BizTimes Milwaukee | March 4, 2019 by BizTimes Media

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MAR 4 - 17, 2019 Â» $3.25

COMPANIES WARM TO IDEA OF EMPLOYING EX-OFFENDERS

REGISTRATION OPEN! March 21, 2019 7:00am - 11:00am Italian Community Center

THE ANSWER IS LEADERSHIP… WHAT IS THE QUESTION? Join us to learn how the best CEOs Build High-Performing Companies This event, designed exclusively for growth-minded CEO’s, Presidents, Owners and top-level executives, will discuss the significant shifts that have occurred in today’s business climate and the enormous challenges facing executives today. During the morning-long interactive program, award-winning author and business advisor John Lankford will provide proven, strategic methods to: • • • •

Developing your leadership team Self-funding your company’s Leadership Development Creating a culture of accountability Increasing the value of your company

Agenda 7:00-7:30 - Registration & Networking 7:30-7:50 - Breakfast 7:50-11:00 - Keynote Presentation and Workshop

Executives will walk out the door with a list of strategies that are critical for the assessment and development of your leadership team. The interactions and discussions at your table will debate which methods are appropriate for your business to reduce key employee turnover and which strategies are best to develop your executive leadership team. Attendees will have a meaningful shift in thinking about how to design and implement these best practices. Leaders are encouraged to bring along additional company executives to strengthen their organizational vision towards achieving a common goal.

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» MAR 4 - 17, 2019

4 Leading Edge 4 NOW BY THE NUMBERS 5 BIZ LUNCH 6 JUMP START 7 BIZTRACKER 8 THE FRANCHISEE 9 BIZ POLL ON MY NIGHTSTAND 10 BEHIND THE SCENES

12 Biz News COMPANIES WARM TO IDEA OF EMPLOYING EX-OFFENDERS

12 A N EXCLUSIVE REPORT ON ACUITY’S MAJOR GROWTH PLANS. 14 THE INTERVIEW 15 A PREVIEW OF THE UPCOMING BIZTIMES EXECUTIVE FORUM.

16 Real Estate 24 Banking & Finance COVER STORY

BizTimes Milwaukee (ISSN 1095-936X & USPS # 017813) Volume 24, Number 22, March 4, 2019 – March 17, 2019. 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

31 Strategies

31 LEADERSHIP Karen Vernal 32 HUMAN RESOURCES Karl Williams 33 TIP SHEET

35 Biz Connections

Special Report 26 Higher Education

Coverage includes a review of the M-cubed initiative among MPS, MATC and UWM two years in, as well a primer on Marquette’s new Office of Corporate Engagement.

35 NONPROFIT 36 PERSONNEL FILE 37 AROUND TOWN 38 GLANCE AT YESTERYEAR COMMENTARY 39 MY TOUGHEST CHALLENGE

WE’RE PROUD TO BE

WISCONSIN’S BANK FOR BUSINESS ™

414-273-3507 | townbank.us JAY MACK President & CEO

JOHN JOHANNES Executive Vice President, Commercial Real Estate

DENNIS KRAKAU Executive Vice President, Commercial Banking

biztimes.com / 3

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BIZTIMES DAILY – The day’s most significant news → biztimes.com/subscribe

NOW

Hotel Northland

KPH Construction files for bankruptcy By Alex Zank, staff writer Milwaukee-based contractor KPH Construction Corp. and related businesses have filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, stemming from the owner’s involvement in the redevelopment of a historic hotel building in Green Bay. In February, KPH Construction,

KPH Envrionmental Corp. and other companies owned by Keith Harenda filed for bankruptcy with the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in the Eastern District of Wisconsin. According to court filings from KPH, the company faces a cash shortfall of roughly $3 million, not counting what’s still owed to

BY THE NUMBERS As part of a Chapter 11 restructuring, Shopko plans to close

251

STORES

including almost all of its locations in the Milwaukee area.

4 / BizTimes Milwaukee MARCH 4, 2019

subcontractors, related to work performed on the redevelopment of Hotel Northland in downtown Green Bay. Harenda, along with partner Michael Frantz, formed Hotel Northland LLC in May 2014 and made plans to renovate and reopen the then-vacant building. The LLC in turn contracted with KPH to provide construction services on the project, according to KPH’s bankruptcy court filing. Harenda and Frantz had gathered the required financing, from numerous sources, for the project by December 2015 and construction activity commenced the following month, according to the court filing. Frantz could not be reached for comment. One year later, in January 2017, one of the project’s lenders, First Merit, pulled out of the project, according to the court filing. By April of that year the developers received a term sheet from Octagon Finance to provide a replacement loan of $20 million to complete work on the hotel and pay all outstanding bills. But then Octagon terminated loan negotiations in August 2017, the filing states. Octagon petitioned the Brown County Circuit Court in October 2017 to appoint a receiver, and promised to pay all subcontractors and complete construction work, which was about 75 percent

finished at that point. The project was required to be completed and begin operating within a certain time period to ensure tax credits were awarded. The court appointed a receiver, who then sold the hotel to an entity controlled by Octagon. The hotel was sold “free and clear” of KPH’s lien claims against the property, according to the court filings. KPH alleges the sale was made contrary to state law and says it is “vigorously contesting all aspects of the sale.” KPH further states it tried to avoid filing for bankruptcy and negotiate a resolution with one of its creditors, Liberty Mutual Insurance Co. A resolution was not reached, and in November the creditor filed a financing statement against KPH and also filed a lawsuit in the district court. KPH in turn filed for bankruptcy to prevent Liberty Mutual from obtaining its assets. Additionally, the filings will give the company more time to pursue construction lien claims against Hotel Northland. According to the bankruptcy filings, KPH employs approximately 30 people and expects to bring in $11 million of revenue in 2019 from projects throughout Wisconsin. KPH says that if not for the problems associated with the Hotel Northland project, the company would be profitable. n

BIZ LUNCH

Lunch

SWEET DINER

ALEX SCHNEIDER

Biz

A D D R E S S: 238 E. Chicago St., #103, Milwaukee WEBSITE: sweetdiner.com CUISINE: Breakfast and lunch American classics C H E F: Ana Docta M O O D: Modern chic and hip PRICING: $5 to $20 This is unlike any “diner” you’ve been to before. The edgy and modern environment makes this diner a sweet spot in Milwaukee’s Historic Third Ward. The Chicago owners offer a breakfast all day and lunch menu, and it’s all served daily from 7 a.m. to 3 p.m. Besides breakfast classics like omelets, skillets, pancakes and waffles, Sweet Diner has an impressive lunch menu perfect for a business meal. There are salads, including “Berries and Chicken,” in which organic mesclun greens are topped with fresh seasonal berries, grilled chicken, candied walnuts and dark cherry vinaigrette. Sandwiches include a Croque Madame with homemade Hollandaise sauce and a Veg Head sandwich complete with greens, mushrooms, zucchini, tomatoes, red peppers, onions, hummus and Gruyere on a pita. Sweet Diner also offers delish drinks, including a Bloody Mary, a margarita and mimosas. 

1 2 3

BLTSMA sandwich: The BLTSMA sandwich features crispy bacon, organic lettuce, Swiss cheese, tomato, avocado and mayonnaise, all toasted on wheat bread. Berry Feast crepes: These traditional homemade French crepes are wrapped around mascarpone, Madagascar vanilla and cottage cheese filling. The dish is topped with fresh berries, sprinkled with powdered sugar and served with syrup. Modern chic interior : With bright modern lighting, white marble tabletops, minimalist décor and rustic exposed brick, the interior of Sweet Diner makes guests feel like they’re eating brunch in a chic loft. Each table is accentuated with plant décor and surrounded by woven lounge chairs. biztimes.com / 5

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LILA ARYAN PHOTOGRAPHY

BIZTIMES MEDIA – Like us

WORDZEN INC. LOCATION: Mequon FOUNDER: Ajay Goel FOUNDED: 2015 SERVICE: Email drafting and marketing tools WEBSITES: wordzen.com, gmass.co EMPLOYEES: One GOAL: Reach 15,000 paying customers by end of 2019 EXPERIENCE: Goel previously founded email marketing firm JangoMail, which had grown to $6 million in sales when he sold it to a private equity group in 2013.

Ajay Goel

GMass ranked among top Google tools By Molly Dill, staff writer

6 / BizTimes Milwaukee MARCH 4, 2019

THE NO. 1 Sales & CRM tool on Google’s G Suite Marketplace isn’t a Silicon Valley tech platform like Salesforce or HubSpot. It’s an email marketing tool called GMass created by Mequon company Wordzen Inc. With more than 100,000 users and an average rating of 4.7 out of 5 stars, the email marketing platform built by developer Ajay Goel has taken off. GMass is a program that allows users to mail merge and send mass emails using Gmail, and Goel said even Google’s own employees use it. “We have customers at almost every major tech company,” he said. “I didn’t call them; they found me.” Unlike some of its competitors, GMass can be used from within the Gmail interface, which is familiar to many people already, without logging in to and learning another platform. “We compete with a lot of well-funded companies from Silicon Valley and around the world,” he said. “My company is not funded at all. I bootstrapped it from the beginning.” That was made possible by Goel’s previous entrepreneurial success. He built Dayton, Ohiobased email marketing platform JangoMail, which

he grew to 12 employees and $6 million in annual sales before selling it to a private equity group in 2013 for an undisclosed price. Goel launched a new company, Wordzen Inc., in 2015, and it now has two products: GMass and Wordzen, an email composition tool. He’s the sole full-time employee, and works with a number of remote freelancers. Wordzen was the company’s first product. It provides human editors to review an email for sentence structure, organizational style, tone, voice and grammar. Editors are also available to write an email for a user who has spoken the message into his or her phone. But GMass has gained more traction, mainly because almost every company or organization is doing some type of email marketing, he said. “It’s everything from a teacher using it to keep in touch with parents of their students, to salespeople at software companies using it for cold prospecting and setting up demos of their software,” Goel said. GMass has reached about $1.5 million in annual recurring revenue, and Goel is aiming to reach 15,000 paying customers and hire another employee by the end of the year. n

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1/14/2019 11:57:38 AM

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@BIZTIMESMEDIA – Real-time news

the

TAMMY GUADAGNO

FRAN C H I S E E

CK .

CO M

PAUL, LUIGI AND TAMMY GUADAGNO

The Guadagnos plan to open two additional locations this year, in Milwaukee and Madison, Tammy said.

THE FRANCHISE: Astoria, New York-based The Halal Guys Inc. is a fast-casual restaurant that serves traditional Middle Eastern halal cuisine, which is food considered to be lawful for consumption according to Islamic law. It first started in 1990 as a Manhattan food cart when founders Mohammed Abouelenein, Abdelbaset Elsayed and Ahmed Elsaka saw a demand for halal food from Muslim cab drivers. It has since grown its operations to 350 restaurants worldwide.

TAMMY GUADAGNO

THE HALAL GUYS INC.

The Halal Guys Milwaukee location opens in 2016 at 3133 N. Oakland Ave.

THE HALAL GUYS

2016 Tammy Guadagno has been a franchise partner at Chick-fil-A in California since 2005 when she first tries food from The Halal Guys. Falling in love with the food and the concept, she begins taking interest in the company as a customer. AUGUST 2017 As Tammy and her husband, Paul Guadagno, consider a move to Wisconsin to be closer to family, Tammy finds out that a Halal Guys restaurant in Milwaukee is for sale. DECEMBER 2017 Tammy, Paul and Paul’s father, Luigi, purchase the franchise. Tammy and Paul move to Wisconsin shortly after. APRIL 2018 The Halal Guys, located at 3133 N. Oakland Ave., celebrates its reopening with new ownership. After officially taking over operations in February, the Guadagnos made improvements to both the 1,560-square-foot space and to the business. Items on the menu include gyros, hummus, baba ganouj, falafel and baklava.

8 / BizTimes Milwaukee MARCH 4, 2019

“The owners were needing to sell and it just so happened to be right when we wanted to move,” Tammy said.

THE FRANCHISE FEE The initial cost of opening a Halal Guys franchise is $60,000. Franchisees must commit to opening a minimum of five restaurants.

“It’s been great,” Tammy said. “If I said it was where I’ve wanted it, I wouldn’t be an entrepreneur. I don’t like to settle. We want to keep growing, but we’ve been able to grow it and we’ve doubled the sales.”

BIZ POLL

on my nightstand...

A recent survey of BizTimes.com readers.

Which is the best area concert venue?

MIKE LESSITER

Fiserv Forum: 22%

President Lessiter Media Inc.

Alpine Valley: 20% Pabst Theater: 16% American Family Insurance Amphitheater: 15% Riverside Theater: 14% Miller Park: 3% Miller High Life Theater:2% Other: 8%

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

‘The Worst Hard Time’ By Timothy Egan MIKE LESSITER of Lessiter Media Inc. is often reading several nonfiction books at any given time. His most recent was “The Worst Hard Time” by Timothy Egan. As president of a 38-year-old agricultural media company in Brookfield, Lessiter found personal meaning in the book. “The Worst Hard Time” examines the people of the High Plains who endured the Dust Bowl of the 1930s. It was a unique intersection of interests for Lessiter. He recently completed a yearlong tour that

chronicled the histories of family-run farm equipment companies, many of which routinely cited the “Dirty 30s.” Plus, his dad, Frank, devoted most of his life’s work to helping farmers apply conservation practices in high-production agriculture. “I’m drawn to personal stories of perseverance,” Lessiter said. “The hardship and misery these people faced is almost beyond comprehension. Yet after death, despair and ruin, most of Egan’s subjects waved the white flag and started over somewhere else.” n

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The Future 50 Awards Program is a service of the Metropolitan Milwaukee Association of Commerce (MMAC) and its Council of Small Business Executives (COSBE). biztimes.com / 9

Leading Edge

JAKE HILL PHOTOGRAPHY

BEHIND THE SCENES Cirque du Soleil Crystal By Maredithe Meyer, staff writer

s the polar vortex blanketed Milwaukee in snow and ice this January, Fiserv Forum was also freezing over. A sheet of ice was laid on the arena’s floor for an event for the first time, serving as a stage for the cast of Cirque du Soleil’s “Crystal,” which ran Jan. 31 to Feb. 3. The on-ice production is a first for the Montreal-based entertainment company, which has now performed in Milwaukee eight times since 2006. “Crystal” combines Cirque’s traditional circus-style acrobatic acts with synchronized, freestyle and extreme skating – all while telling a story to the tune of both original and pop ballads. Creating the show was a 12-month process, which was followed by training and rehearsal for its 43 performers and 47 staff and crewmembers, who together represent more than 20 countries, said Julie Desmarais, the company’s publicist. “We always aim to reinvent ourselves and push the boundaries,” she said. n

10 / BizTimes Milwaukee MARCH 4, 2019

The production presented an extra challenge as the cast’s acrobats had to learn how to ice skate and the ice skaters had to learn how to perform acrobatic feats.

Lkhagva-Ochir practices a one-armed balance backstage. He is one of the cast’s 20 acrobats.

Cornelius Atkinson and Amber Van Wijck practice their duo trapeze act.

Rigger Maui Ayachi-Sumeo secures a swinging trapeze apparatus.

The show’s costumes and props are handmade at Cirque’s headquarters in Montreal.

Lighting effects are used throughout the show to help tell the story.

Figure skates, ice dance skates and hockey skates are used during the show. Painted covers that zip over the skates make them look like shoes.

Acrobat Danica Gagnon-Plamondon plays the show’s main character, Crystal. She flips and flies through the air on a trapeze while wearing ice skates.

Head of rigging Josh Wong scales the rig suspended above the set.

Figure skaters Mary Siegel (right) and Lisa Mochizuki.

biztimes.com / 11

BizNews FEATURE

Acuity sets aggressive growth plans By Lauren Anderson, staff writer COMING OFF of a record growth year, Sheboygan-based property and casualty insurer Acuity Insurance is positioning itself to hire hundreds more employees over the next three years and continue expanding into new states. The company is on track to hire 160 new employees this year, with plans to add another 200 in 2020, and 250 more in 2021, said Ben Salzmann, president and chief executive officer. Acuity currently has more than 1,300 employees, about 1,000 of whom are based at the company’s Sheboygan headquarters. The company completed a $170 million expansion of its corporate headquarters in 2017, doubling the total building space to 1.2 million square feet. This year, it plans to add another 600 spots to its 1,300-space parking garage at the campus. Next year, Acuity plans to finish and occupy a wing of the headquarters that is currently unfinished, Salzmann said. “That should last us another three years,” he said. Eventually, the company expects to build two office towers on its campus. “I would say five years from now, we’ll build one tower and 10 years from now, we’ll do another one,” Salzmann said. In 2018, Acuity had record revenue of $1.54 billion, a 7.2 percent increase from its 2017 revenue of $1.44 billion. The company, which has grown over the past 14 years from writing insurance in eight states to now operating in 27 states, is on pace to expand its service territory by one new state each year, Salzmann said. In August 2018, Acuity expanded to New Hampshire. This August, it will begin doing business in Virginia. After that, the company has set its sights on Oregon, New York, Washington and California. “That kind of geographic expansion in the property/casualty insurance industry is very, very rare,” said Wally Waldhart, vice president of sales and communications at Acuity. Commercial auto is Acuity’s largest and fastest-growing line of business. Meanwhile, the company surpassed $400 million in written premium in personal lines last year. But Acuity’s leadership prides itself on not setting sales goals. “We don’t believe in sales goals,” Salzmann said. “Insurance is risk bearing. And if we say we as an organization want to grow 5 percent, that 5 percent gets assigned to everybody in 12 / BizTimes Milwaukee MARCH 4, 2019

each territory. But maybe there is some place where it doesn’t match, and then they start making bad decisions because they feel pressure … In some years, if it’s a recession, maybe we shrink and maybe that’s the right thing to do. So we don’t set sales goals. Where it can happen naturally, we make it happen.” According to a Deloitte report, the national property and casualty sector enjoyed a strong fiscal 2018 thanks to sustained economic growth, rising interest rates and higher investment income. The industry saw growth in written premium of 4.6 percent in 2017, the highest percentage in the past decade, followed by a 12.7 percent increase in the first half of 2018. Salzmann said Acuity is well-positioned for growth thanks to its financial strength. It has received A+ ratings from both AM Best and Standard & Poor’s. “We don’t have any debt; almost every business you look at has business loans that they have to pay as they go,” he said. “We’re very conservative and that gives us the ability to be, according to AM, the strongest, so we can stand behind all of our claims, so we can protect our customers.” Salzmann attributes Acuity’s growth to the quality of its independent agents. “We sell through independent agents and independent agents sincerely care about their customers. They make sure they’re getting the right protection, that they’re getting great value, that the insurance company will settle claims fairly and quickly,” he said. “Insurance is really a relationship, reputation business and we work very hard on relationships.” Salzmann cited hiring and training enough employees as the biggest hindrance to the company’s growth. “You can only assimilate so many new employees,” he said. Acuity often hires new college graduates – with education backgrounds ranging from business to computer science to liberal arts – and trains them in-house. The company has also attracted attention for several unique features at its headquarters, including a 65-foot indoor Ferris wheel, a 27,000-square-foot fitness center, a climbing wall and the world’s largest free-flying American flag. In 2018, Acuity made Forbes’ list of America’s Best Midsize Employers, along with its Best Employers for Women list. n

LEADING WITH EXPERIENCE Acuity’s headquarters in Sheboygan.

We are pleased to welcome Aaron Schmanski to the First Business Trust & Investments team in Milwaukee. A respected expert, Aaron has 25 years of experience helping clients protect, manage, and grow their wealth. Aaron is an avid outdoor enthusiast who was born and raised to respect and admire the natural beauty of Wisconsin. At UW-Milwaukee, he earned a Bachelor’s and a Master’s of Business Administration. As you build a trusted relationship with him, you’ll find that Aaron will go above and beyond to help you reach your financial planning and investment goals.

AARON SCHMANKSI Vice President First Business Trust & Investments 262-605-7807 firstbusiness.com/aaronschmanski Acuity’s headquarters has a 2,000-person theater-in-the-round.

Acuity’s headquarters includes a 65-foot Ferris wheel. biztimes.com / 13

BizNews

the

Interview

MILWAUKEE-BASED VERSITI INC., an affiliation of blood centers throughout the Midwest, recently rolled

out new branding across its locations, including the former BloodCenter of Wisconsin. Versiti currently operates four blood collection and distribution centers in Illinois, Indiana, Michigan and Wisconsin, along with the Blood Research Institute. In January, Versiti announced it would expand into its fifth state when it opens a new blood distribution center in partnership with the Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center in Columbus. Reporter Lauren Anderson recently spoke with Chris Miskel, president and chief executive officer of Versiti, about the brand rollout and the holding company’s growth. What benefits does being part of Versiti offer the BloodCenter? “BloodCenter of Wisconsin has essentially built the largest Midwestern blood center in the United States. We’re the fifth largest supplier of blood in the U.S. and we’ve partnered with some exceptional organizations across the Midwest. We’ve brought together all of our expertise to be able to serve more patients. Over the course of the last decade or so, the number of investigators we have at the Blood Research Institute in Wauwatosa has tripled to 35 investigative labs. And the researchers we have there are internationally renowned.”

What’s driven that growth in the research arm? “We’ve had really strong leadership of the Research Institute over time. We have an excellent board that’s highly engaged with what we do and extremely supportive of research. That’s No. 1. My predecessor that led, which was at the time the BloodCenter of Wisconsin, and what became Versiti, for 15 years was an exceptional leader and equally committed to research. When I ask some of the investigators here why they came, it’s because the textbooks that they study out of have the names of the people that actually work for us, either those that have in the past or still work for us today. We have some of the giants in blood research literally in our building in Tosa to coach and mentor and inspire the next wave of investigators. That greatness creates an environment that then attracts great talent.”

L IL A A

RYAN

PHOT

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PH Y

Why put the Versiti brand on its organizations? “The new look really reflects the spectrum of expertise we have in all things blood. When we interact with our customers across the United States, they’ve come to expect certain things from us and we want to have a consistent look and feel that reflects the expertise we have and the urgency we have to serve them. In most cases our blood customers are local, but we also have a diagnostic lab that’s doing very specialized testing that has customers across the United States. So we want to bring it all together with a central brand and central look and feel.”

What differences will customers see?

Chris Miskel President and chief executive officer

“For donors who know us as BloodCenter of Wisconsin, the transition will be to ‘Versiti BloodCenter of Wisconsin.’ We wanted to keep that local connection because, ultimately, we’re here first and foremost to serve our local communities. The organization will stay the same; the blood products that we are fortunate to collect here will help patients in the 59 hospitals where we provide blood here in Wisconsin. The beauty of being part of Versiti is now with the other states that are part of our organization, we can help those really rare and uncommon patients where it’s harder to find a match. The scale of a bigger database allows us to match the right donor to the right recipient so we can care for patients in a very precise way.”

Versiti Inc.

What do you envision in the future regarding blood center consolidation?

638 N. 18th St., Milwaukee

“I suspect that when we get to another five to 10 years, we’ll look back and there will have been more consolidation. Versiti as an organization will be standing for the next 50-plus years by virtue of the strength of what we bring to the table and what our customers have come to expect and desire from us.” n

Employees: 2,100 versiti.org 14 / BizTimes Milwaukee MARCH 4, 2019

EVENT PREVIEW

Take time to focus on your business at Executive Forum By Arthur Thomas, BizTimes staff BUSINESS LEADERS and executives are invited to a new, interactive BizTimes Media event this month aimed at helping companies improve in the areas of culture, accountability and leadership development. The Executive Forum will take place from 7 a.m. to 11 a.m. Thursday, March 21 at the Italian Community Center, 631 E. Chicago St., Milwaukee. The event features John Lankford as keynote speaker and workshop leader. Lankford is a multi-award-winning business advisor and author of the book “The Answer is Leadership … What is the Question?” He has 23 years of corporate experience and another 12 years as an entrepreneur. He has facilitated more than two dozen mergers and acquisitions and launched three businesses, selling two of them. The presentation and workshop will focus on developing leadership teams, funding leadership development with solutions that pay for themselves, improving talent attraction and retention, and increasing the value of the company. Executive Forum is targeted to businesses with 10 to 100 employees, a group that makes up around 22 percent of businesses in the state and nearly 25 percent of employment, according to U.S. Census

Bureau data. Attendees will be limited to CEOs, presidents, owners, partners and COOs at companies with 10 or more employees. The event is presented by Park Bank. To register, visit biztimes. com/execforum. Dan Meyer, publisher and owner of BizTimes Media, said many leaders at small to midsized businesses do not take the time to prioritize the things needed to set their company up for future success because they are busy working on everyday challenges. “Take the morning to take a breath and think about how you can be more intentional about some of your critical areas,” Meyer said. Executive Forum is designed for business leaders to leave with actionable items they can implement in their own businesses. The workshop will help companies address whether they have the right leadership skills in the right positions, craft a plan to develop current leaders, and form a process to measure performance throughout the organization. The issues addressed at Executive Forum all contribute to employee attraction and retention, a major challenge for businesses throughout the region. The challenge is only getting more

All attendees will receive a copy of John Lankford’s book, “The Answer is Leadership,” with registration.

difficult with unemployment rates around 3 percent. More than 3.3 million Americans voluntarily quit their jobs in December, according to data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, up from around 2.1 million in December 2013. The average monthly total of people quitting their jobs has increased every year since 2010. While the old adage might have been that people do not quit jobs, they quit bad bosses, Lankford says that is changing. A 2017 Gallup poll found the top reason

people leave is a lack of training, development and career options. Lankford says that is especially true among millennials. Whatever the reason for their departure, losing employees costs businesses time and money. While it might be tempting to accept that turnover is just a way of life, Lankford says his experience is that issue often comes down to broken accountability or leadership development systems. Executive Forum will help businesses explore what challenges they are facing. n

WANTED: The next business success story. Let’s write your first chapter, together. 262-363-6500 citizenbank.bank/success-stories Member FDIC | Equal Housing Lender

Real Estate

REAL ESTATE WEEKLY – The week’s most significant real estate news → biztimes.com/subscribe

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3 2

MA S IN EE T

1 N88 W16495 Main St. Owner: Pubs America Inc. Tenant: A.J. O’Brady’s

5 N88 W16697 Appleton Ave. Owner: Sal D’Acquisto Tenant: Sal’s Pub & Grill 16 / BizTimes Milwaukee MARCH 4, 2019

2 N88 W16521 Main St. Owner: Menomonee Falls’ Main & Mill LLC, registered to William Bode of Brayton Management Co. Inc. Tenant: The Main Mill

6 N88 W16723 Appleton Ave. Owner: C.W. Fraser Building LLC, registered to Thomas Maas Tenant: Bank of Flowers

N88 W16565 Main St. N88 W16683 Main St. Owner: Brayton Devco LLC, registered to Owner: Tony Sgroi and Nina Sgroi William Bode of Brayton Management Co. Inc. Tenant: Nino’s Italian Bakery & Deli Tenant: Purloin Studio

7 N88 W16652 Main St. Owner: Fred Henrizi Post 382 American Legion Tenant: Henrizi-Schneider American Legion Post 382

8 W165 N8910 Grand Ave. Owner: Riverwalk on the Falls LLC, registered to John Wimmer of Wimmer Communities Tenant: RiverWalk on the Falls

ALEX ZANK

MAIN STREET FROM MILL STREET TO APPLETON AVENUE, MENOMONEE FALLS

JON ELLIOTT OF MKE DRONES LLC

WHO OWNS THE BLOCK?

HSA COMMERCIAL REAL ESTATE

In early February, Chicago-based developer HSA Commercial Real Estate Inc. detailed plans for the next phase of The Mayfair Collection, a 69-acre mixed-use development where I-41 meets West Burleigh Street in Wauwatosa. A development agreement between the city and the developer allows for demolition of existing warehouse buildings at the interior of the development area and installation of various infrastructure improvements necessary to support future buildings. The demolition and site work will create seven development pad sites that can accommodate up to 750 residential units and 360,000 square feet of corporate office space. The work is expected to begin this summer, with the development sites available as soon as spring of 2020. DEVELOPER: HSA Commercial Real Estate Inc. SIZE: Seven development sites that can accommodate 750 residential units, 360,000 square feet of office space. LOCATION: I-41 and West Burleigh Street, Wauwatosa

BREAKINGGROUND

THE MAYFAIR COLLECTION’S NEXT PHASE

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April 26, 2019 | 7:00-11:00 am | The Ingleside Hotel Join us on April 26th as author Greg Satell shares his insights on how the new era of innovation is transforming connections and interactions with customers, partners, vendors and employees.

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UGLY BUILDING: 14 28 S . F I R S T S T. The Freshwater Plaza mixed-use project at the corner of East Greenfield Avenue and South First Street in Milwaukee continues to come along. A planned Summit Credit Union branch will be the latest addition to the development that also includes a Cermak Fresh Market, a 76-unit apartment building with first-floor retail space and a Sherwin Williams paint store. But the block immediately south across Greenfield Avenue provides a stark contrast. Included on this block of underutilized buildings and vacant lots is the 6,000-square-foot service/warehouse building at 1428 S. First St. According to city records, the building is owned by James Bukowski and is assessed at $156,000. A review of permit records shows it likely is being used as indoor storage, but no major work has been done to the building for some time. Attempts to reach the owner were unsuccessful.

Roundtable topics follow the presentations: Transportation • Construction • Economic Development • Leadership • Housing Business Growth • Workforce Development • Innovation & Technology

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STORY COVER

COMPANIES WARM TO IDEA OF EMPLOYING EX-OFFENDERS

18 / BizTimes Milwaukee MARCH 4, 2019

BY LAUREN ANDERSON, staff writer oderick Harris will not be coming home from Felmers O. Chaney Correctional Center until 2021, but the 36-year-old Milwaukee resident is ready to get to work. As the end of his 20-year sentence nears, he is building his resume from prison. Harris, who in 2001 was convicted of felony armed robbery, recently completed a welding training program through Milwaukee Area Technical College, a certification he hopes will offer career advancement potential when he is released. “By being in prison, we kind of get the jobs everybody else doesn’t want,” Harris said. “We can get a job, but it doesn’t have much growth opportunity; there isn’t the opportunity for real, true advancement. But when you pick up something like welding, it immediately evolves from a job to a career, something that you can raise a family on. You can do this job and keep your head above water.” The welding training program is new, but if outcomes from a similar MATC re-entry program, which certifies incarcerated students as computer numerical control machine tool operators, are any indication, Harris’ employment outlook is good. Among those students who have been released, 94 percent have found jobs. Also working in Harris’ favor: a 3.9 GPA in the program and a drive to get back to work. He says he’s not an outlier among his fellow inmates. “We’re not just sitting around in a room waiting to go home,” Harris said. “The vast majority of us, we’re preparing to go back home. For some reason, civilians tend to think people are put in prison and that’s it. I can assure you, that’s not the case … My friends and my family and I, we’re all preparing at this time for me to come home. And all we want to do is succeed.” Designed to open a pipeline of potential workers for the area, the federal Pell Grant-supported MATC program – a partnership of the state corrections and workforce development departments – comes at a time when companies are facing persistent workforce shortages and a tight labor market. Out of necessity, employers are taking a second glance at, and even giving a second chance to, applicants they might have previously dismissed. And for people like Harris, participating in the MATC program positions him to leave prison with skills to help him find work quickly, which is a proven way to head off recidivism.

CONNECTING EX-OFFENDERS TO JOBS As of mid-February, Wisconsin’s state inmate population totaled 23,415, with another 65,556 on parole/probation. National statistics indicate that 95 percent of all state prisoners will be released from prison to return to their communities at some point. In recent years, efforts have been underway – largely with bipartisan support – to provide inmates with the training they need to find stable employment upon their release. Under former Gov. Scott Walker, the state established job training centers within state prisons to prepare inmates for careers in fields like welding, CNC machining, industrial maintenance and construction. Gov. Tony Evers has expressed support for expanding those programs. In January, a bipartisan group of state lawmakers introduced a proposal that would expand expungement eligibility for more individuals with criminal records in an effort to reduce barriers to employment. The proposal is supported by groups on opposite ends of the political spectrum, including the American Civil Liberties Union and Americans for Prosperity. “Wisconsin is on its 11th straight month of unemployment at 3 percent or less; our biggest economic issue right now is that companies can’t find employees for available jobs,” said Sen. Alber-

ta Darling, R-River Hills, a sponsor of the bill. “We have hardworking people who can be dedicated employees but don’t have a chance at one of our many, many jobs because of a mistake made years ago. Our bill gives them another chance to support themselves and their families.” In February, as part of a broader proposal to change the state’s marijuana laws, Evers said he wants to establish expungement procedures for those who have completed their sentence or probation for marijuana possession. Meanwhile, there are indications that employers are warming to the practice of hiring ex-offenders. In 2018, 646 employers in Wisconsin sought tax credits for hiring a former offender, up from 484 employers in 2017 and 375 in 2016, according to data from the state Department of Workforce Development. Willie Wade, president and chief executive officer of Employ Milwaukee, said he sees the tide changing. Businesses simply don’t have the luxury of excluding any eligible segment of the workforce. “Now that there is a talent shortage, they no longer can have that position,” Wade said. “If you cut off a certain section of society as a possible recruiting ground, then you’re putting yourself even further behind.”

FOR MORE INFORMATION: EMPLOY MILWAUKEE employmilwaukee.org (414) 270-1700 MILWAUKEE AREA TECHNICAL COLLEGE matc.edu (414) 297-6282 MILWAUKEE JOBSWORK milwaukeejobswork.org (414) 249-5948 biztimes.com / 19

STORY COVER

MYEESHA YOUNG Clad in crisp white scrubs, 29-year-old Myeesha Young greets patients on a Friday afternoon of what has been a busy week at the women’s health department of the MLK Heritage Health Center on Milwaukee’s near north side. She’s still new at her job as a patient access representative, but she already sees the possibility of growing professionally there. Young spent time in prison in Sioux City, Iowa, after pleading guilty to a pimping charge related to an incident in which she rented a hotel room under her name for a friend who was charged with prostitution. Under an interstate compact, Young moved to Milwaukee to live with her grandmother while on supervision. While getting acclimated to the new city, Young – mother to a one-year-old daughter and six-year-old son – experienced repeated job rejections. At one point, she was extended an offer for a job in the hospitality industry but was informed the day before she was supposed to begin that she didn’t pass a second round of vetting. In 2016, Wisconsin adopted “ban the box” legisla-

tion, barring public sector employers from including questions about an individual’s criminal history on job applications and during the initial screening process. Advocates say delaying the question gives applicants with criminal records an opportunity to be evaluated on their merits and experience, rather than their history. Still, despite momentum around “ban the box,” about half of employers surveyed nationally said they ask applicants about their criminal record during the hiring process, usually on an initial application form. Employers are allowed to conduct background checks throughout the hiring process, including after a conditional employment offer. Young’s parole officer connected her with the Employ Mil-

20 / BizTimes Milwaukee MARCH 4, 2019

LAUREN ANDERSON

Myeesha Young, 29, is a patient access representative for the women’s health department of the MLK Heritage Health Center in Milwaukee.

waukee team, who helped her with her resume and pushed her to continue trying, despite the rejections. A job fair through Employ Milwaukee eventually connected her with the clinic manager at the MLK Heritage Health Center. Young reported to her first day of work there on Nov. 19. Now three months in, she hopes to become a certified ultrasound technician and take a more active role in educating young women about their health. “I just needed an opportunity to prove myself and show them, rather than me just saying it,” Young said. “I’m at work on time every day. I’m eager. I want to excel. I’m looking to further my education to see if someday I can help others.”

‘WE JUST WANT TO FILL POSITIONS’ Being in an industry where the skills gap continues to widen, Badger Alloys Inc. generally casts a wide net when hiring. The Milwaukee-based sand casting foundry maintains what human resources director Teresa Smith describes as an “open door” policy. “We accept that people make mistakes,” Smith said. “We have applicants who apply for jobs and maybe they have something that was 10, 15 or 20 years ago; we have some that may have just been released and, depending on what the circumstances are, we definitely have an open door to that.”

The company works with staffing agencies to get connected to potential employees, who typically have a 30- to 90-day window to determine whether it’s the right fit, she said. During the hiring process, Smith said, she talks through an applicant’s criminal background. “Most people are very upfront about it; they’re very forthcoming,” she said. “And I’m glad they are because that tells me they’re trying to move forward.” Because of the industry and the nature of Badger Alloys’ work, Smith said, employees’ former offenses aren’t typically cause for concern, like a theft conviction might be for a retailer. Their hiring practice fits with the company’s other workforce development initiatives aimed at providing opportunities to people who may not have succeeded in traditional educational settings – including its partnerships with Milwaukee Public Schools, Metropolitan Milwaukee Association of Commerce-Manufacturing Careers Partnership, the Steel Founders’ Society of America’s Apprenticeship Program and Junior Achievement. It’s a good thing to do as a corporate citizen, the company maintains, but it also meets a real need. “At the end of the day, we just want to fill positions,” Smith said.

WORK READY In the fall of 2018, Anthony Love, 36, was four months out of prison and disheartened by

the job hunt. He would hear of felony-friendly employers but found they weren’t as open to backgrounds like his, which includes convictions related to drug and firearm possession and robbery. “You can see they’re kind of scared to even interview you,” Love said. “I got turned down so many times.” It began to wear on him. “I had the drive when I got out, but I was getting discouraged,” he said. “I was nervous about going back to the old me.” His parole officer told him about Employ Milwaukee’s re-entry services, but Love rebuffed the first few times she referred him to the organization. Employ Milwaukee – the agency formerly known as the Milwaukee Area Workforce Investment Board that is tasked with matching workers to market demand – stands in what can seem like a chasm between former inmates and potential employers. Employ Milwaukee’s re-entry services are offered within and outside jails and prison, providing cognitive and technical skills training, career planning and referrals to other services. “Historically, the re-entry population has been that untapped population but … approximately 2,700 to 3,200 people return to Milwaukee County from prison each year,” said Chantell Jewell, who oversaw re-entry services at Employ Milwaukee

Bold Leaders. Bright Ideas. Apply Today. Accepting nominations for the 15th annual

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To submit your nomination visit www.biztimes.com/bravo Past Bravo! Lifetime Achievement award winners have included: Time Keane, Carol Schneider, George and Julie Mosher, Gary Grunau, Michael Cudahy, Sheldon Lubar, Fritz and Debra Usinger, Stephen Marcus, George Dalton and Robert Kern Past IQ award winners have included: AddeoFit, Containers Up, Design Fugitives, Francis Investment Counsel, Hamacher Resource Group LLC, HED Inc., Milwaukee County House of Correction, Remedy Analytics and WorkWise Presented By:

Sponsored Content

Special Report HIGHER EDUCATION

New Office of Corporate Engagement aimed at bolstering Marquette’s business partnerships By Lauren Anderson, staff writer IN SPRING 2018, Marquette University and Wintrust Financial Corp. inked a 10-year partnership that checked several boxes for both organizations. With its $12 million commitment, Wintrust – the Rosemont, Illinois-based parent of Town Bank – secured its position as the university’s exclusive commercial and retail bank, expanded branding opportunities at the Al McGuire Center and Fiserv Forum, supported scholarships and the College of Business Administration’s commercial banking program, provided seed funding for a small business revolving loan fund, and financed low-cost loans for businesses in the neighborhoods around campus. Underpinning the multi-faceted deal, both institutions said, were their aligned values and missions.

“Marquette is a major institution in Milwaukee, and Marquette’s mission goes beyond just educating college students, and we’re growing in Milwaukee so the opportunity to work with Marquette on some initiatives that are consistent with our mission and growth goals was attractive to us,” said Jay Mack, president and chief executive officer of Hartland-based Town Bank. Marquette recently launched a new office with the goal of forming more and stronger partnerships with area companies, like Wintrust. The Office of Corporate Engagement, which was first announced in early 2018 during university president Michael Lovell’s annual address, officially opened this January. The office’s focus is on forming corporate sponsorships related to research, technology transfer, talent development, philan-

MAURA DONOVAN thropy, and contracts and service partnerships. “The Office of Corporate Engagement is charged with formalizing, enhancing and streamlining the ways in which Marquette works with corporate partners, ultimately increasing the number of opportunities the university has to work

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with forward-looking organizations with shared values and strategic priorities that align with Marquette,” Lovell said. Leading the effort is Maura Donovan, who recently joined Marquette in the newly created role of vice president for corporate engagement. Donovan previously was executive director of economic development at the University of Minnesota, a program she built from its inception. Her background has spanned positions in both the higher education sphere and the corporate world, including her roles as vice president of therapy research and development, and vice president of life sciences R&D at medical device giant Medtronic Inc. It’s prepared her for a role in which she stands at the intersection of academia and for-profits, with the goal of bridging the two sectors. “I think part of what I can bring is that duality, the bilingualism,” she said. Donovan said she wants the university to build multi-dimensional relationships with area companies, an approach known as “holistic engagement.” “There is more than just one point of connection that a university can achieve with a particular

company,” Donovan said. “Whether that’s focusing on the talent needs a company has – that might be where a lot of the conversations start – but as you go deeper into that relationship, you realize they may have interest in research, technology transfer and product development synergies.” Donovan said the new office will build on Marquette’s foundation of corporate partnerships, which have largely been formed among its various colleges up to this point. It’s also prompted some internal shuffling, including Carmel Ruffolo, formerly associate vice president for research and innovation, who has transferred to the OCE as its associate vice president. Centralizing the corporate engagement functions into one office, Donovan said, will create a single access point for companies to get connected to the university. One of the larger recent corporate partnerships with the university is the new Northwestern Mutual Data Science Institute, a $40 million initiative of Marquette, the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, and the Milwaukee-based life insurance company. Northwestern Mutual made a $15 million commitment over five years to support an en-

dowed professorship at each university, research projects, new faculty, expanded curriculum, K-12 STEM initiatives and pre-college programming. Marquette and UWM have each committed more than $12 million to data science education and research at their universities. Under the partnership, data scientists from Northwestern Mutual will work with the universities on teaching opportunities, mentoring and internship programs, and help the universities align their curriculum to current industry needs. From a talent development standpoint, Donovan said she envisions growing experiential learning opportunities to help prepare students for careers, while also connecting companies to talent coming out of the university. While businesses provide valuable information regarding workforce needs and trends, which in turn influences curricula, Donovan said the OCE will be able to help facilitate conversations with companies regarding their long-term needs. “This is sometimes a tricky conversation to catalyze because we’re all used to looking at our immediate needs, but one of the strengths of academic institutions is we can look further out,” she said. n

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Strategies LEADERSHIP

Act with integrity Be consistent in living up to your promises

“ The supreme quality of leadership is unquestionably integrity. Without it, no real success is possible, no matter whether it is… on a football field, in an army or in an office.”

— Dwight D. Eisenhower

ONCE UPON A TIME, there was a country where courageous leaders acted with integrity in the best interest of their citizens. Once upon a time, there was a country that became a beacon of light for our world, extending its reach to help other countries in distress. Once upon a time, there were leaders in corporations who aspired to make a difference in our world as well as make a profit for themselves. Once upon a time… Today, we are bombarded with one story after another about leaders who have forfeited their integrity for personal gain. The stories

erode our faith and confidence in our leaders while at the same time, slowly normalizing destructive behaviors. We are living during a time when we justify the behavior of leaders who lie and leaders who use their position of power to advance their personal agendas, often at the expense of others, suggesting that their words don’t matter. It is what they do. Even as we witness the repeated distortion at the highest levels in our valued institutions, there are leaders who give us reason to hope. I am coaching a senior leader in a large Milwaukee corporation. I have had the privilege of coaching Diane for a number of months. The company has been going through rapid change initiatives and Diane’s job is impacted, as are the jobs of hundreds of employees. The organizational structure has changed, new players have been hired and some employees have been let go. Diane is now leading a new team. Tom, an employee Diane recruited to join the company and work on her team, is now without a job as a result of the organizational changes. He has responded to two job postings within the company. One is in Diane’s new area, and one is in an area led by Diane’s peer, who is actively competing for Tom. While Diane would love to have Tom work in her new area, she believes it is in the best interest of Tom and the company for him to select the job with Diane’s peer. With her integrity intact and courage embraced, Diane met with her boss to share her beliefs. She set aside her own self-interest for the sake of the company. She set aside her self-interest because she believes that Tom has more to offer and more to learn by working in another area. Diane’s decision to quietly give voice to her belief was not an easy one. She is confident that her own team and her personal success would be enhanced by Tom’s work with her. Yet she believes that his work with her peer’s team will provide even more overall impact for the company. So how does one decide to do what is in the best interest of the other or the company? At the Center for Ethical Leadership, “Re-

searchers suggest that one way we recognize integrity is when we see a person act in ways that are consistent with his or her promises. That means that integrity is not a single action, but a series of actions, a reputation for consistency that builds slowly over time. And this insight helps us see integrity as something within reach by seeking small wins in our everyday encounters with others.” This definition is consistent with the feedback about Diane that I received from her leaders, peers and direct reports before we began our coaching engagement. The statements that colleagues used repeatedly to describe Diane’s leadership were: “You can count on her to do what she says she will do.” “Diane is thoughtful and strategic in her decision-making, always considering what is in the best interest of the company, stakeholders and employees.” I have witnessed Diane’s confidence and influence growing. She is demonstrating to others the power of integrity and courage. Others are noticing. Others are joining. In the not-too-distant future, I hope that someone will write: “The time has come: leaders are leading with integrity and courage.” And our organizations, communities and our world will respond with gratitude. Will you be a part of this new story? n

KAREN VERNAL Karen Vernal is the president of Vernal Management Consultants LLC, a Milwaukeebased leadership and organizational firm. For more information, visit vernalmgmt.com. biztimes.com / 31

Strategies HUMAN RESOURCES

Conquer the labor shortage How to find, and keep, the right people MOST COMPANIES that can’t find enough top candidates for job openings fear the problem will linger. But after 25 years as a CEO, and my experience as a strategic planning consultant and Vistage chair, I’ve concluded most companies deploy the same old tired strategies to find and keep workers. They’re missing out on innovative ways to attract the best and brightest. That’s alarming. Consider: »» In October, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics said there were 6.7 million jobs open in the United States and only 6.4 million available workers to fill them. »» Many available workers don’t have the job skills required for those openings. It’s not even close. »» Those two facts mean that the fierce competition for top talent will remain. That’s especially troublesome for small and midsize companies that need to hire if they want to take advantage of the strong economy. According to 1,467 CEOs that were surveyed for Vistage’s Q3 2018 CEO Confidence Index survey, 61 percent of small and midsize businesses expect to hire more people within a year. Research from the National Center for the Middle Market shows that only 22 percent of middle-market firms have a formal process for talent acquisition and planning. Without the right people in place, your business can get caught in the crushing vice of de32 / BizTimes Milwaukee MARCH 4, 2019

layed delivery times and dissatisfied customers. Even worse, you might be forced to turn down new business. But don’t fear. Companies willing to change can take advantage of these five strategies to find and keep the right people: 1. Change how you keep talented workers. To hold on to your best people, add nontraditional perks to employee benefits. This could include financial counseling or a reward system that recognizes top performers. One of my clients bought a “company home” in Orlando. Employees can compete for the chance to vacation there for free. You can also create a more flexible workplace that’s attractive to workers of all ages. For older workers, make it easier for them to approach retirement through stages of working fewer hours instead of the “hard stop” that traditional retirement brings. 2. Build a workforce within your local community. If you can’t find people with the right skills, train people to develop those skills. Reach out to community colleges and local government to create vocational training programs and attract local talent. Be creative about building a workforce that’s local to your environment or operation. 3. Rethink how you recruit. Traditional methods of recruiting now yield minimal results. Explore tech-powered, selfserve platforms such as LinkedIn Talent Solutions and Zoho Recruit to help you attract better candidates or make better job matches. About one in five CEOs surveyed by Vistage says they’re now using artificial intelligence for talent management in their recruiting process. Recruiters can use special software to automate the repetitive job of reviewing resumes and screening candidates. You can also use social media by adding new quality content weekly to your Facebook and LinkedIn accounts, and to your website. 4. Substitute labor with technology. Explore whether technology can help you deal with a labor shortage by automating tasks or improving efficiencies. For example, if you

own a landscaping company, you might invest in mowing equipment with a larger cutting deck to reduce mowing time from, say, three hours to 45 minutes. Even small manufacturers can save money by using robotics to perform highly repetitive tasks. 5. Develop a systematic framework for talent planning. Data from the National Center for the Middle Market confirms that talent planning has a strong correlation with the growth and performance of a company. To that end, you should apply a talent planning framework that: »» Aligns talent strategy with business strategy. »» Requires systematic ongoing talent planning for its processes. »» Requires involvement by your senior leadership team during key stages of hiring top talent. »» Asks current employees for their best ideas. Keep your “eye on the prize” by making sure that your business will more than satisfy customer expectations while growing and thriving. Adopt these strategies this year and see impressive results that your employees and customers will love and your competitors will envy! n

KARL WILLIAMS Karl Williams is a CEO coach, a strategic planning and transaction facilitator, and chairs two groups for TEC/Vistage. He can be reached at williams@h2orock.com.

Tip Sheet In the market to buy a business?

hether you’re an aspiring entrepreneur trying to get started or a longtime business owner seeking to expand, buying an existing business can be a promising move. In an article published by SCORE, author Rie-

va Lesonsky, who is CEO of GrowBiz Media, cites a recent report by BizBuySell.com that predicts 2019 to be a year of opportunity for both business buyers and sellers. Buyers are paying sellers higher prices for their businesses, but they are acquiring healthier companies in return. Using data from the report, Lesonsky breaks down the key factors that explain the current business acquisition market and suggests some action steps for taking the leap. Why now? Baby boomers still own 53 percent of the small businesses in the U.S., but almost 60 percent of boomers plan to sell their business within the next two years. This means the supply of businesses for sale will continue to grow, with the most attractive being service businesses, retailers and restaurants. Who is buying? The demographics of business buyers in

B RYO N R I E S C H PA R A LY S I S F O U N D AT I O N PHONE: (262) 547-2083 WEB: brpf.org

The Bryon Riesch Paralysis Foundation’s goal is to find a cure for paralysis through funding the latest in medical research and to provide assistance to those that suffer from neurological disorders.

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the U.S. are shifting with the general population. Caucasian men still make up the majority of business owners, but a growing portion of business buyers are women, African-Americans and younger people. Right behind those populations are non-natural-born citizens and first-generation immigrants. Before buying a business… »» Research your desired industry to learn about projections and trends for the coming year. »» Anticipate any hurdles that you’d need to clear and determine if the business needs a turnaround. »» Find out the reasons why the business is for sale and ask tough questions that may reveal problems. Ask about legal issues. »» Familiarize yourself with the business’ financials by going over the numbers with your accountant. n

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BizConnections NONPROFIT NEWS BRYON RIESCH PARALYSIS FOUNDATION GIVES $500,000 FOR RESEARCH AT MARQUETTE The Bryon Riesch Paralysis Foundation of Waukesha recently gave $500,000 to Marquette University’s College of Health Sciences to support spinal cord injury research. The foundation was formed by Marquette alumnus Bryon Riesch, who was paralyzed in an accident nearly 20 years ago while an undergraduate student at the university. The gift will primarily fund the research of Murray Blackmore, associate professor of biomedical sciences and a prominent spinal cord injury neuroscience researcher. Blackmore’s research focuses on the use of gene therapy to treat brain cells damaged in spinal cord injuries, leading to

nerve growth and regeneration at the injury site. The therapy can reverse some of the paralysis, leading to regained movement and motor control. Blackmore previously received $50,000 annually in seed funding from the Bryon Riesch Paralysis Foundation. “We’re very proud to have a long history and tradition of collaboration with the College of Health Sciences and specifically with Dr. Blackmore,” Riesch said. “To see the strides he’s made in research since we’ve known each other, it just made sense to make this investment in his lab, his team and his work.” — Lauren Anderson

nonprofit

SPOTLIGHT

WISCONSIN CLE AN CITIE S

231 W. Michigan St., P321, Milwaukee (414) 221-4958 | wicleancities.org Facebook: facebook.com/WisconsinCC | Twitter: @WICleanCities Year founded: 1994

c alendar Professional Dimensions will host the 2019 Sacagawea Awards at 6:30 p.m. on Thursday, March 7 at The Pfister Hotel, 424 E. Wisconsin Ave. in Milwaukee. The award ceremony, which was created in 1982 to recognize two trailblazing women who exhibit the spirit of Sacagawea, will honor Dr. Jeanette Mitchell, chief creative officer of Leadership By Dr. Jeanette, and May yer Thao, executive director of the Hmong Wisconsin Chamber of Commerce. Proceeds will benefit Milwaukee-area organizations that work to advance the self-sufficiency of women and girls. More information is available at professionaldimensions.org. Make-A-Wish Wisconsin will host its signature Wish Night gala on Thursday, April 11 at The Pfister Hotel, 424 E. Wisconsin Ave. The event will include hors d’oeuvres, cocktails, silent auction, raffle, wine pull, diamond dig, dinner, live auction and a program featuring Wish children and their families. Wish Night will raise funds to help grant more than 90 wishes for Wisconsin children with life-threatening medical conditions. More information is available at wish-night.com.

D O N AT I O N R O U N D U P

The Southeast Wisconsin Chapter of the International Facility Management Association recently donated $3,000 to Penfield Children’s Center. | WaterStone Bank gave $75,000 to Hunger Task Force in partnership with ROC Ventures and the Milwaukee Milkmen to support the Strike Out Hunger program. | U.S. Cellular gave $155,000 to nine Boys & Girls Clubs in Wisconsin to support STEMfocused education. | Spectrum recently gave a $32,500 grant to Digital Bridge of Milwaukee to support a new program that combines digital literacy with access to high-speed broadband and a working device. | The Women’s Fund of Greater Milwaukee has awarded grants totaling $108,500 to: Alverno College, Benedict Center, Cathedral Center, Girl Scouts of Wisconsin, HIR Wellness Center, LOTUS Legal Center, Neighborhood House of Milwaukee and St. Joan Antida High School.

Mission statement: Wisconsin Clean Cities’ mission is to reduce petroleum consumption and vehicle emissions through the support and promotion of alternative fuels, alternative fuel and advanced technology vehicles, and the necessary fueling infrastructure to sustain the industry. Primary focus: Wisconsin Clean Cities is a 501(c)(3) organization serving the entire state of Wisconsin. Wisconsin Clean Cities is one of the U.S. Department of Energy’s nearly 100 Clean Cities coalitions, organizations designed to reduce petroleum consumption in the transportation sector. The coalitions achieve this in a number of ways, including through the advancement of alternative fuels, alternative fuel vehicles, and sustainable vehicle technologies, such as electric vehicles and their charging infrastructure. The efforts reduce the nation’s dependence on imported oil, improve air quality, support local jobs, drive economic development and promote improved quality of life. Public, private and nonprofit entities collaborate with Clean Cities via a membership system to implement sustainable transportation solutions. Wisconsin Clean Cities lives its mission through education and outreach, training, project

management, grant and funding acquisition, and the development of stakeholder partnerships. Employees at this location: Three Executive leadership: Lorrie Lisek, executive director Board of directors: Bob Reagan, Brad Schmoll, Carrie Kratz, Dan Hicks, David Hagopian, George Stone, Jason Ebert, Jeff Tews, Jim Erickson, Joel Fasnacht, Matt Carr and Scott Hanstedt; Auxiliary board members: Bob O’Connor, Gilbert Nunez, Lisa Morris and Mike Keller. Is your organization actively seeking board members for the upcoming term? No. Ways the business community can help your nonprofit: It’s all about partnerships and how Wisconsin Clean Cities can help the business community learn how to reduce emissions and reduce operating costs. Through a host of educational events and outreach throughout the year, Wisconsin Clean Cities provides the information, support and connections to proven companies and technologies needed to embrace sustainable transportation options to improve operations and your bottom line. Key fundraising events: Annual Clean Air Golf Outing in the summer; annual stakeholder meeting and awards in the winter.

biztimes.com / 35

BizConnections PERSONNEL FILE ARCHITECTURE

BANKING

CONTRACTING

MARKETING

HGA, Milwaukee

Bell Bank Mortgage, Brookfield Bell Bank Mortgage recently named Lee Turner vice president/market manager, with a focus on recruiting, hiring and training residential mortgage lenders. He has 18 years of experience in mortgage banking. Turner serves on the boards of the Wisconsin Mortgage Bankers Association and USO Wisconsin, is a member of the Wisconsin Veterans Chamber of Commerce, and works with the Greater Milwaukee Association of Realtors Youth Foundation.

Associated General Contractors of Greater Milwaukee, Milwaukee

East Town Association, Milwaukee

HGA recently appointed Paula Verboomen as office director. In her new role, she will oversee daily operations and financial success of the 190-person Milwaukee office, as well as implement the office’s long-range growth plan. Verboomen has more than 20 years of experience and has designed noteworthy projects, such as the Milwaukee County Zoo elephant exhibit opening in May, Aurora Health Center-84 South ambulatory surgery center opening this summer in Greenfield, Schreiber Foods Home Office and Global Technology Center in Green Bay, and Discovery World at Pier Wisconsin in Milwaukee.

BANKING

Port Washington State Bank, Port Washington Port Washington State Bank recently promoted Chad Piwoni to vice president - business banking. Piwoni attended the University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh and obtained his MBA from DeVry University. He has made a career in community banking for the past seven years.

36 / BizTimes Milwaukee MARCH 4, 2019

CONSTRUCTION

Mortenson, Brookfield Construction and real estate development company Mortenson recently hired Matt Johnson as a group accounting manager. Johnson earned his master’s degree in professional accountancy from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee and a bachelor of business administration in finance and accounting from UW-Madison.

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

Associated General Contractors of Greater Milwaukee recently named Mike Abuls of CG Schmidt to the role of AGC senior vice president. Abuls will serve alongside nine AGC board members to support the needs of the construction industry throughout southeastern Wisconsin. Abuls has 38 years of experience in the construction industry, including 17 years with CG Schmidt. He has directly managed more than 25 million square feet of new commercial, industrial and institutional building space.

HUMAN SERVICES

SaintA, Milwaukee SaintA recently named John Schmidt chief financial officer. Schmidt will oversee finance and IT. Previously, Schmidt was with Milwaukee Institute of Art & Design and the Alliance for Strong Families and Communities. He also had provided finance and operations consultation to Penfield Children’s Center and Alverno College.

McElwee

Nachtigall

East Town Association recently promoted Emily McElwee to executive director. In her new role, she will lead flagship events, including Bastille Days, Jazz in the Park and Cathedral Square Market. She also is responsible for recruitment and retention of the association’s residential and business members. The nonprofit organization also named Lauren Nachtigall marketing manager. In her new role, Nachtigall will assist McElwee with prominent events.

TELECOMMUNICATIONS

U.S. Cellular, Waukesha U.S. Cellular has named Jared Blecha director of sales. In his new role he will oversee sales at the wireless carrier’s 49 corporate-owned locations throughout Wisconsin and northern Illinois. He will be based at U.S. Cellular’s Customer Care Center in Waukesha. Blecha graduated from Chadron State College with a degree in interdisciplinary studies.

AROUND TOWN CARW Commercial Real Estate Roundtable Forum The Commercial Association of Realtors Wisconsin recently held its annual Commercial Real Estate Roundtable Forum at the Italian Community Center in Milwaukee’s Historic Third Ward. Roundtable topics included developments at the Harbor District, The Hop, commercial real estate financing and the redevelopment of the former Grand Avenue Mall.

PATRICK HANRAHAN of NAI MLG Commercial, CODY ZIEGLER of Cushman & Wakefield | The Boerke Co. and KYLE SKARR of Founders 3.

SARA BENTLEY of Emmons Business Interiors and CHAD SCHULTZ of Innovative Signs.

CODY MARX and AUSTIN KUTTRUFF, both of CBRE Inc.

PAT LAWTON of Johnson Financial Group, KEVIN ANDERSON of Old National Bank and KEVIN O’DRISCOLL of Old National Bank.

MARK HENSCHEL of Park Bank and DAVE TAYLOR of Wisconsin Title Services.

ERIC RAPP of CBRE Inc. and MARILYN HERZBERG of Greywolf Partners Inc. Photos by Alex Zank

WWBIC Growth Accelerator Demo Day

11 10

The inaugural Wisconsin Women’s Business Initiative Corp. Growth Accelerator Demo Day was held recently at Gateway Technical College’s SC Johnson iMet Center in Sturtevant. The 10-week program was designed by WWBIC and business growth consultant Thalia Mendez to provide entrepreneurship training in the Racine-Kenosha area when the Launch Box coworking space and startup program closed last year. 7.

MATTHEW MONROE of TriCity National Bank and ASHLEY MARCHETTI of Downtown Kenosha Inc.

JOANNE FREITAG of Parrish & Freitag Ltd. and ROBIN SHIELS of Robin’s Nest Cakery.

NANCY DAVIES of Hugo Saavedra Studio and ED JAVIER of Wisconsin Economic Development Corp.

10. ALIA CARROLL of Wisconsin Women’s Business Initiative Corp., NICK LOOMIS of CM Skullies and JOSE TELLEZ of Nitro Training.

11. MARTHA NICKS of Navigator Career Solutions and HEATHER TAYLOR of Heather Taylor Media. 12. HUGO SAAVEDRA of Hugo Saavedra Studio and MARSHALL FOLGER of Polaris Talent Inc. 13. COREY NICKS of CNYX Graphics and DEWEY JOHNSON of Creators’ Design.

14. GENIE WEBB and HEATHER LUX of WWBIC with TAMMIE CLENDENNING of the U.S. Small Business Administration. Photos by Molly Dill biztimes.com / 37

BizConnections VOLUME 24, NUMBER 22 | MAR 4, 2019

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 | advertising@biztimes.com EDITORIAL: 414-336-7120 | andrew.weiland@biztimes.com REPRINTS: 414-336-7100 | 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 Maredithe Meyer maredithe.meyer@biztimes.com REPORTER Arthur Thomas arthur.thomas@biztimes.com REPORTER Alex Zank alex.zank@biztimes.com

Milwaukee Yacht Club

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

COMMENTARY

Milwaukee assets need investment IT’S HARD TO IMAGINE how Fiserv Forum could have gotten off to a better start. In its first year of operation, the new arena in downtown Milwaukee has been packed again and again, as the Milwaukee Bucks and Marquette University men’s basketball teams are having great seasons and several big-name artists have played concerts there. Some people will never be happy that state and local taxpayers provided $250 million to build the arena. But the arena is generating a tremendous amount of economic activity. And the events held there provide an important boost to the quality of life for the region and state, which is vital for businesses’ efforts to attract talent here. While the arena project is finished, Milwaukee faces several new funding challenges, including much-needed upgrades for some of its cultural assets, the county parks system and the downtown convention center. 38 / BizTimes Milwaukee MARCH 4, 2019

The Milwaukee Public Museum and the Mitchell Park Domes, in particular, are desperately in need of major investment. The Milwaukee Public Museum’s current facility was completed in 1962. The aging building has numerous problems with water leaks, mold issues and temperature control that threaten its collection of millions of artifacts and is putting the museum’s accreditation at risk. The MPM is working on plans for a new $100 million building. Meanwhile, the Mitchell Park Domes are literally crumbling. The Domes, completed in 1967, were closed temporarily in 2016 for repairs because of chunks of falling concrete. But that was only a temporary fix and a full restoration of the Domes could cost $75 million. Other funding needs include $240 million to $270 million to expand the Wisconsin Center downtown and $345 million for a replacement for the Milwaukee County Safety Building. According to a recent report at WisBusiness.com, a media partner of BizTimes Milwaukee, officials are discussing plans for a financing package of perhaps $1 billion to address all of these needs. The WisBusiness report said the discussion has included the idea of a referendum for a local sales tax increase.

ACCOUNT EXECUTIVE Paddy Kieckhefer paddy.kieckhefer@biztimes.com ACCOUNT EXECUTIVE Molly Lawrence molly.lawrence@biztimes.com ACCOUNT EXECUTIVE Maggie Pinnt maggie.pinnt@biztimes.com ACCOUNT EXECUTIVE Christie Ubl christie.ubl@biztimes.com INSIDE ACCOUNT EXECUTIVE Amanda Bruening amanda.bruening@biztimes.com SALES INTERN Tess Romans tess.romans@biztimes.com

ADMINISTRATION

INTERN REPORTER Madison Goldbeck madison.goldbeck@biztimes.com

This photo, taken circa 1940, shows the Milwaukee Yacht Club in McKinley Marina. Founded in 1871, the MYC bills itself as the oldest premier yacht club on Lake Michigan. This 1896 clubhouse was destroyed by fire in 1943, and the current structure was built in 1967.

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

ADMINISTRATIVE COORDINATOR Sue Herzog sue.herzog@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 —

That talk comes as the Miller Park sales tax is finally nearing its end. Last year, the stadium district estimated the 0.1 percent tax would sunset by the end of this year or early 2020. Gaining voter support for another sales tax increase will be difficult and will have to focus on Milwaukee County. There is no chance voters from outside of Milwaukee County would support a sales tax increase for Milwaukee projects. And it won’t be easy to convince Milwaukee County voters that these investments are a good use of their tax dollars. A good model for Milwaukee could be Oklahoma City, which established a 1 percent sales tax in the 1990s for numerous quality of life projects, including an arena, minor league ballpark, new library, music hall renovation, convention center expansion and more. Those projects have been credited with revitalizing OKC. n

ANDREW WEILAND EDITOR

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

my TOUGHEST

MAT T MEHRING

Challenge

Position: President Company: Anderson Ashton Design/Build What it does: Anderson Ashton, of New Berlin, is a medium-sized design-build firm (19 employees) that works in basically every market, including industrial, retail and even churches. Career: At age 38, Mehring has worked at Anderson Ashton for 15 years. But his involvement in the industry started as early as eight years old, when he began working in various capacities for his dad’s commercial carpentry firm. At Anderson Ashton, Mehring first started working in the design department before moving on to numerous other roles, including vice president. He became president in 2017.

THE CHALLENGE Mehring quickly rose through the ranks at Anderson Ashton, eventually being hand-picked by longtime president Dave Miller to succeed him upon his retirement. Miller unexpectedly died in April 2017, several months before he and Mehring were able to implement the succession plan they were working on. Mehring, who owns half the company (the other half is owned by vice president and principal Jim Filer), said the succession plan was already a departure for the company since previous ownership had all retired at the same time. “This was the first time that this was just the one person (retiring), so this was just a different way of doing that,” Mehring said. “Dave was going to retire at the end of 2017. … Once he passed away, we had to kind of scrap that (plan) and start over.” Along with a sooner-than-expected ascendency, Mehring faced a new set of challenges. These included handling a companywide mourning process, trying to predict the future and guiding controlled growth in an ever-changing industry, while thinking more than ever about how the firm’s decisions would impact employees and their families. THE RESOLUTION Even in this difficult position, Mehring took comfort in knowing that all of the employees were already aware of the succession plan. “Everyone was on board and waiting for that next chapter to happen in the company,” he said. The details of the new succession plan were hammered out. Mehring also owns half of a related concrete and masonry company, and 49 percent of a related steel-erecting company. He serves as a VP at both of those. Mehring said he also had ideas on how to leave his own mark on Anderson Ashton, such as making upgrades to the firm’s existing technologies.

JAKE HILL PHOTOGRAPHY

THE TAKEAWAY It has been a busy couple of years under Mehring’s leadership. The firm saw a revenue increase of 58 percent in Mehring’s first year as president, and has doubled annual gross sales in 2017 and 2018. Moving forward, Mehring said the company has an understanding of the direction it’s taking. He added he understands it’s not his job to “bark orders,” but to work in collaboration with everyone on the team and lean on their experiences and expertise. “I think everybody in the firm knows I’m 100 percent committed to the firm, and I work a lot along those lines, too,” he said. n biztimes.com / 39

presents the 12th annual:

Selling or Buying a Business? Don’t Miss Your Moment! Wednesday, April 3rd, 2019 | 7:00 - 11:00 am | Pfister Hotel Is now the right time or is it better to wait until after the next recession? Either way, you need the right tools and knowledge to make this critical decision. Selling or buying a business is complex and infrequent. Make sure you are prepared to maximize your outcome. The program includes a buy side and sell side panel of business buyers, sellers and industry experts followed by concurrent breakout sessions.

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Keynote Presentation:

Cynthia LaConte, CEO, The Dohmen Company, will provide an overview, perspectives and lessons learned from The Dohmen Company’s experiences in M&A. (1)

Panel Discussions:

Buy Side Preparation: How to Seize the Moment • Brian T. Baker, President & CEO, Sentry Equipment Corp. (2) • Sequoya Borgman, Managing Director, Borgman Capital LLC (3) • Jim Frings, President, G3 Industries, Inc. (4) • Derek Smith, Commercial Bank Exec, SVP, Old National Bank (5) Moderator: Molly Dill, Managing Editor, BizTimes Media Sell Side Readiness: How To Prepare For Your Moment • Rick Blaha, President, Pak-Rite Ltd (6) • Dr. Aly Gamay, President & CEO, DreamPak (7) • Nate Neuberger, Shareholder, Reinhart Boerner Van Deuren S.C. (8) • Steve Peterson, Managing Director & Co-Founder, Bel Air Growth Partners (9) Moderator: Ann Hanna, Managing Director & Owner, Taureau Group (10)

Concurrent Breakout Sessions:

• Maximizing Company Value – Beyond EDITDA: You will learn about the current M&A environment and key strategies for positioning your company for maximizing value at the time of sale. • An Honest Discussion About Financing the Deal: This panel will discuss case studies, best practices, the do’s and don’ts, and the nature of banking relationships. • Avoiding Deal Killers…There’s Always Something: There are many aspects related to the buying and selling of a company. You’ll hear about some lessons learned and what works, and what to do to avoid “disaster” so the deal doesn’t “blow up”.

Event Partner: