BizTimes Milwaukee | March 21, 2022

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A ‘classic entrepreneur’ EMPLOYERS TOUT MILWAUKEE’S ASSETS TO RECRUIT EMPLOYEES FROM OUT OF STATE 10 KENOSHA HOPES TO DRAW ENTREPRENEURS TO FORMER CHRYSLER PLANT SITE 12 CRUISE SHIPS COMING BACK, IN GREATER NUMBERS 40

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BizTimes Milwaukee (ISSN 1095-936X & USPS # 017813) Volume 27, Number 18, March 21, 2022 – April 10, 2022. BizTimes Milwaukee is published bi-weekly, except monthly in January, February, March, July, August and December by BizTimes Media LLC at 126 N. Jefferson St., Suite 403, Milwaukee, WI 53202-6120, USA. Basic annual subscription rate is $96. Single copy price is $5. Back issues are $8 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 2022 by BizTimes Media LLC. All rights reserved.

Contents

4 Leading Edge 4 NOW

BY THE NUMBERS 5 ON THE JOB WITH … SCATHAIN 6 JUMP START – ALASKA FRESH 7 T HE GOOD LIFE BIZ POLL WHO’S ON THE BOARD? 8 BIZ TRACKER COFFEE BREAK – MILWAUKEE ATHLETIC CLUB EXECUTIVE CHEF TOM MCGINTY

9 Biz News 9 T HE INTERVIEW – GREATER MILWAUKEE FOUNDATION PRESIDENT AND CEO ELLEN GILLIGAN 10 EMPLOYERS TOUT MILWAUKEE’S ASSETS TO RECRUIT EMPLOYEES FROM OUT OF STATE

COVER STORY

14

A ‘classic entrepreneur’ How James Kyle grew Delavan-based Millennium into one of America’s fastest-growing companies

Special Reports

20 Mergers & Acquisitions: Big Deals Coverage includes a recap of the biggest merger and acquisition deals in southeastern Wisconsin during the past year, a preview of the annual BizTimes Media M&A Forum and a look at best practices for selling a company to a private equity firm.

40 Hospitality & Tourism Coverage includes a look at the anticipated return of cruise ships to Milwaukee this year, including the much-anticipated arrival of Viking Cruises.

12 Real Estate 43 M eet the Notable Women in Engineering 47 Strategies 47 INNOVATION Dan Steininger 48 STRATEGIC PLANNING Mervyn Byrd

52 Biz Connections 52 G LANCE AT YESTERYEAR COMMENTARY 53 NONPROFIT 54 5 MINUTES WITH … STONE CREEK COFFEE CO-OWNER ERIC RESCH

B E YO U R B A N K E R’S TO P P R I O R I T Y Let us get to know your business.

TO W N B A N K . U S / D E S E RV E

biztimes.com / 3

Leading Edge

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

NOW

Versiti plans new building at Milwaukee Regional Medical Center campus

By Lauren Anderson, staff writer Versiti Inc. plans to develop a new blood research building on the Milwaukee Regional Medical Center campus in Wauwatosa that could house more than 100 new jobs.

The new facility would be designed to accommodate the growing team of researchers at Versiti’s Blood Research Institute at the MRMC. The Milwaukee-based organization plans to add 10 to 15 inves-

tigators at the BRI over the next few years, said Chris Miskel, president and chief executive officer. Each of those new investigators are likely to bring with them research teams of as many as 10 employees, creating potentially as many as 150 new jobs and drawing many new hires from outside the state.

“There’s a job creation piece to it, but it’s also enhancing

BY THE NUMBERS The Greater Milwaukee Foundation recently went public with a

$

700

MILLION

philanthropic campaign to address systemic racial disparities.

4 / BizTimes Milwaukee MARCH 21, 2022

Milwaukee’s reputation for doing cutting-edge science that’s going to impact patient care in the years to come,” Miskel said.

Versiti is a Milwaukee-based nonprofit operator of the BRI and community blood centers across the Midwest and Texas. Its work spans basic, translational and clinical research focused on blood disorders, and its researchers work collaboratively with colleagues at the Medical College of Wisconsin, Froedtert Hospital and Children’s Wisconsin.

Currently, Versiti has between 25 and 30 NIH investigators working from its building at 8733 W. Watertown Plank Road on any given day.

“Within the last three to five years, we’ve talked about a vision to expand to somewhere between 40 and 45 investigators,” Miskel said.

Versiti has issued an RFP and plans to engage architects this year on plans for a new building that would be located adjacent to its existing building on land it already owns, Miskel said.

Versiti purchased its 4.7-acre plot on the MRMC campus in 2020 for $1.06 million after leasing the land from the county for many years. Children’s Wisconsin, Froedtert Hospital and the Medical College of Wisconsin all purchased their portions of the campus at the same time, in a move that MRMC officials said would simplify the management of the campus and expedite decision-making related to infrastruc-

ture and future development.

Responses to the RFP will help determine the size and cost of the new building. Costs are likely to be in the “several tens of millions of dollars,” Miskel said.

Versiti plans to fundraise a portion of the project cost and seek government funding.

“While we have some strength in our balance sheet, we would prefer to have some fundraising support and some state or local government support,” Miskel said. “We’ve seen the government support others that are doing buildings in the past, particularly when you’re bringing high-paying jobs to the city.”

In 2021, Versiti hired Dr. Michael Deininger as its director of the Blood Research Institute.

Deininger is now working on a few key investigator recruitments that would build momentum for the expansion plans, Miskel said.

“I think, if in six months to a year, we have architectural designs, we have Mike having recruited two or three new researchers from outside the state, we start to get tighter in our existing building – it will start to get full – that will be the inflection point for us saying, ‘We have to break ground and start our new building,’” Miskel said.

Building a new facility next to the existing BRI building is a priority because of the high level of collaboration between Versiti and MCW, he said. n

1

Scathain

By Maredithe Meyer, staff writer Milwaukee-based Scathain has made quite a name for itself in the world of custom furnishings and design.

If you’ve stepped inside one of the region’s high-end venues, you’ve likely laid eyes on Scathain’s work, such as the custom antique mirrors at the Iron Horse Hotel’s restaurant Ash, or the patinated steel panels at Fiserv Forum. Scathain also created the mirror-plated check-in stations at Lodge Kohler in Green Bay. Emerging from a lull in business during the COVID-19 pandemic, the company has hit its stride. It

JAKE HILL PHOTOGRAPHY

ON THE JOB WITH…

has landed some major contracts, including one with a high-profile hotel development underway in downtown Milwaukee, while discovering new ways to defy conventional design techniques from its 40,000-square-foot shop in Walker’s Point.

“We bring in a magic that you can’t get anywhere else,” said owner John McWilliams.

After rebuilding a team of now nearly 30 employees and honing its process, Scathain is working to launch its own custom furniture line later this year in hopes of one day making that its primary focus. n

2

4

1

2

Silvering artisan and department head Sarah Elise torches alcohol off a sheet of glass to seal the look of this silvered mirror piece.

The glass is then sprayed with a combination of silver and topcoat reducer to create an antique-looking finish.

3

5

3 This piece will be hand-cut into “Versailles Mesh” tiles for Kohler’s Ann Sacks line.

6

4

5

6

Glass isn’t the only surface fit for silver. Late last year, Ann Saks launched a new collection of wall tiles with Scathain’s silver-plated wood.

Silvering artisan Nicholas Sinthasomphone neatly lays out wood tiles before they are sprayed with metallic finish.

A detailed flow chart fastened to the wall in Scathain’s second-floor office space keeps each project on track, from start to finish. biztimes.com / 5

Leading Edge

LOCATION: Menomonee Falls

JAKE HILL PHOTOGRAPHY

ALASKA FRESH

@BIZTIMESMEDIA – Real-time news

FOUNDERS: Juraj Kusnir and Adra Kusnirova FOUNDED: 2018 PRODUCT: Freshly caught Alaskan salmon from a small-boat fishery WEBSITE: alaskafreshsalmon.com EMPLOYEES: 2 GOAL: Improve online presence and increase online sales EXPERIENCE: The couple collectively spent 17 fishing seasons in Alaska learning the trade.

Juraj Kusnir and Adra Kusnirova

Alaska Fresh founders want to bring healthy, sustainable salmon to the rest of the U.S.

By Ashley Smart, staff writer

6 / BizTimes Milwaukee MARCH 21, 2022

HUSBAND-AND-WIFE DUO Juraj Kusnir and Adra Kusnirova are taking the skills they learned during several fishing seasons spent in Port of Cordova, Alaska, to bring fresh salmon to the rest of the U.S. Kusnir, a native of Slovakia, first went to Alaska in 2005 as a college student looking to take a summer job at a seafood processing plant. He worked his way up to become the general manager.

After Kusnir and Kusnirova met in 2011, they initially moved back to Slovakia, making trips back and forth to Alaska. Kusnir spent 13 fishing seasons in Alaska while Kusnirova was there for four. After a few years, they decided to start splitting their time between Wisconsin and Alaska, since Kusnirova is originally from Brookfield.

“At one point we decided enough is enough with this Alaska lifestyle, which was moving our lives from one place to another every six months. But after we moved to Wisconsin full-time, we began missing the lifestyle up there,” Kusnir said.

The couple decided to start selling fish to their friends and family. Alaska Fresh was officially created in early 2018, offering a single purchase or subscription service option. Kusnir

and Kusnirova don’t personally catch the salmon but instead use a network of fishermen.

“We are really intimately related with our fishermen. This allows them to focus solely on the fishing component while we focus on the marketing component,” Kusnirova said.

Fishing in Alaska is more sustainable than fishing in other areas across the globe. People fishing for salmon in Alaska follow time restraints in certain areas. Kusnir said everything Alaska Fresh offers consumers is from a smallboat fishery. Alaska Fresh sells fish caught in the Copper River and the Prince William Sound fishing districts, and its salmon is exclusively copper river sockeye, which is known for having the most Omega 3 fatty acids.

To help scale their business, Kusnir and Kusnirova are taking part in the Scale Your Local Catch virtual accelerator, which helps 15 small seafood businesses across the U.S. So far, the couple has learned more about running a small business, particularly in the areas of accounting, taxation and contracts.

Once they complete the accelerator program, the couple hopes to use what they’ve learned to improve their online presence. Alaska Fresh products are available for purchase online via subscription or one-time purchase options. n

THE THE GOOD GOOD LIFE LIFE

Mental health administrator Kevin Kluesner adds new title to his resume: published novelist

By Lauren Anderson, staff writer

K

evin Kluesner takes exception to millennials getting all the credit for popularizing side hustles. After all, he’s maintained one for four decades, working full-time in health care and as a writer on the side.

Kluesner, who was recently named the administrator of the new Mental Health Emergency Center being developed in Milwaukee, has put his journalism degree from Marquette University to use since the 1980s, when he began writing regular outdoors-related stories and columns for the La Crosse Tribune as a side gig to his job in public relations.

That newspaper job helped hone his writing skills, setting a foundation for his later pursuits as a novelist.

He continued to climb in his career, transitioning from communications to health care administration, culminating in his most recent role as chief administrative officer at Ascension St. Joseph Hospital.

the

Good LIFE BIZ POLL

A recent survey of BizTimes.com readers.

Should Milwaukee Public Schools (MPS) be broken up into several smaller school districts?

Yes:

64.4%

No:

And he kept writing. Earlier this year, Kluesner published his debut novel, “The Killer Sermon,” the first installment of a thriller series featuring lead character FBI agent Cole Huebsch. Set in Wisconsin, the book includes nods to several local establishments, including Calderone Club, Good City, Raised Grain, BelAir Cantina and Culvers.

“This particular story, I’d say it’s been trying to get out of my head for over 20 years. At some point, I got to the point where I just had to write,” he said.

Now working on the second of the three-part series, Kluesner expects to churn out his next book on a much shorter timeline. The key to having a successful side hustle, he said, is making time for it and being persistent.

“You have to have grit and a thick skin,” he said. “Because when you get outside your lane, you’re going to make mistakes, you’re going to get rejection. … You just have to keep going.” n

Who’s on the Board?

35.6% GREATER MILWAUKEE FOUNDATION

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

• Jacqueline Herd-Barber, board chair • Paul J. Jones, vice chair, vice president and general counsel, Marquette University • Pedro Colón, Milwaukee County Circuit Court judge • David Drury, founding partner, WING Capital • Susan Ela, retired executive VP and COO, Aurora Health Care • Thomas W. Florsheim Jr., chairman and CEO, Weyco Group Inc. • Cecelia Gore, executive director, Brewers Community Foundation • Dale Kent, retired executive VP and CFO, West Bend Mutual • Naryan Leazer, financial advisor, IronwoodDrive Financial Group • Greg Marcus, president and CEO, The Marcus Corp.

• Darryl Morin, president and CEO, Advanced Wireless Inc. • Cory Nettles, founder and managing partner, Generation Growth Capital Inc. • Greg Oberland, retired president, Northwestern Mutual Life Insurance Co. • Marie O’Brien, president and CEO, Enterforce • Mary Ellen Stanek, president, Baird Funds; chief investment officer, Baird Advisors • Derek Tyus, senior vice president and chief investment officer, West Bend Mutual • Jacqueline Ward, founder and owner, Venus Consulting • Greg Wesley, senior VP, strategic alliances and business development, Medical College of Wisconsin

biztimes.com / 7

Leading Edge

BIZTIMES MEDIA – Like us

COFFEE BREAK The latest area economic data.

Tom McGinty Executive chef, Milwaukee Athletic Club 758 N. Broadway themacwi.com Industry: Hospitality

•

As the Milwaukee Athletic Club’s new executive chef, Tom McGinty is charged with developing a culinary program that blends modern trends with nostalgic tradition. He was hired in July, during a $62 million renovation of the MAC’s historic 105-year-old building.

•

McGinty began his culinary career in the 1990s working at private clubs in Florida. He was always drawn to the variety of the menu.

“We did breakfast, we did lunch, we did fine dining, we did casual.

We did banquets, we did small events, and everything in between.

It really piqued my interest.”

•

An opportunity to oversee food and beverage operations at Destination Kohler ultimately brought McGinty to Wisconsin, but leadership duties pushed him further away from what he loved most about his trade. He left Destination Kohler after five years.

•

When chief operating officer Joe Kurth approached him about joining the MAC, McGinty decided he would only take a job there if it was head chef, not director of food and beverage. “My love for food and the full circle that my career has taken has gotten me back to a spot that has all the things that I like about this industry.”

•

In McGinty’s view, menu development is all about understanding the customer and dropping the ego – serving diners what they want, but in a way that’s new or unique. “I’m not against playing the greatest hits. … I’ll play the greatest hits, and then let me show you some new stuff based on things that I’ve learned over a career of seeing things. I’m a very curious learner.”

•

McGinty drinks espresso, either black or as cappuccino, from the MAC’s new automatic espresso machines. n

The Milwaukee-area manufacturing index improved to

60.72

in February, up nearly 8 points from January. Any reading above 50 indicates growth for the sector.

Wisconsin lost

2,900

private sector jobs in January, according to the state Department of Workforce Development.

Wisconsin’s unemployment rate declined to

3%

in January, down from 3.1% in December.

Home sales in the four-county metro Milwaukee area rose

2.3%

in February, compared to a year ago, to 1,133.

TO GR PHO JA K E

compared to a year ago, to 380,290 passengers.

HIL L

111.6%

A PH Y

Passenger traffic at Milwaukee Mitchell International Airport in January was up

8 / BizTimes Milwaukee MARCH 21, 2022

BizNews

the

Interview

EARLIER THIS MONTH, the Greater Milwaukee Foundation went public with a multi-

year $700 million philanthropic campaign aimed at addressing systemic racial disparities related to housing, health, education and economic opportunity in the community.

Foundation leaders, who have quietly raised $500 million over the past five years, hope to complete the campaign next year. The foundation plans to dedicate $50 million in campaign funds to five priority areas: its effort with the Medical College of Wisconsin and Royal Capital Group to redevelop the former Gimbel & Schuster’s building in Milwaukee’s Bronzeville district into a center that will focus on addressing social determinants of health, early childhood care and education, affordable housing, its impact investing model, and flexible funding to meet pressing needs in the community.

BizTimes associate editor Lauren Anderson recently spoke with Ellen Gilligan, the foundation’s president and chief executive officer, to get more details on the campaign.

Why go public now?

“We think this is exactly the right moment, not only because we’ve demonstrated that people really want to support our vision and this is an important strategic mission for the broader community, but (it’s an) opportunity to invite a much broader cross-section of the community to join us. … The last several years – with the pandemic, with the related economic crisis and certainly the cry for racial justice – underscore the vision that we have identified and the need that, if we don’t do it now, we will miss the opportunity.

“If you look at the recent history of the economic downturn in 2008 and 2009 and 2010, communities of color were hardest hit. They were the last to recover, and we are deepening the disparities in this community if we don’t focus in a laser-like way on communities of color and what we know are strategic opportunities to advance all people.”

With many philanthropic campaigns underway in Milwaukee, what’s your outlook on raising the final $200 million?

“While there are many campaigns underway that our donors are very engaged in, … we are trying to elevate the priorities that the community has helped elevate for us and invite donors to join us in this. I have every confidence that we are going to be more than successful in this effort because the initial response to our vision and our invitation to join has been tremendous.”

“We are making great progress. We hope to be underway shortly with regard to construction. But most of the time we have spent over the last year (has been) listening to the community. “… First of all, health equity is, obviously, at the core of our partnership with the Medical College. And health equity is about more than health care. It’s about where people live, how they live, education, food, and all the other elements that impact people’s lives. That is embedded in our project. We will have an early childhood education center on the first floor that we think will be a world-class model for early childhood care and education. … And we’re also investing in early care and education throughout the neighborhood as well.

“Arts and culture are an enormous component, because we are going to be in Bronzeville, the center of arts and culture of the African American community. So, we want to honor that, lift it up and engage the broader community in celebrating what Bronzeville has been and will continue to be.” n

JAKE HILL PHOTOGRAPHY

What’s the latest on the ThriveOn King building project?

Ellen Gilligan President and chief executive officer Greater Milwaukee Foundation 101 W. Pleasant St., Milwaukee greatermilwaukeefoundation.org biztimes.com / 9

BizNews FEATURE

Chris Miskel

Josh Albrecht

Charlotte Hayslett

Employers tout Milwaukee’s assets to recruit out-of-state workers

By Lauren Anderson, staff writer IT WAS A DINNER at Lake Park Bistro that helped close the deal on an executive hire at Milwaukee-based Versiti Inc. During a Zoom interview last year, Lexie Pieper, a candidate from New Jersey who was then in the running for Versiti’s chief quality officer position, mentioned she loved French food. So, when she came into town for her in-person interview, the executive team took her to the restaurant, located on an Upper East Side bluff overlooking Lake Michigan.

“We had a great meal, looking at the water and talking about the organization and the city and the aspirations of the city, and it resonated,” said Chris Miskel, president and chief executive officer of Versiti.

Also a fan of theater, Pieper was interested to learn about Milwaukee’s performing arts scene and relieved to know that moving away from the East Coast wouldn’t mean leaving behind Broadway productions, said Miskel.

With a tight labor market and 10 / BizTimes Milwaukee MARCH 21, 2022

the rise of remote work that provides workers greater say in where they choose to locate, Milwaukee-area employers will have to flex the region’s assets and tailor their recruitment pitches to attract more employees from out of state, some business leaders say.

Finding strategies to draw more people to the region has taken on new urgency in light of the metro area’s meager 1.2% population growth over the past decade.

Compared to 21 benchmark metro areas, the Milwaukee region outpaced only two others, Pittsburgh and Cleveland, according to Census data released last year.

While many argue coordinated regional efforts are needed to boost the area’s population growth, incremental wins happen one recruit at a time, and some employers have found success in finding, recruiting and retaining out-of-state candidates.

At Versiti, Pieper was one of two new hires coming from outside of Wisconsin last year. The

other was Dr. Mike Deininger, who joined Versiti as its executive vice president, chief scientific officer and director of the Blood Research Institute from the Huntsman Cancer Institute at the University of Utah in Salt Lake.

It all starts with having an attractive job opportunity, Miskel said. For both hires, the mission of Versiti – a Milwaukee-based nonprofit operator of community blood centers and the Blood Research Institute in Wauwatosa – was what first caught their attention, and the opportunity to lead new initiatives within the organization was intriguing, he said.

“You have to have a compelling purpose that inspires people and they have to feel like they can be a part of it and make a difference and also be fulfilled,” he said.

Once a candidate travels to Milwaukee for an on-site interview, the hiring team is intentional about showing off the community.

“Once they get here, we sell them,” Miskel said.

In Deininger’s case, a steak dinner aided the process.

“I joke we closed him at Carnevor,” Miskel said. “That is my favorite; my go-to spot is Carnevor.”

“We have them stay downtown,” he added. “We try to show the city, get a sense of what’s important to them and show them that we are basically a big city with a small-town feel that is super accessible.”

Soon, Versiti could be making that pitch to more prospective employees. The organization plans to create more than 100 new jobs when it adds to its team of investigators at the Blood Research Institute over the next few years; many of those people are expected to be out-of-state hires, Miskel said.

FROM VISITOR TO RESIDENT While living in Illinois, Josh Albrecht was already aware of Milwaukee’s attributes and amenities before being recruited to work here.

Earlier this year, he joined VISIT Milwaukee as its vice president of marketing and communications after working as chief marketing officer for the Peoria Area Convention and Visitors Bureau. For years, Albrecht and his wife, Kelly, have routinely brought their three children across the state line for visits to Milwaukee.

“My original experience with Milwaukee was that of a visitor,”

he said. “And for the past 16 years, I’ve been bringing my family, my children here, whether that’s seeing who can drink the most root beer after the Sprecher brewery tour to going to the art museum or the kite festival on the lakefront, going to Bucks games, Brewers games.”

He was already a fan of the city before pursuing the VISIT job, but the decision to relocate, especially with a family, brings up another set of concerns beyond having things to do on weekends.

During one of his interviews, Peggy Williams-Smith, president and chief executive officer of VISIT, took Albrecht on an hours-long tour of Milwaukee, relaying information about schools, hospital systems and neighborhood landmarks.

“She grew up here so she was sharing things like, ‘here’s the supper club I’ve been going to for the past 30 years’ – some of those

more personal things that you don’t always get, the insider perspective as a visitor,” Albrecht said.

Albrecht and his wife ultimately found an apartment downtown, where they will move their family in April. Albrecht has already started his work in the city while staying in temporary housing. He said Milwaukee has provided the “most outgoing and warmest reception” of any city he’s previously lived in.

Being in the business of promoting the region, VISIT Milwaukee takes a similar approach when recruiting employees as it would with travelers and tourists, touting the city’s sports, arts scene and museums, said Charlotte Hayslett, vice president of human resources.

The visitors bureau also highlights the diversity represented in the city’s 191 neighborhoods. Ease of accessibility and a comparatively low cost of living tend to be differentiators for Milwaukee compared

to more densely populated cities, Hayslett said.

“Even with traffic, you can get to most places within 15-20 minutes time,” she said.

Once a new employee comes on board, VISIT has a comprehensive training schedule, replete with recommended lunch spots and tailored based on information that is gathered during the interviewing process, Hayslett said.

She said the region can be more effective at drawing people to the city by encouraging businesses to share their best practices with one another and collaborating to find the best candidates for their organizations.

Employers can build positive associations by being gracious, even if a candidate isn’t chosen for the job, she said.

“You will find so much talent … in expressing gratitude for even their interest in the position. … It’s

not, ‘You applied for the position; you should be thankful we called you.’ It’s the other way around – we’re thankful that you applied and that you’re interested,” Hayslett said.

“If I come across a great candidate that I thought would be great for another organization, I’d reach out and tell them, ‘Hey, there are other opportunities here (in Milwaukee),’” she added.

Albrecht said the region can leverage the virtuous cycle of converting tourists into residents.

“Everything starts with a visit,” he said. “Once you visit then you’re going to want to live there, and if you want to live there then you’re going to want to open businesses and be a part of the business community. And if you’re creating work opportunity then people are going to want to visit to learn more, and then they’re going to become a resident.” n

Keynote: JEFF ROSENSWEIG Former senior global economist for the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta & Professor at Emory University

Un derstanding the Glo b a l and r support U.S. Economies t o b ette your b u si n ess Wednesday, March 30, 2022 | 7:30 - 9:30 AM Harley-Davidson Museum - Rumble Room | 400 W. Canal St. - Milwaukee, WI 53203

Presented by the

Register at MMAC.org/events.html 2022 Platinum Sponsors:

2022 Media Partner:

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Real Estate

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

SMITH GROUP/CITY OF KENOSHA/KIN MASTER PLAN

The Kenosha Innovation Neighborhood’s West Plaza would provide a place for residents, workers and students to gather. The plaza would be a small part of the 107-acre development aimed at drawing entrepreneurs and other private developers to the former Chrysler plant site.

destination to gather for the neighborhood

Note: for illustrative purposes, final design to vary

ION NEIGHBORHOOD

19

Kenosha hopes to draw entrepreneurs to former Chrysler plant site

THE SPRAWLING FORMER Chrysler plant property in Kenosha has been both a riddle and a place for dreams.

Once a busy production hub that employed 10,000 people in its heyday, the plant closed in

2010 when the auto manufacturer filed for bankruptcy.

Two years later, the city, with the help of state and federal funding, began a $30 million effort to demolish the buildings and clean up contaminated soil and water on the site.

Now city and business leaders have an ambitious multi-million-dollar plan to transform the 107-acre property, located east of 30th Avenue between 52nd and 60th streets, into the largest innovation-focused, mixed-use development in the state.

“When you look nationally, there have been research parks all over the country, the next stage of those is innovation districts,” Tim Casey, director of city development for Kenosha, said of the plan, which calls for 1.5 million square feet of commercial space, green space and 800 to 1,300 apartment units.

Dubbed the Kenosha Innovation Neighborhood, the development would be similar in scale to Drexel Town Square in Oak Creek, Casey said, but “driven by a mission to retain and attract the next generation

FEATURED DEAL: B R I G G S & S T R AT T O N ’ S WAU WAT O S A P L A N T Briggs & Stratton sold its Burleigh plant in Wauwatosa to an affiliate of Milwaukee-based Phoenix Investors for just under $24 million. The two companies have also executed a lease agreement for the property with an initial 15-year term and three five-year options for Briggs to extend the lease.

The plant is located on 56 acres at 3300 N. 124th St. in Wauwatosa, just north of Burleigh Street. The deal includes three buildings in total, the main Burleigh plant and two smaller buildings located just east of it.

Not included in the sale is the Briggs & Stratton corporate headquarters building, which is located just north of the Burleigh plant at 3550 N. 124th St., just south of Wirth Street. However, Briggs and Phoenix Investors did reach an agreement that offers Phoenix a “right of first offer” for that building.

ADDRESS: 3300 N. 124th St., Wauwatosa BUYER: Phoenix Investors SELLER: Briggs & Stratton SALE PRICE: $24 million 12 / BizTimes Milwaukee MARCH 21, 2022

of people and talent from Kenosha, the region and the world.”

City leaders are hoping those entrepreneurs and would-be corporate partners will be drawn to the site by two initial developments: a 60,000-square-foot incubator called the Innovation Center and the new Lakeview Technology Academy building. A Kenosha Unified School District choice high school that has operated in partnership with the Kenosha Area Business Alliance since the late 1990s, the STEM-focused Lakeview is currently located in Pleasant Prairie. Leaders are working to have the campus relocated to the KIN to build a better, bigger building and reach more students in the process.

“The city’s vision for the redevelopment of the site is as an innovation neighborhood, so having the area’s top-performing school (which happens to have a STEM focus) as one of the anchor tenants for the development seems like a very solid building block and foundational piece,” said Todd Battle, president of KABA and vice president of the KUSD school board.

The Innovation Center and school projects received a major financial shot in the arm earlier this month when Gov. Tony Evers announced that $15 million in stimulus funds would be dedicated for construction efforts there, including $14 million for the $25 million Innovation Center and $1 million for the new Lakeview Technology Academy.

The city already has $10 million in tax increment financing set aside for the Innovation Center.

In addition to the Innovation Center, which is slated to begin construction later this year or early next year, the city will breathe new life into the site this year with the extension of two major throughfares through the property: 52nd Street and 28th Avenue.

Kenosha Mayor John Antaramian, who himself hails from one of the older neighborhoods surrounding the Chrysler property, said the KIN should bolster other redevelopment projects near the

site. Those efforts include projects happening in the city’s 52nd Street corridor and Uptown neighborhoods, where much of the protests and rioting over the Jacob Blake shooting took place in 2020. The Uptown business district, alone, suffered $50 million in damages as a result of the civil unrest.

The city recently purchased the Brown Bank Building, at 2216 63rd St. and 6200 23rd Ave., for instance, with plans to turn the structure into a community center.

And Madison-area Gorman & Co. has two mixed-use building projects in the works near the KIN – one on 22nd Avenue and another on 23rd Avenue.

According to S.R. Mills, chief executive officer of Kenosha-based Bear Development, the KIN site has plenty of potential to draw interest from private developers. Bear is currently working on a $1.6 million project to turn the blighted Sun Plaza Shopping Center at 3446 52nd St. into a new home for Kenosha County Human Services/Job Center.

“I think this is a well-thoughtout development,” Mills said.

“It will take some time to have enough economies of scale to attract enough variety of housing, but with a good plan and enough green space, I think it will work.”

That’s good news for the city, since plans for the neighborhood envision curated retail spaces, like coffee shops and restaurants on the first level of many buildings.

“The mission and the vision of this is next-generation jobs. It is not just another office or industrial park,” said Casey. n

MARQUETTE PLANS $80 MILLION WELLNESS AND RECREATION FACILITY Marquette University president Michael Lovell recently announced plans for an $80 million wellness and recreation development on the southwestern edge of campus near downtown Milwaukee.

The project will involve renovating and expanding Marquette’s existing Helfaer Tennis Stadium and Recreation Center, located at 525 N. 16th St., into a 180,000-square-foot facility that will centralize student fitness, recreation, counseling and medical services in one location. Currently, those services are dispersed across the campus.

The facility will include renovated portions of the Helfaer Rec Center, including updated facades, and a newly constructed three-story wellness tower in the center of the facility. Interior building systems will also be replaced.

The university aims to complete the facility by the end of 2024, depending on funding.

CONGRATULATIONS TO A REMARKABLE EDUCATOR, RESEARCHER, COMMUNITY LEADER AND ENGINEER.

Dr. Brooke Mayer Associate Professor, Civil, Construction and Environmental Engineering, Marquette University Thank you for being the difference for so many.

CARA SPOTO Reporter

P / 414-336-7116 E / cara.spoto@biztimes.com T / @CaraSpoto

biztimes.com / 13

STORY COVER

A ‘classic entrepreneur’ How James Kyle grew Delavan-based Millennium into one of America’s fastest-growing companies

James Kyle in Millennium’s Delavan warehouse.

14 / BizTimes Milwaukee MARCH 21, 2022

O

BY ASHLEY SMART, staff writer

NE OF JAMES KYLE’S CUSTOMERS describes him as a “classic entrepreneur.”

His career is certainly an example of the classic American success story.

Kyle founded Delavan-based telecommunications solutions company Millennium in 2004. Today the company has 165 employees, annual revenue of $229 million and recently secured a $155 million outside investment. Millennium has been recognized seven times by Inc. magazine as one of America’s fastest-growing companies. Construction of a new headquarters for the company is expected to be complete this summer.

Kyle said he expects the company’s massive growth to continue. Millennium is on track to end 2022 at $300 million in revenue, and Kyle said he and his partners plan to grow it into a $1 billion company within the next seven years.

“We’re going to do that by becoming really the only company that offers what we offer,” he said.

Millennium is a national distributor of fiber optic network materials that has differentiated itself by providing a range of related services throughout the life of a project. More than just offering materials, the company helps secure project funding, rents and leases equipment and makes use of its geospatial information system.

JAKE HILL PHOTOGRAPHY

INDUSTRY INTRODUCTION Kyle did not set out to change the perception of the telecommunications industry and the experience of its customers. The industry was exposed to him by a chance meeting.

In the mid to late ‘90s he was selling mortgages. It was one of the few career paths that seemed to make sense for him as he loved math and decided not to attend college. One day, he wrote a loan for a man who was in the telecommunications industry.

“All I knew was he made decent money and figured he sold telephones,” Kyle said. “After about six months, he convinced me to read some of the books from the manufacturers he was representing.”

The client offered to pay him straight commission to sell to anybody in the five midwestern states that were a part of what was then called Ameritech Corp. So, Kyle, never one to pass on an opportunity, made his first venture into the telecoms industry.

Kyle originally began by selling DSL (digital subscriber line) test sets. He spent three months in San Jose, California, learning how the equipment worked before returning to the Midwest.

During his time selling the sets as a manufacturer representative, Kyle became increasingly frustrated with being directed to provide customers with timelines both he and the manufacturers knew were too optimistic. biztimes.com / 15

STORY COVER

down was because I was being given information from the manufacturers that I had no control over. If I have a way to deliver on it, will you give me another chance?’” Kyle said.

JAKE HILL PHOTOGRAPHY

ADDRESSING A GAP IN THE MARKET

“In the absence of a proven track record and in the absence of a formal education, when you’re young and getting started in the industry, the only thing you have is your word,” Kyle said.

“To that point in life, I felt like if I told somebody I was going to do something, if I didn’t, it was the exception to the rule.”

That’s when he realized there was a prime opportunity for someone else to step in. In 2003, Kyle created a plan to sell telecoms materials directly to customers himself and deliver on the quoted timelines. The only issue was securing the initial funding to get himself a truckload of products. He took out a mortgage on his family home and went to a local bank seeking an additional $50,000.

16 / BizTimes Milwaukee MARCH 21, 2022

“The banker looked at me and he slid my business plan right back to me without even looking at it. He said, ‘Kid, I’m going to do you a favor and I’m not going to bring this to the board,’” said Kyle.

He used that rejection as motivation and turned to his family for help. His grandmother had a $17,000 certificate of deposit with an outof-state bank, and he was able to borrow $17,000 against that CD. Combined with the mortgage on his family home, it gave him enough to get started with a truckload each of pipe and vaults. Kyle said he found initial success thanks to his genuine curiosity and his ability to talk with clients to identify their needs.

“I was able to call the same clients who had already been let down and say, ‘The reason I let you

While Kyle’s business concept didn’t garner initial support from those outside the telecoms industry, his peers knew his idea could address a current need.

Eric McDermott, Dura-Line director of sales for the central region and U.S., has been working with Millennium since the company’s founding.

Dura-Line, a Knoxville, Tennessee-based manufacturer of conduit, is a supplier to Millennium.

“He saw that there was a need in the market for a distributor in the Chicago area, and we knew there was a need too, so we supported him right from the beginning,” McDermott said.

Kyle was not the only person who had been experiencing issues with the larger telecoms companies.

“It’s very hard for a manufacturer like us to coordinate accurate shipping dates and product arrival times to the contractors. There’s so many things that go on at a manufacturing plant that can cause delays or can cause expedites. A stocking distributor like Millennium really fills that gap,” McDermott said. “It reduces the miscommunication and supply chain issues between a manufacturer and a contractor.”

With the locations Millennium has added across the U.S. and the in-depth training given to employees, the company has affected the telecoms industry in a positive way, McDermott said.

“They bring a ton of value to us as well because now, thanks to Millennium, there’s stock

JAKE HILL PHOTOGRAPHY

Millennium’s current headquarters in Delavan.

of our product all throughout the country, which helps our customers – often times contractors – have access to our materials everywhere,” McDermott said.

CONTINUED GROWTH Millennium hasn’t had just one period of substantial growth; it hasn’t stopped growing since it was founded.

The company’s first warehouse was built in September of 2007 in Lake Geneva, which Kyle identifies as the point when he knew he was truly committed to building his business.

Millennium made its first appearance on the Inc. 5000 list in 2012. Inc.’s annual list ranks the fastest-growing companies in America based on percentage revenue growth over three years. Kyle attributes Millennium’s sustained growth to a combination of a “great market” and adapting from being a materials distributor to a full-service company.

“Instead of just selling materials, along the way we identified that some people can’t afford the capital equipment up front. So why don’t we just create a rental program? … (Customers) also want to own it, so we created a leasing program. As we went on, we also created a geospatial information system,” Kyle said.

Millennium also helps smaller businesses navigate securing access to funding and grant applications. Getting the funding needed to install a fiber optics network was the number one barrier for most of the company’s clients, so Kyle reached out to several accredited investors to ask them to place money into a fund for bridge loans.

As Millennium’s suite of offerings continued to expand, so did the company. Kyle said Millennium grew by just under 50% last year.

Each of Millennium’s 16 – soon to be 19 – ware-

houses is strategically placed so the company can serve customers within a three-hour radius.

The company will move its headquarters to a larger, 75,000-square-foot office space and warehouse that is under construction in Delavan and will need to double the number of employees within the next year or two to keep up with growth, Kyle said.

GROWING PAINS In 2006, Kyle knew it was time to bring on his first hire after a friend gifted him a copy of “The E Myth,” which drove home a simple message: You have to work on your business, not in it.

“Everybody starts off having to work in their business. But at some point, you have to develop an organization. You replace yourself in the areas of the business that you’re not really good at,” Kyle said.

His first employee was brought on to help with customer service-related tasks, including following up on all the company’s orders. The next hire the following year helped take care of Millennium’s accounting needs.

“It was taking a toll on my family and personal life that I would travel and be gone five days a week and then on the weekends do the accounting,” Kyle said. “You have to have a strong spouse who is able to tolerate that.”

A decade into the business, Millennium leaders began re-evaluating the structures that carried it from 2004 to 2013. A lot of materials were being sold, but there wasn’t much discernment between what kind of customers Millennium should be serving. Instead, sales reps were working with every client possible.

“We got through 2013 with great revenues but a business that was broken,” Kyle said.

At that time, Kyle took a closer look at Millen-

nium, examining what the company was uniquely positioned to do and what its core values should be.

As Millennium continued to expand, Kyle opted to build a larger presence where clients particularly needed its material, including rural areas and smaller cities.

Nate Wendt, president of Millennium, said the company has never focused its growth on playing with the “big boys” of the telecoms industry but rather focused on finding customers who are often overlooked and giving them attention. Millennium had taken that approach unintentionally until 2014, when company leadership highlighted that strategy as a strength of the company, Wendt said.

“When I look at it, we are outpacing some of our competitors, and I think a lot of it comes down to staying focused on helping the people who want our help, and there’s so many of them out there,” Wendt said. “It’s really ‘how do we help?’ and we haven’t run out of opportunities to do so.”

As Millennium scaled up, Wendt helped formalize processes to support that growth.

“When the leader of your group is a salesperson at heart and a visionary, the details around how you do something and how you do it consistently weren’t there,” Wendt said. “I think I brought my biggest influence early on in helping with process, procedure and streamlining.”

Now, Wendt says his biggest challenge is finding and mentoring people who can become leaders within the company. As Millennium adds locations in new cities, each market requires its own leader to find people to create a team.

OLD-SCHOOL TACTICS Zak Horn, president of Sullivan, Illinois-based Metro Communications, first met Kyle in the fall of 2011, when the pair started building fiber optic networks together.

Horn founded Metro Communications 22 years ago. The company builds and operates fiber optic infrastructures for the wholesale, wireless, enterprise and education markets. Millennium is a materials vendor for the company. Horn said the tactics Kyle has used to be successful aren’t entirely surprising.

“It’s not like Google or Facebook. It’s not an idea that you incubate and it’s novel. That’s not what Millennium is,” he said. “There’s nothing innovative about what Millennium does. They’re old-fashioned businesspeople. They provide really good value and service. James Kyle is a classic entrepreneur that understands how to deploy capital and hire good people and serve customers, and that’s why he had a good business.”

Back in 2011, Kyle took the time to drive his car down to Illinois because Metro Communications needed to buy some fiber optic cable, closures and components. Horn said nobody else would take the time to explain how those products worked, but the company “did not know what they were doing.”

A commitment to serving customers is part of what drives Millennium’s growth, but Horn said Kyle’s ability to identify market needs and then take calculated risks to start delivering new services and products is also a factor. biztimes.com / 17

JAKE HILL PHOTOGRAPHY

STORY COVER

JAKE HILL PHOTOGRAPHY

Reels of fiber optic cable conduit at Millennium’s headquarters in Delavan.

“There are businesses out there that are the result of like intellectual property or something technical or a trend or a fad. … The consumer drives what we’re doing because they want LTE and 5G and all that,” Horn said. “Fiber is the foundation of all that and so that’s fueled our business. Both James Kyle and I have been at the right place at the right time kind of riding a wave that really started 15 years ago. The rest of it is the result of hard work.”

HELPING THE SMALL GUY Part of Millennium’s success has been rooted in focusing on segments of the market that larger telecoms companies don’t. That’s also how Whitewater-based internet service provider Edge Broadband has continued its growth as a customer of Millennium.

Brian Madl, founder and president of Edge Broadband, first realized how bad rural internet was in 2008. He had purchased a small landscap18 / BizTimes Milwaukee MARCH 21, 2022

ing maintenance business in a rural area near Whitewater Lake.

“We quickly realized the internet out here was horrible. There were no options,” Madl said.

“A lot of my customers I knew through my landscaping business would say, ‘Hey, what do you use for internet?’”

He quickly figured out there were two options available to him and his family: either they move back to the city where stronger internet service is available, or Madl could start his own internet service. He already knew the area through his business and had a handful of people who could become customers.

Edge Broadband started by using fixed wireless technology to provide internet service. As the company started expanding outside of Whitewater to other communities, it started to run into problems with the terrain. Rolling hills and winding roads along the lakefront made it difficult to use fixed wireless as an option. That’s when Madl discovered the possibility of running fiber optic cables under the land, directly to a home.

By chance, Madl first learned of Millennium in 2016 through a booth at a wireless internet provider trade show in Las Vegas. He ended up meeting with the Millennium team at its original Lake Geneva headquarters shortly after that.

“We weren’t a big telecoms company with engineers that would design for us. It was kind of a self-made, homebrew operation here,” Madl said.

“They basically walked me through designing and building our first neighborhood.”

Madl said he wouldn’t have received the same help Millennium provided from another, bigger supplier.

When smaller companies find success, they often go back to Millennium to work on even bigger projects. Edge Broadband’s first project with Millennium involved 178 homes. They’re now working on multiple projects of thousands of homes apiece.

“They know helping us small guys is hitting

their goal as well as helping with rural broadband expansion. They see if they help even a small company with a small project, that company is going to come back and buy more,” Madl said.

WHAT COMES NEXT? How Millennium can continue to sustain its growth is always on the minds of company leadership.

Wendt said he wants Millennium to maintain its rapid growth to stay ahead of competitors. Remaining singularly focused on solving customers’ problems is key.

“There’s nobody else out there that is in all of the categories we are, but there are competitors that do certain parts of those really well. As they continue to see this model, they add to their suite of resources. It’s thinking about how we stay ahead of that and creating solutions,” Wendt said.

Millennium received a $155 million investment at the end of 2021 through Carlson Private Capital Partners, a private investment firm in Minnesota’s Twin Cities. St. Louis-based Broadview Group Holdings was a part of the investment.

“We believe Millennium sits at an inflection point in the buildout of broadband infrastructure in historically underserved markets across North America and that it will continue to deliver top-tier service and product selection to its customers,” Clay Hunter, co-founder and CEO of Broadview, said at the time of the announcement. “… (Kyle) and his team have made Millennium a tremendous success to date, and we’re thrilled to be a part of the next chapter of Millennium’s evolution.”

As Millennium continues to open new locations across the U.S., Kyle said he wants to achieve greater brand awareness while continually helping his customers tackle whatever problems arise.

A self-proclaimed salesperson at heart, Kyle said a customer-focused approach will always be key to Millennium.

“It’s not some revolutionary idea,” Kyle said. “It’s just taking care of people.” n

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Special Report M&A: BIG DEALS

Partnering with private equity requires alignment on multiple fronts WHEN JIM STANGER and the other owners of Edge One were considering selling their business, their lawyer helped connect them with an advisor to manage the process.

Based in Stoughton, Edge One sells ARMs and other financial equipment to financial institutions and retail markets. The current ownership group had bought the company in 2013 and blew past its growth goals ahead of schedule. In the process, the group learned they had limitations when it came to integrating acquired companies.

The idea was to find a buyer that could help make Edge One more competitive, both in executing better on acquisitions and providing the resources to expand to other geographic markets beyond the six states it focuses on currently.

Stanger and the Edge One team started by quietly reaching out to industry contacts to express their interest in a potential deal. As they did, their lawyer connected them with an advisor, Rob Jansen, managing director of Milwaukee-based Bridgewood Advisors.

In one of their first meetings, Jansen asked if the group had a buyer in mind. Stanger responded that they did; there was a strategic buyer in the industry they felt would be a good fit. Jansen cautioned them that, in most cases, a deal doesn’t work out that easily. He encouraged the group to keep an open mind.

Then Jansen asked if there were any buyers the group would object to. Stanger spoke up again, saying he didn’t want to sell to private equity.

He’d seen at least four or five deals in the industry where being acquired by a private equity firm led to the demise of once strong companies.

Jansen again encouraged the group to keep an open mind and said not all private equity firms are the same, Stanger recalled.

Stanger

Borgman

As the process went on, Jansen reached out to hundreds of private equity firms and around a hundred strategic firms. The list was eventually trimmed to around a dozen companies Edge One had phone calls with and then around six for faceto-face meetings, held on the terrace of the Milwaukee Art Museum due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Ultimately, the owners sold a controlling interest in the company to Detroit-based private equity firm Peninsula Capital Partners and private investment firm Connecticut-based Pillsman Partners.

“He forced us to look at options that we wouldn’t have considered on our own,” Stanger said of Jansen.

It is not uncommon for business owners to shy away from selling to private equity firms. Maybe they’ve heard stories from others in their network of deals gone wrong. Maybe they have an image of PE firms as corporate raiders who will decimate their business or as turnaround specialists making tough decisions and slashing costs.

The reality is that with thousands of private equity groups in the market, each one has its own ap-

BY ARTHUR THOMAS, staff writer

Jansen

Emory

proach. The end goal, however, is largely the same: generating returns for investors.

“At the end of the day, no buyer wants the business to be more successful than a private equity buyer. That is 100% their motivation,” said Sequoya Borgman, founder and managing director of Milwaukee-based private equity firm Borgman Capital.

Borgman acknowledged that, for some, private equity is associated with destroying the value built by a founder or family owners.

“For every one of those you hear about, there’s 10 success stories, though,” he said.

While everyone involved may want the sale of a business to work out for all involved, making that happen requires many conversations prior to closing to make sure everyone is on the same page.

Consider the different styles of private equity firms. A traditional firm may raise a fund and then seek to invest money over a five-year period, planning to hold its investments for anywhere from three to seven years before selling. During the hold period, the PE firm will be looking to grow the busibiztimes.com / 21

Special Report M&A: BIG DEALS ness to generate returns for investors at the eventual sale. A more family-office-oriented firm might make investments and plan to hold for an extended period of time.

While any buyer will want to grow the business, growing with an eye toward a sale in three years creates drastically different imperatives compared to an owner with no defined endpoint in mind.

For an owner considering selling, those different approaches can help inform which firm makes more sense as a buyer. Consider a 55-year-old business owner who knows his business could grow faster with the right assets and investments.

“The owners, they’ve already sort of won the game. They don’t want to risk the capital. They want to take some chips off the table, not put more chips on the table,” said John Emory Jr., president of Milwaukee-based Emory & Co. Emory said the right partner might be willing to buy 70% of the company from the 55-year-old and hold it for five years. With the right investments and a good working relationship, the remaining 30% stake could be worth more when it does sell than the 70% was worth at the initial sale.

Getting two chances at realizing significant val-

ue from the business requires that the owner and private equity buyer see eye-to-eye on a number of fronts. Beyond how long the PE firm will hold onto the business, there are questions about how involved the buyer will be in day-to-day operations, what kind of expertise the PE firm will bring to the table, whether both sides have the same vision for how to grow the business, and even how the individuals involved work together.

“There’s not a right and a wrong, but there can be misalignment if there’s different expectations,” Jansen said.

Borgman said PE firms are generally looking for a business with strong growth prospects and it is often clear if a relationship will work.

“It’s just like any other meeting. If you’re a sales person, you go into a meeting and either you hit it off with the person making the decision or you don’t,” he said.

Even with a good relationship, it can be difficult for some owners to adjust to working with private equity firms.

“You truly are partners and you no longer are the only person making the decision,” Borgman said, noting the new partnership may often come with an external board and additional reporting

requirements. “That’s something new to a lot of these entrepreneurs.”

For Stanger and Edge One, it took a lot of conversations to get comfortable with the private equity firms they eventually partnered with. They told him their approach was to not get involved unless it was needed. They liked platform companies with a chance to grow, and the cultures were similar: hardworking and friendly; technical, but without losing sight of the people.

Stanger acknowledged it seemed like a bunch of talk, but after spending enough time with the buyers he started thinking, “Maybe these guys are for real.”

The deal closed in December 2020 and Stanger said the Edge One team has been pleased with the hands-off approach but added that even with all the conversations and research, there was still some uncertainty.

“You really just don’t know until you’re in there though,” he said.

“Take your time and get to know the people that you’re going to be partnering with,” Stanger added.

“If it’s not a fit, don’t do it. You have to fit as people as well as businesses. I’m convinced that it won’t work on either front unless you do.” n

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Serving Milwaukee with seven banking centers and two commercial offices | oldnational.com

Special Report M&A: BIG DEALS

How will uncertainty, mounting challenges shape booming M&A market?

THE MARKET FOR BUYING and selling companies has continued to heat up in recent years. Driven by the aging demographics of many business owners, low interest rates making money cheap and private equity firms looking to put their funds to work, it has been a good time to sell if you were looking for an exit.

The past year took things to even greater heights as President Joe Biden’s administration explored the possibility of raising capital gains taxes. The prospect of a near doubling of the tax rate to 39.6% pushed many business owners into the market.

“Multiples were high, earnings had rebounded on a post-COVID basis, there’s a lot of money out there with private equity firms and ultimately as a result of those kinds of things coming together, we had one of the busiest fourth quarters that we’ve ever experienced, whether it’s our firm or other firms here in the middle market,” said Tim Reardon, a shareholder in the corporate law and tax practice of Milwaukee-based Reinhart Boerner Van Deuren s.c.

Of course, the tax increase did not become reality; and with inflation, supply chain issues, a tight labor market, potential interest rate increases and now the Russian invasion of Ukraine, it is easy to wonder if the boom in the mergers and acquisitions market has come to an end.

Addressing the current state of the market will be among the central topics at the annual BizTimes Media M&A Forum taking place from 2-6:30 p.m. March 31 at the Brookfield Conference Center. The event is sponsored by Old National Bank, Reinhart and Taureau Group, with supporting sponsor Vistage.

Reardon will be part of a sell-side-focused panel that highlights best practices, lessons learned and other experiences from the sale process. Ann Hanna, managing director and founder of Milwaukee-based Taureau Group, will moderate the panel, which will also include Shane Vaughn, president and CEO of KDV Labels; John Topetzes, former owner and president of Pewaukee-based Sanborn Tube and Fab; and Steve Flynn, CEO and owner of S. Flynn & Co. and previously CEO of Elkhorn-based GWW Group.

Following the sell-side panel, a buy-side panel focused on growth through acquisition will be moderated by Inge Plautz, senior vice president at Old National Bank. The panel will feature Kristin Dufek, president of Milwaukee-based Eppstein Uhen Architects; Dan Druml, vice president, strategic partners at FirstService; Jake Hansen, principal of Milwaukee-based Jacsten Holdings; 24 / BizTimes Milwaukee MARCH 21, 2022

BY ARTHUR THOMAS, staff writer

Vaughn

Topetzes

Reardon

Flynn

Hanna

Dufek

Druml

Smith

Hansen

Plautz

and Keith Smith, president of Salem Lakes-based Vonco, a Jacsten portfolio company.

The program will conclude with breakout sessions on building sustainable business value, strategically funding acquisitions and navigating family business succession through the M&A process.

As for the state of the M&A market, Reardon pointed out that baby boomers are now between 58 and 78 years old, meaning many are reaching retirement age.

“There are a lot of businesses that are still owned by people in that age bracket,” Reardon said.

“What that’s going to mean is that, just based on the demographics, there are a large number of business owners who are going to need to do a transaction in the next few years.”

There are also plenty of private equity firms and other buyers looking for companies to buy or invest in, helping to fuel the market.

“Banks have been supportive and debt multiples have been rising, at the same time we are seeing larger equity checks being written,” Hanna said. “This translates to excess cash available to support transactions and higher pricing. The most active buyers are those with a limited time horizon to grow or invest so they are willing to stretch for deals.”

She also noted a new type of seller, one “motivated by health conditions, uncertainty and burnout as a result of the COVID pandemic,” is increasingly

common in the market.

Uncertainty is perhaps the biggest threat to the booming M&A market. Hanna pointed to the war in Ukraine and its impact on oil prices, supply chains and agriculture as something that could shape the market.

There is also the possibility of the Federal Reserve raising interest rates.

“In a vacuum, we expect rising interest rates to dampen M&A activity. However, there are so many influencing factors this does not always hold true,” Hanna said, pointing out that rates and M&A activity were both rising from 2004 to 2007.

Reardon said interest rate increases alone would not be enough to slow the market down.

“It may temper multiples somewhat,” he said, suggesting a 6 or 7 multiple may become a 5 or 6 or a 10 becoming an 8 or 9.

“You still have buyers with money, money is still relatively cheap,” Reardon said before adding that supply chain, inflation and labor challenges will add up to limit what buyers are willing to pay.

Would that tempering be enough to cause sellers to pull back from the market?

“I don’t think so,” Reardon said. “I think what we’re going to have is we’ll still have a good healthy pool of sellers. Given the demographics age-wise, they have no choice but to sell. But they won’t be selling at the peak values that they were getting last year.” n

Our clients know. We get even the most complex deals done quickly and cost-effectively.

We leverage the collective experience, contacts and market insights of our attorneys to locate strategic partners, connect prospective purchasers and sellers, arrange necessary financing and negotiate the most favorable results for our clients.

reinhartlaw.com · 414.298.1000 MILWAUKEE · MADISON · WAUKESHA · WAUSAU · CHICAGO · ROCKFORD · MINNEAPOLIS · DENVER · PHOENIX

Special Report M&A: BIG DEALS

LiveWire, Fathom SPACs, Zurn-Elkay deals headline year’s big deals THE COMPANY NOW KNOWN AS Zurn Water Solutions spent much of the past year working to complete the spinoff and merger of its Rexnord business with Regal Beloit. It didn’t take long for the company to make another major transaction, announcing a $1.56 billion acquisition of Elkay Manufacturing. The Zurn-Elkay deal, a multi-billion Rockwell Automation acquisition and two companies involved with special purpose acquisition corporations headline the list of big deals for southeastern Wisconsin M&A activity from the past year. Here’s a look at the most significant area transactions during the past year: » Describing it as its “next big step,” Milwaukee-based Rockwell Automation paid $2.2 billion to acquire Michigan-based Plex Systems, a provider of smart manufacturing software as a service. » Harley-Davidson announced plans to merge its LiveWire electric motorcycle brand with a special purpose acquisition corporation backed by New York-based AEA Investors and Connecticut-based Bridges Fund Management. Harley retains 74% ownership of the company in the deal, which values LiveWire at $1.76 billion and includes a $100 million investment from Taiwanese motorcycle maker KYMCO. » Milwaukee-based Zurn Water Solutions completed a $3.7 billion spin-off of its Rexnord business to Regal Beloit in October. In November, the company acquired Alabama-based Wade Drains for $13.7 million after acquiring ATS GREASEwatch for $4.5 million in April.

In February, Zurn announced plans to acquire Illinois-based Elkay Manufacturing in a $1.56 billion deal that gives Elkay shareholders 29% ownership of the combined company. » Hartland-based Fathom Digital Manufacturing went public via a merger with a special purpose acquisition corporation backed by New York-based HPS Investment Partners.

Fathom, previously known as Midwest Composite Technologies, had done 13 acquisitions in three years to grow its operations. The SPAC deal valued the company at $1.5 billion and paid existing shareholders $318 million. » ManpowerGroup acquired Charlotte-based IT resourcing and service firm ettain for $925 million. » Brookfield-based Fiserv made a number of acquisitions, including BentoBox in November, AIP in October, SpendLabs in June, Pineapple Payments in May and Radius8 in March. The company also acquired a remaining ownership stake in NetPay in November. Along with the January 2021 acquisition of Ondot, the compa26 / BizTimes Milwaukee MARCH 21, 2022

ny paid a combined $882 million. » Town of Genesee-based Generac acquired smart thermostat maker ecobee in a cashand-stock deal potentially worth $770 million depending on earnouts. The company also acquired UK-based Deep Sea for $420 million in June, California-based Chilicon for $61 million in July, UK-based Off Grid Energy for $53 million, and Oregon-based Apricity Code and Boston-based Tank Utility for a combined $30 million in September and October. The flurry of deals follows at least five others Generac made since 2019. » Johnson Controls acquired Silent-Aire, a provider of hyperscale data center cooling and critical infrastructure solutions, for $755 million in May. In January the company acquired FogHorn, a California-based developer of edge AI software for industrial and commercial IoT applications. » EQT Private Equity sold Hartland-based conveyor maker Dorner Manufacturing Corp. to Columbus McKinnon Corp., a New York-based maker of motion control and automation products in a $485 million deal. » Connecticut-based metal food packaging provider Silgan Containers acquired Mequon-based Gateway Plastics Inc. in a $485 million deal. » Germantown-based supplier of flavorings First Choice Ingredients was acquired by Dutch firm Royal DSM in a $453 million deal. Former First Choice owner Jim Pekar said he was motivated to sell by potential tax changes and picked DSM over higher bids because it provided the best home for the company’s employees. » Oak Creek-based railroad equipment maker Nordco was acquired by Pittsburgh-based Wabtec Corp. in a $410 million deal in March. » Pewaukee-based CentroMotion, previously the engineered components and systems division of Actuant Corp., acquired Arizona-based Carlisle Companies’ Brake & Friction business in a $375 million deal in August. In February, Carlisle announced it had received a $125 million post-closing earnout payment.

» Milwaukee-based A.O. Smith acquired Canadian water heater maker Giant for $199 million in October. The company also acquired Pennsylvania-based Master Water Conditioning and one other water treatment company for $9 million combined. » Exact Sciences Corp. acquired Marshfield-based genetic testing laboratory PreventionGenetics for $190 million. » Milwaukee-based Brady Corp. paid $173 million to acquire The Code Corp., a Utah-based provider of barcode scanners and track-andtrace software. The company also paid around $59 million to acquire Magicard, a United Kingdom-based maker of ID card printers, and $13 million for a 90% stake in Nordic ID, a Finnish company that makes RFID readers. » New York-based automotive parts manufacturer and distributor Standard Motor Products Inc. acquired Trombetta Inc., a Milwaukee-based DC power products manufacturer, for $108 million in an all-stock deal in June. » Brookfield-based Paragon Development Systems Inc. was acquired from Mason Wells by Toronto-based Converge Technology Solutions Corp. in a deal that included $52 million in cash. » Illinois-based Life Fitness sold its Bristol-based Brunswick Billiards pool table and rec room games business to Escalade Inc., a publicly traded sporting goods company based in Indiana, for $32 million subject to certain adjustments. » Manitowoc-based Orion Energy Systems acquired Pewaukee-based Stay-Lite Lighting for $3.7 million in January. The deal included an additional $700,000 in potential earnout payments based on Stay-Lite’s gross profit over the next two years. » Footwear marketer and distributor Weyco Group acquired Forsake, a distributor of outdoor footwear, for $2.6 million in June, plus an estimated $1.3 million in potential additional payments over the next five years.

To see additional deals, visit biztimes.com. n

anniversary 2022

CELEBRATIONS 100 YEARS

Andis Company

100 YEARS

Pinelawn Memorial Park

100 YEARS

United Way of Racine County

Starting a business is hard work. It requires courage and a good idea, a great team and even better execution day in and day out, month after month, year after year. To grow and sustain that business for one, two or several generations, it requires innovation, teamwork and determination.

75 YEARS

BSI (Building Service Inc.)

75 YEARS

Hal Leonard

According to data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, about 20% of U.S. small businesses fail within the first year. By the end of their fifth year, roughly 50% have faltered. After 10 years, only around a third of businesses have survived. The businesses in this anniversaries section have survived and thrived for many times that.

65 YEARS

MGIC

65 YEARS

MSI General Corporation

40 YEARS

Feeding America Eastern Wisconsin

29 YEARS

Bubon Orthodontics

20 YEARS

Enviro-Safe Consulting

20 YEARS

InCheck

So, it’s time to celebrate and POP THE CHAMPAGNE! For 27 years we at BizTimes Media have been happy to shine the spotlight on business success. These metro Milwaukee companies are celebrating special anniversaries from 20 to 100 years. Enjoy their stories and read about their plans for the future.

DAN MEYER Publisher/Owner, BizTimes Media

Frank Juarez Class of 1997

First. Foremost. Forward.

boost your business Apply for A pArtner up! GrAnt Want great hires, productive employees, and a thriving economy? With a Partner Up! grant from Project Growth, Wisconsin businesses and child care programs can expand their offerings, add in-demand benefits, and reach their shared goals together.

Learn all the ways partnership pays at ProjectGrowth.WI.gov

28 / BizTimes Milwaukee MARCH 21, 2022

In the Frank Juarez dictionary, creativity has a very long entry with numerous definitions. Juarez is an artist, educator, author, magazine publisher, arts advocate and former gallery director who brings a passion for creativity to every role he inhabits. Juarez, the art department chair at Sheboygan North High School and 2019’s National Art Educator of the Year, is at the forefront of efforts to promote Wisconsin arts and artists. He is a force for creativity.

• Learn more at carrollu.edu/175

Carroll University: Pioneering For 175 Years!

ANNIVERSARIES

Sponsored Content Brighter Community Mural in Atlanta, celebrates Andis’ legacy in barbering and new brand positioning.

Left: 4th Generation Owners Matt K. Andis and Laura Andis Bishop Right: Andis Grooming Educator Gabriel Feitosa

ANDIS COMPANY CELEBRATES ITS CENTENNIAL YEAR

celebrating

100 YEARS in business

Andis Company 1800 Renaissance Blvd.

Sturtevant WI 53177 a nd i s. co m 1 .8 0 0. 5 58 . 94 41

Andis Company has been a market leader in barbering, styling and animal grooming since its founding in 1922.

In the blink of an eye, it has been 100 years since Mathew Andis created the first generation of today’s Master Clipper in the basement of his home in Racine, Wisconsin.

Four generations later, we’ve remained familyowned and operated. And we’re proud to work alongside a team dedicated to improving upon the company’s legacy in a state-of-the-art facility located just a short drive from where it all began.

Andis has never stopped asking how to improve the brand, our corporate culture and our products.

A few years ago we made the decision to consciously evolve from a company that has historically been product-focused, and manufacturing-focused to one that is customer-obsessed and market driven.

And in our centennial year, we are laser-focused on our customers and “creators” – the visionaries who depend on our products every day to create.

The brand needed to become relevant to the changing consumer needs, trends and behaviors. The pandemic pushed the need for consumers to be able to use Andis products at home, and opened a more virtual, digital world for us to connect with them on their journey.

This meant moving away from the status quo to something more emotionally engaging with a brand mission and vision that directly speaks to our customers. It was important for us to reposition

the brand to embrace and celebrate those that use creativity to make the world a better place.

New touchpoints, including investments in video production, as well as modernizing the brand, our products, logo, look and feel, website, etc. to match the industries we serve, barbering, beauty, high fashion, personal grooming, DIY hair cutting and animal grooming.

And it isn’t just the digital tools, it is also the innovative products that will change the trajectory of our industry and intuitive packaging that will appeal to creators, whether it is their first hair clipper or 50th.

Andis Company is bringing to market unique products that celebrate our 100-year anniversary.

These aren’t throwback retro editions but are a celebration of our future, showcasing our commitment to innovation and our creators. Every tool will be purpose-built to enable creators to express their own artistry, confidently, without limitations.

We walk into our centennial year, driven by our new mission, vision and values in all that we do – empowering creativity. We are also modernizing our workspace – creating open concept and brainstorming areas, for our employees, a full rebrand from end to end.

We look forward to connecting with creators both locally and around the world with community-driven programs to inspire creative thinking and expression and drive positive, long-term change. We believe creativity makes the world a better place, and look forward to 100 more years of encouraging and inspiring others to create their way! n biztimes.com / 29

ANNIVERSARIES

Sponsored Content (L to R) Back row: Sidney Taber, Quinn Steinmetz, Katie Colbeck, Matthew Pagel, Heidi Bischmann, Tony Anderson, Stephanie Lundgren Front row: Clyde Rupnow, Christine Toson, David Line

Left: Companion estate burial option.

Lower left: Preparing a grave, photo from 1960’s and includes Robert W. Toson with one of the grounds crew.

Lower right: The Evinrude family estate.

PINELAWN MEMORIAL PARK CONTINUES TO EMBRACE LIVES AFTER 100 YEARS

celebrating

YEARS in business

Pinelawn Memorial Park 10700 W Capitol Dr Milwaukee, WI 53222 p i n e l aw n. ne t 414.461.4612 30 / BizTimes Milwaukee MARCH 21, 2022

Pinelawn Memorial Park is a prominent, progressive cemetery that was established June 30, 1922 by prominent businessmen who saw the need to add a memorial park on the edge of the city and at the end of the bus route in place at that time.

Sitting on over 100 acres of land, the entrepreneurs understood that this location would be the perfect location for an accessible, yet suburban burial park for the community.

Over the years, Pinelawn has embraced the history that is created by lives that have been lived in this community. Memorial Park staff work with families to create comfortable, meaningful and personalized ways to tell life stories of their loved ones through the memorialization they choose. Considering itself to be a place for the living to remember vs. a place for the dead, Pinelawn works to create a peaceful environment for visitors.

Death is a conversation that cannot be avoided, although it can be a difficult one to have.

Since its beginning, Pinelawn has promoted and encouraged pre-planning, so that families can have a commonsense conversation about their own cemetery and funeral wishes without the emotional burden of the need to make these choices at the time of a death.

Pinelawn takes pride in helping this conversation be as simple and easy to understand as possible. Having a variety of choices for burial arrangements that meet different budgets, religious cultures, life stories, etc. is important since everyone has their own story.

In addition to Pinelawn celebrating its 100th anniversary, it is proud to also be celebrating 70 years of ownership under the Toson family. Family owned and operated cemeteries are unique in Wisconsin, as well as the entire country. Purchased in 1952 by Harold E. Toson, Pinelawn was managed by him and his two sons, Robert W. and Harold N. Toson. Over time, Robert bought the cemetery from his father and brother and eventually sold it to his son, William R. Toson in 1989. William brought his daughter, Christine into the business in 1995 and she worked into full management of Pinelawn in 2000. She purchased it in 2016.

“Four Generations of Caring for Generations to Come” is the tag line for Pinelawn as well as the three other cemeteries that Christine owns in Wisconsin.

Pinelawn has incorporated different types of arrangements for above ground burial (crypts and niches), in ground burial and to accommodate cremation burial options. And while cremation rates are rising throughout the country, Pinelawn’s values and beliefs are that cremation is a form of final disposition, but in no way means a life should not be permanently and properly remembered, celebrated and memorialized… for every life, every person, every family and every type of burial.

Pinelawn is a cemetery that creates a special and permanent place for the living to feel comfortable remembering people and their lives today and for generations to come. n

ANNIVERSARIES

Sponsored Content

MaryBeth Kallio, United Way’s community investment director, helps students try on winter outerwear during United Way’s winter clothing drive in December 2021.

Above: Rodney Prunty (left), past president of United Way, speaks with Susan Stith of Express Scripts (center) and Darlene Slaughter of United Way Worldwide (right) at a report out event for United Way’s Community Conversations initiative in 2017.

Above right: Ali Haigh is the president and CEO of United Way of Racine County

UNITED WAY OF RACINE COUNTY: CREATING IMPACT FOR 100 YEARS

celebrating

100 YEARS in business

United Way of Racine County

United Way of Racine County 2000 Domanik Drive Racine, WI 53404 uni t e d w a y ra cine. org 2 6 2 .898 . 22 40

United Way of Racine County has been changing lives and creating impact in the Racine County community for 100 years. We’ve supported our community through everything from a world war, to vast technological changes, to the COVID-19 pandemic and more, establishing ourselves time and again as an organization responsive to the unique and changing needs of our community.

In 2019, we made history by electing our first female President and CEO Ali Haigh. In her time as president and CEO, Haigh has shifted United Way towards a heavier focus on data and impact reporting – a strategy that will provide us better insights into future funding decisions and programming directions. Haigh’s leadership focuses on place-based collaboration and the use of data and partnerships to drive impact.

United Way of Racine County has a long-standing history of impact in the community. It was founded in 1922 as an effort to consolidate all charitable drives in Racine County. We continued to grow and change as an organization in the early 20th century, supporting Racine County through the effects of the Great Depression and World War II. In 1990, Dave Maurer became United Way’s new president and CEO and shifted our focus to programming, community building and collaboration.

Under Maurer’s leadership, we established our current focus areas of health, education, financial stability and essential services and aligned our work around these building blocks to a good life.

During his tenure, United Way led the creation of the Homeless Assistance Leadership Organization (HALO) and implemented Schools of Hope, an early reading efficiency program.

After Maurer’s retirement in 2013, President and

CEO Rodney Prunty steered United Way towards more equity-centered work. Prunty launched United Way’s Community Conversations initiative, which invites community members to participate in kitchen-table style discussions about their goals and aspirations for Racine County. In 2016 and 2017, these conversations focused exclusively on race, equity and inclusion.

In his tenure, Prunty also implemented the LIFT (Link and Inspire for Tomorrow) community school model in partnership with Racine Unified School District, transforming Knapp Elementary into Racine’s first community school. A community school is a hub for the whole neighborhood and a home base for partner organizations, programs and resources tailored to the needs, challenges and aspirations of the community it serves.

Since 2016, we have also transformed Julian Thomas Elementary and Mitchell K-8 into community schools.

When United Way received a transformational gift from philanthropist MacKenzie Scott at the end of 2020, Haigh’s leadership helped allocate the funding into three main areas – resulting in an increase in equity-focused work through the Equity Innovation Fund, increased support for local nonprofits through the Training and Technology Fund and increased funding for community schools.

In the coming months, we encourage you to stay connected to our work as we unveil new centennial events and begin our milestone campaign. The transformations we’ve made over the years wouldn’t be possible without the support of people like you, and we hope you’ll join us in making our next 100 years even more impactful. n biztimes.com / 31

ANNIVERSARIES

Sponsored Content

BSI & SMART SPACES Company Photo 2021

Right: BSI Live Design Studio located at Corporate Showroom in Waukesha Upper right: Completed Corporate Installation of Milwaukee-area Business

celebrating

75 YEARS in business

BSI (Building Service Inc.) W222N630 Cheaney Road Waukesha, WI 53186 b u i l d ings erv ice. co m 2 6 2 .955 . 64 00 32 / BizTimes Milwaukee MARCH 21, 2022

REINVENTING THE WAY YOU WORK, SINCE 1947 Building Service Inc. has been helping southeastern Wisconsin residents reinvent the way they work since 1947.

Starting as an interior construction contractor, BSI has transformed into a self performing interior integrator. With services including architecture, interior design, specialty interior construction, furniture installation and audio visual integration.

BSI provides clients with the spaces needed to connect, collaborate, and succeed.

To commemorate 75 years in business, BSI will be celebrating with a variety of audiences: To our long-standing clients: Thank you for selecting us to take on your projects with creativity and pride. Getting to know our clients, how they work and how our craft can support theirs has been an incredible process to be a part of. The trust you’ve built with us over the years has shaped where we are today as a company.

To our new and future clients: As we begin our journey with you, we look to you for more opportunities to work together. No matter the size

of your project, we’re here to support you. Forward thinking, future proofing and preparing for any challenges ahead, our teams are ready to work with you for the next 75 years.

To our family of associates: Your commitment to your craft and to our company has been incredible to experience. The hard work you put in each day, no matter the circumstances, and the dedication to supporting your team is inspiring. We are proud to be where we are today and thank you for the impact you’ve made over the last 75 years. n

ANNIVERSARIES

Sponsored Content

A sampling of just some of the bestsellers among the million+ Hal Leonard titles available.

Above left: A 1936 photo of the Hal Leonard Orchestra and their travel trailer Above right: A 1935 portrait of Harold (Hal) and Ev (Leonard) Edstrom

HAL LEONARD: 75 YEARS OF INNOVATION IN MUSIC PUBLISHING

celebrating

75 YEARS in business

Hal Leonard 7777 W Bluemound Rd Milwaukee, WI h a l l e ona rd. co m 4 1 4 .774 . 36 30

In the late 1930s, two brothers—Harold (“Hal”) and Everett Leonard Edstrom—met Roger Busdicker at Winona State Teacher’s College where they were all studying music. They formed a dance band that quickly became popular.

Concerned that their conservative father wouldn’t approve of using their family name for a band, the brothers combined their first names to create the Hal Leonard Orchestra instead. After much success, even making the cover of Billboard magazine, World War II began and broke up the band.

After the war, the three bandmates were teaching music, directing school bands, and running a music store.

Hal’s band won a national marching band contest which had used one of his arrangements of a popular song. This was unusual for a time where most bands were playing standard marches, not pop tunes from the radio. Hal started getting requests from other bands for more arrangements and the three friends soon realized that they should look at entering the publishing industry.

THE REST, AS THEY SAY, IS HISTORY. Officially founded in 1947, Hal Leonard now represents the most popular music of all time, including Disney, the Beatles, Adele, Taylor Swift, Elton John, Rush, Rodgers and Hammerstein, Andrew Lloyd Webber, and thousands more. They remain the leader in music education, with Hal Leonard methods available for everything from guitar and piano to Chinese pipa and bagpipes! Their Essential Elements methods for band and orchestra have taught millions of students. Today, their catalog includes over one million items available in print and digital formats.

In 1970, Milwaukee native Keith Mardak and

associates, partnered with the Hal Leonard founders to start a new business in Milwaukee, eventually becoming the company’s global headquarters. Under Keith’s leadership, the company grew to be the largest music publisher in the world.

The company has grown to over 700 employees with their administration, production and distribution facility still located in Winona, MN and additional offices in Boston, Austin, and San Francisco, and offices abroad in Australia, Belgium, China, Germany, the Netherlands, India, Italy, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom.

The company has also become a global leader in digital music distribution and instruction with websites including Sheet Music Direct, Noteflight, Groove3, Sheet Music Plus, and Essential Elements Music Class.

The company has also expanded into distribution of gear to the music trade, representing Gretsch Drums, Paiste Cymbals, Flight Ukuleles, ProTools Software, and dozens more.

The Hal Leonard mission is to be the best global provider of tools and resources for learning, teaching, creating, and making music. Their vision is to enrich people’s lives by providing what they need to make music.

“From those humble beginnings of the founders breaking the mold by bringing pop music into school bands, to current employees finding ways to help educators who suddenly needed to teach music remotely during the pandemic, to growing and diversifying our offerings for print, digital, and gear for all musicians and music stores, Hal Leonard is proud to spread the joy of making music around the world,” says Larry Morton chief executive officer. “It’s what we do, and we love it!” n biztimes.com / 33

ANNIVERSARIES

Sponsored Content

CELEBRATING 65 YEARS OF MAKING HOMEOWNERSHIP POSSIBLE AT MGIC

celebrating

65 YEARS in business

MGIC 270 E. Kilbourn Ave. Milwaukee, WI 53202 m g i c .co m 1 .8 0 0. 55 8. 9 90 0 34 / BizTimes Milwaukee MARCH 21, 2022

We know what homeownership can do At MGIC, we believe homeownership opens the door to economic and social benefits: wealth accumulation, family stability, improved education, safer neighborhoods, higher civic engagement, even improved health. That’s why we’re proud we invented the modern private mortgage insurance (MI) industry in 1957 and offer a product that has helped millions of families achieve homeownership sooner.

Private MI helps people – especially first-time and low- to medium-wealth homebuyers – get the keys to their own homes with as little as 3% down. And we’ve joined the many private and public organizations that are collaborating on solutions to help close existing racial and ethnic gaps in homeownership.

Homeownership’s benefits to society ripple outward, and the value we place on homes and the people in them influences the way we approach our business.

Giving back locally It’s not just our core product that strengthens communities. We strive to be a model in our hometown, the heart of downtown Milwaukee. We love our big city with its small-town feel, and we’re passionate about supporting the local community.

Our corporate sponsorship and volunteerism programs – including paid volunteer hours – are well-loved by our co-workers and designed to make our community stronger while providing service, mentoring and leadership development opportunities to our employees.

Prioritizing the employee experience We also strive to make a positive difference in our employees’ lives.

“We place a very high value on the employee experience,” said Annette Adams, Chief Human Resources Officer. “We want to ensure continual growth, healthy collaboration, and meaningful

performance for every single co-worker – and that means thoughtfully cultivating every aspect of the experience, from benefits packages to manager training to diversity and inclusion efforts.”

MGIC has been a Top 100 Workplaces in Southeastern Wisconsin winner 10 consecutive times, and we are always looking for ways to create an ever more vibrant and inclusive workplace. This includes a generous benefits package and comprehensive wellness program, including on-site gym and fitness offerings, as well as paid volunteer time each year.

Customer success and innovation MGIC has invested in a transformation of our business operations to provide a best-in-class, datadriven customer experience that meets the demands of an increasingly dynamic marketplace. That means investing in both technology and people, like the fresh perspectives and skill sets we’re bringing into our expanded Data + Analytics practice.

65 years of helping communities thrive Both inside and outside our walls, we take pride in knowing that what we do matters. Affordable homeownership remains a cornerstone of strong and vibrant communities, and is just as impactful now as it was in 1957.

65 years later, we’re still here celebrating the 13.5 million people who were able to achieve homeownership much sooner than they dreamed possible with the help of MGIC mortgage insurance.

We also celebrate our team, 700+ strong, who help make homeownership possible every day as MGIC co-workers. We’re proud to be a vibrant employer in Milwaukee, and the premier private MI provider nationwide, supporting the American dream of homeownership.

Explore the possibilities at MGIC: mgic.com/possible n

ANNIVERSARIES

Sponsored Content Dirk Debbink, P.E., Vice Admiral USNR (ret.), Chairman & CEO

Left: The MSI General Team on the jobsite at St. Theresa in Eagle, WI Right: John Kutz, VP of Sales on the left, and Ken Krahe, President on the right

DESIGNED AND BUILT WITH HUMBLE ROOTS AND A SOLID FOUNDATION

celebrating

65 YEARS in business

MSI General Corporation W215 E. Wisconsin Ave Nashotah, WI 53058 m s i g e n e ra l . c om 262. 3 6 7 . 3 6 6 1

The 65th anniversary of MSI General Corporation is an opportunity to reflect on the history and growth of MSI General. From its humble roots as a preengineered building dealer in the 1960s to what it is today—a prominent design/build commercial construction general contractor in southeastern Wisconsin.

Anchored by our five core values of integrity, commitment, trust, passion, and teamwork, we endorse the importance of family and community service. In the words of Dirk Debbink, our Chairman and CEO, “Time has really taught me that the more you give, the more you get back in ways you never could have imagined.”

Founded in 1957 by Claude Debbink and his son Pete under the name Metal Structures Inc., MSI was one of the first of its kind, a fully integrated design/ build company in Wisconsin. Dirk Debbink started working around age 13 in “the shop” located in the carriage barn on his family’s property.

From 1963 to 1974, the company operated out of downtown Oconomowoc at the four corners, where Pete Debbink’s office overlooked the busy intersection. The Debbink family business moved to Nashotah in 1974 and officially changed its name from Metal Structures Inc. to MSI General Corporation in 1976.

Dirk officially joined the MSI General team in 1983 and was appointed president eight years later. In

addition to working for and running MSI General, Dirk sustained a distinguished naval career, both active and reserve. He is a graduate of the U.S. Naval Academy with a Bachelor of Science in Systems Engineering. From 2007 to 2012, he served as Chief of the Navy Reserve and retired as a Three-Star Navy Vice Admiral. Throughout the years of balancing his family life and community service, Dirk has successfully led the growth and development of MSI General.

In 2017, we completely renovated our offices in Nashotah. In October 2021, Dirk Debbink began transitioning to the next generation of company leadership by announcing two additional shareholders: Ken Krahe, President, and John Kutz, VP of Sales, both long-standing team members.

Focusing on strategic company growth while maintaining the commitment to excellence Dirk and his father have firmly established, MSI General is stronger than ever. Dirk, Ken and John are positively aligned with our trademarked company motto: Designing Excellence, Building Trust.

MSI General prides itself on being both familycentered and client-focused. We embrace the future by guaranteeing the visions we build and the work we perform for our clients. Determined to make our client partnership experience enjoyable and productive, we passionately refer to our five core values and our team approach as The MSI General Way. n biztimes.com / 35

ANNIVERSARIES

Sponsored Content Rain or Shine, volunteers fill cars at a local food distribution during the height of the coronavirus pandemic.

Volunteers sort through food at the Feeding America Eastern Wisconsin warehouse in 1988

THE LEADING HUNGER-RELIEF ORGANIZATION IN THE STATE

celebrating

40 YEARS in business

Feeding America Eastern Wisconsin 1700 W. Fond du Lac Avenue Milwaukee, WI 53205 f e e d i nga merica w i. org/ 4 1 4 .931 . 74 00 36 / BizTimes Milwaukee MARCH 21, 2022

Since 1982, Feeding America Eastern Wisconsin has been helping our neighbors in need.

From our humble beginnings and the first donation of 600 pounds of apples, to distributing more than 53 million pounds of food in a year during the pandemic, we are helping those who face hunger move forward.

As we celebrate 40 years as a food bank, we are honoring our past and inspiring our future.

Over 40 years ago, Dr. Milton J. Huber, a professor of public affairs at the University of Wisconsin – Milwaukee, saw a problem and sought out the Rotary Club for help. He noticed that overproduction and the overstocking of multi-department supermarkets in order to meet consumer expectations led to a rapid increase in wasted food.

Huber suggested to Rotarians, Price Davis and Art Riemer, that the Milwaukee Rotary Club would be the perfect group to spearhead a food banking system to save surplus food and deliver it to people facing hunger in their city. A local grower provided their first donation—600 pounds of apples.

Those apples laid the foundation for what has led to years of hunger relief work, reaching far beyond neighborhoods in Milwaukee.

Today, Feeding America Eastern Wisconsin is the leading local hunger-relief organization in the state.

The nonprofit operates food banks in Milwaukee and Appleton, and receives food from retailers, wholesalers, farmers, government programs, and other donors.

The food is transported and sorted before it is distributed to pantries and meal programs across 35 Eastern Wisconsin counties.

Due to the pandemic, protecting people’s livelihood has become more crucial than ever. In 2021, more than 40 percent of households were forced to decide between paying utility bills or paying for groceries. As supply chains continued to see disruptions that diminished food donations, Feeding America Eastern Wisconsin purchased 529.34% more food to be distributed and executed more than 130 mobile pantries to meet the increased need.

Feeding America Eastern Wisconsin continues to remove barriers between people and food. For example, our outreach specialists connect food insecure individuals with FoodShare and other vital resources they need to keep their families fed and healthy.

Feeding America Eastern Wisconsin also looks at the bigger picture of hunger, investing in advocacy and policy efforts. Working with lawmakers to support legislative solutions to end hunger is a critical part of our work.

To commemorate 40 years serving our neighbors in need, Feeding America Eastern Wisconsin is hosting “The Grateful Plate Gala - 40 Years and Forward” on April, 7th 2022. The event will include a cocktail party, silent auction, plated dinner, and a conversation with Katie Martin, PHD. Katie is the author of Reinventing Food Banks and Pantries: New Tools to End Hunger.

Tickets and sponsorship packages are available at FeedingAmericaWI.org/plate.

To learn more and stay connected with Feeding America Eastern Wisconsin, visit FeedingAmericaWI. org or follow us on all major social media channels.

Together we can solve hunger. n

ANNIVERSARIES

Sponsored Content

Waukesha location

Clockwise from top: Dr. Michael Bubon, Dr. Kersden Loretoni–Rozny and Dr. Michael Rozny

celebrating

29 YEARS in business

Bubon Orthodontics 21680 W Bluemound Rd Waukesha, WI 53186 b u b o no rt h o. co m 262.522.7447

DECADES OF FAMILY TREATING FAMILIES At Bubon Orthodontics, we’re a family treating families. We’ve been providing the best value for braces and Invisalign to southeastern Wisconsin for nearly three decades, and we’re proud of it.

In 1993, Dr. Michael Bubon founded Bubon Orthodontics and opened his first practice in Waukesha, Wisc. We are now one of the largest privately-owned orthodontic practices in the United States. We’re grateful for the opportunity to serve several counties, including Waukesha, Milwaukee, Ozaukee, Washington, and Jefferson.

As we’ve grown from 1 office to 15, we’ve welcomed Dr. Michael Rozny and Dr. Kersden Loretoni-Rozny to our team of practice owners. Joined by several other expert orthodontists, our doctors work together to maintain a family-oriented culture in every office and take a holistic approach to straightening teeth.

Many employees have been with us since the beginning, and as we expand, more talented professionals continue to join our team. Together,

we’ve created over 40,000 smiles!

Gone are the days of goop impressions and headgear. Our offices are equipped with the most advanced orthodontic technology, including Invisalign’s iTero Scanners, which create a 3D map of your smile within minutes.

Using state-of-the-art technology allows us to provide the safest and most customized orthodontic care to everyone who walks through our doors.

We are proud to be Wisconsin’s #1 Invisalign provider. With over 50 years of combined experience, we are in the top 1 percent of Invisalign providers nationwide.

While a lot has changed over the years, one thing that will always remain the same is our dedication to providing high-quality orthodontic care at an affordable cost. Whether it’s for braces or Invisalign, no matter your age, visits to our offices are fun and convenient. We can’t wait to welcome you into our Bubon Orthodontics family soon! n biztimes.com / 37

ANNIVERSARIES

Sponsored Content

Above: Enviro-Safe headquarters in Germantown Left: Jeff Vilione and Dawn Zellmer-Vilione Below: Recycled Drums

MINIMIZING WASTE TO MAXIMIZE OUR RESOURCES!

celebrating

20 YEARS in business

Enviro-Safe Consulting W130 N10500 Washington Dr Germantown, WI 53022 e nv i ro -s a fe. co m 262.790.2500 38 / BizTimes Milwaukee MARCH 21, 2022

Enviro-Safe Consulting, LLC (dba Enviro-Safe Resource Recovery) was formed in April of 2002.

Jeff Vilione and Dawn Zellmer-Vilione, a husbandand-wife team started off thinking there was a better way to offer sustainable environmental services in the waste industry.

Jeff, founder and president of the company, is a 35-year veteran in the waste industry, and Dawn, founder and CEO, has 29 years of experience in the environmental compliance arena while working for past chemical and paint manufacturers.

When starting out, our office consisted of a 10’ x 10’ bedroom with a desk, phone, computer, and one car. Our first customers were people who switched to us due to past working relationships, and we’re proud to say they are all still customers today.

“It’s hard to comprehend it’s been 20 years. There are so many things that go through your head, like our core values when we started; respect, passion, integrity, sustainability, and trust,” said Dawn. “We have never wavered on those key words. It just seems like everything has just flown by.”

Sustainability has always been a focal point in our company’s past, and even more so, our future.

Enviro-Safe provided customers sustainability and waste management recycling options designed to limit liabilities, reduce overall costs and preserve the environment.

We grew the company and first moved to office space in Brookfield, Wisconsin. In 2010, Enviro-Safe built a 15,000-square-foot, state-of-the-art recycling

facility in Germantown, Wisconsin. In 2021, we completed a 30,000-square-foot expansion on that space which allows us to better serve Wisconsin and the Midwest.

Over the past 20 years, Enviro-Safe has received numerous growth and environmental awards. EnviroSafe is an 11-time winner of the Inc. 5000 award for fastest growing companies, a two-time winner of the National Zweigwhite award for fastest growing architecture, engineering and environmental firms as well as the Wisconsin Manufacturers and Commerce “Business Friend of the Environment Award.” EnviroSafe also is a Metropolitan Milwaukee Association of Commerce (MMAC) “Future 50 Master Mettle” recipient having received the award in 2005, 2006, and 2019.

In 2020, Enviro-Safe became a certified womanowned business by the Women’s Business Enterprise National Council.

“It’s been a great journey and we truly feel very blessed to be able to overcome the ups and downs of starting a new business. It appears we are on the right path because we continue to grow,” said Jeff. “As we move forward and look at what’s in front of us, we couldn’t be prouder and more inspired by the people that got us to this point. This company was built by our employees, who are committed to our customers, our programs and our services. They take pride in their work and have stepped up and grown along the way. We are proud of our loyal customers/partnerships, our services offered over the years, our vendors, and our community.” n

ANNIVERSARIES

Sponsored Content

Cofounders and Partners (L-R): Mazio Barian, Adam Kiehl, Andy Gallion

Left: InCheck Executive Leadership (L-R): Adam Kiehl, Rachel Morafcik, Andy Gallion Above: InCheck conference room

20 YEARS OF PARTNERSHIP, SERVICE, AND GROWTH

By Andy Gallion, CEO & Co-Founder, InCheck

celebrating

20 YEARS in business

InCheck 7500 West State Street, Suite 200 Wauwatosa, WI 53213 i nc h e cks o lut io ns . com 4 1 4 .72 7. 1 71 8

In 2002, my partners Adam Kiehl, Mazio Barian, and I took the entrepreneurial leap of leaving full-time recruiting jobs and starting a background screening company in Wauwatosa, Wisc. — where InCheck is still headquartered today. We envisioned building a better model than the screening processes we were experiencing as recruiters. We saw there was a gap in the industry that could be addressed by creating a consultative partnership with HR and Talent Acquisition leaders, while simultaneously focusing on people and customer service. We knew we could excel in that space.

The first few years were enjoyable, and we did well.

But a little more than four years into the business, Adam and I were still performing all the company functions – sales and marketing, client service, report processing, accounting, IT, and even random drug test collecting. To say we were spread thin would be a nice way of saying we had an unsustainable model that relied too heavily on us. We needed to grow.

Our first major growth spurt happened in 2010 with the acquisition of the first true enterprise account, a large national provider of higher education services. We hired approximately ten new employees to perform specialized job functions like criminal investigations or verifications. This created the blueprint for the department model at InCheck.

I am proud to share that this client is still with InCheck today, along with several employees who are celebrating 12-year anniversaries this year.

We continued to grow each consecutive year.

In 2018 we restructured and reached almost one hundred employees. In 2020 we rebranded and focused on establishing additional resources and

training for our now “virtual first” teams. We continue to invest in developing our leaders, building an inclusive culture, and recruiting top industry talent.

Even after a brief 2020 COVID blip, InCheck has experienced tremendous growth over the last 14 months and is back to a comparable pre-COVID size.

By keeping a constant eye on exceptional service, we have established a sustainable, efficient model focused on delivering end-to-end screening solutions, including: » Criminal background checks » Pre-employment drug testing » Occupational health screening » Education verifications » Employment verifications » I-9 and E-Verify solutions Today is an exciting moment in our company timeline. The vision and model we have built will carry us through a strategic, organic growth phase, creating many new opportunities over the next several years. InCheck is a resolute team that is talented, hardworking, caring, and enthusiastic. Our team cares about each other, our clients, and the company.

It remains one of my primary goals as CEO to instill a feeling of inclusion, purpose, and connection among our employees.

I am proud of our team that has built a successful business, but seeing the growth story of so many individuals who have celebrated personal and professional milestones while being a part of our organization is the most rewarding.

To me, it has always been about the people and always will be. n biztimes.com / 39

Special Report TOURISM & HOSPITALITY

MILWAUKEE FOOD & CITY TOURS AND REMINISCE STUDIO BY MIRANDA & ADAM

Passengers board tour buses for a shore excursion led by Milwaukee Food & City Tours.

Cruisin’ back to Milwaukee Return of cruise ships, and addition of Viking, means $1.8 million boost for local tourism industry

BY MAREDITHE MEYER, staff writer THE ENTIRE CRUISE INDUSTRY was stranded on dry land for the past two years thanks to COVID-19.

But with U.S. and Canadian restrictions now lifted, passenger cruise ships will again set sail on the Great Lakes – and Milwaukee is poised to reclaim its momentum as a growing cruise hub.

Port Milwaukee expects passenger cruise ships to make a total of 27 port calls here this season, bringing more than 10,000 visitors. That’s up from 10 port calls and 3,214 visitors in 2019.

“Optimism is high and interest is high,” said Port director Adam Tindall-Schlicht.

Excitement around the 2022 cruise season has been building in Milwaukee since early 2020.

Three months before the pandemic hit the area, international cruise giant Viking announced plans to enter the market this year. Its new Expeditions division offers six Great Lakes itineraries, including tours between Milwaukee and Toronto and Milwaukee and Thunder Bay, Ontario.

Viking’s newly constructed 628-person (378 guests and 256 crew) Octantis ship will embark on its maiden Great Lakes voyage in late April, making its first port call in Milwaukee on May 7. Over the

following five months, a total of 20 Viking voyages will start or end at Port Milwaukee.

“Since announcing Viking Expeditions in January 2020, we have seen strong demand for our new Great Lakes itineraries. Our guests are curious travelers, and the new itineraries provide a new region to explore,” a Viking representative said, adding that this season’s Great Lakes voyages are nearly sold out.

Port Milwaukee estimates passenger cruise traffic will generate upwards of $1.8 million in direct revenue to the local economy this year “and every year going forward as the industry continues to grow,” said Tindall-Schlicht.

That figure is based on a recent economic impact study by the Port of Duluth. It found that passengers spend on average $188 per person at a turnaround port of call (at the start or end of a cruise), versus $111 per person at a regular port of call.

Being a turnaround port means Milwaukee sees twice as many passengers for each vessel that visits, and cruise ships pay double the docking fees.

The port’s financial health has remained strong during the pandemic, so any revenue it enjoys from cruise activity this season is a bonus. What’s even more crucial, in the wake of COVID’s devasting impact, is the influx of dollars coming into the local tourism and hospitality industries.

“We’re trying to grow the market because we understand that it has a major impact on our community, above and beyond the port,” said Tindall-Schlicht. “It’s bringing passengers back into our hotels, it’s bringing tourists back into our cultural amenities, back into our restaurants, back into our neighborhoods.”

The promise of Viking’s entry into the Great Lakes market helped motivate one Milwaukee-based tour company in the fight to survive the pandemic’s darkest days. After several years

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Henry Maier Festival Park is the perfect setting to ensure your event’s success. Start your event planning or visit the venue by reaching out to Kevin Canady at kcanady@summerfest.com.

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Special Report

of showing cruise passengers all there is to love about Brew City, Milwaukee Food & City Tours has landed a contract with Viking to be its provider of on-shore excursions in North American port cities across the Great Lakes region. It launched a new company, Great Lakes Shore Excursions, which will roll out the welcome wagon when Viking passengers disembark at ports in Michigan, Minnesota, Illinois and Wisconsin.

Theresa Nemetz, founder of Milwaukee Food & City Tours, approached Viking during a site visit to Milwaukee shortly after it announced its plans to launch Expeditions.

“I was learning about what they were doing and thinking about the really small towns they were visiting and thinking about the infrastructure in the towns that was needed to pull off cruise ship visits,” said Nemetz.

The company is working to hire 15 to 20 parttime employees in each port city who will serve as local tour guides and day-of staff to answer questions, coordinate transportation and make recommendations.

Site excursions in Milwaukee typically include landmarks like the Harley-Davidson Museum, the Pabst Mansion, North Point Lighthouse and the Milwaukee Art Museum. With an emphasis on educational tourism and fresh-water research, Viking Expeditions passengers will experience a mix of culture and nature.

“Many of their excursions are small groups, so they have this really intimate learning opportunity, and then also nature-based, so doing things like going birding at the Urban Ecology Center, hiking out in the Kettle Moraine and kayaking with Milwaukee Kayak Co.,” said Nemetz.

Amid the challenges of the past two years, Nemetz has kept her eyes on what lies ahead.

“It was really important for us to stay alive during the pandemic because we knew we had this Viking opportunity and we needed to be ready for the moment the cruising industry would return,” she said. n

JON ELLIOTT - MKE DRONES

TOURISM & HOSPITALITY

The Pearl Mist cruise ship docks in Milwaukee.

A rendering of Viking’s Octantis ship.

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LORI ROSENTHAL

MARY PIONTKOWSKI

VICE PRESIDENT, PRINCIPAL

VICE PRESIDENT, DIRECTOR OF STRUCTURAL ENGINEERING

GRAEF

HARWOOD ENGINEERING CONSULTANTS

BizTimes Milwaukee is proud to present its inaugural showcase of Notable Women in Engineering spotlighting accomplished professionals throughout the region. The engineering professionals profiled on the following pages were nominated by their peers at work and in the community and showcase the diversity of talent in our market. The accomplishments of the individuals profiled here set an example to shape a better future for our region.

Lori Rosenthal, vice president, principal and group leader at GRAEF’s Milwaukee headquarters, started as a project structural engineer at the firm nearly 30 years ago. She now oversees the facilities group, the firm’s largest and fastest growing division.

“She is ambitious, high-achieving and always on the go,” Kissinger said.

Piontkowski enjoys one-on-one encounters with other engineers, architects, developers and contractors, according to colleague Honey Szymanski.

METHODOLOGY: The honorees did not pay to be included.

Their profiles were drawn from nomination materials. This list features only individuals for whom nominations were submitted and accepted after a review by our editorial team. To qualify for the list, nominees must be based in southeastern Wisconsin and work in an engineering or engineering-related role for their firm, and they must have impacted the region in significant ways through their professional, civic and philanthropic involvement.

Rosenthal travels the country to develop and maintain client relationships and mentor developing staff on best practices, how to run efficient meetings and how to navigate project-management financial systems.

“She wants others to understand the importance of structure and how it interacts with and supports other building components. She believes that mentoring others can help them thrive and leads everyone to more personal, team and project successes,” Szymanski said.

“Lori is a sought-after mentor and has influenced the lives and careers of many, both men and women at GRAEF,” Kissinger said.

Outside the office, Piontkowski serves as a volunteer judge for academic engineering competitions, including the local Future City competition for area middle schools and the national collegiate Timber Strong Design Build Competition.

Rosenthal also serves as a representative on both GRAEF’s pandemic committee and the company’s Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Council.

“Lori is not afraid to jump in, roll up her sleeves and solve some really tough problems,” said John Kissinger, president and CEO at GRAEF. Rosenthal is also an elected member of GRAEF’s board of directors and is involved in various growth initiatives for the firm.

In 2010, Mary Piontkowski joined Milwaukee-based Harwood Engineering Consultants as a newly licensed professional engineer and within 10 years rose to the position of vice president and director of structural engineering at the firm.

Her primary background is with structural-steel-framed systems and timber design, but she also has experience with masonry, coldformed metal framing and reinforced concrete design. Her work has been in various market sectors, including hospitality, industrial, health care, multi-family residential, municipal, commercial and adaptive reuse.

Advertise in these upcoming special reports to get your message in front of area business executives.

Buildings & Construction April 25, 2022 Space Reservation: April 6, 2022

The Executive April 25, 2022

Space Reservation: April 6, 2022 Contact Linda Crawford today!

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KRISTIN KURZKA

KRISTI LINSMEIER

BAIBA ROZITE

VICE PRESIDENT

GROUP LEADER/SENIOR ENGINEER

PROFESSIONAL LAND SURVEYOR

THE SIGMA GROUP

THE SIGMA GROUP

THE SIGMA GROUP Kristin Kurzka was recently named vice president of Milwaukee-based The Sigma Group, where she is responsible for training, mentoring, project management and business development in the environmental and civil engineering firm’s practice area of subsurface investigation and remediation. She has been with Sigma for more than 27 years of the firm’s 31-year history.

“She has demonstrated a strong passion for timely and responsible solutions for our clients faced with the unknown subsurface conditions associated with urban redevelopment as well as legacy manufacturing sites,” said Kenneth Kaszubowski, president of The Sigma Group.

Kurzka is serving a third term as a member of the Women in Commercial Real Estate – Wisconsin (WCREW) board of directors and is one of the founders and former chair of the WUCREW/WCREW Careers Committee, which aims to educate and mentor high school and college women interested in careers in the CRE industry.

She has taken on a large role with City of Milwaukee projects and led the multi-organization and multi-discipline team associated with getting case closure for the Menomonee Valley Industrial Park on behalf of the city.

Kristi Linsmeier is environmental engineering group leader for Milwaukee-based The Sigma Group, where she directs a multi-discipline staff in assisting clients with regulatory compliance and permitting issues, indoor air quality assessments and process-related engineering tasks.

“Kristi’s diligent approach over the years has earned her a reputation as one of the state’s go-to individuals for regulatory risk management programs. She brings a highly disciplined and organized approach to her work and her clients, which is imperative given the high risk associated with regulatory compliance,” said Kenneth Kaszubowski, president of The Sigma Group.

Linsmeier has been with the 31-year-old firm for 28 years, starting out as an intern while attending the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee as an engineering undergraduate. Recently, she was assigned the responsibility of integrating a merger between The Sigma Group and Rivers Bend Engineering in Sturtevant.

Linsmeier has led Sigma’s efforts to stay engaged during the COVID-19 pandemic, leading the “culture, connect, communicate” initiative, ensuring that staff stay aware and informed on business, client and internal activity while working remotely, Kaszubowski said.

Baiba Rozite has spent 17 of her more than 25 years as a professional land surveyor with Milwaukee-based The Sigma Group.

“She is one of the most sought-after professional land surveyors in Wisconsin. Known for her attention to detail, accuracy and response time to our clients, Baiba serves as The Sigma Group’s go-to person for property transaction work. She is counted on to solve both difficult and sensitive issues for our clients,” said Kenneth Kaszubowski, president of The Sigma Group.

Rozite has been a leader in the civil and environmental firm’s efforts to acquire digital information from UAV, Lidar and laser scanning, Kaszubowski said. She is a member of the Wisconsin Society of Land Surveyors and the Society of Southeastern Wisconsin Land Surveyors. She serves as a mentor for young surveyors at Sigma and across the state.

Rozite is also a co-chairperson for the Sigma-sponsored Milwaukee Urban Eco-Athalon, an annual community-based fundraiser benefitting the Milwaukee Homeless Veterans Initiative.

Congratulations Kristin Kurzka, P.E, P.G Baiba Rozite, P.L.S Kristi Linsmeier, P.E

HOW TO

ADVI C E FOR S MA LL BU SI N E SSE S SMALL BUSINESSES drive Wisconsin’s economy. These companies are working together to move our state forward.

Share your firm’s knowledge and experience with local small businesses as those companies are looking for local providers.

We are proud of your inclusion in the Notable Women of Engineering. Well deserved!

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BROOKE MAYER ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR AND DIRECTOR OF GRADUATE STUDIES

OPUS COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING AT MARQUETTE UNIVERSITY Brooke Mayer, associate professor and director of graduate studies in the Department of Civil, Construction and Environmental Engineering at the Opus College of Engineering at Marquette University, is an educator, researcher and community leader.

Mayer is helping to solidify Milwaukee as a hub of environmental engineering innovation, said Kristina Ropella, dean of the Opus College of Engineering.

In 2021, Mayer engaged Marquette as one of eight partners in the Science & Technologies for Phosphorus Sustainability (STEPS) Center, a multi-institutional project to address phosphorus sustainability.

“With funding from NSF, this work will have lasting economic impact and drives toward greater global food security,” Ropella said.

Mayer also co-leads a new $3.8 million project focused on developing sustainable technologies to protect the environment and provide clean drinking water.

“Dr. Mayer is tackling critical engineering challenges while opening the door for a more inclusive engineering community,” Ropella said.

“It is incredible to see a leader who drives innovation with their own talents while recognizing the need to develop a pipeline of engineers to push toward future solutions.”

CAROLYNN GELLINGS OWNER, PROFESSIONAL ENGINEER

GELLINGS TECHNICAL SERVICES LLC Carolynn Gellings, owner of Gellings Technical Services LLC, has spent her entire engineering career in the Milwaukee area contributing to a number of notable projects. She led the I-794/Hoan Bridge reconstruction project for the Wisconsin Department of Transportation and served as construction manager for the Hop streetcar’s first phase of rail and wire system construction.

Following those projects, she served as engineering services manager for Waukesha County Department of Public Works, leading the engineering division and serving as the county engineer.

Since then, she has started her own engineering firm, with a focus on stakeholder engagement on infrastructure projects.

“She is known for her ability to both lead large technical teams and work tirelessly with stakeholders impacted by her projects,” said Ian Abston, director of the Hoan Group. “The Hop construction exemplifies this, as she coordinated with more than 700 stakeholders along the route, dealing with a range of issues, including multi-year utility and construction work, safety coordination of an electrified system, valet parking reconfiguration, and Summerfest traffic planning.”

REBECCA TALLON ENGINEERING DIRECTOR - GLOBAL WATER TREATMENT

A. O. SMITH CORP. Rebecca Tallon leads Milwaukee-based A. O. Smith Corp.’s global water treatment technology strategy, working to identify potential disruptors and technologies to be converted into products that drive value for its customers.

Recently, she led the design of an enterprise-wide product development process expected to reduce concept-to-market time by at least 30%.

“Becky has been integral in the expansion of North America Water Treatment, A. O. Smith’s fastest-growing division, including the company’s acquisitions of Master Water Conditioning in 2021 and Appleton-based Water-Right Group in 2019,” said Robert Heideman, senior vice president and chief technology officer of A. O. Smith.

Tallon serves on the Water Quality Association board and its Women in Industry Advisory Council and is also active in WQA’s mentorship program. She was awarded the National Association of Manufacturers’ STEP Ahead award in 2020 for leadership in science, technology, engineering and production.

biztimes.com / 45

HOLLY MERSON

SARAH FRECSKA

VIOLET RAZO

SENIOR PROFESSIONAL ENGINEER

PRINCIPAL

PROJECT MANAGER

PIERCE ENGINEERS

RUEKERT & MIELKE INC.

WALBEC GROUP (PAYNE AND DOLAN) Holly Merson, senior professional engineer at Pewaukee-based Walbec Group, is a tenured engineer with more than 20 years of experience directing and completing roadway design, environmental permitting and project construction leader efforts on heavy civil infrastructure projects for a range of public and private sector clients throughout Wisconsin.

Sarah Frecska, principal at Milwaukee-based Pierce Engineers, recently served as the structural engineer on Timber Lofts, Milwaukee’s first cross-laminated timber building.

Timber Lofts was an adaptive re-use of an 1890s-era industrial loft building. Completed in 2020, the project was recognized by the 2021 U.S. Wood Design award, The Daily Reporter Top Projects of 2020 and the 2021 Mayor’s Design Award.

Within Walbec, Merson is part of the engineering and surveying services team. She oversees the yearly interns, is involved in the Women of Walbec employee resource group and is part of the WOW mentorship program. Merson is also a member of the North America Stormwater and Erosion Control Association of Wisconsin.

Throughout that project and others, Frecska mentored her design colleagues at Pierce. Her designs and leadership have helped to develop the competencies of the team and elevate Pierce Engineers, said Pierce colleague Kylee Spillane.

“Holly is a technical nucleus in the civil engineering industry and is a subject matter expert for Payne and Dolan (a Walbec Group company). Holly’s broad range of design, construction and project management experience allows her to lead our engineering and surveying team from concept to construction on a wide range of internal and external infrastructure projects,” said Craig Donze, engineering manager for Payne and Dolan.

Frecska is also active within the education community, serving as a senior design project juror at the Milwaukee School of Engineering and providing structural advising for the IP-BIM Studio for the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee School of Architecture and Urban Planning. She is a member of the Architectural Drafting/Construction Technology Advisory Committee at Waukesha County Technical College and has also held various leadership roles for the Structural Engineers Association of Wisconsin.

Since joining Pewaukee-based Ruekert & Mielke Inc. in 2005, project manager Violet Razo has made a positive impact on her clients, peers, mentees and leaders, said Steve Wurster, the firm’s chief operating officer.

“Violet’s design projects have made a lasting impact on the quality of life for those living in the communities she’s served,” Wurster said.

Razo’s notable recent work has included major road reconstruction design, storm sewer analysis and design, water main design, sanitary sewer rehabilitation, and storm water management planning.

“Violet’s skills are equally matched by her seemingly effortless ability to navigate difficult projects and find creative solutions to the most challenging situations. She makes our clients and their residents feel valued and respected. In fact, one of our clients still refers to an early road design project that Violet managed as ‘Violet’s Way’ because she was so great to work with. She’s one of our most talented project managers and an invaluable leader at our firm,” said Stan Sugden, president of Ruekert & Mielke.

KIM CRAWFORD

WILKISTAR OTIENO

SARAH ELGER

CHIEF XPLORATORY OFFICER

DEPARTMENT CHAIR AND ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR, INDUSTRIAL AND MANUFACTURING ENGINEERING

DIRECTOR OF PRODUCT INNOVATION AND STRATEGY

PARTSBADGER Kim Crawford has been a leading pioneer in the development of PartsBadger, starting as the sole design engineer and now serving as “chief xploratory officer” for the growing Cedarburg-based CNC shop.

Colleagues said Crawford’s background and skills have been recognized for improving engineering systems and designs, strong efficiency and improving company standards.

UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN-MILWAUKEE’S COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING & APPLIED SCIENCE Wilkistar Otieno has made many contributions to the engineering community through her research in predictive data analytics, sustainable manufacturing, energy sustainability and reliability analysis of products and systems, colleagues said.

“Her passion is rooted in engineering, but it typically crosses over into operations and production. This has allowed her opportunities to travel internationally, gain more knowledge of the market and help establish a broader supply chain,” according to colleague Brandon Spenneberg. “Kim transitioned into the CXO role, focusing on innovative business development and key account management opportunities.”

Otieno serves as department chair and an associate professor within the University of Wisconisn-Milwaukee’s College of Engineering & Applied Science, and is also co-director of the U.S. Department of Energy Industrial Assessment Center at UWM.

“Kim is a great leader due to her wide knowledge base and willingness to assist others. When specific information is not known within the company, she is willing to do whatever is necessary to find out the information needed, driving the company to advance quickly,” said Nick Krumbiegel, lead design engineer for PartsBadger.

“Dr. Otieno has continually worked with industry to engage in a true partnering fashion, including a sabbatical in industry, adopting applied automation and controls laboratories into her classes, working with industry researchers, end users, subject matter experts and system integrators to directly shape relevant and forward-looking learning labs and curriculum,” Cook said.

Otieno expands her research impact by partnering with local and regional businesses, said Michael Cook, director of global academic engagement for Rockwell Automation.

In May 2021, Otieno was selected to represent UWM faculty in a roundtable discussion with vice president Kamala Harris and academic and elected Wisconsin officials regarding sustainable energy, research innovation and education.

46 / BizTimes Milwaukee MARCH 21, 2022

ENVIROMIX INC. Sarah Elger is a licensed professional engineer specializing in water reuse and treatment technologies and the impact water treatment has on protecting the environment and public health.

In her current role as director of product innovation and strategy for EnviroMix, Elger has been responsible for the development and launch of multiple new water treatment solutions during the past 18 months.

These new products include sustainable wastewater treatment processes that minimize energy and chemical consumption, while providing higher quality water discharged back into the environment.

“Sarah is a recognized leader throughout the organization, inspiring and motivating colleagues by example with her relentless pursuit for excellence,” said John Koch, vice president of technology at EnviroMix. Outside of the office, Elger, a mother of two daughters, also volunteers with local school districts promoting the importance of science, technology, engineering and mathematics and serves annually as a science fair judge. She also organizes a group of friends and family to provide food, clothing and gifts for families in need each year during the holidays.

Strategies INNOVATION

The more ideas the better How to foster a culture of innovation in your company ANDY GROVE, who was a brilliant leader and CEO of Intel, wrote a book entitled “Only the Paranoid Survive.”

You might think he wasn’t serious. But the CEO of a Milwaukee-based company that has prospered thanks to a steady stream of innovative products offered on a world stage claimed it is precisely that kind of paranoia that has led to the continued success of Hatco Corp.

Hatco CEO David Rolston indicated they have a culture where they are never satisfied with their success and constantly focus on improving in everything they do.

Hatco was founded by Gordon and LeReine Hatch. Gordon was a technically minded engineer who was so driven by the desire to be innovative that he disassembled an electric razor that he had received as a wedding present on his wedding night to see how it worked and spread all of its parts over the wedding bed!

Gordon led the company from a modest beginning to dramatic market success thanks to a highly innovative approach to product evolution and development. His son David eventually took over and, under his leadership, expanded sales to the global market so that Hatco now has subsidiaries in China and India.

Their products can be found everywhere. If you need a warm sandwich on your next stop at a Kwik Trip, you will likely get it from one of their

multi-tier sandwich warmers.

Rolston is a “graduate” of GE, where he learned a lot about how not to manage. GE barely survived to the end of Jack Welch’s tenure. He was famously top-down in his approach to leadership.

Hatco does the opposite, and as a result it has not only survived but prospered long after Gordon and David gave up the reins of leadership.

What can we learn from Hatco on how to develop a culture that drives innovation continually?

1. Start with a culture that looks to employees for the latest and newest innovations. We’ve all heard CEOs preach their employees should “think outside the box.” Unfortunately, most often that is lip service only. The leadership team is the one charged with innovation, and everyone else is there to implement their ideas. That’s not the case at Hatco. Instead, all employees are asked to offer new ideas for product innovation or quality and process improvements.

2. None of the employees of Hatco have their salaries dependent on the ability to suggest innovative ideas, but they can be rewarded with additional bonus compensation if their ideas get implemented. Everyone on the production team is asked to submit at least three ideas or more every year.

3. Unlike many companies’ “suggestion boxes,” employee ideas at Hatco are taken seriously.

They are documented on a CPI form, and supervisors, called team leaders, are responsible for ensuring those ideas are vetted. Meetings are scheduled to evaluate ideas and test them using the lean manufacturing approach.

Why does this work so well at Hatco, as they have innovated continually from food finishers to decorative lamps, pop-up toasters, soup stations, and chef LED light bulbs?

It is clear that their philosophy is that most employees want to contribute and take pride in their work. It’s part of how all of us are hardwired. After all, we learned to walk and talk without having to be bribed or disciplined. We did it because, as human beings, we are naturally creative, wanting to expand our horizons.

Unfortunately, too many American business

leaders forget to check their egos at the door and manage with the assumption that employees need to be watched and supervised.

Many years ago, I visited the Nissan Corp., which had just built a new plant in Smyrna, Tennessee. The Japanese CEO could not understand why the Wall Street Journal reporter wanted to interview him when the reporter wanted to learn how their cars were built. Finally, the CEO said, “Why would you interview me? I’m just the president. Please interview the people out on the production line. They’re the ones who build the cars.”

David Hatch defined the role of president as being “the first to take blame and the first to share praise.”

The beauty of the Hatco culture is that it has embedded practices that ensure continued employee involvement and innovation. Therefore, it was a logical extension of their philosophy to become an ESOP, 100% employee-owned, in 2007.

Everyone in the company benefits financially from their success. And isn’t that the way it should be? n

DAN STEININGER Dan Steininger is an author, speaker and business advisor. He is the president of Steininger & Associates LLC, which helps companies drive innovation. He can be reached at DSteinin@execpc.com. biztimes.com / 47

Strategies STRATEGIC PLANNING

Strategic planning checklist The 7 key attributes business leaders need to address MY ROLE AS A Vistage chair and executive coach includes encouraging CEOs to do strategic planning every year.

Many CEOs don’t have a strategic planning process and just continue working as they always have. That’s unfortunate because they have no way to determine if they’re on course or woefully off course.

Whether you’re new to strategic planning or a seasoned planner, you should address a variety of important attributes of your business. Of course, there will be subsets of each, but these are the foundation of your business.

I love the model suggested by Keith Cupp, founder of Gravitas Impact Premium Coaches. It includes seven key attributes and allows the company to be agile and change in size or scale.

1. The leadership attribute This is about ensuring that the leadership team is authentic, healthy and aligned. Are team members free to have healthy disagreements with one another, including with the CEO? As the CEO, are you open, vulnerable and amenable to ideas that are not yours?

2. The talent attribute This calls for having the right people to build a 48 / BizTimes Milwaukee MARCH 21, 2022

culture of accountability, which delivers results.

Are team members able to hold one another accountable? Do they have a “the buck stops here” mentality when it comes to taking responsibility for their areas?

3. The strategy attribute This is about competitive differentiation, leading to strong top-line revenue growth. What is your competitive advantage? What would your customers say is different about your company vs. your competitors? Are you able to leverage your competitive advantage to gain more market share?

4. The execution attribute This means having an efficient system to convert revenue into profit. While top-line revenue is important, you want to be able to convert that additional revenue into profit. This is where most companies fail.

5. The customer attribute This focuses on your ideal core customers, their problems that need solutions and the experience you offer to delight them. Who are your raving fans? Do you treat all of your customers equally?

What must your company do to attract more raving fans?

6. The profit attribute

ready to develop a one-page roadmap that you can follow and update quarterly to track your progress.

How to use your summary sheet This is your scorecard. It explains how you will measure if you are successful or not. Your senior leadership team will own its portion of the plan and give regular reports during your leadership team meetings (I hope you’re doing those at least monthly, though weekly is better).

You can track each area with some sort of code.

I’m a fan of using colors.

1. GREEN: On target 2. YELLOW: Within 10% of target or not yet being worked on 3. RED: Danger zone – greater than 10% of target This way, you can look at your one-page plan easily and know, in an instant, which areas need your attention. Ideally, you are catching everything before it has a chance to turn red. However, the red color alerts you and your leadership to a major problem.

This dynamic document has built-in accountability. It offers freedom for your team members to own their areas of responsibility.

I hope this motivates you to start planning this year. If your plan is inadequate, this will strengthen it. n

This attribute creates fuel for growth. It means having abundant cash to develop multiple desirable options and making wise decisions.

Let’s face it. Without profit, your choices are going to be limited. You won’t be able to take advantage of opportunities to gain market share, make acquisitions and do proper research and development.

7. The systems attribute This focuses on having the right infrastructure, processes and technology that allow your company to change in size or scale, efficiently and profitably. Having the right systems and processes in place can help you find the cash you need to accomplish this.

After you’ve addressed these attributes, you are

MERVYN BYRD Mervyn Byrd is a Vistage chair, CEO advisor and coach, and a speaker. You can reach him at 414-234-6391 or mervyn.byrd@ VistageChair.com.

BizConnections BIZ UPDATES GRANULAR RECOGNIZED AS STANDOUT AGENCY IN GOOGLE PARTNER PROGRAM

Milwaukee-based Granular has maintained its Google Premier Partner status for the sixth consecutive year. The program has undergone significant changes to its requirements for 2022, including redefining what it means to be a Premier Partner.

With this announcement, Granular is now the only Wisconsin-based company to be recognized as a Google Premier Partner, the most exclusive designation given to advertising agencies ranking among the top 3%.

and implement the best performing advertising channels and platforms that drive the most measurable results for their business. Google is a key ingredient in almost every one of our client’s digital advertising plans because of the measurable ROI and targeted reach their ad platform provides,” said Jordon Meyer, Founder and CEO at Granular.

The Google Partner Program’s mission is to empower companies by providing them with innovative tools, resources, and support to help their clients succeed online.

BIOCUT SYSTEMS TO EXPAND TO CUSTOMER CENTERED FACILITY

Biocut Systems and Jendusa’s investment and advisory company, Breakthrough Strategies (formerly STUCK Inc.), will be the main tenants in the upcoming 77,000 square foot facility which will be in the Milwaukee suburb of Muskego and located right off Interstate 43, within proximity to Milwaukee’s Mitchell International Airport.

the facility at the end of the first quarter of 2023, “We are pleased to be at this stage in our growth cycle and to have our vision come to fruition,” said Don Melnikoff, the president of Biocut Systems.

“The future looks bright, for our industry, our customers, and our talented employees who are making a difference in the world.”

“Our clients depend on us to find

Groundbreaking for the new facility is planned for Spring 2022 and Biocut plans to move into

ACUITY CLAIMS MANAGERS TAKE NEW ROLES AT CLM CLAIMS COLLEGE

CREATIVE SOLUTIONS OF WISCONSIN HITS 2022 WITH REFRESHING REBRAND

help oversee the school’s curriculum, instruction, assessment, and planning.

Lea Kapral, Acuity Central Claims General Manager, has been named Co-Dean of the Claims and Litigation Management (CLM) Claims College School of Transportation.

Lea has been involved with CLM for over 12 years. She serves as a Co-Chair of the Transportation Committee and has served on the Insurance Coverage Conference and the Claims College School of Transportation Executive Committees before taking on her newest role. In her role as Co-Dean, Lea will

Lea, who holds the Advanced Claims Professional (ACP) designation, has also helped recruit many Acuity claims professionals to become involved in CLM both as students and as instructors.

Taking over for Lea on the Executive Committee is Brad Wagner, Acuity Field Claims Manager. Brad has taught several classes through CLM, presented at the Midwest Claims Conference, was Co-Chair of the Midwest conference, and serves on the Transportation Committee.

Creative Solutions of Wisconsin, an organization offering comprehensive support services to people with disabilities, has undergone a major brand expansion. Founder/CEO, Laura Martin is a passionate disability advocate, and mother of children with disabilities. Martin fears that many people with disabilities go under-served due to frustration with the system. Creative Solutions takes a multi-faceted approach to support services, improving training, education,

and compensation for support professionals and fighting for greater inclusion and accessibility in Wisconsin. Their mantra, there is no “one-size-fits-all” approach to support, framed the rebrand.

CreativeSolutionsWI.com gave the public a first look at the new branding. The new website illustrates their services in an open and inclusive digital space. “We’re dedicated to removing barriers and empowering each and every person with disabilities to live the lives they choose and design for themselves,” stated Martin.

biztimes.com / 49

BizConnections BIZ MARKETPLACE

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BIZ PEOPLE

Advertising Section: New Hires, Promotions, Accolades and Board Appointments

ARCHITECTS & ENGINEERS

HGA Welcomes Dan Michaud as Building Technologies leader

Dan Michaud joins HGA as Associate Vice President and Principal and will lead the Building Technologies department based in Milwaukee. He will build client connections nationally to implement a range of digital solutions for the built environment.

BANKING

BANKING The Equitable Bank Promotes Mike Cottrell to SVP Commercial Lending

The Equitable Bank has promoted Mike Cottrell to Senior Vice President Commercial Lending. Mr. Cottrell joined Equitable in 2014 and has over 20 years of local business banking experience.

BANKING The Equitable Bank Promotes Jay Sciachitano to SVP - Commercial Lending

The Equitable Bank has promoted Jay Sciachitano to Senior Vice President - Commercial Lending.

Mr. Sciachitano joined Equitable in 2015 and has over 30 years of local business banking experience.

Alfredo Martin of North Shore Bank honored with Gov. Financial Literacy Award

North Shore Bank is thrilled to congratulate Alfredo Martin, AVP and Latino community advocate, on being honored with the Governor’s Financial Literacy Award by the Governor’s Council on Financial Literacy and Capability.

To place your listing, or for more information, please visit biztimes.com/bizconnect 50 / BizTimes Milwaukee MARCH 21, 2022

BIZ PEOPLE

Advertising Section: New Hires, Promotions, Accolades and Board Appointments

CONSTRUCTION

Boldt Welcomes Amalia Flatley

Boldt welcomes Amalia Flatley as Marketing Manager for the firm’s Milwaukee and Madison operations. With over 10 years of strategic marketing and communication experience in the construction industry, Amalia will help elevate Boldt’s marketing efforts throughout central and southern Wisconsin. Amalia earned her BS at UW-Parkside in 2010, is the current treasurer and past president of the Society for Marketing Professional Services (SMPS) Wisconsin chapter, and is a proud member of TEMPO Milwaukee Emerging Women Leaders. In 2021, Amalia was recognized as a Notable Marketing Executive from the BizTimes Milwaukee.

EDUCATION

Eli Howayeck joins Pepper Construction Wisconsin as Director of Business Development

Pepper Construction Wisconsin welcomes Eli Howayeck as Director of Business Development. Eli will lead a business development strategy that effectively positions Pepper’s dedicated Wisconsin team for growth. Similar to how Pepper manages projects, Eli uses a locally focused entrepreneurial approach enhanced by national resources.

He has more than 20 years of relevant experience spanning multiple industries throughout the Milwaukee area, including financial services, healthcare and insurance.

FINANCIAL SERVICES Daniel J. Bergen, Ph.D. named senior advisor to the president at MSOE

Dr. Daniel Bergen leads the development and implementation of strategic initiatives at MSOE. He ensures MSOE maintains a constant focus on innovation while continuing to build relationships with corporate, community and educational partners.

LEGAL SERVICES

CONSTRUCTION

Alexander R. Karana joins von Briesen & Roper, s.c.

Alexander R. Karana is an Associate and focuses his practice on intellectual property law. Prior to joining von Briesen, Karana worked for a blockchain development firm where he focused on licensing and agreements in the carbon credit markets.

Marit Harm joins Borgman Capital

Marit Harm joins the firm as Fund Administrator & Marketing Manager. Harm’s responsibilities will include overseeing office operations, firm marketing and events, and investor relations. Previously, Harm spent six years at TEMPO in various roles.

LEGAL SERVICES

Anthony S. Wachewicz III joins von Briesen & Roper, s.c.

Wachewicz is a Shareholder with significant experience as a leader and governmental attorney in northeast Wisconsin. He focuses his practice on government law matters, including municipalities and schools, as well as labor, employment, and health law.

CONSTRUCTION

Maggie Pinnt joins Pepper Construction Wisconsin as Manager of Business Development

Pepper Construction Wisconsin welcomes Maggie Pinnt as Manager of Business Development.

Maggie will work closely with the Pepper Wisconsin team to develop relationships supported by quality work and thought leadership within the local market. With more than 12 years of experience in sales, media and digital marketing for manufacturing, construction, real estate and hospitality businesses across southeast Wisconsin, Maggie will continue to build on her extensive network of regional contacts.

LEGAL SERVICES

Meissner Tierney Fisher & Nichols S.C. welcomes Samuel G. Morris as an Attorney

Meissner Tierney Fisher & Nichols S.C. is pleased to welcome Samuel G. Morris as an attorney. At MTFN, Samuel’s practice focuses on complex commercial and insurance coverage litigation.

TECHNOLOGY

CCB Technology hires George Stray as new vice president of Finance

George Stray was named vice president of finance at CCB Technology, bringing 35+ years of finance operations experience. Stray will oversee financial strategies, analysis, and budget management, while improving processes and reporting efficiencies.

NONPROFIT

IMPACT welcomes Amy Rowell as Chief Operating Officer

Amy Rowell has joined IMPACT as Chief Operating Officer. Her range of experiences include serving as development director at Guest House of Milwaukee and other roles within homeless services, as well as animal welfare and early childhood education. She holds bachelor’s and master’s degrees from Marquette; is a graduate of the Future Milwaukee Leadership Program; and holds certificates in Mental Health First Aid and TraumaInformed Supervision. Rowell has participated in community-wide initiatives to promote diversity, equity, inclusion, and access; and is a welcomed addition to lead IMPACT’s program services teams.

NONPROFIT

YWCA Southeast Wisconsin announces the appointment of Tracy L. Williams as President

A Milwaukeean with more than 20 years of experience leading innovative system change strategies, most recently held senior leadership roles at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. She also led efforts with American Family Insurance National Headquarters, W.K. Kellogg Foundation, and Greater Milwaukee Foundation.

Tracy is a former Lead the Way fellow of New York University and holds certificates in Social Innovation and Executive Leadership from University of Washington, Harvard Kennedy School, and UW-Madison.

Tracy earned a MS from Cardinal Stritch University and a BS from Northern Illinois University.

To place your listing, or for more information, please visit biztimes.com/bizconnect biztimes.com / 51

BizConnections VOLUME 27, NUMBER 18 | MAR 21, 2022

GLANCE AT YESTERYEAR

126 N. Jefferson St., Suite 403, Milwaukee, WI 53202-6120 PHONE: 414-277-8181 FAX: 414-277-8191 WEBSITE: www.biztimes.com CIRCULATION: 414-336-7100 | circulation@biztimes.com ADVERTISING: 414-336-7112 | advertising@biztimes.com EDITORIAL: 414-336-7120 | andrew.weiland@biztimes.com REPRINTS: 414-336-7100 | reprints@biztimes.com

PUBLISHER / OWNER Dan Meyer dan.meyer@biztimes.com

SALES & MARKETING

DIRECTOR OF OPERATIONS Mary Ernst mary.ernst@biztimes.com COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT / OWNER Kate Meyer kate.meyer@biztimes.com

EDITORIAL EDITOR Andrew Weiland andrew.weiland@biztimes.com ASSOCIATE EDITOR Lauren Anderson lauren.anderson@biztimes.com ASSOCIATE EDITOR Arthur Thomas arthur.thomas@biztimes.com REPORTER Maredithe Meyer maredithe.meyer@biztimes.com

An early idea for a harbor bridge This 1959 rendering from Howard, Needles, Tammen & Bergendoff shows an early concept for a bridge over the Milwaukee harbor. The firm would later design the Hoan Bridge, which was built in the 1970s. The area shown in the rendering is near the site of a planned live music venue complex.

— Photo courtesy Milwaukee Public Library / Historic Photo Collection

COMMENTARY

Kohl’s fate up to shareholders THE FUTURE OF one of southeastern Wisconsin’s largest companies is hanging in the balance and could hinge on an upcoming vote by its shareholders.

The leaders of Menomonee Falls-based Kohl’s Corp., one of the largest apparel retail companies in America, are under increasing pressure to improve the company’s performance, or consider a sale.

New York-based hedge fund Macellum Capital Management, an activist investor that owns a 5% stake of Kohl’s, has been highly critical of the company’s performance and the strategy of its leadership and has said the company should seriously consider a sale. Macellum was also part of an activist investor group that attempted to take control of the Kohl’s board last year.

As I write this, shares of Kohl’s stock are listed at about $54. Macellum at one point said it believed the company’s stock could be worth $100 52 / BizTimes Milwaukee MARCH 21, 2022

a share with a new board and improved strategy.

But lately, Macellum has been pushing for a sale of the company.

Earlier this year, Kohl’s confirmed that it had rejected takeover offers worth $64 a share and $65 a share. The company said it has been in talks with roughly 20 potential buyers in recent months.

The retail industry has been through a massive shakeup in recent years as online retail, led

by Amazon, has drastically changed the game and taken market share away from brick-andmortar retail. Several retailers, like Boston Store, have been unable to adapt and have gone out of business while others have had to close several store locations.

Kohl’s, with about 1,100 locations, has avoided closing stores and recently said it plans to open 100 new store locations in the next four years. The new stores will be smaller than the typical 35,000-square-foot Kohl’s store and will be located in smaller markets with themes tailored to the community they are located in.

It’s clear that Kohl’s management, led by CEO Michelle Gass, has little interest in selling the company. They strongly believe in their plan to restructure the company and improve performance. Despite a 13% decline in year-over-year

REPORTER Ashley Smart ashley.smart@biztimes.com REPORTER Cara Spoto cara.spoto@biztimes.com

DIRECTOR OF SALES Linda Crawford linda.crawford@biztimes.com SENIOR ACCOUNT EXECUTIVE Christie Ubl christie.ubl@biztimes.com ACCOUNT EXECUTIVE Paddy Kieckhefer paddy.kieckhefer@biztimes.com ACCOUNT EXECUTIVE Dylan Dobson dylan.dobson@biztimes.com SALES ADMIN Gracie Schneble gracie.schneble@biztimes.com

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

PRODUCTION & DESIGN GRAPHIC DESIGNER Alex Schneider alex.schneider@biztimes.com ART DIRECTOR Shelly Tabor shelly.tabor@biztimes.com

Independent & Locally Owned — Founded 1995 —

fourth quarter earnings, the company’s 2021 fiscal year earnings of $938 million was a big improvement from a net loss of $163 million in 2020 and earnings of $691 million in 2019.

A key component of the Kohl’s strategy is the partnership with beauty retailer Sephora, which Kohl’s plans to have in 850 of its stores by 2023 and says will generate $2 billion in business.

Gass recently said last year’s results laid the foundation for “a complete reinvention of our business model and brand.”

Not convinced, Macellum is asking shareholders to support its slate of 10 nominees to the Kohl’s board at the company’s upcoming annual meeting.

So, who will the shareholders support? The current board and management’s vision for the company, or a new board to shake things up and likely sell the company? The fate of one of Wisconsin’s largest companies is in their hands. n

ANDREW WEILAND EDITOR

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

NONPROFIT FOTSCH FAMILY FOUNDATION GIVES $7 MILLION FOR MARQUETTE LEADERSHIP DEVELOPMENT CENTER The Fotsch Family Foundation is providing a $7 million gift to support a new leadership center within Marquette University’s Opus College of Engineering.

The Nashotah-based family foundation’s donation will establish a new endowed leadership center and director position in the engineering college, building on its existing Excellence in Leadership program.

The gift will also support Innovation Alley, an effort between the Opus College and the College of Business Administration to foster innovation in Milwaukee’s business community.

The Fotsch Family Founda-

tion — which supports Catholic and educational causes, as well as social services throughout the community — has given a total of $14 million in gifts to Marquette’s multi-year Time to Rise campaign. The university has now surpassed $566 million in funds raised toward its $750 million goal.

The foundation’s previous gifts have supported Marquette student scholarships, the Grotto to the Blessed Virgin Mary behind St. Joan of Arc Chapel, and the new business school building that is under construction.

—Lauren Anderson, staff writer

nonprofit

SPOTLIGHT

BENEDICT CENTER

1849 N. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Drive, Ste. 101, Milwaukee 414-347-1774 | benedictcenter.org Twitter: @BenedictCenter

c alendar

Year founded: 1974

The Waukesha Rotary will host its annual Pancake Festival on Saturday, April 2, from 8-11 a.m. at Waukesha South High School, 401 East Roberta Ave. The event benefits other local nonprofits. More information is available at portal.clubrunner.ca/5717.

affected by the criminal justice system find hope and lead safer and healthier lives, while advocating for a system of justice that is fair and treats everyone with dignity and respect.

The Shalom Center will host a 40th anniversary reception on Thursday, April 7, from 5:30-8 p.m. at the Student Center at University of Wisconsin-Parkside, 900 Wood Road, Kenosha. More information is available by emailing colemant@shalomcenter.org.

Primary focus of your nonprofit organization: Community-based

Blue Lotus Farm & Retreat Center will host its annual roast on

Wednesday, May 4, from 5:30-8:30 p.m. at West Bend Mutual Insurance Co.’s Prairie Center at 1900 S. 18th Ave. in West Bend. The event will honor Tim Galante and benefit Blue Lotus. More information is available at bluelotusfarm.org/2022-roast.

D O N AT I O N R O U N D U P Bucks center Brook Lopez recently provided $70,000 in donated books and funds to three Milwaukee Public Schools and the Next Door Foundation in honor of Read Across America Day. | Meijer donated $50,000 each to Boys & Girls Clubs in Milwaukee, West Bend and Kenosha as part of a $1.2 million commitment to the Clubs nationally. | Northwestern Mutual recently awarded $310,000 in grants to nonprofits nationwide through its 2022 Community Service Awards, a recognition of its financial advisors who are making a difference in their communities through volunteerism. | Molson Coors recently made a donation of $1 million to the Thurgood Marshall College Fund to fund its leadership development and education programs for students attending Historically Black Colleges and Universities over the next three years. | North Shore Bank’s Race for the Hungry event at El Rey Food Mart raised $652 in food to be donated to the Milwaukee Christian Center. | Hispanic Professionals of Greater Milwaukee received a $15,000 donation from the PepsiCo Foundation.

Mission statement: We help women

treatment and support for women in the criminal justice system, re-entry services, street outreach and drop-in centers for women in the street sex trade (including sex trafficking), and housing advocacy.

Other focuses of your nonprofit organization: Cross-sector

collaboration to improve systems and solve issues at their root causes, interfaith collaborations, housing and sexual assault advocacy.

Number of employees at this location: 22

Key donors: Twenty other private/corporate foundations, including the Greater Milwaukee Foundation, Catholic Community Foundation of Milwaukee, United Way of Greater Milwaukee and Waukesha County’s Milwaukee Health Improvement Fund, Jane Bradley Pettit Foundation, Forest County Potawatomi Foundation, We Energies Foundation, Patrick and Anna Cudahy Fund, and Spectrum.

Executive leadership: Jeanne Geraci,

executive director; Melinda Hughes, director of programs and operations; Joan Prentki, director of finance; Cindy Nicholson, development coordinator Board of directors: Margaret

Bailey-Stewart (president), Tricia Baker (vice president), Kevin M. Flaherty (treasurer), Sr. Linda Szocik (secretary), Shelly Boehm, Diane DuBois, Jamy Malatesta, Mark Peters, Kisha Shanks and Cynthia M. Wynn Is your organization actively seeking board members for the upcoming term? Yes, we are seeking diverse

candidates who are passionate about our mission and ready to share time, gifts and talent.

Ways the business community can help your nonprofit:

» Learn more about us. Help spread the word! » Funding through grants or sponsorship of our annual Women and Justice Event. » Volunteer or in-kind professional services. » Give people with criminal records a second chance for employment or housing.

Key fundraising events: Women &

Justice Event, house parties and Giving Tuesday

biztimes.com / 53

BizConnections

CONTRIBUTED

5 MINUTES WITH…

5 MINUTES WITH…

ERIC RESCH

Managing director and co-owner, Stone Creek Coffee MILWAUKEE-BASED STONE CREEK COFFEE recently became a Certified B Corporation. It’s a status achieved by nearly 5,000 for-profit companies that have committed to upholding verified standards for social, environmental and governance practices. The certification process began in the fall of 2019 and included multiple audits and verifications by global nonprofit B Lab. Reporter Maredithe Meyer recently caught up with Eric Resch, managing director and co-owner of Stone Creek, on certifying as a B Corp and weathering the pandemic.

WHY BECOME A B CORP? “Since the founding of Stone Creek Coffee, our corporate name has been ‘Giri,’ which comes from a Japanese code of honor called ‘Bushido.’

In brief, it means that we all live with an obligation to those around us.

Joining the B Corp community aligns with that idea and gives us accountability, community and a forward-looking framework as we continue to be a force for good in our communities, both local and global.”

B CORP STATUS IN ACTION “Certified B Corporations amend their governance so that, by law, they make decisions and implement practices that consider not just shareholder value, but the impact on all stakeholders — employees, customers, society and the environment.

“While we’ve worked to increase the take-home pay for all of our em54 / BizTimes Milwaukee MARCH 21, 2022

ployees, we’re also aware of the burden health-related expenses can be.

We’ve built a benefit structure to prioritize employee health and rest, and over the past three years, we’ve lowered the proportionate share of employee health insurance costs by 13.6%. We continue to adopt new policies to promote an even more accommodating and empowering work environment, including accommodations for breastfeeding mothers, local-hire policies and additional compensation for changing your schedule or filling a shift.”

“We also have a policy to purchase local whenever possible. Currently, 47% of our purchasing is from partners within 100 miles of our headquarters, stretching north to Green Bay and west beyond Madison. As for sales, 88.3% of our revenue comes from local customers. Over the past two years, we’ve decided to adjust our strategy and invest our growth efforts to serve our home communities in southeastern Wisconsin.

“The majority of Stone Creek’s total energy use comes from renewable energy. All of Stone Creek’s electrical energy is renewable through We Energies’ Energy for Tomorrow program. In 2021, 92% of that energy came from local wind farms.”

NAVIGATING CHANGE “During the pandemic we changed our growth strategy to focus more intentionally on our Milwaukee cafes and customers. As we worked to guide the company through the pandemic, we closed our Chicago cafe, along with our 88Nine Radio Milwaukee and Whitefish Bay cafes. We also recently closed our Bay View cafe due to a disagreement over building safety with our landlord. We simply decided the safety of our staff and customers came first.

“As we look to the future, we are excited about spring here in Milwaukee as we welcome warm weather and the chance to be outside more. We see the rest of 2022 as being very busy, and we are excited to be running our factory tours and coffee classes again full time.” n

R EG I

ST E R

Thursday, March 31, 2022

TODA Y

!

2:00-2:30pm – Registration/Networking 2:30-6:30pm – Program followed by cocktails & hors d’oeuvres In Person - Brookfield Conference Center

presents the 15th annual:

The M&A Boom: Are We Nearing the End? Attention - Business Owners, CEOs & Executives of Growing Companies. If you’re thinking about selling your business or growing through an acquisition, now may be the best time to take action to make it happen.

Whether you’ve never sold or purchased a business or if you’re a seasoned expert, this program is for you. You’ll learn best practices, lessons learned and other actionable information that will help you navigate your way through these important issues which for some – is a once in a lifetime event.

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Panel Discussions: Selling Your Business – From Strategy to Execution - Company owners will share best practices, lessons learned, biggest surprises and other experiences from the sale process • Shane Vaughn, President & CEO, KDV Labels, LLC [1] • John Topetzes, Former Owner, President, Sanborn Tube and Fab [2] • Tim Reardon, Shareholder, Reinhart Boerner Van Deuren [3] • Steve Flynn, CEO / Owner, S. Flynn & Company [4] Moderator: Ann Hanna, Managing Director & Founder, Taureau Group [5]

Growth Through Acquisition – A Look at the Why of Buying a Business, Differences Between Needs and Wants and Insights on What’s Next?

• Kristin Dufek, President, Eppstein Uhen Architects [6] • Dan Druml, Vice President, Strategic Partners, FirstService [7] • Keith Smith, President, Vonco [8] • Jake Hansen, Principal, Jacsten Holdings [9] Moderator: Inge Plautz, Senior Vice President and Executive BDO, Old National Bank [10]

Breakout Sessions: 1. Building Sustainable Business Value – Value drivers that endure despite market cycles and attract the most desirable buyers

2. Buying a business, how to start strategically and wisely funding the purchase: Process, risk management and funding the transaction including SBA options

3. Family succession: sale, recap or other alternatives – choosing the best option for creating liquidity and next generation involvement

— Register Today! biztimes.com/maforum — Sponsors:

Event Partner:

You’re Our Priority At Baird we do things differently from many financial firms, and we do it because of you. Being privately held frees us to think long-term and plan with your best interests in mind. That’s why for more than 100 years we’ve consistently reinvested in our expertise, capabilities and technology to best serve you and your evolving needs. It’s why we believe being a great workplace is important, because it helps us attract and retain top talent to ensure the quality and continuity of the advice you receive. And it’s why we are employee-owned, so you can trust we all share a personal interest in your success.

BairdDifference.com PRIVATE WEALTH MANAGEMENT ASSET MANAGEMENT INVESTMENT BANKING/CAPITAL MARKETS PRIVATE EQUITY

©2022 Robert W. Baird & Co. Incorporated. Member SIPC. MC-799958.

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