9 minute read
COMMENTARY: REGION NEEDS MORE TALENT FOR ITS BEST COMPANIES
GLANCE AT YESTERYEAR
South side intersection
This undated post-1960 photo shows the intersection of West Greenfield and South Muskego avenues with South 16th Street, now known as Cesar Chavez Drive, on Milwaukee’s south side. The Wisconsin Marine Bank on the right side of the photo is now a Chase Bank and the used car lot is now a gas station. St. Martini Lutheran Church in the upper left portion of the photo remains at that location. — Photo courtesy Historic Photo Collection/Milwaukee Public Library
126 N. Jefferson St., Suite 403, Milwaukee, WI 53202-6120
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EDITORIAL
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Andrew Weiland andrew.weiland@biztimes.com
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Lauren Anderson lauren.anderson@biztimes.com
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COMMENTARY
It’s all about talent
MILWAUKEE TOOL might be southeastern Wisconsin’s most important company right now. It’s experiencing massive growth, and that’s leading to more good-paying jobs for the region.
The Brookfield-based company had 64.1% global growth in the first half of the year, according to its Hong Kong-based parent company, Techtronic Industries Co. Based on previous reports, Milwaukee Tool could exceed $6 billion in revenue by the end of this year.
The company has expanded its Brookfield headquarters and is now adding a downtown Milwaukee office where it is expected to have 450 jobs next year and could eventually have up to 2,000 working there. The company is also working on plans for a Menomonee Falls campus and is building a plant in West Bend.
Milwaukee Tool’s growth is a tremendous boost for the local economy. But its impact would have been bigger if the region was able to meet the company’s talent needs.
Innovation has driven Milwaukee Tool’s growth as the company has aggressively developed new and improved products. To foster that innovation, the company needs engineers. Lots of engineers. Milwaukee Tool has been hiring as many engineers as it can but has not been able to find as many in the area as it needs.
Milwaukee Tool group president Steve Richman recently revealed that the company has established an office in Chicago to help bolster its engineering team. By next year it plans to have a 70,000-square-foot space in Chicago and eventually 150 employees there.
Milwaukee Tool has hired several engineers out of area universities, including Marquette, MSOE and UW-Madison. But it needs more and has had to recruit graduates from out-ofstate schools, including the University of Illinois and Purdue. In some cases, it’s easier to recruit those individuals to Chicago than Milwaukee, thus the reason the company is establishing a Chicago office.
Milwaukee isn’t the only local company with explosive growth that is looking elsewhere to meet its talent needs. Generac this year established an office in Massachusetts where it plans to hire up to 50 employees for technology-related positions, talent it has been unable to find here. Generac CEO Aaron Jagdfeld said the presence of MIT and other universities in the Boston area made it attractive.
Brookfield-based Fiserv recently announced plans for a new campus in Berkeley Heights, New Jersey, with 2,000 technology-related jobs.
The consistent theme here is large, growing companies based in southeastern Wisconsin looking outside of the state to meet their talent needs. If those companies could fill those positions here, they would, but apparently they can’t.
For all of the talk about the need to lower taxes in Wisconsin and about incentives offered to attract companies or convince them to stay and grow here, it’s clear the bigger issue is our lack of talent. Wisconsin needs to do a better job of growing and developing talent. Regions that have the most talent are the ones that attract growing businesses. It’s really that simple. n
ANDREW WEILAND
EDITOR
P / 414-336-7120 E / andrew.weiland@biztimes.com T / @AndrewWeiland
NONPROFIT NONPROFIT
Milwaukee Area Technical College is widening its free-tuition Promise program to students who have received GED credentials and other equivalency diplomas.
Up to now, the Promise program has been available at MATC to new high school graduates who meet certain requirements and to adults who have started but haven’t finished college.
MATC recently expanded eligibility to new graduates of the college’s Adult High School and students who have earned GED (general education development) credentials and HSED (high school equivalency diploma) credentials. Those students will be eligible to enroll for spring, summer or fall 2022 semesters.
Promise programs are last-dollar scholarships, meaning they cover the gap after other federal and state aids and scholarships are applied. The result is free tuition for the student, but it does not cover the cost of books, program fees and equipment.
The program is funded through a public-private partnership. MATC has secured $3.4 million in support of the program, with about 300 private donors having given to date.
Philanthropist and former Milwaukee County executive Chris Abele has invested a total of $1.25 million in the Promise programs over the years.
— Lauren Anderson, staff writer
calendar
Inspiration Ministries will host its Alive to Thrive benefit and silent auction on Friday, Nov. 12 at 5:30 p.m. at Lake Lawn Resort’s Geneva Ballroom, 2400 E. Geneva St. in Delavan. For more information, contact the vice president of advancement at mfell@ inspirationministries.org. Kapco will host its Kids2Kids Christmas Wonderland drive-thru holiday experience from Nov. 26 through Dec. 30. The experience begins at 1150 Cheyenne Ave. in Grafton. Proceeds from Kids2Kids will be used to provide new toys to children. More information is available at kids2kidstoydrive.com. YWCA Southeast Wisconsin will host its 17th annual An Evening to Promote Racial Justice on Thursday, Dec. 9, from 5:30-8 p.m. at Discovery World, 500 N. Harbor Drive, Milwaukee. This year’s speaker is Harvard University associate professor Sarah Elizabeth Lewis. More information is available at ywcasew.org.
DONATION ROUNDUP
Spectrum donated $5,000 to La Casa de Esperanza in Waukesha to help connect families and students to critical resources. | The Dominican Center in Milwaukee received a $32,500 grant from the Greater Milwaukee Foundation for Amani neighborhood housing support. | Milwaukee Habitat for Humanity announced it raised over a half-million dollars at its annual gala in October. | Legal Services Corp. has awarded Legal Action of Wisconsin with a $399,694 Pro Bono Innovation Fund grant, which is designed to encourage and expand pro bono efforts and partnerships to serve more low-income individuals with civil legal issues. | Data You Can Use awarded four nonprofits with $10,000 in pro-bono services to help them gather and interpret data. The organizations are Southside Organizing Center, Riverworks Development Corp., JobsWork MKE and United Community Center. | Herzing University was awarded a $768,000 federal grant to help students with child care costs.
nonprofit SPOTLIGHT
TERESE’S FLOWERS OF HOPE
5325 S. Eighth St., Milwaukee 414-491-7770 | Teresesflowersofhope.com Facebook: Terese’s Flowers of Hope Twitter: @teresesflowersofhope
Year founded: 2019
Mission statement: Spreading hope, one bouquet at a time. Primary focus of your nonprofit organization: The primary focus of our organization is to spread hope, positivity and empathy through community involvement. Our volunteers pick up and deliver bouquets of flowers to randomly chosen cancer patients at local hospitals. Our act is small, but the message is large and far-reaching. Other focuses of your nonprofit organization: Involving the community in random acts of kindness that benefit those dealing with cancer and those supporting them. We also ran an international campaign to “spread hope.” Number of employees at this location: Nine active unpaid volunteers. Key donors: Many individual and corporate donors. Executive leadership: Zack Ulickey, Chet Ulickey and Cherlyn Rawson Board of directors: Zack Ulickey, Chet Ulickey, Cherlyn Rawson, Jacob Ulickey, Garrett Ulickey and Sarah Campbell Is your organization actively seeking board members for the upcoming term? Not actively at this time. What roles are you looking to fill? Community engagement volunteers. Ways the business community can help your nonprofit: Community involvement, partnerships, network for growth and expansion. Key fundraising events: Silent auction/bags tournament fundraiser at Kelly’s Bleachers in Milwaukee on Jan. 22, 2022.
5 MINUTES WITH…
KATHLEEN O’LEARY
KATHLEEN O’LEARY retired at the end of October as chief executive officer and executive director of Wisconsin State Fair Park. She worked at the 200-acre venue for 24 years in various management roles. She was initially appointed interim CEO prior to the 2016 Wisconsin State Fair and in October 2016 became the first woman in the history of State Fair Park to serve as CEO and executive director. BizTimes reporter Alex Zank recently spoke with O’Leary about her time at State Fair Park, the COVID-19 pandemic and the future of the events business.
WHY DECIDE TO RETIRE NOW?
“It’s been a very colorful 24 years and certainly even more so the last five years as CEO of the Wisconsin State Fair Park. I just believe that a testament to leadership is that when you do choose to leave, however that departure looks, you have left it in a better place than you found it. And there is no question that is the case at Wisconsin State Fair Park.” WHAT’S THE BIGGEST CHALLENGE BEEN IN THE PAST 18 MONTHS?
“Opening the gates with the labor shortage that we are all enduring and contending with. So, in order to open our gates, we really need upwards of 1,500-1,600 employees. That in and of itself — because it’s hard to get any employees, never mind that amount of employees for such a short window of time — we were successful in it, we were innovative in how we did it, and we also were innovative in what we had to do not only to get them to work but also retain them.
“There were a number of different innovative approaches to that and to contend with our labor shortage, one of them being adjusting our operating hours. The other (was) going cashless at the admission and parking gates. … That ability to have less people having to be involved was a really big decision that was made in a relatively short window of time.”
WHAT DOES THE FUTURE HOLD FOR STATE FAIR PARK AND THE EVENTS BUSINESS?
“The future is bright on a number of levels. The event as a whole, the event from an agricultural showcase aspect of it, the event as the tradition and the memories that are made that transcend generations on an annual basis — that is bright, but not without several monumental challenges that will still continue into 2022 and perhaps the next few years following that. Our lives as we know it in the events business have changed. As event leaders, we need to be the ones that are innovative and looking at our models differently so we can continue to succeed.” n
