writer, AT 7:20 A.M. on Aug. 14, 2001, Milwaukee-area drivers couldn’t escape the unrelenting sound of a wailing baby during their morning commute.

The 50-second radio spot of an infant crying played on radio stations across the region simultaneously, so efforts to avoid the cries were thwarted when listeners found the exact same sound across the dial. It was a radio roadblock.

Those who stuck it out to the end heard this message: “No matter how long she cries. No matter how tired you are. No matter how frustrated you get. Never, ever 12 / BizTimes Milwaukee FEBRUARY 19, 2018

shake a baby.”

People, apparently, listened.

After months of escalating shaken baby rates in the region – with 27 reported cases in the seven months leading up to the radio spot – they halted for four months once it aired.

Behind the campaign, dubbed by local media as the “message you couldn’t escape,” was Gary Mueller, creative director at Milwaukee advertising agency BVK Inc. Months before, Mueller had been approached by a representative of the Shaken Baby Association Inc., a grassroots organization founded by parents whose chil-

dren were shaken by their caregivers, resulting in head trauma. The group asked Mueller to develop a campaign that would raise awareness of the traumatic, often fatal, effects of shaking babies – a message that was powerful, effective and unforgettable. And, given the group’s limited budget, it had to be done without any money.

It would become the first of many such assignments Mueller would take on: raising awareness of social issues, bringing taboo topics to the forefront, pushing the envelope of traditional advertising strategies and doing it all on a shoestring.

The following year, Mueller founded Serve Marketing, an all-volunteer, nonprofit ad agency that has produced some of Milwaukee’s edgiest campaigns.

Those who have seen them will likely remember them.

The human trafficking awareness campaign in which vending machines on high-traffic sidewalks appeared as though young teenage girls were trapped inside.

The teenage pregnancy awareness campaign that plastered jarring images of teenage boys with bulging pregnant bellies, along with the headline, “It shouldn’t be any less disturbing when it’s a girl. Teen pregnancy. Don’t ignore it” – on billboards, bus shelters and buses.

The teenage sexting awareness campaign that posted an illustration of an unrolled condom over a cell phone with the headline, “Please practice safe text” at bus stops.

The statutory rape awareness radio ad campaign that began with the words: “Hello, rapist. You don’t mind if I call you that because that’s what you are.”

Serve operates on the premise that to tackle big problems, you have to get your audience’s attention.

“You get positive and negative reactions,” said Laura Gainor, executive director of Serve. “But we want that because we want people talking.”

The idea behind Serve came as an epiphany while Mueller was sitting in church one Sunday in July 2002.

At the time, Mueller had been gunning to become partner at BVK and was a little frustrated it hadn’t happened yet. He had been taking on pro bono cases for nonprofits, including the shaken baby campaign, but was motivated to do so not so much out of virtue, but because it meant an opportunity to do good creative work.

The message resonated with Mueller that morning, as the pastor exhorted the congregation to use their talents and treasures to give back, and not just for their own personal gain.

“About five minutes into the sermon, I kind of stopped listening and got the whole idea of ‘This is what you’re supposed to be doing with your life,’” Mueller said.

Down to some very specific details, Mueller walked out of the church with a thorough plan for Serve, including the kind of compensation sacrifices he would have to make to launch a nonprofit, all-volunteer agency. The mission would be to “shine a light on underserved organizations,” work with clients no one else was willing to take on, talk about issues no one wants to talk about and work on causes that are the toughest to crack. And to do everything for free.

“Everything in my life was preparing me to do it,” Mueller said. “I was more concerned with winning awards, making money, all the wrong stuff. Up to that point, I was just on the wrong mission.”

The next day, Mueller approached his boss at BVK with a three-page plan, in which Mueller agreed to give up any future partnership at the agency and forgo a raise for 10 years. In return, he asked that BVK fund two full-time positions at Serve and allow access to all of the agency’s resources.

They shook on it.

“And that was it,” Mueller said.

“I never questioned it.”

Serve opened its first office

A Serve Marketing campaign raises awareness of the connection between animal abuse and child abuse.

on Milwaukee Street with two employees, an account person and executive director, with Mueller volunteering his time while working full-time as executive creative director at BVK. The office has since relocated to Walker’s Point.

The rest of the work is done by volunteers, including writers, art directors, strategic planners, social media managers, photographers, videographers and editors. At any given time, Serve has a volunteer pool of more than 50 people. Many of those volunteers work at BVK, which donates more than $1 million in time, resources and funds annually to the nonprofit work.

While Serve has never had a shortage of willing volunteers, the biggest challenge is producing campaigns with limited financial resources. When Serve teamed up with the Human Trafficking Task

Force of Greater Milwaukee to launch the vending machine campaign, for example, it took some creativity to pull off.

“We had to get donated vending machines, find movers to haul the machines around for free, or who we’d hire for free lunch,” Mueller said. “You’re begging and borrowing and bartering with people to get it done and hoping media will come tell the story.”

Serve’s approach to advertising can also be a hard sell at times.

“Some boards didn’t understand it,” he said. “I had to do more work upfront with these boards and meet with them and explain how this kind of work works better than safe, traditional work.”

Dana World-Patterson, who has worked with the firm on public awareness campaigns as chair of the Human Trafficking Task Force

of Greater Milwaukee, said the bold messaging strikes the right tone.

“Sex trafficking – even though it’s an underground network – really, it’s hidden in plain sight,” World-Patterson said. “It’s all around. It’s a dirty subject. It’s hard. So I don’t mind that in-yourface campaign. The in-your-face, but subtle approach is perfect.”

The results from several Serve campaigns bear that out.

In 2006, when the agency teamed up with United Way of Greater Milwaukee on the teenage pregnancy cause, reports showed Milwaukee had the second-highest rate of birth to teens in the nation.

Serve deployed several awareness campaigns with a specific aim of showing teens the cost of having a baby at that age. Campaign gimmicks included mailing fake tax bills to residents saying they owed

the city $92,000, and putting graffiti messages on walls around the city that encouraged teens to call a number to “have a good time,” which led them to a voice message that listed the consequences of teen pregnancy.

The nontraditional tactics got results. The teenage pregnancy rate in Milwaukee decreased 65 percent between 2006 and 2016.

Not all campaigns have been as successful, though. Mueller has a hard time shaking them.

“I’ll be haunted forever by all the stuff that has failed,” Mueller said. “I’ve done seven or eight co-sleeping campaigns and the co-sleeping rate is still horrific.

Babies are still dying … I’ve done foster care campaigns that have increased parents inquiring by 415 percent in a year and some that have only increased it by 50 percent. They weren’t as powerful.

They weren’t as strong. I didn’t do a good enough job.”

This many years in, and Mueller still feels a little nervous before the launch of every campaign, unsure how people will react to it. But, he said, that just means it’s going to have an impact.

“A lot of times we’re tearing a Band-Aid off of any issue,” he said.

“There are people who don’t want you to talk about this stuff, but you can’t fix it if you don’t talk about it.” n

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biztimes.com / 13

BizNews

Residential product growth prompts Perlick to branch out FOR YEARS, Milwaukee-based Perlick Corp. has been focused on the business of keeping things cold, but this year the company is launching its own line of ovens and ranges as part of an expansion of its residential offerings.

The addition of a range with every burner capable of holding melted chocolate at temperature for hours or boiling a gallon of water in eight minutes is an extension of Perlick’s focus on innovation. It’s also required the company to expand beyond its Milwaukee roots, opening a factory in Monterrey, Mexico in 2016 and an engineering and design office in southern California last year.

“The last four years, we’ve basically doubled the size of the business,” said Tim Ebner, Perlick vice president of marketing and business development. “We basically ran out of space here in Milwaukee.”

The 300,000-square-foot facility on Good Hope Road remains home to Perlick’s brewery fittings and bar and beverage businesses.

Ebner isn’t exaggerating by saying the Milwaukee facility is out of room. Around almost every corner there’s work in progress, everything from cocktail stations to coolers, ice chests to beer lines.

The commercially-focused bar and beverage business is the family-owned company’s largest segment, with products installed in sports venues like the new Milwaukee Bucks arena, Miller Park and Wrigley Field, along with large national chains like Buffalo Wild Wings, Olive Garden and Red Lobster.

With 1.6 million different possible versions of a back bar cooler 14 / BizTimes Milwaukee FEBRUARY 19, 2018

alone, Perlick doesn’t carry any inventory, but the company also has a 10-day lead time for customers to expect products to be delivered.

Each beer system is engineered to the specific situation. If the beer lines cover a short distance, using only carbon dioxide will work. For longer distances – Perlick can do up to 800-foot beer lines – using only carbon dioxide will over-carbonate the beer and send foam out of the tap.

“In the bar business, pouring foam is pouring money away,” Ebner said.

Ebner said growth in the commercial portion of the business has been driven by understanding customer needs and continuing to develop innovative products. He pointed to the company’s Tobin Ellis cocktail stations, designed to have everything a bartender needs within reach, as an example.

“We don’t go out trying to be the least expensive, but we try to make it the most profitable for operators,” Ebner said.

Perlick has redesigned all of its refrigeration equipment within the past five years and continues to search for more environmentally-friendly refrigerants. The company’s engineering staff members all have substantial industry experience and while finding new talent can be difficult, Perlick benefits from a number of other refrigeration companies located in the state.

“Fortunately for us, Wisconsin is a hotbed for refrigeration companies, as odd as that may seem,” Ebner said.

A similar depth of talent in southern California for ranges and ovens prompted Perlick to open an

Perlick’s largest business segment is focused on the bar and beverage industry.

PERLICK CORP.

8300 Good Hope Road, Milwaukee INDUSTRY: Bar and beverage, kitchen appliance EMPLOYEES: 370 (250 in Milwaukee) WEBSITE: perlick.com

engineering center there in January 2017 and a year later, the company launched its ranges at the Kitchen and Bath Industry Show.

Perlick didn’t set out to push into a new category. The company only entered the residential market 15 years ago and primarily made high-end under-counter refrigeration units.

“In a very short period of time, we’ve gotten a reputation for having the best product out there,” Ebner said, adding that customers began to also request full-size, upright refrigerators.

The only problem was consumers often want their refrigerator and range to be the same brand and launching one without the other would put Perlick at a disadvantage, Ebner said.

“I think where we surprised ourselves was the level of innovation that we built into the cooking products,” he said. “The initial thoughts were we were just going to have a high-end cooking appliance, probably buy it from whomever.”

But as the company designed the upright refrigerator – which has

plenty of innovation of its own – Perlick realized the range needed to be at the same level.

Perlick’s residential products don’t face the same pressure for short lead times or level variation as the commercial lines, which made residential a better fit for the company’s Mexico plant.

“We need to be able to get the complex stuff out quick and we felt that (Milwaukee is) a better facility and a better workforce to make that happen,” Ebner said. n

ARTHUR THOMAS Reporter

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Real Estate

@BIZTIMESMEDIA – Real-time news

The historic White House Tavern building in Bay View sold recently.

Bay View upswing has taken time

For years, many speculated that someday Bay View would become Milwaukee’s hottest neighborhood.

There were even bumper stickers declaring Bay View Milwaukee’s other, scratch that, better East Side.

Momentum was slow to build.

My dad managed the Kohl’s Food Store at 2826 S. Kinnickinnic Ave. in the 1990s, which became Outpost Natural Foods in 2005.

When I moved to Bay View in 2003, I assured him the neighborhood was on the upswing. He dismissed my enthusiasm, saying the neighborhood had been on an “upswing” for a decade.

But today, with numerous projects underway and others in the pipeline, Bay View truly is one of the city’s most desired neighborhoods.

The mere fact that a corner bar built in 1890 is being marketed to high-end restaurateurs is a sign that times have changed.

Bay View’s Historic White House Tavern at 2900 S. Kinnickinnic Ave. closed Dec. 31 and was sold to unidentified owners who are planning to make improvements to the building and lease it to a new operator.

Cory Sovine, a real estate broker with Colliers International who is marketing the property, said the White House is indicative of the changing neighborhood.

Sovine said psychologically,

FEATURED DEAL: FOXCONN’S WISCONSIN HQ Foxconn Technology Group will purchase the 611 Building in downtown Milwaukee from Northwestern Mutual Life Insurance Co. this year for its Wisconsin headquarters.

The 54-year-old office building has a capacity of up to 650 people, which will be a combination of Foxconn employees and outside partners, including venture capitalists and startup firms, said Alan Yeung, director of U.S. strategic initiatives at Foxconn.

Dubbed “Foxconn Place,” it will serve as the office space component of the company’s plans to build an LCD panel manufacturing facility in Mount Pleasant.

The building will also be home to the newly-established Wisconn Valley Innovation Center, a hub for the 8K+5G ecosystem Foxconn is creating in Wisconsin.

ADDRESS: 617 E. Wisconsin Ave., Milwaukee BUYER: Foxconn Technology Group SELLER: Northwestern Mutual Life Insurance Co. CLOSING DATE: TBD 2018 SALE PRICE: Not disclosed. Building assessed at $11.5 million 16 / BizTimes Milwaukee FEBRUARY 19, 2018

an Outpost, but we wanted to be forward thinking and we got it done,” Zielinski said.

Other notable projects along the KK corridor have been the reopening of the Avalon Theater in December 2014 and the addition of Colectivo, a 15,000-square-foot café and bakery at the corner of South Kinnickinnic and East Lincoln avenues, in 2012.

Over the years, bars including Johnny Club Carnival, 2394 S. Kinnickinnic Ave., and the Home Bar, 2659 S. Kinnickinnic Ave., have been replaced with destination restaurants Cafe Corazon and The Vanguard, respectively.

“This is not something that has happened by accident,” Zielinski said.

Some Bay View residents have opposed the neighborhood’s gentrification, pointing to parking issues and the density of apartment buildings. But Zielinski said the projects have made the KK corridor a safer, more walkable street, while keeping the commercial and multifamily development away from the single family residential areas of the neighborhood.

There are still several properties along the KK corridor that could be redeveloped. The former Bella’s Fat Cat restaurant at 2737 S. Kinnickinnic Ave. has been vacant since 2010.

“I want to do something with that land,” Zielinski said. “There is tremendous potential. But I want to do the right project and that takes time. Some things move quick, some things move slower. Unfortunately, this one is slower.” n

WHO REALLY OWNS IT?

people used to think Bay View was farther away from downtown than it actually is because Walker’s Point was not as developed as it is today.

Now that South First and South Second streets in Walker’s Point have attracted numerous restaurants and other development, people can easily envision driving farther south into Bay View, Sovine said.

Another factor that has helped spur development in Bay View is the addition of multi-family housing and younger people moving in, Sovine said.

“There has been a lot of generational ownership in Bay View, with people living there for 30 to 40 years in smaller houses,” Sovine said. “It was a neighborhood that was cut off for a long time, but we are starting to see those people leave and Bay View is perfectly situated, because the homes are great for younger families or single people starting out.”

Abandoned warehouses, former retail spaces and smaller parcels that have been combined are also being turned into sites for apartment developments, particularly along South Kinnickinnic Avenue.

Those apartment complexes include the 291-unit Stitchweld, at 2141 S. Robinson Ave. and Vue at the former Faust Music store site at 2204 S. Kinnickinnic Ave. Just north of the Vue development, where the former Hamburger Mary’s restaurant building is located, New Land Enterprises LLP is planning a $21 million mixeduse development at the corner of South Kinnickinnic Avenue and East Bay Street that will include 15,000 square feet of retail space and 144 apartments.

Milwaukee Alderman Tony Zielinski, who has represented the Bay View neighborhood since 2004, said when he came into office Kinnickinnic had many boarded up storefronts, undesirable bars and prostitutes and drug dealers near East Lincoln Avenue. The change has been slow, Zielinski said, but Bay View has evolved.

“People looked at Bay View with the boarded up storefronts and couldn’t believe we could get

THE LINDSAY BUILDING The sprawling historic Lindsay Building on South Second Street is one of the largest warehouses in Milwaukee’s Walker’s Point neighborhood. The building is approximately 330 feet long and 140 feet deep, with oak columns Never vacant but vastly underutilized, the 220,000-squarefoot building was built with cream city brick in 1892 and used for distributing agricultural equipment, binder twine, bicycles, buggies and sleighs, according to a real estate listing for the property in 2010.

It has been listed for sale several times in recent years, but has not been sold. Owner Brian Jost, who could not be reached for comment, owns several properties in Walker’s Point.

ADDRESS: 126 S. Second St. OWNER: Brian M. Jost ASSESSED: $1.3 million

Kevin Lacz is a decorated former US Navy SEAL

C O M P L A C E N C Y

K I L L S:

Combat’s Most Important Lessons Applied to Business Thursday, March 8, 2018 | 7:30 - 9:30AM Harley Davidson Museum | 500 W. Canal St. - Milwaukee, WI 53203

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CORRINNE HESS Reporter

P / 414-336-7116 E / corri.hess@biztimes.com T / @CorriHess

WWW. MMAC.ORG/EVENTS.HTML biztimes.com / 17

TAKING CHARGE OF CHANGE 2018 Conference Agenda Wednesday, February 28th:

Thursday, March 1st:

8:00am – 5:00pm Pre-Conference Workshops & Tours

8:00am – 8:30am Opening Remarks

5:30pm – 7:30pm Directors’ Reception

8:30am – 9:30am Keynote Speaker Matthew Fitzgerald, Rethink Robotics 9:30am – 3:15pm Sessions 3:15pm – Network Reception SESSIONS:

Growth & Innovation »» Positioning your Company for Growth »» Strategic, Not Accidental, Exporting »» Fast Tracking Sales Growth

Workforce Engagement »» Improving Retention with Effective Employee Onboarding »» Transforming Workers into Leaders and Problem Solvers »» Creative Ways for Recruiting – Reaching Out to Youth

Productivity »» Automation for Everyone »» Getting Ahead of Sustainability Requirements »» Transformational Productivity: Growing the States GDP, One

Manufacturer at a Time.

Technology & Innovation »» 3D Printing and the Manufacturing Revolution »» Considerations for Developing Your Digital Road Map »» Cyber Risk in Manufacturing: Be Proactive and Prepared

C-Suite Essentials »» Creative (but sound) Tips & Best Practices for: Transitions, Financing,

Growth & Improved Cash Flows »» Increasing Company Value »» Are You Ready For Foxconn?

18 / BizTimes Milwaukee FEBRUARY 19, 2018

Wisconsin Industry Focus »» From Rust Belt to Brain Belt: Driving Wisconsin’s Digital Renaissance »» State of the State & Manufacturing »» Boom or Bust? Will the New Tax Code Re-ignite Manufacturing

in Wisconsin?

Rethink robotics EMPLOYEES WORKING sideby-side with nimble collaborative robots is becoming more common on factory floors at manufacturers of all sizes, especially as a means of overcoming challenges tied to an increasingly troublesome labor shortage plaguing the industrial sector.

“We’ve made the robots attractive to almost everybody,” says Matt Fitzgerald, Vice President of Product at Rethink Robotics Inc., a Boston-based maker of collaborative robots and corresponding software.

More than 1.7 million new industrial robots will be installed in factories around the world by 2020, according to the 2017 World Robotics Report conducted by the International Federation of Robotics.

The popularity of collaborative robots is being driven, in part, by their relatively low costs and ease of use, Fitzgerald says.

“It’s all visual programming.

That really removes the intimidation of robots,” Fitzgerald said.

Fitzgerald will deliver the keynote address at the Wisconsin Manufacturing Extension Partnership’s Manufacturing Matters! con-

ference on March 1 at the Hyatt Regency Hotel in Milwaukee.

Robotics, once thought to be unattainable for small and midsize manufacturers, have become much more affordable. Prices for Rethink Robotics’ collaborative robots start at $35,000.

Rethink Robotics launched in 2008 under the direction of co-founders Rodney Brooks, a professor who headed the computer science and artificial intelligence lab at the Massachusetts Institute

family of mopping robots.

Rethink Robotics’ innovations have included the robot Baxter, released in 2012. Sawyer, introduced in 2015, is designed to perform more precise and detailed tasks.

Fitzgerald has been a member of the Rethink Robotics team since 2012 and has been integral in launching both the Sawyer and Baxter collaborative robots and leading the company’s product management team.

In the past, robots in industrial settings presented potential dangers and could be difficult to use, he says.

“Our robots are easy to use and intuitive. Most anybody can understand them and get them up and running quickly,” Fitzgerald said.

Collaborative robots can have an immediate and direct impact on manufacturers struggling to fill open jobs amidst low unemployment and dramatically changing demographics that are shrinking the workforce, Fitzgerald insists.

“Robots can do jobs on the line that manufacturers can’t find people to fill,” he says. “This labor shortage, the body gap, is a challenge not only in the United States but worldwide. Collaborative robots can fill that void.”

The use of robotics can also boost productivity, allowing for crucial increases in throughput, Fitzgerald says.

“Our robots are easy to use and intuitive. Most anybody can understand them and get them up and running quickly.”

— Matt Fitzgerald of Technology, and Ann Whittaker, who has held various management roles at MIT. Brooks previously co-founded iRobot, a Bedford, Massachusetts-based consumer robot company best known for developing robots for home cleaning, including the Roomba vacuuming robots and the Braava

Fitzgerald acknowledges that issues have been raised about robots replacing workers and reducing the overall number of factory jobs.

“But if you look at the data, the labor shortage is real,” he says.

“It’s also really hard for someone to do the same mundane, repet-

itive tasks for eight to 10 hours a day. Let workers use their talent and insight to do higher value tasks around the plant.”

Fitzgerald insists that collaborative robots have become safer, in part, through limits on power and force. The robots are designed to immediately stop when they detect any sort of potential collision with a worker or something in the immediate area.

“They’re specifically designed to work alongside people,” Fitzgerald said.

Collaborative robots offer advantages and affordability for small and mid-size manufacturers that may have been out of reach in the past.

Workers can expand their onthe-job skill sets by working with robots while also freeing them to do more challenging and rewarding work, Fitzgerald says.

Collaborative robots tie in well with the Internet of Things, an interconnection, via the Internet, of computing devices embedded in objects that enables them to send and receive data.

“Our robots are big bundles of sensors,” Fitzgerald says.

“Sawyer has an embedded camera in the robot for locating parts before picking or placing.

You can track cycle time and how much force was used when placing something into a fixture.

It can tell you the run-time hours and the parts count. It can track all this data and send it out to be analyzed.”

Rethink Robotics plans to continue to grow its family of robots while developing leading-edge software.

“I think some of things we can look for in the future is how do we reduce the friction of integration with existing machinery and components in the work cell,” Fitzgerald says. “How can we continue to make it easier and faster for the robot to get set up, whether you are integrating with a programmable logic controller or a manufacturing execution system.”

-By Rich Rovito biztimes.com / 19

TPI Gaining Momentum A CONCERTED EFFORT to boost manufacturing productivity in Wisconsin is gaining momentum.

The Transformational Productivity Initiative (TPI) consists of a diagnostic assessment and strategy implementation that has a goal of reaching a dramatic 40 percent productivity improvement within 18 months. The aggressive effort aims to make the state’s manufacturers stronger competitors in an increasingly global market.

Extensive pilot programs have been conducted at four Wisconsin manufacturers – Racine Metal-Fab in Racine; Hartford-based Signicast; the Wagner Companies in Milwaukee; and Schaffer Manufacturing in Milltown.

“We’ve come quite a distance,” said Randy Bertram, director of sustainability and operational excellence at the Wisconsin Manufacturing Extension Partnership.

“We’re really in the process of evaluating what we’ve learned.”

TPI is a joint effort of the Wisconsin Economic Development Corporation (WEDC), the WMEP and the Metropolitan Milwaukee Association of Commerce.

20 / BizTimes Milwaukee FEBRUARY 19, 2018

Benchmarking data will be presented at the WMEP’s Manufacturing Matters! conference on March 1 at the Hyatt Regency Hotel in Milwaukee.

Manufacturers need to boost their productivity, in large part, because of ongoing labor pool issues, Bertram said.

“There are workforce issues that aren’t going to change any time soon and this will at least partially offset a decline in workforce participation,” he said. “If companies want to grow, they will have to do it through increased productivity and do more with the resources that they already have in place.”

TPI is designed to assist manufacturers in benchmarking their performance against others in their industry segment (using NAICS code); identify and quantify performance gaps; provide a roadmap, guidance and resources required to close those gap; and assist bestin-class firms in expanding through technology, operational and business innovation that will define future best practices.

TPI established diagnostic

assessment tools in five key factor areas relating to manufacturing productivity: technology implementation; operational excellence; human capital management; business development; and organizational structure and culture.

“Companies are making fairly significant investments in automation technology,” Bertram said.

“At the same time, they are becoming very creative in how they recruit and retain employees.”

Steven Boeder, director of the Erdman Center for Operations and Technology Management at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, describes TPI as “an integrative approach to improving productivity.”

“Companies often are focused on what’s in front of them, day in and day out,” Boeder said. “It doesn’t mean that they are bad organizations but they need to slice out time to create standard work and decide what levers they are going to pull, strategically. Organizations that are going to be successful need to focus strategically and operationally.”

With the current pace of change,

it no longer makes business sense to focus on three- to five-year strategic plans, Boeder said.

“You have to interface weekly or monthly to make sure everyone is executing the plan and marching toward the same objectives,” he said.

TPI involves a user-friendly set of diagnostic and assessment tools designed to expose companies to the numerous factors affecting productivity. Companies implement recommended measures to improve productivity and the results of those efforts are measured.

The next phase of the program will focus on streamlining the assessment process, said Enno Siemsen, a professor and Executive Director of the Erdman Center for Operations and Technology.

“Companies are finding it very valuable. It gives them good ideas for improvement,” he said.

TPI is now expected to be deployed on a larger scale throughout the state.

“I’m excited with the progress that has been made but we still have a lot of work to do,” he said.

“We are overwhelmed with the number of companies that want to participate.”

Among the challenges is scaling up the initiative to include hundreds of companies.

The initiative remains vitally important even though the economy has been gaining steam in recent months, said Kelly Armstrong, director of sector strategy development for the Wisconsin Economic Development Corporation.

The WEDC remains committed to the initiative, which gives manufacturers an opportunity to make a holistic assessment of their operations and create a strategic plan to increase the value of the business, Armstrong said.

“TPI is a long-term solution, and being more productive and efficient is part of the solution to the talent gap, the body gap and the skills gap,” she said.

-By Rich Rovito

STORY COVER

DAVID & GOLIATH Corporations give startups a leg up

By Molly Dill, staff writer Madison-based American Family Mutual Insurance Co. has been investing in startup companies since 2010, which makes it one of the most experienced corporate venture capital investors in Wisconsin.

It started with a Madison startup called Shoutlet, a social marketing software platform that had been helping American Family’s insurance agents communicate with clients. The property and casualty insurer decided to invest in Shoutlet, which according to SEC filings raised about $5.5 million from at least three investors in 2010.

American Family got a return on its investment in 2015, when Shoutlet was acquired by Austin, Texas-based Spredfast.

“They needed to raise venture capital and we sort of did a one-time, ad hoc team back in 2010,” said Dan Reed, managing director at American Family Ventures. “That’s part of how an insurance company makes money, and we’ve been making investments in venture investment funds since 1983. It’s an asset class we’re familiar with as a company, but we hadn’t been making direct investments in startups until 2010.”

In 2013, the company officially formed its venture capital division, American Family Ventures, with a $50 million fund and a planned five-year investment horizon.

Within two years, American Family had seen such promise from the Ventures investments that it upped the fund to a whopping $200 million. The insurer has now made 47 investments (seven of which are in Wisconsin), about seven of which it has exited successfully.

Of course, a couple of those companies it invested in haven’t survived, but that’s a hazard of the game.

American Family is one of several Wisconsin companies that have begun taking equity stakes in entrepreneurial ventures over the past several years to meet their strategic goals, help a fledgling firm, obtain talent and, hopefully, make a return on their investments. biztimes.com / 21

STORY COVER

THE STRATEGY OF STARTUPS

Investing in startups is a strategic option for American Family as it has evaluated the changing dynamics in the insurance industry, Reed said.

AFV seeks out insurance, internet of things and analytics startups that offer new sources of data or new approaches to gleaning insight from data. It typically chips in between $500,000 and $5 million for early stage companies raising seed rounds to series B rounds.

AFV looks at about 1,500 startups per year, meets with about 400 of those and then chooses to invest in eight to 10 of them.

“People are trying to innovate around the user experience and to some extent, the products that the insurance world offers,” Reed said. “As a result, the investment numbers have been way up every year since we got started.”

American Family isn’t the only Wisconsin insurance company seeking out startups. Madison-based CUNA Mutual Group launched CMFG Ventures LLC in October 2016, also after an ad hoc investment of more than $10 million in an auto loan startup called SpringboardAuto.com.

CUNA Mutual’s customers are cooperatives, credit unions and their members. Creating CMFG allowed the company to find new solutions for its customers’ needs, said Brian Kaas, managing director at CMFG Ventures.

“Within the financial services industry, we were starting to see a lot of emerging fintech companies that were starting to disrupt the financial services industry,” Kaas said. “Given the connection that our company has with the credit union industry, we really saw a need for us to be a driver of innovation.”

Disruption is a common theme that drives corporate players to the innovative world of startups.

Even if a company doesn’t invest in an early stage company, it can see what kind of technology is being developed for the industry before it goes mainstream, he said.

“If you look at both the banking side and the insurance side of financial services, they lag behind really major changes in terms of user experiences,” Kaas said. “In part because a lot of these financial institutions are very large, very old and have outdated systems.”

Corporations taking part in venture capital investing are choosing to look at new technology companies not as a threat, but as part of their solutions, he said.

So far, CUNA Mutual has made 11 investments totaling $65 million. On average, its investments range from $1 million to $5 million.

CMFG seeks out fintech and insuretech companies focused on the banking and credit union industries. It has a national scope, and has reviewed 22 / BizTimes Milwaukee FEBRUARY 19, 2018

more than 300 startups for potential investment.

Many business-to-business focused startups seek its investment because of CUNA Mutual’s relationships with more than 95 percent of credit unions in the United States, Kaas said.

“We don’t have any investments yet in a Wisconsin company, so we’re looking for the right opportunity to make that first investment, but to date we have not found the right fit,” Kaas said.

While it has not made any exits yet, CMFG plans on a five- to seven-year investment horizon for each investment.

“We’re looking at companies that have strong management teams, that have innovation and unique platforms with high barriers to entry, so a lot of the traditional criteria that a venture capital investor would look at, but it has to be strategic first and foremost,” he said.

Those strategic applications include new distribution channels for its insurance products.

the ability to test its solution on the front lines of health care.

Its venture capital investment strategy began with a partnership it formed with Brookfield startup EmOpti Inc., Rodgers said. The company created a software platform that reduces patient wait times at emergency rooms and arranges completion of preliminary tests before the patient sees a doctor in person.

Aurora invested in two different EmOpti funding rounds, $500,000 each time.

“They’ve really been a development partner essentially … since we first started the company,” said EmOpti founder and chief executive officer Dr. Edward

MILWAUKEE COMPANIES FOLLOW SUIT

Over the past year, several Milwaukee companies have followed American Family and CUNA Mutual’s lead, dipping their toes in the waters of venture investing.

“Some companies view it as a straight up investment,” said Tom Still, president of the Wisconsin Technology Council. “For others, it’s much more strategic in terms of their long-term corporate goals.”

It helps that corporations are experiencing record profits Tom Still and have extra cash on their balance sheets to put toward a new investment class, he said.

“Especially in a low interest rate climate, which we might be climbing out of now…I’m sure there was some impetus to look for greater returns,” Still said.

Milwaukee-based Aurora Health Care Inc. waded into the venture capital waters in October, when it formed its $5 million InvestMKE fund.

Among the biggest drivers for Aurora, the largest private employer in the state, was the need to source a pool of technology talent in southeastern Wisconsin.

“The digital revolution that’s happening to health care is pretty substantial. We want to make sure we encourage startups, not only here in Milwaukee, to be at the forefront of the technology revolution as it goes forward,” said Mike Rodgers, director of strategic innovation at Aurora.

Aside from the capital injection, Aurora’s biggest value proposition to a startup company is

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Barthell. “We were pleased to have a customer using our product that thought it was a good enough product that they not only wanted to use it in their facilities, but also invest in the company.”

“The opportunity was there, it was a great mesh, (Barthell) is dgers a serial entrepreneur, a Mike Ro very talented individual,” Rodgers said. “We started working with them, started using their product, gave them an opportunity to build it out with us.”

EmOpti has grown to nine employees and is working to expand its footprint nationwide. The platform is being used in 10 hospitals and two urgent care centers.

Aurora is seeking local startups like EmOpti that want to co-develop a technology with its team as they bring the prototype to the next level, Rodgers said. It is focused on companies with solutions in digital health transformation, next generation innovation and wellness beyond health. InvestMKE has solicited applications for funding by becoming involved in the startup community.

It plans to invest up to $1 million per deal, and has not yet made any investments from InvestMKE but has some “on the horizon.”

“We’re actually going through a list of somewhere between 20 and 30 companies that have reached out,” Rodgers said. “I have a feeling that’s going to increase over time. I definitely feel like there’s enough ideas out there.”

MOLLY DILL

While Aurora aims to get a return on its investments, Rodgers declined to go into specifics.

“We hope to get a return, but I think there’s primary and secondary,” he said. “One of the biggest things is venturing into what we can do together. Obviously the typical returns, we would hope to get.”

While it has been investing in a handful of startup companies for the past three to four years, it wasn’t until this fall that Aurora launched

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Pitch kic Reverse al at the t. tu n e u v M e investment es tern kickoff f Northw erse Pitch MKE o s n o ti s v e e u R of up to $85,000. q s k it s rs at urs a epreneu treprene As a result, Socialeads is the first LEF T: En s truc ture to entr on startup in Northwestern Mutual’s Cream City innovati its formal venture Venture Capital fund portfolio. capital program.

Entrepreneur Larry Hitchcock and solutions Aurora announced InvestMKE at the same architect Matthew Salzer created Socialeads to time Milwaukee-based Northwestern Mutual Life address Northwestern Mutual’s challenges reInsurance Co. announced a $5 million Cream City garding salesperson market potential and referral Venture Capital fund dedicated to investing in lo- friction. It uses a Northwestern Mutual financial cal tech startups. representative’s social networks, with data science Northwestern Mutual and Aurora plan to and machine learning, to help them reach the right co-invest in some startups as they each deploy people in their network at the ideal time. For examtheir funds over the next five years. While they ple, it can analyze social media data to determine are in different industries, the cross-pollination when a contact is planning to buy a home, save for could benefit them both, particularly when it college or plan for retirement. comes to digital health, Rodgers said.

Eventually, the product would use predictive “It’s two corporate partners that really see a lot analytics and machine learning to gain accuracy of value in the southeast (Wisconsin) and Milwau- and predict life events. While Hitchcock and Salzer kee community. We’re in the business of having work on it, Socialeads will have office space and people live well and live a healthy, good quality of mentorship at Northwestern Mutual’s downtown life. They’re also in the business of helping people Milwaukee headquarters, but their business will live well,” he said. remain independent.

The companies began talking about co-investThe pair plans to raise a larger seed round of ing when it became clear they both had a number between $750,000 and $1.5 million, including of open positions for IT developers and were seek- Northwestern Mutual’s investment. ing technology talent, Rodgers said.

They said the mentorship from Northwestern “This isn’t just a capital play. This is how do we Mutual will prove invaluable both in raising their move the community forward,” he said. profile and in perfecting the prototype over the Last month, Northwestern Mutual announced next four to six months. it had selected Socialeads as the winner of its ReSocialeads is on the leading edge of technoloverse Pitch MKE competition, which came with an gy companies harnessing social media analytics

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for one-to-one direct sales, Hitchcock said. It aims to get to market quickly to stay ahead of the pack – and help Northwestern Mutual do the same.

“Everything from financial planning to stocks … are dynamic in a way in the last five to seven years that are taking everybody and rattling the cages of all these big businesses,” Hitchcock said.

“There’s a lot of change going on and it’s being driven by the changing demographics; millennials are really getting into the meat of their careers.”

The Cream City Venture Capital fund plans to make $100,000 to $250,000 investments in technology startups in the Milwaukee market.

“Cream City is focused exclusively on southeastern Wisconsin-based startups, regardless of industry,” said Craig Schedler, venture partner at Northwestern Mutual Future Ventures. “We’re not looking at investment opportunities specifically focused on areas of direct relevance to our business, but what we do want to do is invest in companies that are leveraging technology to solve big problems.”

Cream City has indicated a preference for companies with $50,000 in monthly recurring revenue, but that’s not a must-have, Schedler said.

“I wouldn’t say that’s a hard and fast rule, but we are looking for companies that have early signs of traction,” he said. “Traction can take a lot of different forms: it could be revenue, it could be users, something that shows they’ve found a problem, they’ve found a solution to it and they’re starting to get users involved.”

The fund has met with about 25 local startups, biztimes.com / 23

STORY COVER

but has not yet made an investment outside of the Reverse Pitch competition.

“We’re continuing to evaluate a host of opportunities locally. I’ve been very happy with the quantity and quality of entrepreneurs that we’ve been able to meet with,” Schedler said.

Northwestern Mutual has also worked to assist the startups it evaluates, even if it’s not in monetary form, he said.

Northwestern Mutual also in January 2017 launched its $50 million Future Ventures fund, which has a national scope and is more specific to the company’s strategy in the financial services industry.

While it has a robust internal digital innovation team, Northwestern Mutual wanted to connect with startups to bring in outside ideas, which is why it launched Future Ventures, said Schedler.

Future Ventures is focused on later stage companies raising series A or B rounds. It makes investments of between $500,000 and $3 million. It is specifically focused on four strategic areas related to Northwestern Mutual’s business: changing consumer preferences; re-imagining the customer experience; digital health revolution; and transformational analytics and technologies.

So far, Future Ventures has invested in nine companies, none of which are in the Milwaukee area. Each of them is forming a partnership with Northwestern Mutual but remaining independent.

One of the portfolio companies is San Francisco mobile banking startup Chime, which allows users to avoid fees and automate their finances, including rounding up transactions to save the “change.”

Future Ventures invested an undisclosed amount in its $18 million series B round in September.

Northwestern Mutual also pointed to the pace of change in the financial services industry and consumer expectations as a reason for its venture capital outreach.

“Our internal innovation efforts play a key role in that, but you’re not going to have a complete understanding of what’s happening in the broader market, so the way you do that is by engaging with the broader market and startups that are disruptive,” Schedler said. “We felt that for our business, the best way to really understand and address it and be proactive was to have a seat at the table.”

Schedler expects to finish investing the Future Ventures fund over the next three to four years, reserving some capital for follow-on investments.

“I think (venture capital investing) can be a very important vehicle for large companies to really get engaged with what’s happening outside of their four walls and I think it’s been a real enabler of… strategic engagement for Northwestern Mutual already,” Schedler said. “It’s a great way for companies in any industry to look at their business.

Any company in the city or state would definitely benefit from having this lens on their industry.”

24 / BizTimes Milwaukee FEBRUARY 19, 2018

Craig Sc

hedler

Matt Co

LOOKING AHEAD

rdio

American Family, CUNA Mutual, Northwestern Mutual and Aurora all have similar goals in mind when it comes to venture capital, Still said.

“What they’re looking for is, sure they want good returns on investments, but they also want to invest in startups or emerging companies that that’s where their own internal goals are for how to grow the company,” Still said. “It’s tough for a company even the size of Northwestern Mutual to do all its innovation in-house or to be on top of all of the research in fintech.”

Still predicted more Wisconsin corporations will begin to invest in startups in their industries.

“You’re going to see more in health care. Aurora’s a great example. You’ll see more in advanced manufacturing, especially around companies that have automation,” he said.

Even Microsoft Corp. is getting involved in the corporate venture capital game in Wisconsin, with the announcement in October of its plans to create a TitletownTech Venture Capital Fund in cooperation with the Green Bay Packers. The size of the fund was not disclosed, but is part of a larger $10 million joint investment in a business accelerator and a lab space that is currently being constructed in the Titletown District in Green Bay. “There’s a booming startup community in Wisconsin that could benefit from venture funding, business expertise and digital tools. Microsoft’s investment in TitletownTech will help meet those needs and our ultimate goal is to foster job creation and economic growth in Wisconsin,” said Michelle Schuler, manager of Microsoft TechSpark Wisconsin.

And Foxconn Technology Group announced this month it plans to buy the 611 Building in downtown Milwaukee, where it will have its Wisconsin headquarters and also support local startups via a new Wisconn Valley Innovation Center. In response to questions about its potential investment in Milwaukee-area startups, Foxconn released a statement that said, in part: “Foxconn is committed to contributing to Wisconsin’s transformation into a global center for startups and high-technology companies looking to leverage the competitive advantages that

Wisconn Valley has to offer. In addition to the significant value that our operations will generate, our Wisconsin campus will also provide a platform for the development of next-generation hardware and solutions as part of the 8K+5G ecosystem.

“The facility will house incubators, accelerator labs, venture capital activities and startup initiatives, and support Foxconn’s goal of cultivating a new class of vertical solution providers for advanced manufacturing processes and technologies, as well as for industries such as education, medical and health care, entertainment and sports, security, and smart community.”

The Tech Council also has floated the idea of a pooled statewide corporate venture fund, similar to the Cintrifuse Syndicate Fund in Cincinnati or the Renaissance Venture Capital Fund in Detroit, both of which were formed by corporations and have produced strong returns with a fund of funds models.

“It’s something we’ve followed and have advocated for, but it takes some companies that want to get involved and be a part of such an effort and that’s clearly totally based on their strategy,” Still said.

Wisconsin startups need more investments at the larger end, between $2 million and $5 million, Still said, and a corporate fund of funds could help generate more sizable influxes of capital. It would also provide a fund manager in place of companies having to manage the investments directly.

“We have a lot of angel networks and funds that are doing a great job, we have VCs that are doing what they can, but they can’t do it alone,” he said. “There are other public and private corporations in Wisconsin that are taking a strong look at this.”

Some in the startup community have suggested, though, that southeastern Wisconsin corporations focused on venture capital investing limited to their specific sectors may not find enough companies that meet their criteria locally.

“It’s great that there’s an influx of capital into the early-stage startup scene,” said Matt Cordio, president of technology recruitment firm Skills Pipeline and co-founder of entrepreneurship organization Startup Milwaukee. “(But) we have to do more to attract entrepreneurs here to Milwaukee, I think, so these funds can fully deploy all the capital they have available. They’re looking for SaaS companies that are basically doing $600,000 a year in revenue.”

Accelerators that have sought those kinds of investments in the past have not found a lot of them in the Milwaukee market, he said. n

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Special Report BANKING & FINANCE

SBA loans can help make small business projects a reality

By Molly Dill, staff writer The leaders of Leff’s Lucky Town in Wauwatosa and Revere’s Wells Street Tavern in Delafield have been approached on a monthly basis over the years to buy other restaurants in southeastern Wisconsin.

But it wasn’t until they came across a historic firehouse in downtown Menomonee Falls that they felt the site was the right theme and location for their next venture.

“We’ve looked over the last 20 years at a lot of different properties and projects and none of them really struck us as, ‘Wow, this is the place,’” said Mike Szohr, a longtime Leff’s employee and one of the owners of the new establishment. “We saw that this historic firehouse really had a character in and of itself. Menomonee Falls is a real up-and-coming municipality and the right building was there.”

The two-story, 9,000-square-foot building at N88 W16631 Appleton Ave., formerly fire station No. 1, will have a banquet space upstairs and

a main floor bar and restaurant. Falls Fire LLC, owned by Leff’s and Revere’s owner Chris Leffler, will operate the restaurant, which will serve American fare with a twist.

But before it can open, hopefully in fall 2018, the firehouse needs to be converted into a restaurant.

Part of the financing for the renovation and equipment is expected to come from a $1.1 million SBA loan, which the owners have applied for from Oconomowoc-based First Bank Financial Centre.

The total project cost is about $1.7 million, and will also be aided by owner equity and historical grants, Szohr said.

“We applied for a traditional loan and the bank that we were working with thought this would be the best route to go,” he said. “It wasn’t very difficult, just a lot of paperwork, a lot of documents, a lot of historical data.”

The Leff’s group had never applied for an SBA

loan before, but with the help of the financing, they expect to create 50 jobs at the new restaurant.

Every month, about 50 companies in the eight-county southeastern Wisconsin region receive loan guarantees from the U.S. Small Business Administration to finance everything from construction projects to new restaurants to acquisitions.

While the number of SBA loans issued in Wisconsin fell 7.5 percent and the amount lent was about flat from 2016 to 2017, the figures increased in the first quarter of fiscal 2018. In the SBA’s fiscal first quarter of 2018, which ended Dec. 31, the number of SBA loans issued in Wisconsin was up 18 percent and the total amount lent was up 11.6 percent compared to the first quarter of fiscal 2017.

When the economy is booming, banks sometimes lean toward more traditional loans and fewer SBA loans, so the fact that SBA lending has increased while the economy is doing well is a good sign, said Shirah Apple, public information officer for the Wisconsin District SBA office.

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A rendering of the planned renovation.

“Things seem to be going fairly well in the economy and there’s room for growth and people are taking advantage of our lending programs, so there’s some optimism on the business side of things,” she said.

SBA loans are available to most for-profit U.S. businesses that qualify as “small,” which is generally fewer than 500 employees via the 7(a) or 504 programs, she said. There are about 350 SBA lenders in Wisconsin, and about 170 of those made loans in 2017, Apple said.

Business owners can speed the process by having all of their materials ready, including a business plan that reflects their vision and their finances, with financial projections. Other items to have on hand are three years of financial statements, a balance sheet, an income statement, tax returns, debt information and accounts receivables.

“The more ready you are when you go to the lender, the more likely that it will be approved quickly,” Apple said.

Locally, several well-known businesses got started with SBA loans, she said. Among them are acclaimed restaurant Sanford on Milwaukee’s East Side, MobCraft Brewing in Walker’s Point, New Berlin aviation manufacturer Emteq Inc. and West Allis construction and power tools wholesaler Diamond Discs International LLC. Businesses of all ages can take advantage of SBA loans, said Denise Hegland, vice president and relationship manager in business banking at JPMorgan Chase in Milwaukee.

“A lot of people equate SBA with startup financing and that’s not really 100 percent

true,” she said.

It’s often used for capital injections in real estate projects, for established businesses in higher risk industries, to finance acquisitions or to enhance the structure of a larger financing package, Hegland said.

SBA loans can help extend an amortization on a loan to help monthly cash flow and sometimes allow a business owner to complete a project or purchase equipment with less equity in the purchase, Hegland said.

“It’s a program that exists to help small business owners’ dreams come true,” she said. n

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CORPORATE EVENT PLANNING

CRIMSON SUN STUDIOS

Disrupt Milwaukee’s inaugural event speaker lineup.

Beyond panel discussions and lectures The evolution of corporate events

By Maredithe Meyer, staff writer FIVE MINUTES and a 21-slide PowerPoint presentation. Those were the limits for the nine speakers who, one-by-one, took the stage to present their ideas to the 225 live audience members at the inaugural Disrupt Milwaukee event last year.

The event was part of Milwaukee Startup Week and launched Disrupt Milwaukee as a local chapter of DisruptHR, an international eventbased nonprofit organization that focuses on improving human resources practices in the workplace. Disrupt Madison was launched in 2016.

The 125 Disrupt chapters across the globe follow a similar format when planning their annual events. Speakers representing a variety of professional industries each have five minutes to present ideas on workplace topics that can range from leadership to technology. The PowerPoint presentation advances every 15 seconds – whether the speaker is ready or not.

When the speaker’s five minutes is up, the 21st and final slide bluntly alerts the whole room: “Time’s up. Stop disrupting.”

This seemingly “disruptive” format certainly differs from the typical panel discussion or lecture one may expect from an ordinary corporate event. But that’s because Disrupt Milwaukee markets itself as being different and creating change within the workplace.

And as Coreyne Woodman-Holoubek and Laura Gmeinder, Disrupt Milwaukee’s president

and vice president, start to plan this year’s annual event – which will be held on Nov. 8 at Best Place at the Historic Pabst Brewery – they again aim to reflect Disrupt’s mission by challenging the status quo of corporate events.

“We wanted to create an atmosphere where people felt that they could network and talk while still learning tidbits of information,” said Woodman-Holoubek, who is also the co-founder of Contracted Leadership, a Madison-based consulting firm.

Wisconsin’s two Disrupt chapters were born after Woodman-Holoubek and Gmeinder had attended one too many long, unmemorable HR conferences. As these events continually left them feeling disconnected and uninspired – and that they had wasted an hour of their day – they saw a need for more connection and engagement at corporate events.

“People don’t want to be sold to anymore.

They want stories; they want to connect with brands; they want to work with people they like,” said Gmeinder, who is also the owner of Madison-based Laura Gmeinder Coaching & Consulting LLC. “The experience we are crafting, it’s almost the exact opposite of a usual conference.”

For Disrupt Milwaukee, that unique experience is created mainly by the speakers and their rapid-fire, five-minute presentations. They were thought leaders who ranged from Google executive Rachael O’Meara, who discussed

the main ideas in her book “Pause: Harnessing the Life-Changing Power of Giving Yourself a Break,” to West Bend high school student Mike Wallace, who discussed entrepreneurship.

“The speakers were everyday people, but they were all unique in their own ways, which stood out,” said Ed Javier, a consultant at EMJ Consulting and co-founder of Milwaukee Startup Week. Javier was at the event both as a sponsor and an attendee.

“I felt the presentations were artistic,” he said. “Instead of a typical panel session, these were individuals telling a story or experience or a passion of theirs.”

The speakers are only half of the equation for creating the Disrupt experience. Networking and socializing opportunities before and during the event, as well as a post-event social and speaker meet and greet, are meant to foster a community and help attendees build relationships, Gmeinder said.

“We want the experience to empower attendees to either go back to work and learn more about a nugget of information or approach the speaker afterward to discuss it,” Woodman-Holoubek said.

NEWaukee is another local organization that, similar to Disrupt Milwaukee, is approaching corporate events in a more creative and engaging way. Founded in 2009, the organization hosts events that offer social networking, professional development and community engagement opportunities to the Milwaukee community. NEWaukee also outsources its services to other companies that host events.

“Hundreds of people attend events every year,” said Jeremy Fojut, co-founder and chief idea officer at NEWaukee. “But when you really make a difference in someone’s life is when you create an experience, and when you create an experience, people remember it and tell stories about it.”

Fojut said space and movement are two major components of the 184 “experiences” NEWaukee organizes each year.

NEWaukee has partnered with NAIOP, the Commercial Real Estate Development Association of Wisconsin, since 2015 for its annual Empty Storefronts Conference, which gathers urban development professionals, small business owners and city leaders to learn about and discuss solutions for vacant storefronts, locally and nationally.

Instead of hosting the conference in an event venue, such as a hotel, it was held in multiple empty storefronts – the former National Ace Hardware on North Fourth Street and McKinley Avenue, the former Lowes at Midbiztimes.com / 29

Special Report

town Center and Grand Avenue Mall on West Wisconsin Avenue – in various neighborhoods throughout Milwaukee. Event attendees were transported by bus to each storefront, where they heard from local and national speakers about the issue.

“It was amazing for attendees to experience firsthand the kinds of places we were talking about,” said Jim Villa, chief executive officer of NAIOP Wisconsin. “It gave them a chance to think about what to do with this issue. There was much more engagement than there would have been in a conference room.”

Fojut said an event like the Empty Storefronts Conference also creates deeper connections among attendees as they spend a day moving from place to place together.

“People are looking to connect differently,” he said. “They’re looking for more authentic experiences.”

Although both NEWaukee and Disrupt Milwaukee are leading local efforts to change the impact of corporate events, one thing that differs between the two organizations is their

CRIMSON SUN STUDIOS

Disrupt Milwaukee’s post-event speaker meet and greet.

use of technology and virtual connection.

Disrupt Milwaukee’s inaugural event was livestreamed globally via Twitter and was viewed by about 100 people – some in Canada and the U.K. There was also a live Twitter feed for the event that Woodman-Holoubek said received 75,000 impressions collectively. At the event, there was a viewing area in the lower level speakeasy space for attendees to tune in to the live feed.

NEWaukee’s approach to social media

during its events is very different.

“Our use of digital is to shut it off,” Fojut said.

He said in a world that will continually become more digitally connected, NEWaukee will always push for mainly human and in-person interaction through its events. To him, virtually watching a speaker or a presentation changes the experience.

“If you don’t show up, you miss out,” he said. n

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CORPORATE EVENT PLANNING

In-house classes and workshops support employee wellness

By Maredithe Meyer, staff writer EMILY JADE sits at the head of a conference table. As a group of 10 people, dressed in work attire, enter the room and take their seats around the table with her, she observes some midday tension and perhaps some hesitancy in the faces of those at the table. She thanks them all for being there before leading the group through a set of deep breathing exercises to begin a 30-minute office yoga session.

The owner of Milwaukee-based yoga business Tiger Yoga, Jade has designed a series of classes specifically for professionals in an office setting who may spend the majority of their day sitting at a desk, in meetings or working at a computer. Companies can hire her to teach these in-house classes to their employees before, during or after the workday.

Jade’s classes focus on simple movements and stretching of the back, neck, face, eyes, hands and feet – parts of the body that often experience pain or tension due to workday stress. She believes these techniques can help professionals to de-stress and support their mental and physical health, without even leaving their desks.

“Everyone wants to remember better, stay organized, have clarity and have perspective,” Jade said. “You can induce that by de-stressing and making space for your brain to work better.

The superpower of yoga is it creates a heightened awareness of everything around you – feeling calm, yet powerful – and I think that’s what people want.”

Through her business, Jade currently works with four Milwaukee-area companies, teaching

Emily Jade

30- to 60-minute sessions on a weekly basis. To her corporate clients, she markets the numerous mental benefits of yoga – reducing anxiety, staying calm, enhancing mood, maintaining focus –that are crucial to office productivity.

She officially launched Tiger Yoga last summer after working for several years at various local studios and as an independent contractor for a fitness company, teaching classes for employees at large companies. Jade still works as an independent contractor for gyms such as Monkey Bar Gym in Milwaukee’s Historic Third Ward.

Jeffrey Winzenried, owner of Monkey Bar Gym, also has taught fitness classes remotely and as an independent contractor for employees at The Bon-Ton Stores Inc. and Northwestern Mutual Life Insurance Co. Eventually, this work led him to open his gym in 2013.

Through Monkey Bar, Winzenried continues to offer customized wellness classes to employees at various local companies and organizations. Certified in natural training and

plant-based nutrition, Winzenried gives workshops on topics ranging from strength training to clean eating and believes that workplace wellness is crucial to productivity.

“If it’s all about work and there’s no balance, I think people can get burnt out,” he said.

In-house office yoga, fitness or nutrition classes are some of the various wellness-based events and services companies can provide to support the health and wellbeing of their employees.

And as wellness – in its many forms – becomes more prevalent in corporate settings, companies such as Bader Rutter & Associates Inc. are constantly finding new ways to help employees be more “well.”

“A healthy, happy employee is a good employee,” said Elena Davis, human resources specialist at Bader Rutter. “The more we can improve our talents’ lives outside of work, the more they will be able to focus on work when they are here.”

Bader Rutter, which moved its headquarters

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Special Report

TOP: A group from St. Luke’s Medical Center and Milwaukee VA Medical Center at a Monkey Bar Gym fitness workshop.

BOTTOM: A meditation class at Bader Rutter.

last year from Brookfield to its current location at 1433 N. Water St. in downtown Milwaukee, has an entire health and wellness team that heads wellness efforts for the office’s 275 employees.

Davis works with the team, made up of about 12 to 15 employees from a cross-section of departments, to help organize, promote and execute in-house events ranging from boot camp workout classes, to nutrition presentations, to a free massage day.

When planning these events, the team is guided by five areas of wellness that, based on a survey, Bader Rutter employees value the most: nutrition, fitness, mental health, financial health and helping others.

“It’s important to look at the individual,” said Emily Hoeft, a senior monitoring specialist and a health and wellness team leader. “Not everyone wants to do the same walk for charity event at the same time every year. Everyone has unique interests and so we try to make (the events) unique to our agency, but also the individuals within our agency.”

Yoga classes and meditation sessions during lunch and boot camp workouts after work are some of the weekly class offerings that are popular among employees. In addition, outside experts are often brought in to Bader Rutter to give presentations and workshops about healthy habits and practices. During a recent presentation, employees visited a nearby grocery store and were given tips on how to shop for healthy foods.

Every other Thursday, a massage therapist is available for employees to purchase 10-minute massages and each quarter, as a wellness incentive, Bader Rutter treats its employees to a free massage day.

Regardless of the event, Davis said the wellness opportunities available at Bader Rutter are the company’s way of showing how much it values its employees. n

MEET

BETTER. EVENTS THAT WORK

32 / BizTimes Milwaukee FEBRUARY 19, 2018

©2018 FOREST COUNTY POTAWATOMI COMMUNITY, WISCONSIN

Strategies STARTUPS

Ideas to support entrepreneurs in ‘Madwaukee’ Improve connections outside and inside the region Editor’s note: This column was co-authored by Kathleen Gallagher, executive director of the Milwaukee Institute, and Chandra Miller Fienen, director of operations and programs at StartingBlock Madison.

Wisconsin startups are good at getting their first customers locally.

Too often, however, they struggle to snag those next four customers in Chicago or Minneapolis or Los Angeles – a critical ingredient for growth and job creation. Call it a connectivity gap: Our startups aren’t connecting outside the region to get those critical sales.

That insight is backed by data analyzed by Tom Chapman, one of the nation’s best data gurus for innovation ecosystems.

Our organizations – Milwaukee Institute and StartingBlock Madison – invited Chapman to present his Madison and Milwaukee report card on startup growth at the first Madwaukee Talks event on Jan. 30 and 31. More than 120 people showed up.

In terms of the overall numbers, both cities perform fairly well in startup creation, number of deals, SBA loans and investment, said Chapman, who chairs the data committee for Startup Champions Network and runs Chapman & Co. LLC, an Omaha-based boutique management consulting firm.

As for the connectivity gap, Chapman had

some recommendations: Add directors from outside the region, and when they come in to town for meetings, introduce them to startups that could use their advice or connections. He also recommended better connecting Madison and Milwaukee networks so they don’t operate like two separate systems.

We agree: More connections outside of our region and more connective tissue between our networks leads to more prosperity.

Chapman didn’t neglect Wisconsin’s elephant in the room. For three years running, our state has ranked dead last for startup activity, according to the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation’s analysis.

The rankings depend upon what you measure, Chapman told us. In his analysis, Wisconsin isn’t really last and in terms of our two biggest cities, Madison sparkles and Milwaukee is average, Chapman said.

Telling our story better would help both cities.

The Inc. 5000 list, which depends on self-reporting, misses companies. Chapman recommends we get better organized and help eligible companies get on the list. “Hold an Inc. 5000 party,” and the data will better reflect reality, he said.

Other recommendations: Venture funds should self-report to the NVCA/Pitchbook survey. Track angels better. Maybe even gain a clearer idea of what people are saying outside Wisconsin by measuring how many times “Wisconsin,” “Madison,” “Milwaukee” and “innovation” or “disruption” are mentioned in the same sentence in the national press.

More important than message, Chapman says that the greatest component in entrepreneurial ecosystems is the entrepreneur.

Chapman’s advice: Know your true entrepreneurs. There may be 20 entrepreneurs in “Madwaukee” capable of building a $100 million company. We need to know them and support them every way we can.

Here are some other takeaways: • From 2010 to 2017, Wisconsin exceeded the amount of SBA loans state businesses would have been expected to attract by nearly $1.4 billion, putting us in the top six states.

• There are pockets of worry, however. While Verona exceeds its expected SBA total by $23 million, Milwaukee’s 53205 zip code misses by $12 million.

• Madison has a very high number of federal Small Business Innovation Research grants, and Milwaukee holds its own, but we need to convert more SBIR projects into companies.

• We are perhaps too dependent upon accelerators for deal flow. We suspect gener8tor’s success is a big reason for this.

• Sixteen percent of Madison jobs are “cool” (read: STEM) jobs. This puts Madison in an elite tier, below top-ranked Boulder with 20 percent and above Austin with 14 percent.

Milwaukee’s 12 percent is close to average.

• Madison added 12,000 “cool jobs” and Milwaukee added 4,580 “cool jobs” between 2012 and 2016.

Chapman’s bottom line: Madison sparkles; Milwaukee is average. But if we could all get Milwaukee to sparkle, the entire state would benefit.

We’re looking forward to tackling that and other issues at future Madwaukee Talks events.

We started Madwaukee Talks to foster collaborative ideas and dialogue between the Madison and Milwaukee entrepreneur communities. So far, so good. n

KATHLEEN GALLAGHER Kathleen Gallagher is a Pulitzer Prizewinning writer and executive director of the Milwaukee Institute, a nonprofit that supports advanced technologies and highgrowth businesses to help the region thrive.

She can be reached at kathleen@mkei.org. biztimes.com / 33

Strategies COMMUNICATION

The words we use matter Evaluate the message you are communicating

34 / BizTimes Milwaukee FEBRUARY 19, 2018

The language we use packs a lot of power, from the moment we wake up until we fall asleep again at the end of the day.

I don’t think we want to sound like robots, or have to take five minutes to answer even the simplest of questions. But I do think that it is a good practice to every now and then check up on our vocabulary to see if it is helping us get the outcomes we want, or getting in the way.

One phrase that can immediately create resistance is, “You have to understand…” Probably when we are just learning to walk, or maybe before, we develop a dislike for the phrase “have to.” “You have to pick up your toys before I read to you.” It does imply that the speaker is dominant in some way, knows more than we do, even may be getting impatient with us. Typically not the impression we usually want to send in business conversations.

My clients all know I cringe a bit in response to the word “but.” Most of us have been told something like, “Wow, you look great today…but that tie…” We tend to forget the wow part altogether and get stuck on the words after the “but.”

“Yes, but” hardly ever works to keep us aligned in a conversation. It sounds like an argument is brewing; which is fine if that is your intent. “I want to meet your expectations but you know I don’t have enough staff.” Usually this kind of language is heard as just one more excuse.

If you see yourself in these examples, I suggest practicing a substitute word for “but.” “And” works well.

“Try.” I am solidly in alignment with Yoda when it comes to this word. “Do or do not. There is no try.”

“Can you join us on Tuesday morning for the team meeting?” “I will try.” Don’t wait for that person to show up. “I can’t make it” is a bit better.

The listener usually hears “I won’t make it.” So why not use that language instead?

Lately in some of my own conversation, espe-

cially when I’ve expressed a compliment, the response has been, “I try.” My guess is that it flows from an intention to be modest. It does, however, come across as weakness instead of modesty.

Then that collection of phrases that go, “to be frank,” “to be perfectly frank with you,” “if I may be honest,” etc. The needle in my brain lifts out of the groove for a second to ask, honest versus what? I do not believe people using these phrases usually go around lying to me. Still, it is a little unsettling.

We can easily develop habits in our use of language; some really work for us and some send an unintended message. We may not notice our own language that has become habitual. It helps to ask for feedback from trusted friends or family members as part of your checkup. Or there is always the option of taping conversations, with permission of all concerned.

In my experience, close friends and/or family are pretty reliable reporters once they are sure there is no punishment for their honest feedback. Check yourself out. The reward may be more authentic communication and that is a gift that does keep on giving. n

JO GORISSEN Jo Gorissen is a certified transition coach and a former Milwaukee-area resident. She can be reached at jgorissen1@gmail.com.

Strategies MARKETING

Understanding the future Use technology and innovation to get your clients’ attention Some entrepreneurs I know tell me that the future is overrated. “How can we expect to know what will happen tomorrow?” they ask.

Fact is, they can’t. No one can. There is no magic crystal ball. Yet understanding the future is critical to success in business – knowing what the competition might be planning, what new product might doom your line, what economic changes hold for your firm.

Predicting the future is NOT the critical factor. Understanding the future IS. To understand the future, we simply connect things – ideas, people, technologies – to arrive at “possibilities,” ways in which the future might affect our business, influence buying habits or change our lives. Good marketers constantly scan the horizon for technological changes that may affect their business.

Today’s consumer suffers from Attention Deficit Economics. Inundated with advertising messages, upwards of 10,000 daily, your attention is constantly in demand. As marketers, we use posters, shelf talkers, door hangers, jingles, contests, dinnertime telemarketing calls and pop-up ads online. Anything to grab a few moments of your time.

Teenagers are probably best at multi-tasking, and even though we think it’s an ability that needs to be treated with Ritalin, it’s really the expected response for the world we’ve given them: everything happening at once, everyone demanding that we pay attention.

The most valuable commodity of all is not

time, but attention. Increasingly, our attention can be bought, sold or traded.

HARNESS IT Imagine how you might apply that thinking to your relationships with your clients. How can you manage, or even control, their attention?

Creating awareness for your product or service is only the first step. Getting them to listen to your message acknowledges that they are providing you with a valuable resource, their time.

This age of information makes experts of everyone. We can all be an authority. This can be dangerous because facts, manipulated to our own devices, can misrepresent anything.

For example, did you know that dihydrogen monoxide is a dangerous chemical found in most every home that causes thousands of deaths each year? It’s highly corrosive and especially hazardous to small children! Sounds dangerous, huh? Oops, it’s only water.

The facts are accurate, but the message is biased. The problem again is time. Despite the availability of information, we don’t always have the time to check the facts.

Perhaps most frightening of all, technology is making location unimportant. We have instant access to anybody, anywhere, through cell phones and cyberspace. We are no longer defined by our location.

In this new order of the future, everything is for sale (think eBay or Craigslist). Anything can be bought, sold or exchanged anywhere in the world. The old corner store is just around the planet.

Borders become muddled (think EU or NAFTA). We are no longer a culture of many.

We are fast becoming a culture of one. A global culture.

Privacy is being redefined, too. With instant access comes instant accessibility. To our personal identification, our purchase history, our credit

rating, our personal lives. We cannot even protect the borders that define who we are. Anyone with an internet connection can penetrate the façade.

PLAN ACCORDINGLY Ultimately, the future will not come unexpectedly. It is, after all, an evolutionary process.

We will still need food, clothing and shelter.

We will still seek employment, advancement, enlightenment. We will forever face the same mundane, everyday problems we face today.

The answers will not come from where they might be expected. We seldom learn from the things we already know. And not all change is progress. If you can learn to combine technology and innovation with the best traditions of the past, change becomes easier to accept.

The future may be overrated, but it’s the only one we’ve got. n

ROBERT GREDE Robert Grede is the author of “Naked Marketing – The Bare Essentials.” He operates The Grede Co., a Milwaukee-area consulting firm specializing in marketing and strategic planning. He can be reached at rg@thegredecompany.com. biztimes.com / 35

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36 / BizTimes Milwaukee FEBRUARY 19, 2018

BizConnections NONPROFIT

nonprofit

news Children’s Hospital of Wisconsin has received a $500,000 grant from Delafield-based Gold in September Charitable Trust in support of finding new therapies for children with brain tumors.

It’s the first-ever impact grant issued by Gold in September, a nonprofit dedicated to increasing awareness and funding for childhood cancer research.

Gold in September, also known as G9, was founded in 2012 by Annie Bartosz, an 11-year old girl from Hartland, following the death of her twin brother to childhood cancer.

G9 – which stands for gold and September, the designated color and month for childhood cancer – works to advance research initiatives to find safer and more effective cures for pediatric

cancer patients.

“G9 is truly an agent of change in the area of childhood cancer,” said Peggy Troy, president and chief executive officer of Children’s Hospital of Wisconsin. “Children’s is committed to discovery and innovation, and we rely on support from partners like G9 to advance this research and find safer and more effective cures for children in the state of Wisconsin and across the country.”

The G9 Impact Grant will support the development of a pediatric glioma research program that will focus on translational research initiatives with the ultimate goal of developing new therapies for children with brain tumors.

— Lauren Anderson

c alendar Milwaukee Area Science Advocates will host its inaugural benefit, STEM in Style, from 7 to 11 p.m. on Feb. 23 at the Milwaukee Athletic Club, 758 N. Broadway. The event will support science in the Milwaukee area and honor 10 women in STEM for inspiring younger generations, creating a positive impact in the Milwaukee community and excelling in their STEM careers. More information is available at milwaukeescience.org/stem-in-style.

The Urban Economic Development Association of Wisconsin will hold its annual Carnival Milwaukee fundraiser from 6:30 to 10:30 p.m. on Feb. 24 at 1451 Renaissance Place on Prospect Ave. The event will include music, dancing, dining and carnival entertainment. Tickets are $50 and may be purchased online at carnivalmilwaukee.com or by calling (414) 562-9904.

D O N AT I O N R O U N D U P Boys & Girls Clubs of Greater Milwaukee’s Pieper-Hillside branch opened a new games room thanks to a $75,000 donation from Boys & Girls Clubs of America and Major League Baseball | United Way of Racine County has donated more than 100,000 books to Racine County children through the organization’s Imagination Library program as of February | Allentown-based Maysteel Industries LLC has donated more than $200,000 over the past four years to support educational programs in manufacturing, as well as local safety net programs. In 2017, the company donated a combined $50,000 to various organizations, including the United Way of Washington County, Hartford Union High School, Elevate and Interfaith.

SPOTLIGHT

TEENS GROW GREENS INC.

322 E. Michigan St., Suite 204, Milwaukee (414) 530-8733 | teensgrowgreens.org Facebook: facebook.com/teensgrowgreens | Instagram: Teens Grow Greens

Year founded: 2014 Mission statement: Growing teenagers through handson experience. “Learn, Grow, Go.” Primary focus: Teens Grow Greens employs teenagers through a nine-month paid internship that develops life skills through hands-on experience.

The teens develop healthy living skills by growing and cooking food; leadership by mentoring elementary school students and working as a team at farmer’s markets; and entrepreneurship by creating their own “product with a purpose.” The internship combats youth unemployment and creates empowerment and connection to their futures.

Other focuses: Teens Grow Greens will operate Webers Greenhouses, 4215 N. Green Bay Ave. in Milwaukee, in 2018, which will provide more inhouse employment opportunities for graduates of the program. We also want to diversify our funding sources and increase our revenue stream by selling vegetables, herbs and flowers from the greenhouse. The greenhouse will also include a pop-up cafe featuring the entrepreneurship products created by the teens.

Employees at this location: Seven

Key donors: MPS Partnership for the Arts and Humanities, Bader Philanthropies, Greater Milwaukee Foundation, Northwestern Mutual Foundation and private contributions.

Executive leadership: Charlie Uihlein, executive director; Ari Williams, education director; Claire Muza, growing director.

Board of directors: Jill Compton, Todd Leech, Tamara Pacada, Robin Martin, Jamie Ferschinger; Jason Holton, Ned Witte and Edward Rogers.

Is your organization actively seeking board members for the upcoming term? Yes. A board member and committee members, specifically volunteers for the finance and marketing committees.

Ways the business community can help your nonprofit: Teens Grow Greens always needs financial and in-kind donations to support our programming.

In-kind to operate the greenhouse includes an iPad (accounting), seed warming mats, 50-foot hoses, watering wands, trash cans and a broom. Also, we would like to start a conversation with any business willing to hire our graduates.

For more information, contact Charlie Uihlein at cuihlein@ teensgrowgreens.org.

biztimes.com / 37

BizConnections PERSONNEL FILE

Submit new hire and promotion announcements to: biztimes.com/personnel

BANKING & FINANCE

BUILDING & CONSTRUCTION

INSURANCE

NONPROFIT

Taureau Group LLC, Milwaukee

Horizon Retail Construction Inc., Sturtevant

Integrated Risk Solutions, Waukesha

Vince Lombardi Cancer Foundation, Elm Grove

Taureau Group LLC has promoted Mike Schroeder to vice president.

BANKING & FINANCE

Miller

Bower

WaterStone Bank, Germantown WaterStone Bank has named Ryan Gorecki community president of its Germantown branch.

BANKING & FINANCE

Wisconsin Bank & Trust, Sheboygan Wisconsin Bank & Trust, Sheboygan, has promoted Amber Lamers to market president for the Sheboygan region.

BUILDING & CONSTRUCTION

Eppstein Uhen Architects, Milwaukee Eppstein Uhen Architects has hired John Ford as senior design architect.

38 / BizTimes Milwaukee FEBRUARY 19, 2018

Integrated Risk Solutions has promoted Carrie Legg to vice president of transportationproduction and market relations. Legg has been with Integrated Risk since 2008.

PRINTING & PROMOTIONAL

INSURANCE

The Horton Group, Waukesha

Dubiak

The Horton Group has named Ryan Smale president of its Waukesha office.

Steen

Horizon Retail Construction Inc. has hired Sara Miller as project coordinator and David Bower as project manager and has promoted Danielle Dubiak to project manager. Horizon Retail Construction Inc. has also hired Devin Steen as project manager.

Continuus Technologies has named Andy Siefkes as vice president.

Minuteman Press has been acquired

by Angila Allen, company president.

Taureau Group LLC, Milwaukee

LISC Milwaukee LISC Milwaukee has hired Jerusha Daniels as housing program officer.

Continuus Technologies, Grafton

Minuteman Press, Brookfield

PRIVATE EQUITY

NONPROFIT

BUSINESS CONSULTING

Vince Lombardi Cancer Foundation has named Benjamin Haas its president for 2018 and 2019.

NONPROFIT

Daystar Inc., Milwaukee Daystar Inc. has hired Nancy Major as its president and chief executive officer.

Taureau Group LLC has promoted Tyler Carlson to vice president.

SBA LOANS The U.S. Small Business Administration approved the following loan guarantees in December: JEFFERSON COUNTY

MEE LLC, 165 Main St., Sullivan, $472,000, First Bank Financial Centre; MILWAUKEE COUNTY

Alliance 37 LLC, 124 N. Water St., Milwaukee, $507,000, WBD Inc.; ANS Home Health Services Inc., 1551 S. 108th St.,West Allis, $250,000, Five Star Bank; Bucky Corral LLC, 300 W. Layton Ave., Milwaukee, $1.45 million, Byline Bank; CPG Acquisition LLC, 11300 W. Theodore Trecker Way, Milwaukee, $75,000, Wells Fargo Bank N.A.; Express Auto Repair and Stereo LLC, 3101 W. Cameron Ave., Milwaukee, $25,000, U.S. Bank N.A.; Haulaholic LLC, 1200 Minnesota Ave., South Milwaukee, $184,100, Guardian CU; I Sharpen LLC, 3729 S. 53rd St., Milwaukee, $15,600, U.S. Bank; Jo’s Early Learning Academy II Inc., 3023 W. Greenfield Ave., Milwaukee, $432,000, Village Bank and Trust; Jo’s Early Learning Academy II Inc., 3023 W. Greenfield Ave., Milwaukee, $100,000, Village Bank and Trust;

Krikar LLC, 1940 N. Farwell Ave., Milwaukee, $475,000, Byline Bank; La Cena LLC, 1117 W. Lincoln Ave., Milwaukee, $30,000, First Bank Financial Centre; Leff’s Lucky Town LLC, 1325 N. 72nd St., Wauwatosa, $1.1 million, First Bank Financial Centre; Oak Creek Industrial Properties LLC, 7550 S. 10th St., Oak Creek, $3.3 million, Wisconsin Bank & Trust; Oak Creek Veterinary Care LLC, 8000 S. Howell Ave., Oak Creek, $200,000, Wisconsin Bank & Trust; Only Forward LLC, 3010 S. Chase Ave., Milwaukee, $318,600, PNC Bank; RPHC Acquisition Corp., 1529 S. 113th St., Milwaukee, $900,000, Wisconsin Bank & Trust; RPHC Acquisition Corp., 1529 S. 113th St., Milwaukee, $150,000, Wisconsin Bank & Trust; Sacta Auto Electric LLC, 1710 W. Forest Home Ave., Milwaukee, $75,000, Southport Bank; Sorivilla Inc., 1205 E. Brady St., Milwaukee, $60,000, Wisconsin Women’s Business Initiative Corp.; Steelwind Industries Inc., 7550 S. 10th St., Oak Creek, $1.65 million, Wisconsin Bank & Trust; Too Clean Laundry LLC, 6404 W. Lisbon Ave., Milwaukee, $15,000, Associated Bank;

WM Racine Kenosha LLC, 1742 N. 73rd St., Milwaukee, $75,000, Johnson Bank;

Hannes Inc., 931 Millersville Ave., Howards Grove, $150,000, Bank First National;

OZAUKEE COUNTY

In-N-Out Storage LLC, Plymouth, $825,000, First Bank Financial Centre;

Lickteig Chiropractic Clinic S.C., 16649 N. Port Washington Road, Mequon, $125,000, Celtic Bank Corp.; McNabb & Risley Inc., 215 N. Main St., Thiensville, $50,000, The Huntington National Bank; McNabb & Risley Inc., 215 N. Main St., Thiensville, $1.5 million, The Huntington National Bank; Soaring Souls LLC, 6077 W. Mequon Road, Mequon, $116,500, First Bank Financial Centre; Valor Homes LLC, 1515 Washington St., Grafton, $168,000, Peoples State Bank; RACINE COUNTY

Ideal Process Solutions LLC, 7114 Friisgard Vei, Waterford, $42,200, Community State Bank; Lambert Services LLC, 1642 124th St., Franksville, $150,000, United Midwest Savings Bank; Will’s RV Rental Corp., 10500 Durand Ave., Sturtevant, $50,000, Educators Credit Union; SHEBOYGAN COUNTY

Bardon Investments LLC, 260 Lincoln St., Elkhart Lake, $2.1 million, Commerce State Bank; FGJ Holdings LLC, 4008 Enterprise Drive, Sheboygan, $313,000, WBD Inc.;

WALWORTH COUNTY

QEI, LLC, 326 Center St., Ste. 2, Lake Geneva, $150,000, First Home Bank; WASHINGTON COUNTY

Bender Automotive LLC, 4575 State Hwy 33, West Bend, $396,000, First Bank Financial Centre; JHS4 LLC and DHP4 LLC, N118 W18531 Bunsen Drive, Germantown, $520,000, WBD Inc.; LMI Manufacturing Holdings LLC, W352 State Hwy 33, Hartford, $4.3 million, Byline Bank; LMI Manufacturing Holdings LLC, W352 State Hwy 33, Hartford, $735,000, Byline Bank; Revive Salon Studio LLC, 325 Chestnut St., West Bend, $263,000, The Huntington National Bank; Romano & Schmidt LLC, N112 W17300 Mequon Road, Germantown, $770,000, First Bank Financial Centre; SAC Corp., 5260 Aurora Road, Hartford, $835,000, Byline Bank; WAUKESHA COUNTY

Bluemound Restaurant Corp., 1240 S. Moorland Road, Brookfield, $25,000, Old National Bank

Bluemound Restaurant Corp., 1240 S. Moorland Road, Brookfield, $1.1 million, Old National Bank;

Murphy’s Frozen Custard Inc., 12505 W. Burleigh Road, Brookfield, $875,000, Waukesha State Bank;

CCM Investments LLC, 2040 W. Bluemound Road, Waukesha, WBD Inc.;

OAH Holding Co. LLC, N56 W39325 Wisconsin Ave., Oconomowoc, $1.68 million, Pacific Western Bank;

Demark’s Investment LLC, 339 N. 7570 Townline Road, Oconomowoc, $366,400, U.S. Bank; Eagle Excavating and Grading LLC, S72 W13659 Woods Road, Muskego, $20,000, U.S. Bank; Eagle Excavating and Grading LLC, S72 W13659 Woods Road, Muskego, $19,000, U.S. Bank; Fairway Lighting Inc., W155 N6693 Blue Heron Drive, Menomonee Falls, $35,000, U.S. Bank; Falls Fire LLC, N88 W16631 Appleton Ave., Menomonee Falls, $1.4 million, First Bank Financial Centre; Leading Advertising Design Inc., 1560 E. Moreland Blvd., Waukesha, $200,000, Waukesha State Bank; Libris Inc., 1039 Summit Ave., Oconomowoc, $70,500, First Bank Financial Centre;

PHONE: (414) 220-9450 WEB: CollegePossible.org/Milwaukee

F E ATU R E D NONPROFI T

PRODUCED BY

Sport Pics LLC, 2020 S. Calhoun Road, New Berlin, $50,000, Wells Fargo Bank; Summit Venture Group Corp., W352 N6621 County Road J, Oconomowoc, $50,000, Associated Bank; Valley Ridge Leasing LLC, 12665 Robin Lane, Brookfield, $335,000, Byline Bank; Vesta Memory Care LLC, 3965 Bradee Road, Brookfield, $709,000, First Bank Financial Centre; WEHAA Design LLC, 1166 Quail Ct., Ste. 105, Pewaukee, $250,000, First Home Bank.

PHONE: (414) 266-6100 WEB: chw.org/giving

College Possible helps low-income Milwaukee students earn college degrees through an intensive curriculum of coaching and support.

To learn more, visit biztimes.com/giving

SMP Group II LLC, 2222 S. Calhoun Road, New Berlin, $606,000, WBD Inc.;

C H I L D R E N’ S H O S P I TA L O F WISCONSIN

COLLEGE POSSIBLE

2018 GIVING GUIDE

SMA Trucking Inc., W191 S7455 Bay Shore Drive, Muskego, $1 million, Waukesha State Bank;

Kids deserve the best. At Children’s Hospital of Wisconsin, our vision is to make Wisconsin’s children the healthiest in the country. Through excellence in care, advocacy, research and education, we are striving every day to fulfill this vision.

2018 GIVING GUIDE F EATURED NONPROF I T

To learn more, visit biztimes.com/giving PRODUCED BY

biztimes.com / 39

BizConnections VOLUME 23, NUMBER 23 | FEB 19, 2018

GLANCE AT YESTERYEAR

126 N. Jefferson St., Suite 403, Milwaukee, WI 53202-6120 PHONE: 414-277-8181 FAX: 414-277-8191 WEBSITE: www.biztimes.com CIRCULATION: 414-336-7100 | circulation@biztimes.com ADVERTISING: 414-336-7112 | ads@biztimes.com EDITORIAL: 414-336-7120 | andrew.weiland@biztimes.com REPRINTS: 414-336-7128 | reprints@biztimes.com PUBLISHER / OWNER Dan Meyer dan.meyer@biztimes.com

SALES & MARKETING

DIRECTOR OF OPERATIONS Mary Ernst mary.ernst@biztimes.com

EDITORIAL EDITOR Andrew Weiland andrew.weiland@biztimes.com MANAGING EDITOR Molly Dill molly.dill@biztimes.com REPORTER Lauren Anderson lauren.anderson@biztimes.com REPORTER Corrinne Hess corri.hess@biztimes.com REPORTER Maredithe Meyer maredithe.meyer@biztimes.com REPORTER Arthur Thomas arthur.thomas@biztimes.com

— This photo is from the Milwaukee Public Museum’s Photo Archives collection.

COMMENTARY

Foxconn is huge political issue for 2018 AS GOV. SCOTT WALKER seeks re-election this year, a long list of Democratic candidates is hoping to get a chance to take him on.

The Democratic Party of Wisconsin and the candidates running in the Democratic primary have wasted no time criticizing the Foxconn deal pushed through last year by Walker and Republicans in the Legislature. They have been critical of the massive taxpayer subsidy approved to attract Foxconn and the environmental impact of the project.

Democrats have seized on a total subsidy figure of $4.5 billion, which includes the state’s $3 billion incentive package, the nearly $800 million in local tax incremental financing planned for infrastructure improvements, the cost of expanding I-94 and plans by American Transmission Co. to upgrade the electrical power infrastructure to serve the massive Foxconn facility.

Democrats hope Wisconsin voters will be 40 / BizTimes Milwaukee FEBRUARY 19, 2018

upset about the billions in tax money spent to support a foreign corporation. Their basic argument: the money could have been better spent on something else.

Everything about the Foxconn deal is big… big project, big money, big controversy. Walker will continue to emphasize that it’s a big economic opportunity for the state: a $10 billion project for a 22 million-square-foot complex in Mount Pleasant that could eventually employ 13,000. The state tax incentives are contingent upon the job creation and capital investment.

But the key for Walker, legislative Republicans and other Foxconn project supporters is the supply chain that they say will be created in the state, forming a new high-tech manufacturing “ecosystem” that Walker calls “Wisconn Valley.”

For Walker, it would help to have signs of that ecosystem coming together this year, making a positive economic impact on the state. That’s why it was a big deal when it was announced recently that Northwestern Mutual Life Insurance Co. would sell an office building in downtown Milwaukee to Foxconn, which plans to use the building as its Wisconsin headquarters. The building will also be home to the newly-established Wisconn Valley Innovation

ACCOUNT EXECUTIVE Molly Lawrence molly.lawrence@biztimes.com ACCOUNT EXECUTIVE David Pinkus david.pinkus@biztimes.com ACCOUNT EXECUTIVE Maggie Pinnt maggie.pinnt@biztimes.com ACCOUNT EXECUTIVE Christie Ubl christie.ubl@biztimes.com SALES INTERN Amanda Bruening amanda.bruening@biztimes.com SALES INTERN Tess Romans tess.romans@biztimes.com

ADMINISTRATION ADMINISTRATIVE COORDINATOR Sue Herzog sue.herzog@biztimes.com

Railroad yard office This photo, taken circa 1939 by James Conklin, shows a little girl looking out of the yard office and an early police call box at the Grand Trunk Western Railroad in Milwaukee. Grand Trunk Western also operated a railroad car ferry from Milwaukee to Muskegon, Michigan from 1905 to 1978.

DIRECTOR OF SALES Linda Crawford linda.crawford@biztimes.com

PRODUCTION & DESIGN GRAPHIC DESIGNER Alex Schneider alex.schneider@biztimes.com

Independent & Locally Owned

ART DIRECTOR Shelly Tabor shelly.tabor@biztimes.com

— Founded 1995 —

Center, a hub for the 8K+5G Foxconn ecosystem. Employees outside of Foxconn could work at the Wisconn Valley Innovation Center, including venture capitalists and startup firms.

Walker was quick to tout the downtown Milwaukee deal as a “Foxconn bonus,” a development that comes in addition to the heavily-subsidized Racine County complex. He says many companies throughout the state will be part of the company’s supply chain, so the economic benefits will be spread throughout Wisconsin.

This all begs a key political question: what would Democrats do if they win in November?

Will they try to kill the Foxconn project? One Democratic candidate for governor, Matt Flynn, said on Twitter if he is elected, “the first thing I would do is stop the Foxconn deal.”

That could be a hard promise to keep if Foxconn starts creating a lot of jobs. n

ANDREW WEILAND EDITOR

P / 414-336-7120 E / andrew.weiland@biztimes.com T / @AndrewWeiland

AROUND TOWN Economic Trends 2018 BizTimes Milwaukee recently presented the annual Northern Trust Economic Trends breakfast at the Italian Community Center in Milwaukee’s Historic Third Ward.

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1.

BRENT HAMM of CIBC and ROBERT JANSEN of Bridgewood Advisors.

2.

JIM LOGAN and KEITH WALZ, both of Jason Industries.

3.

ERIN STAMPFL of Johnson Financial Group and SUSAN BALL of Schenck.

4.

DEBORAH BENAVIDES of NRI Relocation, ERIC HAWKINSON of ManpowerGroup and AMY KOWALCHUK of Jason Industries.

5.

DEBBIE SEEGER of Patina Solutions and PETER FRITTITTA of R&R Insurance.

6.

JIM HAYES of GRAEF and PATRICK FINGER of V & F Roof Consulting & Service.

7.

ERIN STAMPFL of Johnson Financial Group and MARK MATTHIESEN of Old National Bank.

8.

NICOLE DAHL, KIM KOLESARI AND KELSEY LORENZ, all of M3 Insurance.

9.

LAUREN MCCAIN and TARA O’BYRNE, both of Marquette University.

Photos by Paul Gaertner

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NEWaukee Open Source NEWaukee recently hosted “Open Source: Showcasing Milwaukee’s Engineering Culture” at Bright Cellars Inc. near downtown Milwaukee.

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10. KATRINA LORD of Rockwell Automation Inc. and KIM BORSHEIM of Bright Cellars.

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11. DIANA WU of Bright Cellars, DEVON OLSEN of Oak Creek High School and MITCH LACY of Bright Cellars.

12. AAGAM JAIN of Global Power Components and ALEX KOLTUN of Carroll University.

13. MOHAMMED JABER of Thermo Fisher Scientific and TAHA SHAWAR of Zimmerman Architectural Studios Inc.

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14. JOE NIELSON of Kohl’s Corp., BECKY KOHL of Northwestern Mutual Life Insurance Co. and GERALD NIELSON of Bay Electronics Inc. 15. AMANDA DAERING of Centare and JOAN JOHNSON of Milwaukee Public Library.

16. ERICA CONWAY of C2 Talent and JASON DOBBS of SafeNet Milwaukee.

17. PAUL LEMLEY of Hivecast, ROB BARDUNIAS of Buzzi, AMANDA DAERING of Centare, AMANDA FALKOWSKI of Schenck SC and LARRY SCHMIDT of Vista Dental.

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18. RON BRAHAM of GE Healthcare and JULIE BRAHAM of Harley-Davidson Inc. Photos by Maredithe Meyer biztimes.com / 41

BizConnections

AMY LINDNER

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LILA ARYAN PHOTOGRAPHY

the LASTWORD

PRESIDENT

Solving complex problems takes grit Amy Lindner took on her new role as president of United Way of Greater Milwaukee & Waukesha County at the beginning of the year. Lindner, an attorney who previously practiced law at Reinhart Boerner Van Deuren S.C., came to United Way after working as executive director of Meta House, a Milwaukee-based nonprofit that provides alcohol and drug abuse treatment services designed for women. Given the complex issues United Way and other nonprofits aim to help solve, Lindner said the work of bringing about change

United Way of Greater Milwaukee & Waukesha County unitedwaygmwc.org Industry: Health, education and financial stability nonprofit

in a community requires perseverance, grit and getting all hands on deck.

“The problems we have yet to solve are big problems and they are problems that are bigger than any one agency can hope to solve, although all those agencies are making a difference. It’s really going to take system leadership to solve the stuff we’re all still grappling with.

“What we need is a lot of grit and a lot of hanging in there. We all love putting our dollars to a problem that can be solved tomorrow. That feels amazing. You write a check today and tomorrow the problem is solved. Lots of that needs to be done. But what it’s going to take 42 / BizTimes Milwaukee FEBRUARY 19, 2018

over the next decade and two decades and three decades is being willing to live through setbacks. It’s being willing to try things that don’t work and to just keep trying. This stuff needs to get solved and it’s going to take a lot of us who are willing to keep working and keep hanging in there until we crack it.

“I don’t know many communities as generous as Milwaukee historically and currently is. That includes some amazing families with multigenerational generosity that is just astonishing and we’re very grateful for that, but these

are all-hands-on-deck problems with all of us playing every role we can play … That’s the only way I know that transformation of our community is going to keep happening.

“Leadership isn’t titles. Leadership is action.

Leadership can happen from the top of an organization, but it can also happen in any corner of this community at any time when somebody decides they’re going to step up and step in and do work that needs to be done. That’s a form of leadership.” n

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