BizTimes Milwaukee | March 7, 2016

BizTimes MILWAUKEE

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THE

TOOLS

THAT MADE MILWAUKEE FAMOUS ICONIC COMPANY PLANS HEADQUARTERS EXPANSION Steve Richman, president, Milwaukee Electric Tool Corp.

ALSO IN THIS ISSUE:

RESEARCHERS ENVISION MARQUETTE’S $120 MILLION ATHLETIC RESEARCH CENTER AS INTERNATIONAL DESTINATION UWM’S COMMITMENT TO RESEARCH HAS FAR-REACHING IMPLICATIONS FOR MILWAUKEE

P R O U D LY P R E S E N T S T H E 2 0 1 6

WISCONSINBIZ ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT | RESEARCH & INNOVATION | BUSINESS GROWTH

Highlighting Wisconsin’s key industries, innovators, leaders, entrepreneurs and thriving business communities.

The 2016 edition of WisconsinBiz, a print and online magazine, offers a look at business throughout our great state, and highlights the people, companies, institutions and communities that are growing a strong and vibrant economy in Wisconsin.

PUBLICATION DATE APRIL 18, 2016

RESERVE YOUR SPACE TODAY!

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inside

March 7 - 20, 2016 S P E C I A L R E P O R T:

HIGHE R E D U CATION & R E SE A RCH

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Coverage includes a look at the University of WisconsinMilwaukee’s recent Tier 1 research ranking and a report on the research to be conducted at Marquette University’s Athletic Performance Research Center.

HIGHLIGHT S Social Media Strategies

6

Video storytelling: You can be nimble and on brand.

Made in Milwaukee

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Flexibility and service at heart of Mathison Manufacturing.

Nonprofit News

9

Marian Center in St. Francis to close.

On the Money

10

PATH Act provides new tax planning opportunities.

Innovations

17

Parking sensors help CivicSmart be on target.

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S TR ATE GIE S Family Business David Borst 30 Marketing Robert Grede 31 Sales Christine McMahon 32

COV E R S T ORY

The tools that made Milwaukee famous

BIZ CONNECTIONS Biz Notes 33 Nonprofit Spotlight 33 Personnel File 34 Glance at Yesteryear 36 Around Town 37

Iconic company plans headquarters expansion.

ON THE COVER: Steve Richman, president, Milwaukee Electric Tool Corp.

— photos by Troy Freund Photography

V I S I T B I Z T I M E S . C O M F O R A D D I T I O N A L S T O R I E S , D A I LY U P D AT E S & E - N E W S L E T T E R S Editorial . . . . . . . . . . . . 414-336-7120 Advertising . . . . . . . . . 414-336-7112 Subscriptions . . . . . . . 414-277-8181 Reprints . . . . . . . . . . . . 414-277-8181

Founded in 1995, BizTimes Milwaukee provides news and operational insights for CEOs, presidents, owners and other top level executives at companies in southeastern Wisconsin (Milwaukee, Waukesha, Ozaukee, Washington, Racine, Kenosha, Walworth and Sheboygan counties).

Subscription Customer Service: BizTimes Milwaukee, 126 N. Jefferson St., Suite 403, Milwaukee, WI 53202-6120, USA, Phone (414) 277-8181, Fax (414) 277-8191, circulation@biztimes.com, www.biztimes.com

BizTimes Milwaukee (ISSN 1095-936X & USPS # 017813) Volume 21, Number 25, March 7 - 20, 2016. BizTimes Milwaukee is published bi-weekly, except two consecutive weeks in December (the third and fourth weeks of December) by BizTimes Media LLC at 126 N. Jefferson St., Suite 403, Milwaukee, WI 53202-6120, USA. Basic annual subscription rate is $42.00. Single copy price is $3.25. Back issues are $5.00 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 2016 by BizTimes Media LLC. All rights reserved.

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leading edge NOW

Sullivan to move HQ of $2 billion manufacturer from Orlando to Milwaukee

T

im Sullivan, former chief executive officer of South Milwaukeebased Bucyrus International Inc., is leading an effort to move Orlando, Fla.based REV Group Inc. to Milwaukee.

REV Group, forSullivan merly known as Allied Specialty Vehicles, manufactures specialty vehicles such as ambulances and shuttles at 15 locations, many of which are in the Midwest. The company has more than 5,000 employees. Sullivan has served as CEO since 2014.

Milwaukee beat out Chicago in attracting the headquarters of the company with $2 billion in annual revenue, which Sullivan said was because of Wisconsin’s strong manufacturing heritage.

The decision was sweetened by undisclosed competitive tax incentives offered by the Wisconsin Economic Development Corp., he said, which the company will receive in return for creating 50 jobs

over the next two years.

The Wisconsin Economic Development Corp. has been talking to REV Group, but a contract hasn’t been signed yet for the incentives, said Kelly Lietz, a spokesman. Neither Sullivan nor Lietz would specify a timeline for completion of the incentive contract.

Sullivan said he is moving the company to Milwaukee because this is a great place to run a manufacturing company.

“I think it’s a reputation (Wisconsin has) of being kind of the manufacturing center of the Midwest,” Sullivan said. “We’ve gotten it through both hard work but also some attrition in adjacent states (such as Michigan and Illinois).

It’s not an anti-business environment in the State of Wisconsin right now. It’s a very pro-business environment, which is not exactly what you have in Illinois and Chicago. In fact, I think it’s the complete opposite.”

This isn’t the first time Sullivan has brought a major headquarters to Milwaukee. He left Bucyrus when it was

acquired by Peoria, Ill.-based Caterpillar Inc. in 2011, and in 2013, moved the corporate headquarters of Fortune 1000, $2.4 billion manufacturer Gardner Denver and about 40 to 50 jobs from Philadelphia to Milwaukee.

Sullivan was unable to convince the 18 employees in REV Group’s Orlando headquarters to move to chilly Milwaukee, so he will hire a whole new 18-person executive team in the next few weeks as he works rapidly to move the company’s operations.

“Replicating the people I have in Orlando is not going to be that difficult because there’s a lot of people who know manufacturing in Milwaukee and Wisconsin,” he said.

Sullivan said if he could make the move to Milwaukee tomorrow, he would.

But more likely, REV Group will move in the next month or two, and will have another three months of transition as he hires his new team.

A final decision has not been made on the Milwaukee office locations. The com-

pany will have a 6,000- to 8,000-squarefoot administrative headquarters office downtown for senior leaders, close to its legal and accounting firms, and a 10,000to 12,000-square-foot operational office location immediately outside of downtown, Sullivan said. That location could potentially include manufacturing operations in the future, he said.

REV Group is currently owned by New York private equity firm American Industrial Partners, which is nearing the end of its investment window, Sullivan said. So he plans to take the REV Group public in the next 12 months to expand its available capital and growth potential.

“We’re about a $2 billion company today and I believe we can double that size within a couple of years, but to do that, you’re going to need access to capital,” he said. “Obviously, with private equity capital somewhat limited, once you’re in public markets you have the capital to grow the company much more rapidly.”

——Molly Dill

SOCI AL M E D I A S T R AT E GI ES

Video storytelling: You can be nimble and on brand The old adage that the best camera is the one that’s with you couldn’t be more apt for the social era. Today, that camera is your smartphone. It’s the best way to catch an image when you need it. But for video, just because you can doesn’t mean you should.

Still, don’t shy away from shooting video with your smartphone when the moment requires it. Build a foundation for video storytelling. Find the faith to take the leap for down and dirty video when you need it.

1. Get the team in place.

Make sure you have a production team (sound, lighting, editing, post-production, et al.) to make great video work for you.

2. Add to an existing mix.

Dedicate high-quality video to building your brand and serving a campaign. But when you need quick video hits, reaction commentary or more, use what you have. Mix quick 6

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videos with high-quality production work.

3. Use the tools you have.

When you need to move fast, you should. Go live with Periscope. Use the short edits in Vine or Instagram. Take those links and publish them on different platforms.

Use the tools you have to showcase your company’s smallest functions or story opportunities.

4. Tap your influencers.

Leverage PR programs. Work with influencers to generate video content you can use to amplify your story. Produce videos. Advocate opinion pieces. Get creative.

Video plays an important role in the content we develop for social media. When you

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don’t have a full video department at your beck and call, your smartphone – that best camera you have ready when you need it – serves your storytelling needs nimbly and in a way that keeps your brand standards front and center by adding chapters to your story.

——Colin Deval is social media strategist at Milwaukee-based Core Creative.

leading edge COFF E E B R E A K

POLITIC AL BEAT

Republican overreach?

BY MATT POMMER, special to BizTimes

What was the smartest thing your company did in the past year?

“BMO Harris Bank made a major acquisition in 2015, acquiring a market leading transportation finance company from GE Capital. This was a big acquisition for us, which positioned BMO as an immediate market leader in the truck and trailer finance business in North America. The business we acquired has great people with long careers in the industry who believe their dedication and commitment to their clients is paramount.”

What’s new at your company?

“Our business has hired over 30 people during the last few years, grown significantly and added a few new vertical finance specialties to augment our general equipment finance practice. We started a corporate aircraft finance unit in 2011, which has performed very well for us and we increased our investment in rail assets during 2014 and 2015. In Milwaukee, we’ve seen a marked expansion in food manufacturing equipment over the last couple of years.

Looking forward, we hope to see a resurgence in core manufacturing and believe that segment will provide us with new growth in 2016 and beyond.”

bundled solutions and web or virtual services.

We see it when we finance software along with robots on a manufacturing line, or electronic health records systems for health care organizations. Equipment finance companies look at this as both a disrupter and an opportunity. The hottest trend in our industry today is trying to figure out how to provide our clients with financing that meets this new style of use.”

What will be your company’s main challenges in the next year?

“When we think about our customers, we are concerned about the combination of rising interest rates, a domestic economy that has held strong but faces challenges, and the continued strong U.S. dollar. All of these factors impact our manufacturing clients a great deal, especially those that export their goods. We will watch the next few months’ economic indicators very closely for movement in these key areas.”

Do you plan to hire any additional staff or make any significant capital investments in your company in the next year?

“We will continue to add staff strategically in key areas of growth and expansion geographies.

Our company has grown significantly over the last four years and we constantly hire to keep up with our clients’ needs. We also will employ interns this summer and BMO Harris Bank will hire over 20 college graduates into our Credit Analyst Development Program this fall. BMO has maintained a multi-year commitment to running an entry level training program in credit analysis and has found that this gives us a great internal pool to develop our next generation of leaders.”

What’s the hottest trend in your industry?

“Our industry finances capital equipment for commercial clients across many different industries and geographies. For decades, the definition of ‘capital equipment’ has been relatively static. Technological advances have changed the capabilities of equipment, but equipment has typically remained a tangible asset that companies would acquire, use and eventually replace. With the digital revolution, more and more companies are exploring shared services,

Jud Snyder President BMO Harris Equipment Finance Co. 770 N. Water St., Milwaukee www.bmoharris.com Industry: Equipment finance/banking Employees: 66 - Equipment Finance/3,300 – BMO Harris in southeastern Wisconsin Family: Wife (Jessica), five kids (Caroline, 15; Jackson, 13; Samuel, 12; Emma, 10; Will, 6) w w w.biztimes.com

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Are Republicans in Madison overplaying their political cards?

The GOP-controlled State Legislature has decided that county executives should be barred from serving in the Legislature at the same time they hold their county offices.

It is an effort to prevent Winnebago County executive Mark Harris of Oshkosh, a Democrat, from running for the 18th District seat in the state Senate. Incumbent Rick Gudex, a Fond du Lac Republican, has announced he won’t seek re-election this year.

The Republican maneuver could turn Harris into a local government martyr. It will attract media attention and contributions. It could also stir speculation he might become a Democratic candidate for governor in 2018.

Republicans don’t need to retain the seat to keep the majority. They have a five-vote edge in the Senate, thanks in part to the district boundary lines the GOP majorities drew in 2011.

Republicans are in full control of state government.

Gov. Scott Walker’s term extends until 2019. Republicans have better than a three-to-two advantage in the Assembly, even though they got just about 45 percent of the vote in the 2014 election.

“The bill is a sign of misplaced priorities of Republican leaders,” Harris said. “Rather than strengthening our communities and growing our middle class, Republicans in Madison continue to focus on retaining political power. I am running for the state Senate because Wisconsin deserves better.”

Other county executives have served in the Legislature simultaneously, such as Manitowoc County executive and former legislator Bob Ziegelbauer. The Republican legislative majorities did not try to prevent him from doing both jobs at the same time. His conservative politics, or the huge GOP majority, protected him from charges of “double dipping” by Republicans.

Perhaps Republicans are worried about this year’s elections, because voter turnout is much higher in years when there are presidential elections.

Matt Pommer is the “dean” of Capital correspondents in Madison. His column is published with permission from the Wisconsin Newspaper Association, but does not reflect the views or opinions of the WNA or its member newspapers.

BY TH E NU MBERS

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Mexican Accent LLC will cease operations at its New Berlin facility, costing 155 employees their jobs, including 120 full-time employees and 35 temporary employees.

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leading edge ON TH E C ALEN D AR

MA DE I N M I LWA U K E E

Flexibility and service at heart of Mathison Manufacturing

ARTHUR THOMAS (414) 336-7123 | Twitter: @arthur8823 arthur.thomas@biztimes.com

out.’ We say, ‘OK, you need it in five days. What do we need to do internally to get you your parts on time?’”

The company produces pieces for industries that include high-tech electronics, medical systems, lighting and signage, green energy, food service, aerospace and agriculture. Most of the items come from sheet metal, but Mathison also handles other materials. Besides fabrication, the company also offers services in design for manufacturing and contract assembly.

“We’re finding out more and more, the competition is getting a lot fiercer,” said Arntz, whose father-in-law founded the company in 1959.

More than one in five Wisconsin manufacturing firms are in metal fabrication, the most of any sub-sector in the state. About 13 percent of Waukesha County manufacturers are in metal fabricating.

Arntz, Mathison’s vice president of sales and marketing, said the result of the competition is that a lot of time and money is spent on finding new customers.

“We’ve had a lot of success when we can get the customer in the door and give them a plant tour, but that’s extremely hard to do,” Leidinger said.

Mathison has a 22,000-square-foot facility located just south of Sunset Drive. The company’s 30 employees work on up to 300 jobs at any given time, with orders running from one piece to hundreds or even thousands.

The company prides itself on the longevity of its employees, but like many manufacturers, maintaining a skilled workforce is a challenge.

“Some have left thinking the grass was greener and have asked to come back, because the grass wasn’t so green,” Arntz said.

The company has turned to Waukesha County Technical College and local high schools to find talent. Sometimes that means being flexible and allowing a student to work part-time during the school year. Leidinger also shares data on the company’s sales and profitability with employees on a quarterly basis so they can see the results of their efforts.

“We think we finally have a good mixture of old and new (employees), but that took us a number of years to get that,” Leidinger said.

He noted the company has had to invest in certain po-

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For Waukesha-based Mathison Manufacturing, the competitive landscape of contract metal fabrication in southeastern Wisconsin means it is critical to find a way to stand out from the crowd. Al Leidinger, Mike Arntz and Ken Welsh, who bought the business just more than three years ago, have sought to do that by offering superior service.

“We truly go out of our way to make sure that you get your parts when you need them,” said Leidinger, Mathison’s president. “We don’t say, ‘We’re busy so it’s going to be eight weeks

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Wellness Summit ABOVE: Mathison Manufacturing partners Al Leidinger, president; Ken Welsh, vice president of operations; and Mike Arntz, vice president of sales and marketing.

BELOW: Mathison Manufacturing redesigned a customer’s tool kit, taking it from a plastic box that had durability and organizational issues to a metal box with better organization and a handle located to counterbalance its weight.

BizTimes Media will host the 2016 Wellness Summit on Friday, March 18, from 7:30 to 11 a.m. at Potawatomi Hotel & Casino, 1721 W. Canal St. in Milwaukee. This year’s event will focus on “The High Cost of High Stress.” Greg Schramka, director of behavioral health therapy services at Aurora Behavioral Health Services, will discuss how employee anxiety can bring down a business, and what can be done to fix it. A panel discussion and wellness fair will also be part of the event. For more information or to register, visit www.biztimes.com/wellness.

For a complete listing of all area events, visit the event section of our website.

www.biztimes.com/events

BOOK REVIEW

“20/20 Hindsight” Mathison Manufacturing W246 S3245 Industrial Lane, Waukesha Industry: Contract metal fabrication Employees: 30 www.mathisonmfg.com sitions, like brake press setup operators, to find and keep the talent it needs. Internal training and automation have also helped Mathison address skills issues. Leidinger said the company has put roughly $1 million into infrastructure and equipment updates since the ownership change.

The company has also turned to outside resources, including value-stream mapping with WMEP and market research on other metals with the University of WisconsinWhitewater Wisconsin Innovation Service Center.

Leidinger has a background in plastics and Welsh, the vice president of operations, has a background in controls.

While the company’s strength lies in sheet metal, Leidinger said the company is looking to possibly take its expertise in serving customers into other markets and industries.

“The core competencies are not just sheet metal, but just the way we approach things,” Leidinger said.

Get the latest manufacturing news delivered to your inbox every Monday. Sign up for BizTimes’ Manufacturing Weekly at biztimes.com/subscribe.

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What allows one millionaire to lose everything and then quickly rebuild her fortune, while others struggle for years to figure out how to make money?

Entrepreneur and author Parviz Firouzgar believes once you learn and apply the required skills, success becomes achievable and predictable. Firouzgar contends that hindsight will save the beginning entrepreneur from engaging in many years of trial and error and the mistakes that waste time and money.

Beginning with the strategies he created when he was in his 20s, Firouzgar offers a compilation of real life lessons entrepreneurs don’t learn in business school. 20/20 Hindsight shows both beginners and seasoned entrepreneurs skills that will benefit them throughout their careers.

“20/20 Hindsight: If I knew then what I know now I’d be a lot richer” is available at www.800ceoread.com for $14.95.

——Corrinne Hess

leading edge NON P RO F IT N E W S

THE GOOD LIFE

Marian Center in St. Francis to close

Elk hunt tradition

The Marian Center for Nonprofits, a two-building campus of rental space for social justice organizations, artists and community groups in St. Francis, will close on July 1.

The buildings were part of St. Mary’s Academy from 1904 to 1991 and have housed dozens of nonprofits for the past 25 years.

The center is sponsored by the Sisters of St. Francis of Assisi.

Marian Center executive director Charlane O’Rourke-Hertig declined to comment on why the center will close its doors. However, financial information filed with the federal government in 2013 and 2015 indicates the center has struggled to keep pace with its operational expenses in recent years.

In 2015, the Marian Center pulled in $359,642 in revenue. The vast majority of that money, $344,460, was made from rent charged to its many nonprofit tenants.

That year, operational expenses totaled $384,182. In 2013, the center made $376,752 but operational expenses were $395,126.

Plans for the future of the center’s two century-old buildings have not been released.

Tenants at the Marian Center include 28 education and social justice organizations, 18 artists and 15 community groups, according to papers filed with the federal government. Organizations were notified the center would be closing in late December.

Each year on a high mountain plateau near Craig, Colo., Craig Ogurek, 25, manager of Froedtert Hospital’s local ambulatory staff, hunts elk with his father.

They walk 10 miles a day up and down mountains, stalk elk, and sleep in a tent for a week at a time on each trip. Though Ogurek bagged an 11-point bull (a male elk) in October, the real prize of his father-son hunting trips, he said, is the view.

“There are beautiful mountain ranges,” Ogurek said. “Half of the reason we go is just because we love the mountains. It’s absolutely gorgeous. This year we went in October and there was snow on the mountain caps.”

The trips are a tradition — he and his father have gone almost every year since Ogurek was 12 years old. And his father has been making the trip for more than three decades. In fact, Ogurek was named after the Colorado town near their hunting grounds.

“When we go out, my dad and I…it’s so peaceful out there, even the walking,” he

——Ben Stanley

ABOVE: Craig Ogurek poses with an 11-point bull elk he shot in October.

RIGHT: Ogurek, dressed in blaze orange hunting gear, hikes on a plateau in northwest Colorado.

said. “Everywhere you turn it’s beautiful; it’s peaceful. It’s really easy to get away from the stresses of work or anything else going on in your life.”

——Ben Stanley

your working capital can work harder for you.

CORPORATE BANKING | At PNC, we know that cash flow is the lifeblood of your business. That’s why we offer insight-driven treasury management solutions that look ahead to help you accelerate receivables, optimize payables, enhance liquidity management and maximize performance — online and on the go with our mobile apps. And we do it all with a focus on relationships, because when our teams work seamlessly together, we can help accelerate your business’s growth.

For more information, visit pnc.com/ideas or contact Chris Goller, Regional President, at chris.goller@pnc.com DOMESTIC AND INTERNATIONAL TREASURY MANAGEMENT SERVICES | CARD SOLUTIONS | LIQUIDITY MANAGEMENT | ONLINE AND MOBILE ACCESS PNC and PNC Bank are registered marks of The PNC Financial Services Group, Inc. (“PNC”). Banking and lending products and services, bank deposit products, and treasury management products and services are provided by PNC Bank, National Association, a wholly-owned subsidiary of PNC and Member FDIC. Certain banking and lending products and services may require credit approval.

Investments: Not FDIC Insured. May Lose Value. No Bank Guarantee. ©2016 The PNC Financial Services Group, Inc. All rights reserved.

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leading edge O N T HE M ON E Y

BR EA K ING GR OU ND

PATH Act provides new tax planning opportunities

BRADY STREET An affiliate of Roaring Fork Restaurant Group, the state’s Qdoba Mexican Grill franchisee, plans to build a two-story restaurant building at 1348 E. Brady St. on Milwaukee’s East Side.

The building would be constructed on one of the last remaining vacant parcels on Brady Street.

If approved, construction could be completed in January 2017.

With the recent passage of the Protecting Americans from Tax Hikes Act of 2015, business owners have income tax planning opportunities available to them.

One to consider is the Research and Development Tax credit, which was made permanent and is available to small business owners with $50 million or less in gross receipts or startup companies with less than $5 million in gross receipts for no more than five years. Startups can claim a credit up to $250,000 against a portion of payroll taxes.

Unlike prior years, in 2016 the R&D Tax credit can even be used to offset alternative minimum tax. This change can result in significant savings for business owners and should not be overlooked when making expenditure decisions in 2016, especially in light of the presidential election; Cruz, Sanders and Trump have each proposed to eliminate the AMT. With the potential ——Corrinne Hess elimination of the tax, it may be wise to take advantage of the credit in 2016 and not wait.

The PATH Act also made permanent the Section 179 deduction, which allows ments made for the year. Business owners should consider whether or not to claim this $500,000 indexed for inflation to be deducted annually by businesses for the purchase deduction and benefit from the timing difference. or lease of qualifying equipment or computer software, provided it is placed in service Several other tax provisions are included with the PATH Act. Tax planning requires by year-end. The deduction begins to phase out dollar-for-dollar once purchases exceed coordination among all of a business owner’s partners. $2 million. Although a 179 deduction does not increase the total amount allowed as a ——Tracy Dalton, is senior vice president, wealth fiduciary services manager at deduction, it does allow for the total amount to be deducted in a single year. It is even possible to lease equipment and take a deduction that is greater than the actual payJohnson Bank in Racine.

&

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Minimum of 3 years in business Significant presence in Southeastern Wisconsin

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A commitment to good business practice A history of good employee relations/benefits Customer focused commitment Financial growth and consistency Community service involvement Education partnerships and workforce development

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S P O N S O R E D BY

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Application Deadline: March 14, 2016.

Top 10 Businesses of the Year Awards Luncheon Thursday, June 23, 2016 | 11:30am - 1:30pm Country Springs Hotel & Conference Center - 2810 Golf Road, Pewaukee

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ON LIN E POLL

Re: Waukesha’s request for Lake Michigan water “If the Waukesha proposal is rejected, it is hard to imagine any future diversion of Great Lakes water ever being approved under the (Great Lakes) compact, and would call into question the legitimacy of the compact itself.”

-Steve Baas, Metropolitan Milwaukee Association of Commerce

Re: Attracting millennials to Milwaukee “Cities positioning themselves to attract innovative and socially-conscious entrepreneurs will ultimately be the best positioned to appeal to the millennial generation.”

-David Wendland, Hamacher Resource Group Inc.

Re: Bernie Sanders The Commercial Association of Realtors Wisconsin recently hosted its annual Roundtable Forum, where real estate experts discussed hot topics in the industry and major projects happening in southeastern Wisconsin.

“With some serious thought beyond a 1960s class warfare rant, Sanders could be taken a lot more seriously if he showed more insight about the economic world.”

- John Torinus, Serigraph Inc.

What should be done with the Mitchell Park Domes?

Spend whatever it takes to rebuild/restore them:

40%

Use the lowest cost solution for now to reopen safely:

24%

Tear it down and save

the taxpayers’ money:

22%

Try to find a lower cost renovation option:

14%

GROWING, GIVING AND GAMING For the past 25 years, Potawatomi has been growing, giving and gaming in Southeastern Wisconsin. Our tribal values and company mission, along with your support, have allowed us to give back to this community, creating a positive social and economic impact.

Here are just a few examples: • Giving more than $75 million from Potawatomi Hotel & Casino and the Forest County Potawatomi Foundation to nonprofit and civic organizations • Sharing more than $350 million in revenue with state, county and city governments • Increasing our employee base from 200 to nearly 3,000 • Expanding to more than 1 million square feet of gaming, entertainment and lodging space • Welcoming more than 6 million guests annually, making us Wisconsin’s #1 tourist attraction Potawatomi Hotel & Casino is proud to give back.

1721 WEST CANAL STREET • MILWAUKEE, WI 53233 • 1-800-PAYSBIG • PAYSBIG.COM • GAMBLING PROBLEM? CALL 1-800-426-2535 ©2016 FOREST COUNTY POTAWATOMI COMMUNITY, WISCONSIN

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SPONSORED CONTENT

“

LOCAL CEOS JOIN NATIONAL EFFORT TO END COLON CANCER Power Test’s Alan Petelinsek is working to boost colon cancer screening rates

Doing the right thing for our customers, our employees, and our communities is just the right thing to do.

“

– Alan Petelinsek,

CEO, Power Test

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ou just never know when your perspective is going to be changed forever. That’s what happened last spring to Alan Petelinsek, CEO of Sussex-based manufacturer Power Test. He attended a whiteboarding session for the Wisconsin Chapter of the American Cancer Society’s CEOs Against Cancer where he was introduced to the 80% by 2018 initiative. It’s a PETELINSEK national effort to raise colon cancer screening rates to 80 percent by 2018. He learned that in Wisconsin, the screening rate is 72.6 percent – sixth in the nation – but that for the medically underserved the rate sits at a dismal 30 percent.

The session piqued his curiosity about his own employees and their colon cancer screening rates, so he looked into how close his staff was to the 80 percent goal. He didn’t like what he learned – that roughly half of those who should have a screening had not.

“We learned that through our ACAgrandfathered, seemingly awesome health insurance plan, colonoscopies were not covered. Our employees were delaying in some cases because of the cost of the screening, or waiting until a year where they already met their deductible,” said

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Petelinsek. “We’ve now petitioned our case to our health insurance provider and they have included colonoscopies as part of our policy. We also allow employees paid time off for this procedure.”

But his work didn’t stop at his own front door. It was in the same spirit that Petelinsek recently toured a community health center in Milwaukee that serves the medically underserved population. That’s where he met Dr. Tito Izard.

IZARD Dr. Izard is president and CEO of Milwaukee Health Services, Inc. – an independent, not-for-profit Federally Qualified Health Center (FQHC). FQHCs, also called community health centers, offer a range of health care services to the medically underserved.

Petelinsek learned that approximately 20,000 medically underserved individuals in Wisconsin are not being screened for colon cancer, and he was impressed by Dr. Izard’s efforts to bring that number down.

He describes Dr. Izard as “a joyful servant to all, especially the underserved.” In their visit, Dr. Izard identified some of the underlying obstacles that lower-income families face. Transportation, lost wages, child care, scheduling, cost and, of course, the potential

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social awkwardness were all identified.

Petelinsek remembered his conversations with his own employees, who identified similar barriers themselves.

With full faith that his personal network of business owners who are trying to do “the right things just as a matter of typical life,” he was confident that local CEOs could make an impact. The first step was to engage in open discussions on colon cancer screenings with employees.

As Petelinsek described, when a corporate leader has undergone colon cancer screening themselves it can create a more open forum for dialog and perhaps action.

More formally, Petelinsek has partnered with the American Cancer Society and committed to supporting the organization’s fundraising efforts through a $5,000 matching gift to make colon cancer screening more accessible at community clinics across Wisconsin.

Petelinsek is committed to increasing colon cancer screening rates not only within his company, but beyond.

“Doing the right thing for our customers, our employees, and our communities is just the right thing to do,” he said.

If you would like to learn more about this initiative or CEOs Against Cancer, call MaryAnn Raash, Corporate Relations for the American Cancer Society, at (262) 523-5556. 

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SCREENING FOR EVERYONE. WE CAN DO IT.

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olorectal cancer is one of the few cancers prevented through screening, and screening can also find the disease early when it is most treatable. Yet, colorectal cancer continues to cause needless suffering and is the second leading cause of cancer death in the nation. The good news – we can do better.

Wisconsin has a high colorectal cancer screening rate that ranks sixth in the nation, but many are still left behind. Medically underserved individuals are more likely to get cancer and die from it than the general population, and many community health centers in Wisconsin don’t have the necessary funding to reach those who go unscreened. The disparity in Wisconsin’s screening rate is staggering.

• 72.6%: state-wide colorectal cancer screening rate (sixth in the nation)

WISCONSIN CHAPTER 2016

• 30%: colorectal cancer screening rate among the medically underserved Many individuals are going unscreened for a cancer that can be prevented. There should be no barriers to colorectal cancer screening. The high screening rate across the state of Wisconsin is the result of many years of hard work, funding and emphasis put on fighting the disease. It’s time to turn our attention to those who carry the heaviest colorectal cancer burden and experience the lowest screening rates.

We know where this work must occur to be successful. Community health centers are most often the medical home for the 20,000 medically underserved individuals not being screened in Wisconsin. Many community health centers lack the resources needed for outreach and intervention. 

WHO GETS COLORECTAL CANCER? ANYONE CAN GET COLORECTAL CANCER, BUT SOME PEOPLE ARE AT AN INCREASED RISK

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Agnesian HealthCare Steven Little, President & CEO Aurora Health Care Steve Francaviglia, President - Greater Milwaukee South BizTimes Media Dan Meyer, Publisher Cancer Treatment Centers of America Cecilia Taylor, Chief Financial Officer City of Milwaukee Bevan Baker, FACHE, Commissioner of Health Columbia St. Mary’s Bruce McCarthy, MD, President Eder Flag Jodi Goglio, COO FedEx Barbara Wallander, Senior Vice President & Chief Postal Officer Froedtert Hospital Cathy Jacobson, CEO (Chapter Co-chair) Jonathon Truwit, MD, Chief Medical Officer GE Healthcare Jason Morgan, Director - Global Health & Wellness Johnson Bank Jill Haupt, Senior Vice President ManpowerGroup Jonas Prising, Chairman & CEO Michael Stull, SVP Global and North America Marketing Milwaukee Admirals Jon Greenberg, President Milwaukee Bucks Peter Feigin, President Outreach Community Health Centers William Jenkins, Executive Director Power Test Alan Petelinsek, CEO Reinhart Boerner Van Deuren s.c.

Jerome Janzer, CEO Philip O’Brien, Shareholder/Attorney Robert W. Baird & Co. Steven Booth, CEO Terry Hoy, Managing Director - Institutional Services Social Development Commission George Hinton, CEO West Bend Mutual Insurance Company Kevin Steiner, President & CEO Wheaton Franciscan Healthcare Coreen Dicus-Johnson, President - Central Market (Chapter Co-chair)

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SPONSORED CONTENT

NATIONWIDE COLORECTAL CANCER STATISTICS – 2016 134,490: Estimated new cases of colorectal cancer

49,190: Estimated colorectal cancer deaths

WISCONSIN COLORECTAL CANCER STATISTICS – 2016 2,520: Estimated new cases of colorectal cancer

840: Estimated colorectal cancer deaths

2nd:

SO MANY WAYS TO GET SCREENED

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hile a colonoscopy is still considered the gold standard for colorectal cancer screening – it’s the only test that can biopsy and reliably remove polyps during the initial procedure – there are other tests available that offer safe, effective – and often less expensive or less invasive – ways of screening.

A stool DNA test is one example. Done at home with no advance bowel preparation, it looks for certain abnormal sections of DNA (genetic material) from cancer or polyp

cells. Cells from colorectal cancers or polyps with these mutations often get into the stool, where tests may be able to detect them. Cologuard®, the test currently available, also tests for blood in the stool.

Exact Sciences, a Madison-based molecular diagnostics company, created Cologuard. This type of test is best for patients at average risk for colorectal cancer who are 50 years of age or older. Like some other tests, if results are abnormal a colonoscopy is needed for a full diagnosis. 

Cause of cancer death rank

72.6%: Wisconsin’s state-wide colorectal cancer screening rate

30%: Wisconsin’s colorectal cancer screening rate among medically underserved individuals

20,000: Medically underserved individuals in Wisconsin not screened for colorectal cancer

COLORECTAL CANCER SCREENING STATISTICS* 66%: U.S.

72.6%: Wisconsin

6th: Wisconsin national rank

*(Fecal occult blood test (FOBT) within the past year, or sigmoidoscopy within the past 5 years with FOBT in the past 3 years, or colonoscopy within the past 10 years)

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*For average-risk individuals with no symptoms, tesing should begin at age 50. If you are at increased risk or are experiencing symptoms, speak to your doctor right away.

Symptoms include: Rectal bleeding, blood in the stool, dark- or black-colored stools, change in shape of stool, lower stomach cramping, unnecessary urge to have a bowe movement, prolonged constipation or diarrhea, and unintentional weight loss.

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Getting a colon cancer screening isn’t a big deal.

Not getting one is.

If you’re 50 or older, a simple screening can prevent up to 80 percent of colon cancers.

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A colonoscopy is the first step in preventing colorectal cancer. Screening detects polyps, which can be removed on the spot – before they turn into cancer. In case something more serious is found, where you go for treatment matters. Our teams of highly trained colorectal cancer specialists help you determine which options are right for you, like minimally invasive treatments and combination therapies that preserve your quality of life.

That’s the difference academic medicine can make.

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biz news 2016 BizTimes M&A Forum to address both growth and exit strategies

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ast year, mergers and acquisitions reached record levels in the U.S., and KPMG’s 2016 M&A Forecast “expect(s) the market to remain extremely active in 2016.” It’s a great time to sell, but a sale isn’t the best option for all privately-held companies.

Join BizTimes on April 24 for our annual M&A Forum, this year titled “Hold ’em or fold ’em: Understand when to grow your company – and when to sell it.”

Geared primarily toward presidents, chief executive officers, owners and potential buyers and sellers, the morning’s events will focus on key growth strategies, sale considerations, the psychology of change and other issues surrounding the decision to either grow or sell a company.

The program begins with breakfast and a keynote presentation by Frank Unick, chief financial officer of Pleasant Prairie-based Uline Inc. Unick will discuss the challenges Uline has faced in managing the company’s rapid sales growth, including guarding the company culture, hiring and developing talented employees, the cash pressures on high-growth companies and succession planning.

Following the keynote are two panel discussions. The first, “The psychology of growing your business or deciding to sell,” explores the soft factors that influence this pivotal decision with a panel of owners who have made both choices. Moderated by Ann Hanna, managing director of Schenck M&A Solutions, the panel in-

You’ve planted the seeds for your business success. Now it’s time to harvest the rewards and get the recognition you deserve.

cludes: Steve Ziegler, CEO of Inpro; Paul Stewart, partner at PS Capital Partners; Thomas Myers, shareholder at Reinhart Boerner Van Deuren s.c.; and Jim Feeney, former owner of Wisconsin Film & Bag. The second discussion, “Who is your ideal buyer?” looks at the advantages and disadvantages of selling to different types of acquirers – from family, employees and private equity firms to financial or strategic partners. Moderated by Greg Larson, senior vice president and director of commercial banking at Bank Mutual Corp., the panel includes: Lisa Reardon, CEO and chairman of Owner’s Edge Inc.; Dave Strand, president and CEO of Wisconsin Oven Corp.; and Mark Grosskopf, president, CEO and

FUTURE 50

owner of New Resources Consulting.

Following the panels are three concurrent breakout sessions covering growth strategies in a slow-growth environment, how competitors and customers affect a company’s value, how private equity views companies beyond EBITDA, exporting and more.

BizTimes Media’s 2016 M&A Forum will be held Thursday, April 21, from 7 a.m to 10:30 a.m. at the Milwaukee Marriott Downtown, 323 E. Wisconsin Ave. in Milwaukee. n

Registration information is available at www.biztimes.com/maforum.

DON’T DELAY

DEADLINE: Friday, April 1, 2016 For more information, contact Alexis Deblitz at 414.287.4130 or adeblitz@mmac.org

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If your company meets four basic criteria, complete the online application and put your company in the running for the 2016 Future 50.

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innovations Parking sensors help CivicSmart be on target Milwaukee company’s smart city efforts stretch around the world

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ot many startups can also claim an 80-year history, but that is how Milwaukee-based CivicSmart Inc. views itself after founder Balu Subramanya purchased the parking enforcement division of his former employer, Duncan Solutions Inc. Duncan’s history dates back to 1936 and the company provided equipment and products for parking enforcement.

The acquisition of Duncan Parking Technologies in 2015 gave CivicSmart the equipment division and ARTHUR THOMAS (414) 336-7123 arthur.thomas@biztimes.com Twitter: @arthur8823

nearly 2,000 clients around the world.

CivicSmart, which has office space in Milwaukee’s Third Ward, hopes to leverage that scale as it shifts away from straightforward parking meters to sensors that help in the development of smart cities.

“Smart parking is a very attractive piece of it because, unlike some of the other parts of a smart city platform, parking actually generates revenue,” said Mike Nickolaus, CivicSmart president and chief executive officer.

While using sensors for a host of applications is increasingly popular, Nickolaus said the challenge in the parking industry is to make any device accurate enough to support revenue-generating applications.

CivicSmart has developed a device that uses radar to determine whether or not a car is occupying a space. The advancement the company made was limiting the amount of power the device needed, meaning it could be installed underground and work for between five and eight years.

Nickolaus said the use of radar makes for much more accurate readings on whether a car is in a space or not. He said CivicSmart is able to achieve parking “session accuracy,” or tracking the time a car is parked in a space, of more than 99 percent.

“It won’t even read something from the lane next to it,” he said.

Published and documented data isn’t

CivicSmart Inc. Milwaukee Innovation: Parking Sensors www.CivicSmart.com

widely available on how other sensors perform, Nickolaus said. The best data available comes from a pilot program in San Francisco that ran from 2012 to 2013.

That study found an average session accuracy of 83 percent, with results ranging from 72 to 96 percent.

Many of the sensors used in San Francisco utilized magnets, either alone or with some other technology, to determine if a car was parked in a space. Nickolaus said the problem is other cars or objects can interfere with the magnetic field.

“We think there’s a significant differentiator there,” he said.

CivicSmart has seen most of its demand come from international markets, particularly in Australia and parts of Africa.

“In the U.S., it’s actually been a little bit more of a slow rollout,” Nickolaus said.

The company has conducted trials in Las Vegas; El Paso, Texas; Wilmington, Del.; and Milwaukee.

Once sensors are accurate enough, there are a number of potential applications for both cities and consumers. Some of these are already being applied in parking garages where the number of available spaces can be displayed, but accuracy is much more difficult on the streets.

The potential applications include managing how much to charge for parking based on demand, zeroing out the time on a meter when a car leaves, or providing information on available spaces to consumers. Nickolaus said there is also potential in the area of parking permits for residents of certain buildings or for those with disabilities.

The potential for the sensors is increased when it is combined with other advancements in parking technology.

That includes mobile payment apps, handheld readers for enforcement and more. Having the infrastructure and products established by Duncan as a part w w w.biztimes.com

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The batteries in CivicSmart’s subterranean sensors last between five and eight years by limiting the amount of power the sensor uses.

of the company pays dividends in this area, according to Nickolaus. n Get news headlines from around the state delivered to your inbox first thing Monday through Friday. Sign up for BizTimes’ Morning Headlines at biztimes.com/subscribe.

CivicSmart’s sensors can be mounted on poles.

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real estate

Dan Adams, planning director of Harbor District Inc. and Lilith Fowler, executive director of Harbor District Inc.

Developer David Winograd is planning a 12-story, 164-unit apartment building at the corner of South Pittsburgh Avenue and South Water Street. This would be one of the first new developments in the Harbor District.

Harbor District is Milwaukee’s next big redevelopment initiative

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hen Milwaukee-based developer David Winograd announced plans last fall to build a 12-story, 164-unit apartment tower at the corner of South Pittsburgh Avenue and South Water Street, many looked at the development as another sign of success

step in turning the South Water Street side of the Milwaukee River into a mirror image of Third Ward side of the river, complete with high-end condos and apartment buildings.

Of course, that type of development is hard to imagine today. Driving along South Water Street, there is a mix of abandoned sites, vacant lots and aged industrial buildings, leading the way into a 970acre area known as the Harbor District.

The district, which includes roughly nine miles of waterfront access including Jones Island, is bordered by First Street, Bay Street and Pittsburgh Avenue.

After being cut off from the city and

CORRINNE HESS P: (414) 336-7116 E: corri.hess@biztimes.com Twitter: @CorriHess

for Milwaukee’s booming Walker’s Point neighborhood.

But others see that project as the first

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neglected for decades, the Harbor District is getting a closer look – in part, because it is surrounded by three of the most in-demand neighborhoods in the city: Walker’s Point, The Historic Third Ward and Bay View.

“There is a lot of development pressure on the north end of the Inner Harbor; That, combined with other factors, are the impetus to make us put a plan together quickly,” said Dan Adams, planning director for Harbor District Inc., a nonprofit organization formed last year by the City of Milwaukee.

Using data from a community survey conducted in June 2015, Harbor District Inc. has hired Los Angeles-based consultant group AECOM to develop a water and land use plan. The goal is for the Milwaukee Common Council to adopt the plan by the end of the year, so when developers want to build in the district, they have a regulatory document to follow that includes zoning recommendations, building guidelines and standards related to the waterfront and public access.

Lilith Fowler, executive director of Harbor District Inc., said there is a consensus that people want a mixed-use district that is more accessible, more environmentally functional and makes better use of the waterfront. Getting there, however, will take some work, she said.

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“It’s going to require significant public investment and that’s where the water and land use planning is needed,” Fowler said.

“If the big vision for Milwaukee is we are going to be the fabulous freshwater capital, then how does that relate to what we are doing on our riverfront? What pubic investments do we want to ask our city, or state or our federal government to make?”

The Milwaukee Inner Harbor redevelopment project was one of two catalytic projects Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett identified in 2013 as part of his ReFresh Milwaukee 10-year sustainability plan.

Revitalization is already taking place in the district. The University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee completed the $53 million School of Freshwater Sciences in the fall of 2014. Wauwatosa-based developer Wangard Partners is also working on the Freshwater Plaza, a $48 million mixeduse project on eight acres at the corner of South First Street and East Greenfield Avenue.

Harbor District Inc. held a “design charrette” in October, inviting four teams from across the country to participate in a design challenge for the Harbor District.

Some of the major themes proposed by the teams included: »» Modifying the current water’s edge to enhance public access and ecological function.

»» Building a harbor walk with several waterfront parks and public green spaces. »» Reintroducing the street grid into the Harbor District to connect surrounding neighborhoods to the waterfront. »» Separating heavy industry that exists in the district from other land uses.

The proposals will be costly, but are all examples of the variety of uses that could take place in the district, Adams said.

Since the 1900s, the Harbor District has been home to foundries, tanneries and rail yards. But it also contains the Milwaukee Estuary, which is an island waterway that is the mouth of the Kinnickinnic, Milwaukee and Menomonee rivers and a direct link to Lake Michigan. The estuary is recognized by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency as an Area of Concern, which Fowler said could be beneficial in obtaining federal grants for clean-up.

Besides the clean-up, there are other obstacles. There is a rail line operated by Union Pacific that still serves some of the

businesses that are located in the district.

Until the rail line ceases operations, redevelopment cannot take place where the lines cross, Fowler said.

Many of the large parcels in the district are city-owned, but others are still privately held. One example is the 47-acre former Milwaukee Solvay Coke & Gas Co. site at 311 E. Greenfield Ave., with buildings the city has been trying to demolish for more than a year, but the property owner has refused to cooperate. The matter is currently in litigation.

Fowler, who was the first executive director of Menomonee Valley Partners from 1999 to 2004, said the challenges of the Harbor District are not any different than what the Valley faced 20 years ago.

“In 1997, the first plan for the Menomonee Valley was being written; that’s where we are today,” Fowler said. “I think it helps that people saw the progress of the Valley and what it has become.”

Fowler said there has been interest from the development community in the Harbor District project, but with so many

directions to go, there has been a bit of a “wait and see” approach.

“No one wants to be the first guy to go plunk something down and wait 20 years for the rest of the district to unfold,” Fowler said.

For Winograd, building the apartment tower at South Pittsburgh Avenue and South Water Street makes sense. The development is across the street from his South Water Works development, a mix of repurposed former industrial buildings and new construction that includes the headquarters for PKWare Inc. at 201 E. Pittsburgh Ave. and Next Act Theatre at 255 S. Water St. Over time, Winograd said he can envision a buildup of the entire South Water Street side of the Milwaukee River.

“It’s going to be a process, but it is definitely starting,” Winograd said. “There are only so many (undeveloped) areas of the river left that have a direct opening to Lake Michigan and there is a lot of interest from people to be in those areas.”

Erick Shambarger, director of envi-

ronmental sustainability for the City of Milwaukee, said the city would love to see the Harbor District become more accessible to the general public.

“A lot of people wouldn’t even think of going back there,” Shambarger said.

“There is still a lot of work to be done, but think about the Menomonee Valley and what that was – a brownfield site reimagined for industry.”

Fowler believes the only difference between the two neighborhoods is the water and the clean-up efforts it will take to make the waterfront viable for public use. “(The Harbor District is) not more blighted and not in any worse shape (than the Valley was)— in some ways, it’s better,” Fowler said. “There is an appreciation that this is a funky, gritty, historic port district.

I think it’s an unusual distinction that people value. This place can be spectacular.” n

Get the latest real estate news delivered to your inbox every Wednesday. Sign up for BizTimes’ Real Estate Weekly at biztimes.com/subscribe.

Smart Enough to Know... I should attend this event

Inspirational Leadership 2016 “The Connection Between Happiness and Success” Presented by Shawn Achor, author of The Happiness Advantage

Friday, April 29 7:30 am - 12:00 noon

Hyatt Regency Milwaukee | 333 W. Kilbourn Ave., Milwaukee, WI

Register online at tecmidwest.com or contact TEC at 262-821-3340 Every attendee will receive a copy of The Happiness Advantage.

Shawn Achor, whose TED Talk just passed 10 million views, recently received the honor of his presentation being called one of the most popular TED Talks of all time by TED.com.

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cover story

Ty Staviski, chief financial officer and Steve Richman, president of Milwaukee Electric Tool Corp. in the atrium at the company’s Brookfield headquarters.

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THE

TOOLS

THAT MADE MILWAUKEE FAMOUS ICONIC COMPANY PLANS HEADQUARTERS EXPANSION

BY ARTHUR THOMAS, staff writer

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alk down the aisles of the Home Depot at 124th Street and Capitol Drive in Wauwatosa and there are plenty of Milwaukee Tool products on display, but leaving the parking lot there are few, if any, signs those tools were designed and engineered just a few blocks away.

The Brookfield headquarters of Milwaukee Electric Tool Corp. at 13135 W. Lisbon Road would have more visibility under a proposed expansion that would more than double the size of its campus. The $33 million project would be funded in part by $6 million in tax incremental financing from the City of Brookfield.

The company also is in discussions with the state for additional benefits related to its proposed expansion. The Wisconsin Economic Development Corp. has awarded Milwaukee Tool $1.5 million in tax credits since 2011 for creating 360 jobs.

Milwaukee Tool officials say the expansion is necessary after more than tripling the workforce at the Brookfield campus since 2009. There are now more than 700 employees at the site and the expansion plans call for 300 to 500 more in the next five years.

Sales have grown over the last decade, from around $500 million in the early 2000s to $2 billion in 2015. The company has gone from a focus on corded power tools to cordless tools, power tool accessories and hand tools.

The growth has been largely organic, save for the acquisition of Mukwonago-based Empire Level Mfg. Corp. in 2014. The growth has also been sustained, in the double-digits through each of the last five years, including 22.2 percent revenue growth in 2014 and a three-year compound annual growth rate of more than 20 percent, according to filings by Hong Kong-based Techtronic Industries Co. Ltd., Milwaukee Tool’s parent company.

Disruptive innovation So how has the iconic brand found itself again? Steve Richman, Milwaukee Tool president, says it is important to look at the company’s focus on professional trades and innovative products, like the first right angle drill and the Sawzall reciprocating saw, in the period after World War II. “That was the foundation that when a new group of us came nine years ago, that we sat up and said, ‘We need to go back to our roots,’” Richman said.

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2007, just two years after Techtronic acquired the company. His career spans more than 30 years in the industry and includes brands such as Black & Decker, Werner Ladder, Skil and Bosch.

There were two main issues for the company in the mid-2000s, Richman said, Milwaukee Tool wasn’t focused on the professional trades and was “dabbling” in a number of areas while “not doing a great job in doing any single one of them well.”

The other problem was where ideas and feedback came from. Richman said the new executive team that arrived with

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him tried to bring an outside-in philosophy in which everyone was focused on users and distribution partners.

“The problem with Milwaukee is they were focused on what they believed and saw internally,” Richman said. “We had great engineers; (but) we had no marketing organization and no plan to really focus on that user segment.”

“That user segment” is the professional trades. The company’s main purpose now is to solve problems for those in the mechanical, electrical, plumbing, HVAC, maintenance and repair, and re21

cover story modeling trades.

“We don’t design products for do-ityourselfers,” Richman said. “Now, a lot of passionate do-it-yourselfers may want a product that performs, but we design products for those professionals and those professional trades.”

With a renewed focus on the professional trades and on solutions to problems, not just new features, Milwaukee Tool set out to provide “disruptive innovation.” Richman said the innovation is most easily seen in the products, but the concept spreads throughout the organization.

Richman and his team ran into a problem, though, when they told their distributors and other partners they planned to change the company so drastically.

“They really didn’t believe us,” he said, noting that Milwaukee was known as a great corded power tool company with little commitment to power tool accessories, no hand tools and about 3 percent market share for cordless tools in North America.

In the years since, Milwaukee has made a major shift toward cordless technology. The company now is No. 1 in market share for cordless power tools in the United States.

The company started doing business as Milwaukee Tool, in part to reflect its focus on being a solutions company. Milwaukee Tool holds patents on lithium-ion batteries for power tools and has since developed 18-volt and 12-volt battery platforms for its tools known as the M18 and M12, respectively. Each platform is compatible forward and backward between generations and interchangeable from tool to tool. The goal is to have an ecosystem of tools to which someone in the trades can turn.

“We’ll invest in a product that’s not

going to be profitable because we know that will help that user deliver solutions on their job and keep them in that one battery platform,” Richman said.

The new battery technology, combined with a focus on innovating for the trades, is what set the company on its new trajectory. From 2005 through the end of 2015, Milwaukee Tool was issued 327 patents. Comparatively, the company was issued 96 patents between 1990 and the end of 2004. Milwaukee Tool had been assigned nine patents through the roughly 50 days in 2016, including one for a tablet case that uses a power tool battery.

Richman and chief financial officer Ty Staviski believe the company is positioned to sustain that level of innovation over the coming years. Staviski said there are “more ideas than we can even fund” and a product roadmap has been developed out to 2019.

Collaborative culture The culture and people at Milwaukee Tool are what make the difference, Richman said.

“This team environment that we’ve been able to create here and been able to really nurture, is really the key to us being able to be extremely innovative, but also be extremely fast to market,” Staviski said.

The environment isn’t exactly what one might expect of a tooling company. The headquarters atrium features meeting areas, product displays, whiteboards, tables with computer monitors, a café, displays with the names and pictures of associates, and screens displaying content from the company’s social media channels.

On a recent morning, the atrium featured a sign welcoming Home Depot.

Milwaukee Tool distributes its products

Milwaukee Tool is in the process of renovating space at its headquarters for its advanced concept development teams. The finished space will be made of concrete and steel to reflect the company’s brand.

through a number of channels, including Grainger and Fastenal stores, but has a partnership with Home Depot that means its products aren’t sold at Lowe’s, Menards or on Amazon.com.

“We view Home Depot (as) being a much stronger partner than a Lowe’s or an Amazon or a Menard’s to be able to deliver the right kind of solutions to our real core users on a global basis,” Richman said.

The idea behind the atrium space is to allow for collaboration, and the feel is closer to something from Silicon Valley than Waukesha County.

“It’s almost a little bit techie, right?

And that’s how we kind of view ourselves,” Staviski said.

Richman was quick to point out the culture isn’t a fit for everyone, and that some people have left Milwaukee Tool and been high performers at other Wis-

consin companies. He said the company’s culture is centered on high expectations and rewards for performance, but above all, it values collaboration.

“To be able to drive things with the kind of speed that we’re talking about, if you don’t have that collaboration, it doesn’t happen,” Richman said.

The collaboration to develop new products actually starts outside of the company, with conversations and meetings between product managers and end users.

“Some of the most unique things we’ve done have come from our end user research,” said Paige Bovard, a senior product manager on the electrical team.

She said the goal is to get out in the field and do research with end users, but actually observing them on a job site can provide the best insights.

“Users can’t always tell you what

Milwaukee Tool Timeline 1922 A.H. Peterson and A.F. Siebert form A.H. Peterson Co.

1924 Siebert purchases company at auction, starts Milwaukee Electric Tool Corp.

1923 Fire destroys A.H. Peterson facilities.

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1949 Launches first right-angle drill.

1924 “Hole-Shooter,” portable one-handed drill, developed for Henry Ford.

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1965 Moves from Milwaukee to Brookfield.

1951 Introduces Sawzall reciprocating saw.

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1986 Acquired by Merrill Lynch.

1975 Acquired by Amstar.

they need,” Bovard said, adding that before smartphones took off, most users wouldn’t have been able to tell you which apps they wanted. “People don’t know anything other than what they’re using today,” she said.

The product and advanced engineering teams will seek to address something they think is an issue by conducting research in a variety of environments. It could be making a corded tool cordless, making something demonstrably faster or lighter, or just solving a problem that comes up on job sites.

Milwaukee Tool is now on its eighth generation of lithium technology for batteries and makes it a point to work with suppliers to ensure high-quality battery cells. The company also has a testing area dedicated to measuring not only the performance of Milwaukee’s batteries, but also those of competitors. Richman said there are a host of challenges to creating batteries for power tools, including making them work in a variety of environments and with variations in the load they will have to handle.

“It is more difficult to make a battery work in a power tool than it is to make a battery work in a Tesla,” Richman said.

Advancing tooling technology While the shift to lithium-ion batteries helped open the doors to innovation for Milwaukee, company officials say it is combining battery technology with advancements in brushless motors and other electronics that helps set Milwaukee tools apart. In 2012, the company introduced its FUEL system, which combined the best of those three areas in one tool.

As the tool industry has become more

focused on cordless technology, companies have increasingly turned to electrical instead of mechanical engineers. That has extended to motors too. Richman said in the past, all companies basically used the same motor and the same design. Now, Milwaukee Tool designs a different motor for each tool.

The amount of electronics involved in each tool has also increased. Initially, companies offered some level of customization for how much power and torque a tool would use. Milwaukee has gone farther and now offers its One-Key system on some tools, which utilizes a mobile app to offer complete or application-specific customization. There are also capabilities for inventory management of tools and for locating lost or misplaced tools.

“We have to stay in front of the technology in a big, big way,” Richman said, adding that the company is now bringing in software and app developers in addition to engineers.

As engineers develop new products, they have Milwaukee Tool’s rapid prototyping center at their disposal just down the hallway, with the goal of improving speed to market. The company has sought to eliminate bureaucracy by giving those in engineering and concept development the freedom to test new ideas.

“These guys don’t have to ask for an approval from Ty on the financial side to go ahead and do a prototype or do a vision sketch,” Richman said.

Bovard said collaboration and teamwork among fast-moving and entrepreneurial employees is important and it helps that they are empowered “to make decisions for their products on the fly.”

The in-house rapid prototyping means the company is able to make multiple it-

Mid-1990’s Achieves ISO certification at all facilities.

1995 Acquired by Atlas Copco.

Milwaukee Tool has some of the parts it has created on display in its rapid prototyping center.

The center allows the company to quickly get feedback on new idea.

erations of designs at full size and get feedback from the field on them quickly.

Milwaukee Tool is in the midst of renovating its headquarters to give more room to the advanced concept development teams. Once the renovation is complete, Milwaukee Tool will be able to bring in engineers currently working in a leased space on the other side of Lisbon Road.

Richman and Staviski say having the entire team under one roof would be a competitive advantage, but there isn’t enough space.

Milwaukee Tool also asks employees throughout the company to go through training classes so they understand how to use the tools. They would also like to be able to bring more people through their training area, but they can’t.

“We don’t have enough room for our training and development right now, to

2005 Acquired by Techtronic Industries.

2005 V28 lithium-ion battery for power tools introduced.

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2008 Introduces first M12 and M18 batteries.

2007 Steve Richman appointed president.

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be real frank,” Richman said.

Bursting at the seams The company’s expansion proposal calls for a 200,000-square-foot, four-story office building. It has required zoning changes and the city transferred some land to Milwaukee Tool.

Staviski said despite having strong growth in sales, Milwaukee still has a responsibility to its parent company. Techtronic Industries has a number of other brands with offices in the United States that could house Milwaukee employees.

“There’s a lot of pressure, because we’ve got open capacity in some of our other buildings,” Staviski said.

He said Milwaukee Tool looked at other locations in southeastern Wisconsin and even considered northern Illinois, but wants everyone on the same campus. The

2012 Fuel platform launched, combining lithium-ion battery, brushless motor and electronics.

2010 Hand tool business launched.

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2015 Plans for corporate headquarters expansion announced.

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cover story

Recruiting to Milwaukee Even with most of the company’s manufacturing taking place in Mississippi, China and other locations outside Wisconsin, Richman said Milwaukee Tool still has strong ties to the area it is named for.

“We’re proud of the Milwaukee heritage; we’re proud of the fact that we can say that we design and develop everything

on a global basis, and all the innovation, from people that are living in Wisconsin,” he said.

The jobs the company plans to add will have an average salary of $75,000, and there are future expansions already included in some of the documents related to the proposal.

“What they’re talking about is adding 100 jobs a year for the next five years. If they do that, they’ll become one of the largest employers in Brookfield,” Ponto said.

Richman didn’t hesitate when asked if Milwaukee Tool would be able to fill those jobs, highlighting partnerships with the University of Wisconsin, Marquette University and Milwaukee School of Engineering. He also said the company has a presence on campus at Massachusetts Institute of Technology, University of Illinois, University of Michigan and others, in addition to recruiting from app developers and other companies.

There are plenty of ideas on which the company’s new hires could work, Richman said. Milwaukee Tool recently expanded

Patents issued to Milwaukee Electric Tool 80 Patents issued

problem is the company is located in a generally industrial area and the current headquarters is converted manufacturing space.

“If you were looking to build a 200,000-square-foot office building, chances are you wouldn’t build it where Milwaukee Tool wants to build it,” Brookfield mayor Steve Ponto said, suggesting Bluemound Road would be a better fit.

The proposed development is also in an area targeted for redevelopment by the city. A market analysis done by a consulting firm for the city in 2010 highlighted a number of challenges facing the area and suggested that Milwaukee Tool could be a catalytic anchor for the area.

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into lighting and has plans for other product lines he didn’t want to discuss.

While Staviski said there is always a risk associated with the macroeconomics in the U.S. and around the world, the real problems would come internally.

“To Steve and myself and the exec team here, the risk is getting complacent, not staying on the forefront and not continuing to be paranoid about our compe-

tition,” he said.

“The day that we actually believe that we are so good that no one else can deliver something,” Richman said, “is the day that we’re going to fail.” n

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special report

higher education&research

UWM now ranks among the country’s top research institutions, joining the ranks of Duke, Yale, Johns Hopkins and the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

UWM’s Innovation Accelerator in Wauwatosa opened in 2014. The university nearly doubled its research expenditures between the 2003-’04 academic year and 2009-’10.

UWM’s commitment to research has farreaching implications for Milwaukee Innovations ripple throughout local business community

O

n Feb. 1, the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee became a Tier 1 research institution, joining 114 other universities that the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching saw fit to classify as the most active research universities in the country.

The foundation releases classifications once every five years.

News of UWM’s new spot among institutions such as the University of Wisconsin-Madison, Yale and Duke thrilled university leaders.

“This is the ultimate recognition for top doctoral universities nationwide,” wrote chancellor Mark Mone in a letter to students and faculty. “This is inspiring, gratifying and serves as validation of the remarkable impact of UWM’s faculty, staff and students…The wide-ranging array of critically-acclaimed research is UW-Milwaukee’s hallmark.”

Mark Harris, UWM’s interim vice provost for research, said the school’s new classification was proof its partnerships with private institutions to fund and facilitate research efforts were paying off.

“In the research world, this is a huge

step in terms of recognition,” Harris said.

“It should help us when we are out recruiting faculty, for example. Once you get them, that’s really the key to attracting really good students. It’s just the kind of overall recognition that really signals to everyone that we’ve moved into the big time.”

Though UWM has significantly ramped up its research programs since 2010 with the addition of its Innovation Campus in Wauwatosa and the expansion of its School of Freshwater Sciences, the groundwork for its budding presence among the nation’s top research institutions was laid 12 years ago under the direction of former UWM chancellor Carlos Santiago.

Santiago took office in 2004 with a specific goal in mind: transform UWM into a research-oriented university.

During his tenure at the helm, UWM’s research expenditures increased from $36 million during the 2003-’04 academic year to $68 million in 2009-’10. The UWM Research Foundation was also established during that time, which has been facilitating corporate partnerships w w w.biztimes.com

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with local companies, as well as moving innovations that emerge from UWM laboratories through the patent and licensing process and into the marketplace.

“First and foremost, our job is to provide talent to Wisconsin and the Milwaukee region,” said Research Foundation president Brian Thompson. “The research mission is linked very closely with our education mission. We have nearly 5,000 graduate students and we have 750 undergraduates that are involved in faculty research programs…so the research experience is very much a part of the educational experience.”

And those research projects have been making waves, or more accurately, studying them — in multiple forms.

UWM opened a $53 million, 92,600-square-foot expansion of its School of Freshwater Sciences building on the Kinnickinnic River in Milwaukee’s Inner Harbor in 2014. It also opened classrooms and labs at the Global Water Center at 247 W. Freshwater Way in Walker’s Point.

“We’ve been strategic about how we do that,” Thompson said. “We’ve got some

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key partnerships and structures that help facilitate those research programs. The water cluster is helping to pull together a lot of companies in the water area. The model is industry partners participate and they help steer the research directions.”

While much of UWM’s water research addresses issues locally, nationally and globally, university researchers have also been a part of breakthroughs with cosmic implications.

In February, the university announced UWM professors Patrick Brady, Jolien Creighton, Xavier Siemens and Alan Wiseman, along with 26 UWM students, were part of a scientific collaboration that gained international attention after confirming the last unproven prediction of Einstein’s general theory of relativity: that gravitational waves indeed exist.

The UWM students and professors who contributed to the discovery are part of the Laser Interferometer GravitationalWave Observatory, LIGO, a collaborative project among researchers that analyzed data from two observatories in remote locations in the United States and detected gravitational waves still rippling through 25

the cosmos after a collision between two black holes that occurred about 1.3 billion years ago.

“That one grew out of a long tradition at UWM of cosmology and interstellar research,” Thompson said.

UWM has also made significant strides in engineering, applied sciences and public health research.

The Research Foundation currently has a portfolio of 40 patents pioneered in UWM labs, Thompson said, and the school is in the midst of a push to promote entrepreneurship among students.

“For student entrepreneurs, we play a different role, which is to help them through the process,” Thompson said.

“We’re growing our research program in ways that benefit Milwaukee. We’re growing our research differently. We’re leveraging our industry partners in the area and we’re leveraging our educational partners.”

Since the Research Foundation began 10 years ago, school researchers have engaged in more than $300 million worth of

research projects with local institutions, Thompson said.

And that research extends into many areas. One researcher has synthesized a chemical compound that treats anxiety.

Another is researching safer sleeping environments for infants. Through a partnership with the Milwaukee Fire Department, a UWM researcher is developing recovery programs that help injured firefighters return to work faster.

UWM engineers have also partnered with local water companies and health care organizations to develop nanosensors and biosensors.

“We’re structurally trying to link together these institutions in a way that they complement each other,” Thompson said.

“UWM certainly has researchers of international prominence.”

The foundation’s and the university’s research programs have received funding from local institutions such as The Lynde and Harry Bradley Foundation and Rockwell Automation Inc. Thompson said the university is continuously reaching out

UWM chancellor Mark Mone talks about research at the university.

to the Milwaukee business community to forge connections that could drive research and put UWM innovations into local products.

“We’re strengthening industry partnerships in a way that improves the tal-

ent pipeline,” Thompson said. “It’s really about the faculty members at UWM. (The Research Foundation) is here to help — we’re a support organization. It’s an exciting time for UWM and I’m excited to be a part of it.” n

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higher education & research

Marquette envisions athletic research center as international destination Planned facility could rejuvenate vacant site

T

he 12-acre site along West Michigan Street where Marquette University plans to erect its proposed $120 million Athletic Performance Research Center is one of Milwaukee’s most visible dead zones.

Bordered to the south and west by the Marquette Interchange, the lot is a sparse grass field with several piles of gravel clustered together near an old parking lot and signs that read “no trespassing” lining the sidewalk.

Between 2017 and 2018, the lot will be transformed into the Marquette Athletic Performance Research Center, a 250,000to 300,000-square-foot building with a field house and laboratories bustling with students, researchers, patients and athletes.

One building that was on the site — the former site of Butch’s Old Casino Steak House — has already been demolished. An underused building at 803 W. Michigan St., the Herzing University building at 525 N. Sixth St. and the Ramada Milwaukee Downtown at 633 W. Michigan St., will also be demolished to make way for the project.

It’s a facility physiologists from Marquette and the Aurora Research Institute envision as an international destination for research that explores the limits of human performance and could help revitalize the city.

In January, Marquette president Michael Lovell announced Milwaukee-based Aurora Health Care had committed $40 million to the project. The Milwaukee Bucks will also be partners; however, the NBA team’s role has been less clearly defined. With Aurora’s contribution, Lovell estimated in January around $60 million had been secured for the facility.

Construction could begin in 2017, with plans to open the facility at the same time as the new Bucks arena in 2018.

And few are more enthusiastic about the project than a diverse team of researchers at Marquette, led by Australian-born exercise physiologist Dr. Sandra Hunter.

BY BEN STANLEY, staff writer

“It’s really exciting,” Hunter said.

“Bringing other experts in who have similar or adjunct areas of expertise is just fantastic. Success breeds success Hunter … this could become a center of excellence in understanding human performance. It could be a destination. I think it will be really good for Milwaukee and also Wisconsin in general.”

Hunter has been researching exercise physiology for 20 years and she’s been at Marquette since 2003. In her lab are researchers from the U.S., Brazil, Iran and France. Since she arrived at Marquette, Hunter and her collaborators have received more than $7 million in funding from different organizations to conduct research on exercise and physiology. Last year, she and another researcher, Robert Fitts, received a $2.8 million grant from the National Institutes of Health to study the effect of a new exercise program for the elderly on muscle mass and fatigue.

At the new facility, she plans to conduct similar research.

“Our plan is to basically create a research environment where we can examine human performance and the limits of human performance with the understanding that exercise is medicine,” Hunter said.

She said her research team plans to explore a “broad spectrum,” and study everyone it can; from elite-level athletes to people living with disabilities to casual exercisers.

“We’re all aiming to be the highest physically-functioning person we can,” Hunter said. “We haven’t gotten into the absolute specifics yet, but … one of the university’s goals is to double research output and funding in the next five years, so this would contribute to that and attract high-end researchers.”

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research is characteristic of its new president. Lovell took over in 2014 after serving three years as the chancellor of the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. During that time, Lovell oversaw the completion of UWM’s Innovation Campus in Wauwatosa and expanded its School of Freshwater Sciences.

In February, UWM was reclassified as a Tier 1 research institution by the Carnegie Foundation, meaning it has joined the ranks of the most active research institutions in the country, due in part to Lovell’s contributions.

That commitment to research is fo-

cused around what Hunter referred to as academic currency.

“The goal of, I think, most universities is to increase productivity, and what that looks like is publishing papers and being awarded more grants,” Hunter said.

“That’s really the currency in academia.

But it’s also the way the scientists relay to the world their findings. If that involves collaboration with Aurora, that’s great. It takes a village, often, to achieve some of these goals.”

Two years ago, Aurora Health Care consolidated its research programs into what is now called the Aurora Research In-

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stitute. The program encapsulates projects spread out at different research centers in Aurora’s hospitals and laboratories.

ARI includes around 900 scienLambrecht tists, physician scientists and support staff workers who are currently conducting 630 different research projects and more than 250 clinical trials, according to Randy Lambrecht, the institute’s senior vice president of research and academic relations.

“It’s very exciting the research that can go on in this facility,” Lambrecht said.

Like Marquette, Aurora plans to conduct research that will help raise its academic profile, especially in the areas of wellness, injury prevention, performance enhancement, cardiovascular training and innovation.

“But it’s not just publishing and it’s not just more grants, it’s really being able to translate that research into better

A rendering of the Athletic Performance Research Center planned by Marquette University.

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higher education & research patient care,” said Mike Lappin, chief administrative officer of Aurora Health Care. “The hope is that this facility becomes a destination for people interested Lappin in doing research … if the facility is successful, it will help us recruit and bring top talent to this area, which is obviously good for all of us.”

Lambrecht and Lappin said the research institute is still working out the details of how many researchers and project teams will work out of Marquette’s Athletic Performance Research Facility. But Lambrecht said one program, Team Phoenix, will definitely have a presence there.

Team Phoenix is a program for breast cancer survivors that studies the physical and psychological effects of treatment and uses nutrition and exercise to help survivors overcome obstacles.

“Medicine is changing these days,”

Marquette plans to build a $120 million Athletic Performance Research Center on this lot bordered by Sixth Street, 10th Street, West Michigan Street and the Marquette Interchange.

Lappin said. “Health systems are designed to treat people when they’re sick, and going forward we’re trying to keep people

well. With this facility we start getting real data, real outcomes … It’s still evolving, but there’s so much excitement.” n

Higher Education & Research Briefs Alverno College selects new president After an eight month search, Alverno College has selected a new president.

Andrea Lee, president of St. Catherine University, a Catholic liberal arts university in Minnesota, will succeed Alverno president Mary Meehan in June.

Meehan has led Alverno since 2004 and announced she would be stepping down in March 2015.

Lee has been president of St. Catherine for almost 20 years. During her tenure, university enrollment increased 30 percent.

Alverno College is a four-year Catholic liberal arts college for women located on the southwest side of Milwaukee.

Spanish Immersion School to undergo $4.1 million expansion Milwaukee Public Schools is expanding its Spanish Immersion School into a vacant cityowned building on the city’s southwest side.

MPS began accepting bids from contractors to renovate the former 88th Street School at 3575 S.

88th St. beginning March 1. MPS plans to move the immersion school’s K-4 and K-5 classes into the 88th Street building this fall, and add first grade classes by the 2017-’18 academic year.

The school board has budgeted $4.1 million for the expansion project over the next four years.

Spanish Immersion School principal Marybell Nieves-Harris said the majority of that money will be spent on initial renovations and supplies, including textbooks, this year.

K-4 through fifth grade immersion classes are currently located at 2765 S. 55th St. There are 570 students currently enrolled. Nieves-Harris said the program has an annual waiting list of around 100 students for its K-4 program and needs room to expand.

Nieves-Harris said MPS will hire four new teachers and an undetermined number of support staff members to work at the school’s new location.

Wisconsin high school graduation rate ranks third in nation Wisconsin ranks third in the nation when it comes to graduating high school on time, according to a national study. w w w.biztimes.com

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The study, co-authored by a public policy firm called Civic Enterprises and the Everyone Graduates Center at Johns Hopkins University, tracked the rate of students who started high school in 2010 and graduated in four years.

Wisconsin’s rate of 88.6 percent was eclipsed only by Iowa (90.5 percent) and Nebraska (89.7 percent).

But the state fell to the middle of the pack when it came to achievement gaps between students of different races and economic classes.

While the graduation rate for wealthy and middle class Wisconsin students was 93.8 percent, it was 77.9 percent for low-income students. Though the state’s rates for both groups were higher than the national average, the gap between them (15.9 percentage points) was also larger Nationally, 89 percent of non-low-income students graduate on time, compared to 74.6 percent of low-income students — a 14.4 percentage point gap, according to the study.

Achievement gaps also persisted between white and minority students in Wisconsin. While 92.9 percent of white students in the state graduated on time, only 66.1 percent of black students and 78.1 percent of Hispanic students did the same.

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strategies

The family referee

Conflict resolver is a thankless but important job

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N

ot every family business is rife with strife. Most families report that they work hard at getting along, both in the workplace and at the kitchen table.

But face it, sibling rivalries can and do take place, and father-son fisticuffs are the stuff of legend.

While some women have reported to me that their husbands go to work to escape the family feud, others report the unenviable position of being the family peacekeeper, or in this case, the referee.

Can anyone be the referee? Sure, but why would you want the role? It is a thankless job that is more likely to make one or more individuals you care about angry with you. Despite the referee’s great efforts at remaining unbiased, one side or the other—sometimes both—feel the ref is unfair.

In all my years of working with families in business, I have never seen or heard of the father taking the ref job. For some reason, the role falls to the mother. While we could spend generations studying the reason why, accepting this fact might lead to quicker conflict resolution.

When there is a fracture in the marital relationship, the referee job is often up for grabs. This is one reason most family businesses do not last past the first generation.

With the divorce rate in this country at around 49 percent, having a ref is a luxury.

While it was stated that the referee position is one of peacekeeper, that is not always a defined role. Many refs are there to keep the combatants at arm’s length, not necessarily to make peace with them or B i zT i m e s M i l w a u k e e

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between them. And, from time to time, the referee may need to take sides, challenging the thinking of one over the other. The referee can’t fence-sit. It involves remaining active and in-theknow about what is going on. It involves making tough decisions, often in split second fashion, to help the business move forward. The referee must keep the mission of the organization paramount, and must continue to make decisions that keep that in mind. Finally, the referee must appreciate the rules of the game and the game itself above all else, which often leads to what some refer to as “tough love.”

One mother referee was concerned about the relationship the father had with his two sons, one of whom was handpicked by the father to run the business after he stepped down, and the other who was slated for nothing. The tension rose between mother and father, but the mother would not let the father abandon the second son. While she realized an equal role was not possible, she eventually brokered a deal which set the second son up in a business quite apart from the original family venture. Her insistence on fairness was paramount, and as the ref, she knew that treating each the same was not fair or just. While this middle ground did not develop overnight and took some angst before it was arrived at, it was her insistence that made the difference. The family goes forward today with challenges, but a sense that the referee made the right call for all.

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DAVID B O R S T FAMILY BUSINESS

To get to the position of referee, both sides must informally agree that someone is right for the job. They must be intrinsically trusted. This usually comes with a track record of making decisions that are fair in other, less taxing circumstances.

But don’t be enamored with the role of referee. While it carries much power and sway, it also carries the potential of alienation. One mother referee exclaimed to me, “I simply can’t win.” That is right; she can’t. While some mother-mediated sessions turn out like the true story above, many have gone the other way.

But imagine a football or basketball game without officials… We need the referee! Calling your own fouls only goes so far and is likely to lead to more problems than having a referee.

But remember, if you are the ref, you don’t get to stand up on the victory stand.

Your victory is the knowledge that the family business moves forward with all sides playing fairly in the sandbox. Your celebrations will be alone and will remain anonymous. n David Borst, Ed.D., is executive director and chief operating officer of the Family Business Legacy Institute, a regional resource hub for family businesses. He can be reached at david@fbli-usa.com.

strategies

Luxury items enhance brands Even affordable indulgences add prestige

I

f the Great Recession hurt your company’s sales, you might want to look at your product mix.

Think luxury.

Despite the economic collapse, sales of luxury goods remained steady. The number of affluent Americans (households with $100,000 of annual income or more) continues to grow, up 75 percent in the past decade. In 2015, one in five households had earnings of $100,000 or more, compared to less than one in 10 in 1990.

Smart marketers have taken note.

While the primary purchasers of luxury goods (e.g., Armani) and services (e.g., athome avocado wrap) remain the truly rich, several companies have taken ordinary items and super-riched them successfully (e.g., $5 Starbucks mocha frappuccino).

Many luxury brand names have begun offering affordable models, an effort to present wealthy wannabees with less pricey alternatives. Upscale kitchen appliance maker Viking Range expanded its product line to include cookware and cutlery at affordable price points.

How to recession-proof your company Historically, luxury goods weather the dips in the economy better than mainstream goods. In uncertain economic times, consumers face financial – and often emotional – stress.

And while they may modify their expectations (put off the purchase of a new car or second home), they don’t change their fundamental behavior. The small indulgences that got them through the day (the ice cream cone, the gourmet cookie) before the recession will still be the small indulgences that get them through the day during the recession and into recovery.

Statistics support the strategy. Research at the University of California, Berkeley showed real income for the top one percent of U.S. families grew by 86 percent from 1996 to 2015, while the average gain for the other 99 percent was just 6.6 percent.

So how do you adapt your product mix to include luxury buyers?

Simply raising prices could cost you customers. But a quality product with a quality reputation will continue to be in demand despite hard times. If your firm offers a broad range of products or services, offering several in a luxury category will help blunt the effects of the next recession.

Case study One classic study published in the Journal of Marketing Research was Williams-Sonoma’s online catalog pricing experiment. The company had a $275 bread maker that sold poorly. But when they positioned a similar bread maker for $429 and placed it next to the $275 bread maker, sales of the $275 bread maker nearly doubled.

In this case, the goal was not to sell the more expensive product – although that would be a plus – but rather to make the price of the first product look inexpensive so consumers bought more of those.

Lead with the most expensive product.

Known as price anchoring, it sets the buyers’ expectations for what follows. If the first price they see is very expensive, then they may be more inclined to buy the less expensively priced item that follows.

Timing Preparing for a recession is best done during a robust economy. Developing and introducing systems, new products or a luxury line during a recession is risky.

Consumers are more cautious and are skeptical of anything new. Now, when the economy is improving, is the best time to begin developing your luxury lines.

A strong economy, however, does not guarantee success. Understanding the motivations of luxury buyers is crucial.

According to research conducted at SRI Consulting-Business Intelligence, a Menlo Park, Calif. marketing research firm, three distinct motivations fuel luxury spending: 1. Luxury is functional A customer buys it because it’s of better quality – it lasts longer, has w w w.biztimes.com

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ROBERT G REDE MARKETING

more bells and whistles, or is more dependable.

These are the older, wealthier consumers who are in their peak earning years; empty nesters with large disposable incomes. They want things of enduring value, built to last, “like the good old days.” They make logical rather than emotional or impulsive decisions when they make a purchase.

2. Luxury is reward They buy luxury goods as status symbols, to satisfy ego or as a way to say, “I’ve made it.”

These are younger, often “new rich,” who buy conspicuous luxuries.

They are making a statement about who they are and their level of importance. “Prestige” or “exclusive” brands work best with this group.

3. Luxury is indulgence Buyers willing to pay a premium in order to express their individuality and make others take notice.

More male than female, these consumers are younger and frequently come from wealth. They enjoy the luxuries for the way they make them feel.

Understanding the luxury market, buying motivations and lifestyles will help you sell your whole line of products. Having at least one group of luxury products can create an image of quality for your company.

Best of all, it can help maintain your profitability during lean times. n Robert Grede, author of “Naked Marketing – The Bare Essentials,” is president of The Grede Co., which offers marketing and strategic planning consulting (www.RobertGrede.com). He can be reached at rg@TheGredeCompany.com.

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strategies

Sales is a team sport Collaboration is key

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s buying committees seek valuable perspectives from multiple stakeholders to minimize risk, the buying process has become increasingly complex.

The 2015 MHI Sales Best Practices Study reveals that top performing salespeople engage with an average of 5.8 client stakeholders and 4.6 internal team members during the buying process. This has increased the average sales cycle by 22 percent over the past five years, according to Sirius Decisions.

Yet even with this complexity, top talent outperforms moderate performers by increasing customer retention rates (+5.8 percent) and sales performance (+23 percent).

How do they do it?

To answer that question, it’s important to recognize that selling has become a team sport, requiring collaboration among sales, marketing, sales operations, product engineering and finance.

In 2011, Aberdeen Group released a whitepaper titled, “Introduction to Sales and Marketing Alignment” which showed that companies with “superior alignment” between marketing and sales experienced a 32 percent growth in annual revenue, compared to a 7 percent decline in organizations that were lacking this alignment.

Only 13 percent of customers today believe that salespeople understand their needs, according to TeleSmart Commu-

nications. This may be why the average company loses between 10 and 30 percent of its customers each year.

Forrester’s recent survey of B2B buyers shows that up to 70 percent of the information buyers saw before making a purchase decision was self-discovered and 89 percent of sales calls provide no value to the buyer. This justifies why salespeople spend an average of 30 hours per month searching for, and creating, their own sales material (less than 10 percent of marketing materials are ever used!). What they need is relevant, customer-specific information that helps the buyer make an informed and smart decision.

This shift in how clients buy and what they need underscores the growing sales enablement movement. A Google search for “sales enablement definition” produces 91,500 results. There are many definitions and interpretations available, but the one I like best was developed by Tamara Schenk: “Sales Force Enablement: A strategic, cross-functional discipline designed to increase sales results and productivity by providing integrated content, training and coaching services for salespeople and frontline sales managers along the entire customer journey, powered by technology.”

Let’s take a closer look at what this means.

Schenk leads her definition with “strategic and cross-functional” to show that there must be alignment be-

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tween business goals and sales strategies to support effective sales execution. Considering the urgent need for salespeople to sell the way their customers buy, companies today must be nimble in how they support different buying processes.

Powerful content and fact-based information in the right format, at the right time, is what salespeople need to advance the conversation forward. More assets – whitepapers, case studies, data sheets, product demonstration videos, etc. – make it easier for the salesperson to customer-ize his or her message.

“Increased sales results and productivity” focuses on the desired outcomes achieved by leveraging sales enablement. Salespeople who are strategically better prepared for customer meetings are also more empowered to engage at the highest level of conversation and better able to advance the sale. They understand how to communicate the value message so it appeals to each of their customers’ needs. The process is efficient and frees up time so salespeople can invest more time in doing what they love – selling more!

“Providing integrated content, training and coaching support” ensures that consistent messages are communicated to the entire sales organization; this bolsters confidence and execution. When the team is armed with strategic information that it knows will be useful to its buyers, its members are eager to engage, explore possibilities and move the conversation forward.

Ongoing training and coaching ensures that blind spots are eliminated before they become bad habits. Salespeople are appropriately challenged, tested and their skills refined, which keeps their mental and strategic mindset sharp. The American Society for Training & Development reports that continuous training yields 50 percent higher net sales per employee; sales enablement allows this to happen easily and with accountability.

“Along the entire customer journey” is a mindset high performers un-

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C H R IS TIN E Mc M A H O N SALES derstand and take ownership of. They recognize that client engagement is much more than likeability; it’s about building trust by providing fact-based evidence that makes the buying decision easier… through the entire journey. They know when it is right to engage and when it is best to sit tight. High performers handle this delicate process with grace.

“Powered by technology” is the mechanism that enables both salepeople and sales leaders access to the right information and training when it is needed. According to Forrester Research, 40 percent of a salesperson’s time is spent searching for tools and resources (that’s more than the time he or she spends selling!). Rather than tolerate “random acts of sales support,” a term coined by Forrester, embrace technology to create a systematic approach to training, delivering content and reviewing analytics so salespeople have what they need, when they need it.

Given the breadth of information available to buyers today, gaining a strategic advantage means providing them with information that is specific to their business. This requires collaboration between marketing and sales, and potentially other business functions.

Committing resources to sales enablement is proving for many to be an essential function. Companies that recognize its value and embrace the power of strategic alignment are experiencing doubledigit growth. n Christine McMahon advances sales success by providing strategic sales and leadership coaching and training.

She is co-founder of the Leadership Institute at Waukesha County Technical College’s Center for Business Performance Solutions, and can be reached at (844) 369-2133 or ccm@christinemcmahon.com.

biz connections CA L E NDAR

NONPROFIT DIRECTORY

Midwest Business Brokers and Intermediaries and the Eastern District of Wisconsin Bar Association have partnered to host a Networking and Social Event on Tuesday, March 8, from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. at Sprecher Brewery, 701 W. Glendale Ave. in Glendale. Cost is $20 and includes networking, a private brewery tour, beer and soda sampling, and snacks. For more information or to register, visit www.mbbi.org.

SPOTLIGHT

LISC Milwaukee will host its annual Milwaukee Awards for Neighborhood Development Innovation on Wednesday, March 16, from 4 to 9 p.m. at Potawatomi Hotel & Casino, 1721 W. Canal St. in Milwaukee. The event recognizes successful efforts to revitalize neighborhoods and strengthen the Milwaukee community. The event will include a cocktail hour and Neighborhood Art Walk, followed by dinner, awards and a dessert reception. Cost is $75 for general admission or $35 for community residents.

For more information or to register, visit programs.lisc.org/milwaukee.

Jannsen Wealth Management will host Savvy Social Security Planning for Baby Boomers on Wednesday, March 16, from 5:30 to 7 p.m. at Mangold Creative, 126 Main St. in Pewaukee. The free event, which begins with networking, will cover the basics of Social Security and strategies that can be used to maximize benefits. For more information or to register, visit biztimes.com/events.

The String Academy of Wisconsin

Wisconsin Women’s Business Initiative Corp. will host Strong Women Strong Coffee on Wednesday, April 6, from 7:30 to 9 a.m. at its office in Schlitz Park, 1555 N. RiverCenter Drive, Milwaukee. The event will allow business professionals and entrepreneurs to build meaningful connections, and will feature a female leader’s “espresso-monial.” Cost is $10 and includes See the complete calendar of coffee and refreshments. Pre-registration is required. For upcoming events & meetings. more information or to register, visit wwbic.com/classes.

www.biztimes.com

BIZ NO T ES ESI Group Hartland-based design-build engineering and construction management firm ESI Group USA has received a gold award in the General ConstructionIndustrial (over $3 million) category at ABC’s Project of Distinction banquet. The program recognizes projects that meet certain standards in safety, scope, project value, references and ABC member project involvement. ESI received the award for its construction of an 83,500-square-foot highly temperature-controlled Plasma Logistics Center for Grifols PLC in Clayton, N.C., which was completed on time and under budget despite site challenges and a record amount of rain.

its compliance with applicable regulations and its safety management controls.

Marquette Volunteer Legal Clinic

P.O. Box 11941, Milwaukee 414-963-4729 | www.stringacademyofwisconsin.org Social media channels: www.facebook.com/stringacademy Year founded: 1990 Mission statement: The mission of the String Academy is to provide an opportunity for excellence in the pursuit of comprehensive musical study for young violinists, violists and cellists.

The Marquette Volunteer Legal Clinic has received two recent awards. Archbishop Jerome Listecki presented the Marquette Law School’s Mobile Legal Clinic with a “Treasures of the Church” award, which recognizes individuals, organizations and religious orders that exemplify “the true treasures of the church in their steadfast commitment and response to the poor in our midst.” And the MVLC was named the United Community Center’s UCC Group Volunteer of the Year, which celebrates the gifts of volunteers to the organization.

Primary focus of your nonprofit organization: String music education of children ages four to 18.

Foley & Lardner

Munson

Linda Benfield, managing partner at Foley & Lardner LLP, has been named a 2016 BTI Client Service All-Star by the BTI Consulting Group. Benfield specializes in environmental law. Attorneys named as 2016 BTI Client Service All-Stars were solely nominated by clients based on several factors, including superior client focus, innovative thought leadership, unmatched business understanding, outsized value, legal skills and outstanding results.

Asphalt, concrete and fencing contractor Munson Inc., of Glendale, is a 2015 winner of the silver Outstanding Residential Tennis Facility of the Year award (in the Distinguished Tennis Facilities category), presented by the American Sports Builders Association. Munson was recognized nationally for its work on the Nelson Residence in Wisconsin Dells during ASBA’s annual Technical Meeting in December. Munson has now received five of its nine national awards in the past five years.

Key donors: UPAF, Milwaukee Arts Board, Greater Milwaukee Foundation, Northwestern Mutual Foundation, Helen Bader Foundation

GO Riteway Transportation Group Milwaukee’s GO Riteway Transportation Group has achieved the highest safety rating in three independent safety reviews. The reviews were conducted between October and January by the Department of Defense, the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration and the Transportation Safety Exchange. GO Riteway was reviewed for

Milwaukee World Festival Inc. Milwaukee-based Summerfest operator Milwaukee World Festival Inc. announced a new one-day food and music event, Big Gig BBQ, geared toward motorcycle and barbecue lovers. The nonprofit will host the event along with Meijer and Miller Lite on Sunday, Sept. 4, from 5 to 10 p.m. at the Henry

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Other focuses of your nonprofit organization: Accessibility of our program to students with talent and interest, regardless of their parents’ economic standing.

Number of employees at this location: Eight

Executive leadership: Darcy Drexler, director

Maier Festival Park grounds on the lakefront. It is an officially sanctioned event of the Milwaukee Rally, and will appeal to foodies, bike enthusiasts and music lovers, MWF said. Milwaukee Rally, an annual motorcycle event hosted by Milwaukeearea Harley-Davidson dealerships, this year will take place over Labor Day weekend, Sept. 1 to 5.

Its events are held at various locations, including the Harley-Davidson Museum in Milwaukee.

Among the restaurants serving barbecue will be Saz’s State House and Smoke Shack.

Port Washington State Bank Steven Schowalter, president and chief executive

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Board of directors: »» Darcy Drexler, director, String Academy of Wisconsin »» Marquis Gilbert, founder, H2O Milwaukee Music LLC »» T.J. Harkness, principal, The Harkness Co. »» Jamie Hofman, faculty representative, String Academy of Wisconsin »» Jin Kim, treasurer, Realtor »» Julilly Kohler, chair, JWK Real Estate »» Mark Konewko, vice president, Marquette University professor »» Patty Linn, parent representative »» Elizabeth Loebl, secretary, columns editor for Northwestern Mutual Life Insurance Co. »» Sue Medford, arts administrator for PianoArts »» John Tharp, UW-Milwaukee assistant professor Key fundraising events: Annual Spring Scholarship Benefit Concert; Fall Colectivo fundraiser; Spring Flower Sale

officer of Port Washington-based Port Washington State Bank, has been named the Wisconsin Bankers Association Community Banker of the Year for 2015. Schowalter began working at Port Washington State Bank in 1967, when he was still in high school, and continued during his time at Marquette University, finally moving into full-time banking. During his tenure as the bank’s leader, it has grown from $90 million to $501 million in assets. Schowalter was recognized for this growth, and also for instilling a deep sense of community commitment in bank staff, leading by example through charitable donations of both time and funds.

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biz connections PER SO NNE L F I L E

■ Accounting

Stachowicz

company was founded in 2012.

Rush

Brookfield-based Addison-Clifton LLC named Robert Stachowicz and Charles Rush senior advisor-trade compliance services.

■ Architecture

Mullaney

Submit new hire and promotion announcements to www.biztimes.com/submit/the-bubbler

Dorn

Wisconsin Bank & Trust named Jasin Pasho Milwaukee market president. Pasho has 24 years of experience in banking and financial institutions, most recently as senior vice president – commercial and corporate banking for Associated Bank.

Glen Colwell, a retirement plan professional with more than 15 years of experience in both institutional and consultative roles, joined Pension Advisors as president of its Milwaukee- and Chicago-area offices. He comes to Pension Advisors, a member of Independent Financial Group LLC, from Infinity Benefit Solutions, Milwaukee.

HGA Architects and Engineers hired Kate Mullaney as a business developer and Brendon Dorn as a building performance analyst in the Milwaukee office. Mullaney has more than 15 years of marketing and business development experience in the industry.

■ Banking & Finance Looking Glass Investments, Milwaukee, added Brad Darnell as chief technology officer.

Looking Glass Investments is a fixed-income alternative investment firm focused on marketplace lending. Darnell has served as the company’s chief technology officer on an outside contractor basis since soon after the

Tri City National Bank, Oak Creek, promoted Bruce Elliott to executive vice president of commercial lending.

schedules, and careful monitoring of and reporting on financial issues related to projects.

VJS Construction Services, Pewaukee, named Levi Luck a project manager. Prior to joining VJS, Levi worked as a bid manager for a regional retail developer.

■ Engineering Clark Dietz Inc., Kenosha, announced that Wes Christmas has been elected to the firm’s 2016 board of directors. Christmas is an accomplished civil and environmental engineer with more than 15 years of experience serving municipal clients. He is currently the manager of the firm’s southern Indiana operations.

■ Hospitality

■ Manufacturing Charles Wright, Jr., has been promoted to plant superintendent at Rheocast, a division of The Fall River Group Inc. in Germantown. He sits on the company’s board of directors as a shareholder, and has worked full-time for the business since 2008.

Xudong Cheng has been hired as a senior design engineer by TLX Technologies, a Pewaukee-based manufacturer of electromagnetic solutions. Cheng has more than a decade of experience in mechanical component design and testing, specializing in hydraulic product and powertrain assembly and test stands, as well as custom-engineered production assembly solutions.

■ Marketing & PR Jackie Haas has joined Best Edge Marketing, Hartland, as marketing and brand specialist.

■ Building & Construction David Yolo was hired as a project manager for Neenah-based Miron Construction Co. Inc.’s Milwaukee office. He will provide direct management of construction projects, including dealing with construction building issues, purchasing materials, creating and following

Karau

Fenton

Kevin Karau was named general manager of Marcus Hotels & Resorts’ Heidel House Resort & Spa in Green Lake. He previously served as general manager of Timber Ridge Lodge & Waterpark in Lake Geneva since 2014. Mark Fenton was named the general manager of Timber Ridge after serving as resident manager at the Grand Geneva Resort & Spa in Lake Geneva.

■ Nonprofit Joyce Goulet has been named chapter chair of SCORE Southeast Wisconsin, a nonprofit organization offering free mentoring to startups and existing small businesses. A proven sales and management professional, founder and former managing principal of The Goulet Group, Goulet’s career covers a wide range of

M&A: Big Deals

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Former ad agency creative director Michelle Sieg was recently named director of

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to hospitals and health technology.

■ Transportation & Logistics GO Riteway Transportation Group, Oak Creek, promoted Joshua Smith to director of accounting and finance. He has been with GO Riteway for approximately five years as operations controller. During that time, Smith was a significant contributor to the growth and

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successes of the company. In his new position, he will be taking on expanded responsibility for the many functions within the accounting and finance area.

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biz connections

n GLANCE AT YESTERYEAR VOLUME 21, NUMBER 25 MARCH 7 - 20, 2016 126 N. Jefferson St., Suite 403, Milwaukee, WI 53202-6120 PHONE: 414-277-8181 FAX: 414-277-8191 WEBSITE: www.biztimes.com CIRCULATION E-MAIL: circulation@biztimes.com ADVERTISING E-MAIL: ads@biztimes.com EDITORIAL E-MAIL: andrew.weiland@biztimes.com REPRINTS: reprints@biztimes.com PUBLISHER / OWNER

Schroeder Hotel This photo, taken circa 1927, shows construction of the Schroeder Hotel. The building, which opened in 1928 at 509 W. Wisconsin Ave., was Wisconsin’s tallest hotel when it opened at 265 feet high. It is now the Hilton Milwaukee City Center hotel, owned by Marcus Corp., which was expanded in 2000 and now has 729 guest rooms.

This photo is from the Milwaukee Public Museum’s Photo Archives collection. Additional images can be viewed online at www.mpm.edu.

Dan Meyer dan.meyer@biztimes.com DIRECTOR OF OPERATIONS

Mary Ernst mary.ernst@biztimes.com DIRECTOR OF STRATEGIC INITIATIVES

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EDITORIAL EDITOR

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SALES & MARKETING DIRECTOR OF SALES

Linda Crawford linda.crawford@biztimes.com BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT EXECUTIVE

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INTERN REPORTER

Maredithe Meyer maredithe.meyer@biztimes.com

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COMME NTA R Y

Apple should unlock San Bernardino shooter’s iPhone

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n its investigation of the December terrorist attack in San Bernardino, Calif., the U.S. Department of Justice has been trying to unlock an iPhone used by one of the assailants, and has asked iPhone maker Apple Inc. for its help in accessing the phone’s data.

But Apple has refused, saying unlocking this phone would violate its users’ privacy and set a precedent in future law enforcement cases.

MOLLY DILL, managing editor Email: molly.dill@biztimes.com Phone: (414) 336-7144 Twitter: @BizMolly

The DOJ says Apple is putting profits and publicity before security. Apple says civil liberties are at stake, since the company would have to write a whole new operating system to override the iPhone’s defenses, which could potentially be a 36

major privacy threat.

This isn’t the first case of privacy butting heads with the quest for data in the digital age, and it certainly won’t be the last. But it’s a high-profile example of a private company taking a stand against government information gathering.

While Apple has a duty to protect its customers’ right to privacy, the San Bernardino attackers lost that right when they went on a shooting rampage at a company holiday party, killing 14 and seriously wounding 22. The husband-wife duo was described by the FBI as violent extremists who supported the Islamic State. They died in a shootout with police after the attack.

At the same time, the idea that the government would use this powerful new unlocking software in this instance alone seems naïve. And according to Apple CEO Tim Cook, the tool could allow third parties to gain access to messages, health B i zT i m e s M i l w a u k e e

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records, GPS location, financial data, or even a phone’s camera without the user knowing. That’s scary.

It’s a tricky situation, and one that has some urgency when it comes to the terrorist information that could potentially be stored on the phone.

The victims and families affected by the attack also deserve the closure that could be gained by clarifying a seemingly senseless act of violence.

If there is any way for Apple to unlock the phone without revealing its process to others, the company should do so for the sake of national security.

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And in any case, it’s worth setting up a protocol for the inevitable future cases like this one, allowing both Apple and the DOJ investigators to do their jobs without delay. n

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biz connections

Hispanic Professionals of Greater Milwaukee VIP Event Hispanic Professionals of Greater Milwaukee recently held a VIP Event at the University Club of Milwaukee to kick off its 15th anniversary celebrations. Themed “Honoring the past, Celebrating the Present, Building the Future,� the event was attended by influential community leaders, board members and friends sharing their hopes for the organization and the future of Milwaukee in the upcoming year. Anniversary celebrations will continue on May 14th, with the HPGM Five Star Gala.

1 Community supporters and influencers of Hispanic Professionals of Greater Milwaukee.

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2 Danae Davis of Milwaukee Succeeds, Alex Lasry of the Milwaukee Bucks and Griselda Aldrete of HPGM.

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3 Heather Ramirez of Centro Legal, Austin Ramirez of HUSCO International, Tami Garrison of MillerCoors and Kara Kaiser of BMO Harris Bank.

4 John Utz of Associated Bank and Raquel Filmanowicz of BMO Harris Bank.

5 Griselda Aldrete of HPGM, Denise Thomas of MillerCoors, Jerry Roberts of Bader Philanthropies and an HPGM supporter.

6 Kara Kaiser of BMO Harris Bank, co-chair for the HPGM Five Star 2016 Gala.

7 John Utz, Kara Kaiser, Griselda Aldrete and Austin Ramirez with Jamie Delgadillo of Northwestern Mutual.

8 Griselda Aldrete, president and chief executive officer of HPGM, addresses the crowd.

9 Community supporters and influencers of Hispanic Professionals of Greater Milwaukee.

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ERICH SCHROEDER PHOTOGRAPHY

the last word

Delivering on the customer experience Beth Griffin is chief product and marketing officer at Health Payment Systems, a Milwaukee-based company focused on consolidating health care billing and payments. Business leaders need to keep the customer top of mind, she says.

“Focus on the customer. It’s one of the first business lessons we’re taught, but all too often it gets lost amid the rush for other metrics. I’ve found real value in coming back to this fundamental, and it is part of what drew me to my current role at Health Payment Systems.

“Health care—like most industries—is moving toward true consumerism, where the consumer is demanding more choice in the market. As business leaders, we need to re-focus on what matters most. People! Deliver38

ing exceptional experiences for the customers who interact with our organizations should drive all of our efforts, initiatives and metrics. The customer should be at the heart of every decision we make.

“When HPS achieved its goal of $1 billion in processed claims, it wasn’t because we were chasing numbers—it was because we reinvigorated our focus on creating a seamless experience through an all-in-one solution based on customer feedback and market trends.

At a broader level, you can see this in the multi-industry trend toward hiring chief experience officers.

“For each business decision, ask yourself: How will this impact the consumer? By driving a better experience, it in turn stimulates better financial results and strengthens your brand. This holds true for consumers beyond

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Beth Griffin Chief product and marketing officer Health Payment Systems Inc. 735 N. Water St., Suite 333, Milwaukee Industry: Health care billing Employees: 87 www.hps.md

your traditional customers, too. Consider your engagement of partners in the same vein. By focusing on a great experience, you enrich relationships to deliver higher standards, and you speak volumes about your company’s values and approach.” n

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MISSION Easter Seals Southeast Wisconsin provides exceptional services to ensure that all people with disabilities or special needs and their families have equal opportunities to live, learn, work and play in their communities.

Connecting Individuals with Disabilities to a World of Possibilities

2222 S. 114th Street West Allis, WI 53227 (414) 449-4444 eastersealswise.com GOALS facebook.com/eastersealswise @ESSoutheastWI

To change the way the world defines, views and treats disabilities so that every person can achieve their full potential. To provide exceptional services to ensure that all people with disabilities or special needs and their families have equal opportunities to live, learn, work, play and engage in their communities.

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Live: Hands-on, comprehensive, vital services and support to help people reach their full potential—regardless of challenges, needs or disabilities.

SERVICE AREA Easter Seals Southeast Wisconsin serves six counties: Milwaukee, Waukesha, Washington, Ozaukee, Kenosha and Racine.

Learn: Programs designed to help children and adults learn—and often re-learn—basic functions, master skills needed to develop and thrive, and be sharp and active as they age.

FUNDING SOURCES

Work: A range of training, placement and related services that help people prepare for the workforce—because meaningful work is often the key to overcoming challenges and having a good life.

FUNDRAISING/EVENTS We hold two annual fundraising events that offer opportunities for individuals and corporations to get connected: • Walk With Me – Wednesday, June 29th at the Milwaukee County Zoo. A family event to walk together to raise funds and awareness for individuals with disabilities. Be a corporate sponsor or form a walk team. Registration begins in January at www.walkwithme.org/milwaukee • Autism Awareness Month – April. Through this cause marketing campaign, you can align your business with Easter Seals to help spread the word and raise needed funds to provide scholarships to families that are on the therapy waiting list for early intervention support services.

Play: Fun, healthy programs for children and adults and caregivers to relax, connect with friends and engage in constructive activities—all so necessary to living the best life possible.

 Program Fees .................................... 62%  Government Contracts ........................ 18%  Commercial Sales ................................ 9%  Donations ........................................... 7%  Other Income ...................................... 4%

Act: Our vibrant community of friends and supporters stands with those who face challenges by volunteering, advocating, donating and participating in events that inspire us all and sustain our cause.

Dale Van Dam (Chair) ★ Peggy Niemer (Vice Chair) ★ Kenwood & Wells, LLC

Jim McMullen (Secretary) ★ PNC Bank

Nancy Creuziger (Treasurer) ★ Robert Glowacki CEO

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Michelle Schaefer COO

Easter Seals knows the personal impact your gifts make is of great importance to you. There are many ways to make a difference: Volunteer or leadership at the Board level; corporate volunteer days; tailored event sponsorships; individual gifts; in-kind gifts; or through your United Way Giving Campaign. A bequest gift allows you to combine your personal financial objectives with your charitable giving goals to establish a lasting legacy.

BOARD OF DIRECTORS M3 Insurance Solutions

Robert Ranus Retired, Roundy’s

David Glazer

David Glazer Real Estate, LLC

Bill Hughes

Sue Pierman

Pierman Communications

Daniel O’Callaghan

Harley-Davidson Motor Co.

Massage Envy

Sara Walker

Tari Emerson

2016 GIVING GUIDE | www.biztimes.com/giving

Tom Kelly

Kelmann Restoration

Jean Schramka

Patina Solutions

Roger Schaus

Associated Bank

Jeff Squire

ProHealth Care

Tom Gagliano Morgan Stanley

ManpowerGroup

Retired, Generac

Take advantage of the opportunity for your organization to be seen by the Region’s Business and Philanthropic Leaders all year long.

★ DENOTES EXECUTIVE LEADERSHIP

Frank Windt

Schenck Business Solutions

Your involvement in this annual publication includes an in-depth profile, plus several advertising elements in BizTimes Milwaukee magazine, BizTimes Nonprofit Weekly enewsletter and BizTimes.com.

GIVING OPPORTUNITIES

VOLUNTEER OPPORTUNITIES Our dedicated volunteers play an essential role in positively impacting the lives of those that we serve. We have a variety of opportunities throughout the week and weekend to fit your availability and interests. Learn how you can make a difference through volunteering at www.eastersealswise.com.

EXECUTIVE LEADERSHIP

Publication Date: November 14, 2016

www.eastersealswise.com

Charter Steel

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Subscribe to the BizTimes Milwaukee Nonprofit Weekly eNewsletter Submit your organizations listing to the BizTimes Nonprofit Directory For more information, visit www.biztimes.com

Presents:

HOLD ‘EM

or

FOLD ‘EM

Understand when to grow your company - and when to sell it

register today! www.biztimes.com/maforum

M&A Forum | April 21, 2016 | Milwaukee Marriott Downtown | 7:30-11:00AM It’s a seller’s market. Whether you’re positioning for growth or thinking of a sale, this event is a must-attend for presidents, CEOs, owners and potential buyers and sellers.

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Join us for breakfast and a keynote presentation, then sit down with the experts for discussions of key growth strategies, sale considerations, the psychology of change and more. Seating is limited, register today.

Keynote: “The joys and challenges of rapid growth” Frank Unick, CFO, Uline (1)

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Uline is a 36-year old, privately-held company headquartered in Pleasant Prairie. Still led by its owners and founders, Liz and Dick Uihlein, the company has enjoyed rapid organic sales growth. Join Frank as he shares the Uline story and key lessons learned about guarding the company culture, talent development, cash pressures and succession planning.

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Panel: The psychology of growing your business or deciding to sell For privately-held companies, knowing whether to keep or sell goes beyond the numbers. In this session, owners who have made both decisions discuss their outcomes and the psychological aspects of growing or selling their businesses.

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Panelists: Steve Ziegler, CEO, Inpro (2) Paul Stewart, Partner, PS Capital (3) Thomas A. Myers, Shareholder, Reinhart Boerner Van Deuren s.c. (4) Jim Feeney, Former CEO/owner, Wisconsin Film and Bag (5) Moderator: Ann Hanna, Managing director, Schenck M&A Solutions (6)

Panel: Who is your ideal buyer?

This session will focus on the advantages and disadvantages of selling to family, employees, private equity and financial and strategic partners.

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Panelists: Lisa Reardon, CEO and chairman, Owner’s Edge, Inc. (7) Dave Strand, President and CEO, Wisconsin Oven Co. (8) Mark Grosskopf, President, CEO and owner, NRC Moderator: Greg Larson, Senior VP, director of commercial banking - Bank Mutual (9)

Breakout sessions highlights:

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How competitors and customers impact your company’s value How private equity views your company (beyond EBITDA) Growing via new business lines including international markets Developing an internet strategy

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