BizTimes Milwaukee | November 14, 2016

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THE ACRE ALUMNI D I V E R S I T Y P R O G R A M P R O D U C E S I N D U S T R Y, C O M M U N I T Y L E A D E R S

AL SO IN THIS ISSUE:

BUCKS ARENA PROJECT ANCHORS HOT DEVELOPMENT AREA DEVELOPMENT HEATS UP IN AREA AROUND U.S. BANK CENTER CARW MEMBERS TURN LESS OPTIMISTIC

PUBLICATION DATE

FEBRUARY 6, 2017

P R O U D LY P R E S E N T S

RESERVATION DEADLINE

JANUARY 4, 2017

FamilyBIZ WISCONSIN

A N N U A L

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FOCUSING ON WISCONSIN’S FAMILY & CLOSELY HELD BUSINESSES There are more than 10 million family and closely held businesses in the U.S., from “mom and pop” shops to Fortune 500 companies. Their economic influence is enormous, producing an estimated 50 percent of the nation’s GDP and paying 65 percent of all wages.

Wisconsin FamilyBiz will cover the issues facing those businesses, offering advice and strategies, along with “been there, done that” stories from business owners throughout the state.

With distribution in metro Milwaukee, Green Bay, the Fox Valley and Madison, make this publication an important part of your marketing strategy and reach the decision-makers in the companies that are driving our state’s economy forward.

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inside

November 14 - 27, 2016 HIGHLIGHT S

S P E C I A L R E P O R T:

R E A L E S TATE & DE V E LOPME NT

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In addition to the cover story, the report includes a look at the development around the U.S. Bank Center downtown, an analysis of CARW member sentiment, a report on the Park East Corridor and a preview of the myth-busting Commercial Real Estate and Development Conference.

Coffee Break

5

A conversation with Rebecca Mitich of Husch Blackwell.

Made in Milwaukee

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W.M. Sprinkman rides craft beer boom.

Book Review

6

‘Evicted: Poverty and Profit in the American City’

Breaking Ground

8

Hammes Co.

News 10 Businesses prepare for overtime rule change.

S TR ATE GIE S

13

Family Business

David Borst 29

Human Resources

30

Daniel Schroeder

Coaching

COV E R S T ORY

Susan Marshall 31

BIZ CONNECTIONS

The ACRE alumni

Calendar 33 Nonprofit Spotlight 33 Personnel File 34 Commentary 36 BizTimes Around Town 37

Diversity program produces industry, community leaders ON THE COVER: Carla Cross, Deshea Agee and Donsia Strong Hill.

— photo by Troy Freund Photography

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

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

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BizTimes Milwaukee (ISSN 1095-936X & USPS # 017813) Volume 22, Number 17, November 14 - 27, 2016. BizTimes Milwaukee is published bi-weekly, except two consecutive weeks in December (the third and fourth weeks of December) by BizTimes Media LLC at 126 N. Jefferson St., Suite 403, Milwaukee, WI 53202-6120, USA. Basic annual subscription rate is $42.00. Single copy price is $3.25. Back issues are $5.00 each. Periodicals postage paid at Milwaukee, WI and additional mailing offices.

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leading edge NOW

More businesses moving from Illinois to Kenosha County

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he number of businesses that are moving operations to Kenosha County continues to grow. Two more announced such plans recently.

Vonco Products LLC, a flexible packaging and promotional products manufacturer, will move its headquarters from Lake Villa, Illinois to a new building that will be constructed in the Salem Business Park in the Town of Salem in Kenosha County.

And Colbert Packaging Corp., a Lake Forest, Illinois-based manufacturer of cartons and boxes, plans to relocate its flexographic packaging operations to Kenosha, potentially bringing 100 jobs.

Vonco Products will be the first manufacturer in the 65-acre Salem Business Park. The company will move to an 80,500-square-foot facility, and plans to invest more than $4 million in equipment at the facility and create 86 jobs over the next three years.

The Kenosha Area Business Alliance is developing the Salem Business Park. Vonco will lease the building from KABA. The company is expected to take occupancy in June 2017. The Town of Salem has created a tax increment financing district to support the Salem

Business Park development.

In addition, to help attract Vonco to Wisconsin, the Wisconsin Economic Development Corp. has authorized the company to receive up to $500,000 in state tax credits over the next three years.

The actual amount of tax credits received will be contingent upon the number of jobs created during that time.

“Manufacturing in Wisconsin is a long-term competitive advantage,” said Keith Smith, president of Vonco.

Colbert Packaging is in the process of acquiring a 173,000-square-foot facility at 9949 58th Place in the Business Park of Kenosha. The industrial spec building was developed by Milwaukee-based Zilber Property Group in 2015.

State, city and county officials offered $1.6 million in incentives to help attract Colbert. The WEDC authorized the company to receive up to $850,000 in state tax credits over the next three years, dependent upon the number of jobs created and capital invested. The City of Kenosha approved a $500,000 grant to offset the company’s construction costs related to the move. Kenosha County is providing $250,000 from its High Impact Fund.

Colbert currently operates its flexographic division from a facility less than half the size of the new building, which will be the company’s largest. Colbert’s A rendering of the building Vonco Products LLC will occupy in the Salem headquarters will Business Park. remain in Lake Forest. The company is eliminating a state an ideal location for Colbert.” warehouse in Libertyville, Illinois as part Since the beginning of 2013, major of the move. economic development projects acJim Hamilton, president of Colbert, counting for more than 6,000 new jobs said the company considered existing and nearly $1 billion of capital investbuildings in Lake County, Illinois, along ment have been announced, completed with potential building sites, but noth- or are underway in Kenosha County. ing was interesting enough. In addition, Other companies that have new facilihe said local officials in Illinois said there ties in Kenosha County include Amazon, were no incentives available to encourage Uline, InSinkErator, Meijer, Niagara Botthe company to stay. tling and Gourmet Foods International.

“Your state is very welcoming,” HamA new boundary agreement among ilton said. “It’s nice to be wanted as op- the City of Kenosha, Village of Somers posed to not wanted in this state here. and Town of Paris could facilitate more “Wisconsin is known for its print- development and attract more businessing and paper-making industries, as well es to the county. as the technical expertise of those who ——Corrinne Hess and Arthur work in these fields, which makes the Thomas

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

Twitter Chats can help connect with customers Cutting through the social media clutter to connect with your various audiences is more challenging than ever. Business and marketing firms continue to try to determine the benefits of Twitter – besides something to scan while standing in the checkout line at the grocery store.

While your company may not secure 96 million Twitter followers like Katy Perry, there is an audience to connect with.

How many companies have considered Twitter Chats?

The Ritterbusch Group has hosted chats for regional and national clients with great success. The benefits include promoting specific events or product launches for a client at (literally) little-to-no cost in a relaxed, less formal setting. Strong communication before, 4

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during and after the event is key to success.

As with any event, determine your goals ahead of time. What do you want the audience to do with the information? Visit a website? Connect on social media? Contact you or your client directly? Whatever the answer, make sure to drive content that will lead to your desired outcome. »» Once a Twitter Chat has been scheduled, promote it to key audiences, including targeted media, through standard channels and all of your social media outlets (not just Twitter). »» Solicit questions on social media, both ahead of time and during the chat itself. »» In all postings related to the chat, utilize a specific hashtag (ex: #TRGChat) so content is easy to find during and after the chat. »» Don’t be late! If the chat is scheduled for 10 a.m., start it at that time. Be as respectful to

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a social media audience as you are to those with whom you have business appointments. »» Remember, content should never live in just one place. Following the chat, continue crosspromoting content. Whether in full or in part, post chat comments to websites, Facebook, LinkedIn, etc. Take photos during the chat itself and post to Instagram and elsewhere, continuing to use the chat hashtag.

Oh, and one little secret: not all Twitter Chats are “live.” By soliciting questions ahead of time, a chat can be held with a client in advance and then posted at a specific day/ time. “Plausibly live” chats can have equally positive outcomes.

——Marc Whitney is an account supervisor at Brookfield-based The Ritterbusch Group.

leading edge COFF E E B R E A K

POLITIC AL BEAT

Walker plans ahead

BY MATT POMMER, special to BizTimes

What was the smartest thing the Northwest Side Community Development Corp. did in the past year?

“We recently became part of a Wisconsin Housing and Economic Development (Authority) loan guaranty program that will enable the NWSCDC to increase our level of catalytic lending on the northwest side. Through this partnership, NWSCDC supports qualifying loans it makes in the community with an 80 percent guaranty from WHEDA.”

What was the best advice you ever received?

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

“We just created and filled a CFO position, which is a huge step for the NWSCDC. We are of a size now, and our lending and funding sources have reached a level of complexity, where outsourcing our accounting was making less and less sense. Bringing these functions in-house equips us to think more strategically about how our finances impact our programs and vice versa.”

Do you have a business mantra?

“It all comes back to client service.”

What are the main challenges facing NWSCDC in the next year?

“We have been serving the northwest side of Milwaukee for over 30 years and know better than most the needs of

these communities. Those needs were brought to the attention of a much larger audience when violence broke out in Sherman Park this past August. Our challenge is what it has always been – to harness the strengths of Sherman Park and the neighborhoods like it across the northwest side of Milwaukee, and to add to those strengths the resources, creativity and commitment of the larger Milwaukee community, all with the goal of making these neighborhoods desired places to live and work.”

“It’s a bit trite, but I go back to this in one form or another often: Accept the things you can’t change and change the things you can’t accept. Seek wisdom to know the difference between the two.”

What do you like to do in your free time?

“Exploring new places with my husband and three young boys; reading Harry Potter with my seven-year-old; serving as judge for my kids’ three-way races, wrestling contests and best joke competitions; and spending time outdoors with friends and family.”

What is your favorite thing about working in Milwaukee with the NWSCDC?

Rebecca Mitich Board president, Northwest Side Community Development Corp. and partner, Real Estate, Development & Construction, Husch Blackwell NWSCDC: 4201 N. 27th St., 7th floor www.nwscdc.org Industry: Community organizing and economic development Employees: 9 Family: Husband, Jason; three sons, Sam (7), Max (5) and Benjamin (5) w w w.biztimes.com

“My work with the NWSCDC has given me a glimpse into a part of the city that is primed for the time, attention and resources of the larger community and I have a deeper connection with Milwaukee for it. I am grateful for that.” n

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Gov. Scott Walker is planning ahead. He says he won’t seek a fourth term as governor in 2022.

That means he is confident of winning a third term in the 2018 election, despite polls showing public support ranging in the low to mid-40 percentile. Earlier Walker this year, he said he wouldn’t run for president again as an incumbent governor.

The governor’s state campaign committee had $143,230 in the bank at the start of October, but his presidential campaign organization still has about $382,000 to pay off. Efforts to raise money should improve after the current political season ends next week. He’s not on the ballot this year.

Money shouldn’t be a problem for Walker no matter how many more times he runs for governor. Data that flowed from the John Doe investigation showed Walker was able to raise millions of dollars through a side organization which supported his election efforts.

He has donor lists for sale that include 172,415 names of donors for state campaigns and 69,552 for his brief and unsuccessful presidential campaign. The 2018 election is important because the winner of the governor’s race will have a veto over reapportionment of legislative and congressional districts that follow the 2020 federal census.

Due to existing district lines, Republicans likely will control the 2021 legislative session that will develop new district lines. A Republican governor is necessary to assure a Republican drafted map plan is implemented. In turn, that map could set the stage for Republican control of the Legislature for another decade, into the 2030s.

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

BY TH E NUMBERS

500

Pleasant Prairiebased Uline will add 500 employees company-wide by mid-2017.

That will bring the company’s total workforce to 5,700, doubling its headcount in five years.

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leading edge ON TH E C ALEN D AR

MA DE I N M I LWA U K E E

W.M. Sprinkman rides craft beer boom acquisition. W.M. Sprinkman also contemplated another addition at its Elroy or Franksville facilities as the craft beer boom has driven demand. In 2010, the brewing industry accounted for about 15 percent of sales. By 2015, that figure was up to 45 percent.

“If we lose business, it’s because we can’t get it done fast enough,” Sprinkman said. The company needed a larger facility.

But a new building would have taken too long, the Elroy facility is landlocked and finding skilled labor was a challenge both in Elroy and in Franksville, where its headquarters was previously located, he said.

The company began the search for an existing building for its headquarters and eventually found a 52,000-squarefoot building formerly occupied by Oberlin Filter Co. in Waukesha. It provides more room and came with overhead cranes to improve workflow and an expanded overhead ARTHUR THOMAS door that makes shipping easier.

(414) 336-7123 | Twitter: @arthur8823 arthur.thomas@biztimes.com The building was a good fit, but Sprinkman said the efforts to develop skilled labor, particularly in welding, by Quality is becoming increasingly important to the indusWaukesha County Technical College and others resulted in try. Just in the past year, Goose Island Beer Co., Revolution the move some 30 miles to the northwest.

Brewing and Left Hand Brewing Co. are among those who “That’s what kind of pushed us over the top,” he said. have recalled beers for quality, not safety, issues.

Making the move came with the risk of losing the skilled W.M. Sprinkman’s products, including pasteurizers and labor the company already had, something Sprinkman was cleaning systems, can help with quality and its design work “very nervous about.” Before making the decision, the also can make systems more efficient. company studied which employees would be impacted the It is work the company did for years with dairies and most, held one-on-one meetings and put together a comother food and beverage companies, helping them impensation package to ensure retention. The company also prove their processes through the design and installation of offered some flexible hours and continues to monitor how fluid systems. It wasn’t until the 2000 acquisition of Elroy, employees are handling the change. Less than five have Wisconsin-based Winchell Welding that the company beleft as a result and employment is up overall. gan manufacturing its own tanks.

Any industry that has seen so many new entrants is The Elroy facility has expanded three times since the likely to also see an influx of new suppliers, and brewing is no different.

“We go to these trade shows and we are Crews at W.M. Sprinkman work on a pasteurization system for a large brewer. amazed at the amount of tank builders that appear out of nowhere,” Sprinkman said.

There’s a difference, though, between building a tank and building an entire system or integrating a solution in one problem area to improve efficiency. While a smaller brewery might run cleaning products through its tanks and then dump them down the drain, Sprinkman has built clean-in-place systems for several larger breweries that allow the chemicals to be filtered and reused.

Sprinkman’s product is custom-designed, highly engineered and technical. It is also high-end and quality is important, especially in a craft beer industry that is close knit, so a reputation can easily be damaged.

"We want to grow and we've got an opportunity to do so, but we're going to do it at a pace that allows it to keep our quality at or better than it is today," Sprinkman said.

W.M. Sprinkman Corp.

404 Pilot Court, Waukesha Industry: Food and beverage processing Employees: 117 www.sprinkman.com

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DEC

With new craft breweries opening on a seemingly weekly basis, it is no surprise business is good for tank maker W.M. Sprinkman Corp.

But in reality, the growth of more established breweries is what’s driving increased sales for the nowWaukesha-based company.

“You look at the larger ones and they’re becoming beverage plants as opposed to small craft breweries,” said Brian Sprinkman, president and chief executive officer. “I mean they’re really starting to follow the safety, the policies, the procedures of an FDA-regulated facility.”

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Health Care Heroes BizTimes Media will host the 2016 Health Care Heroes Awards on Thursday, Dec. 8, from 7:30 a.m. to 9:30 a.m. at Potawatomi Hotel & Casino, 1721 W. Canal St. in Milwaukee. The awards salute the impact and accomplishments of people and organizations that are making a positive difference in the community on the front lines of health care. For more information or to register, visit www.biztimes.com/hero.

BOOK REVIEW

‘Evicted: Poverty and Profit in the American City’ Harvard sociologist Matthew Desmond spent time in Milwaukee’s poorest neighborhoods to look at how eight families struggle living in poverty and the way poverty is viewed in America. Arleen is a single mother trying to raise her two sons on the $20 a month she has left after paying for her rundown apartment; Scott is a nurse-turned-heroin addict; Lamar, a man with no legs, tries to work his way out of debt; Vanetta participates in a botched stickup after her hours are cut. All of the Milwaukee residents featured by Desmond are spending almost all of the little money they do have on rent and have fallen behind.

Their fate is in the hands of two landlords: Sherrena Tarver, a former school teacher-turned-innercity entrepreneur, and Tobin Charney, who runs a trailer park. The book reveals that many times eviction is not so much a consequence of poverty as a cause. Based on years of embedded fieldwork and gathered data, Desmond’s “Evicted” shows scenes of hope and loss and reminds the reader that without a home, not a lot else is possible.

“Evicted” is available for $22.40 at www.800ceoread.com.

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leading edge NON P RO F IT N E W S

THE GOOD LIFE

Bucks hire special needs individuals to fill game-night jobs

Wrestling with an alter ego At his day job as an associate art director and graphic designer at EPIC Creative in West Bend, Steve Garrou is mild-mannered, rational and responsible. But his alter ego in the wrestling ring is anything but.

For several years, Garrou, a 6-foot-3inch, 240-pound behemoth of a man, has performed as an amateur wrestler under the stage name “Sadist” in WWE-style tournaments and local and regional leagues, including Wisconsin Pro Wrestling and the National Wrestling Alliance Midwest.

“My character is everything that I am not in real life,” Garrou said, and laughed. His character is known for being aggressive and Steve Garrou, an associate art director and graphic designer at enjoying inflicting pain on his opponents.

EPIC Creative in West Bend, transforms into “Sadist” while in the wrestling ring.

“I’ve been a fan (of wrestling) my whole life,” he said. “I still watch every week. It’s one of those childhood things I never let go. past two years.

It was always something I wanted to try. In college, I “I personally love it,” he said of his career as an decided I was going to get my degree and make sure I amateur wrestler. “I love the idea of wrestling because had my backup plan, but I was going to be a profesit is, in a sense, marketing. You’re marketing for a sional wrestler.” show, you’re marketing a character so you can draw As long as he has been wrestling, Garrou has been people in and get them emotionally invested, and that’s working in marketing and advertising as a graphic essentially everything I do as a graphic designer.” designer. He’s been working at EPIC Creative for the

Through a partnership between the Milwaukee Bucks and the Milwaukee Center for Independence, a rotating pool of 12 employees with intellectual disabilities or other special needs will fill nine jobs at the The new employees.

BMO Harris Bradley Center during each Bucks home game throughout the 2016-’17 season.

The employees will be in charge of stocking and refilling supplies and cleaning at each of the nine condiment stands in the arena concourses.

“The Milwaukee Bucks organization is really helping their newest employees to take a giant step forward,” said Carrie Belsky, director of employment services at the Milwaukee Center for Independence. “It’s much more than an opportunity for these new hires to earn money and become more self-sufficient – the Bucks have been so inviting and welcoming. You can just hear the pride in our clients’ voices when they say, ‘I work for the Milwaukee Bucks.’”

——Ben Stanley

——Ben Stanley

New overtime rules – changing work environments and pay.

Employers, are you ready?

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On Tuesday, May 17, the Department of Labor announced new rules on overtime pay, thereby raising the salary level at which employers are required to pay overtime. These changes impact the majority of profit and non-profit organizations, and the DOL estimates that 4.2 million U.S. workers who are currently exempt will now be eligible for overtime compensation. Employers are required to implement these changes by December 1, 2016.

For a summary of the new rules and a copy of our webinar replay addressing these changes, implementation strategies and much more, please visit www.dkattorneys.com/newexemptionrules or contact Laurie E. Meyer at 414.225.1419 / laurie.meyer@dkattorneys.com of our Labor & Employment Team.

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leading edge G ET T I NG TH E R E

BR EA K ING G ROUN D

Jessica Wildes Trefoil Group 735 N. Water St., Suite 200, Milwaukee Age: 30 Education: Bachelor’s in studio art and mass media communications, College of St. Benedict and St. John’s University; Master’s in integrated marketing communications, Eastern Michigan University Current position: Senior account executive Previous position: Contractor and consultant Years at company: Less than one

»» Why did you recently get promoted to senior account executive?

“I worked both in higher education and as a subcontractor, so I had experience with nonprofits but also small businesses, in helping them sometimes create and establish their marketing strategies. When this opportunity became available, I thought it would be a great next step to larger organizations and bring some of my consumer-based marketing skills to the table.” »» What is your next career goal?

“To continue to build upon my knowledge and experience in all areas of marketing and communication. I have a lot of experience in the creative side, but I’m looking to further build my portfolio in communications and media relations and brand management.”

Hammes Co. Brookfield-based Hammes Co. is planning a five-story office building at the northeast corner of Knapp and Water Streets in downtown Milwaukee that will be the company’s new corporate headquarters. Phase one of the $30 million project includes the 94,000-square-foot office building, with a 360-stall parking structure that will be connected to the building along Market Street.

For Wisconsin in 2017 and Beyond

Presidented by First Business Bank - Milwaukee

Thursday, December 8, 2016

Country Springs Hotel & Conference Center - 2810 Golf Rd, Pewaukee

Join Lieutenant Governor Rebecca Kleefisch and industry panelists for a program on the key industries for Wisconsin in 2017 and beyond.

FREDERICK ANDERSON President/CEO Wenthe-Davidson Engineering Co.

SCOTT HEBERLEIN

DR. ASIF NASEEM

VP & General Manager Mortenson Construction

President & CEO PDS

CARRIE NORBIN KILLORAN Executive Vice President Central Region Aurora Health Care

7:30 - 9:30 a.m.

ERIC STEIMER

Championship Manager 2017 U.S. Open

All attendees will receive a complimentary copy of the 2016 First Business Economic Survey Report

Visit www.waukesha.org or call (262)542-4249 to register.

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KeyIndustries-BTMPrintAd.indd 1

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10/28/2016 1:33:46 PM

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ON LIN E POLL

Re: Milwaukee Startup Week “From talking to entrepreneurs, a lot of them don’t realize there are actually a ton of organizations out there to help them. One of our goals during this week is to provide a single touch-point where entrepreneurs can discover all the organizations out there to help them in the metro Milwaukee area.”

- Matt Cordio, Startup Milwaukee

Re: The Republican Party

Will the effort to raise $26 million for the Lakefront Gateway Plaza project be successful?

“The GOP must address the frustrations of its supporters if it is to remain a force in American politics.”

- John Torinus, Serigraph Inc.

Re: U.S. patent system “When Congress reconvenes in January, it is likely to reconsider legislation some say is designed to reform the patent system – and that others insist will harm it.”

The Boerner Botanical Gardens at Whitnall Park in Hales Corners recently hosted China Lights, a traveling Chinese lantern festival. The festival attracted thousands and will return in 2017.

- Tom Still, Wisconsin Technology Council

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biz news Businesses prepare for overtime rule change Payroll strategies adjusted to remain cost-neutral

BY MOLLY DILL, staff writer

L

awsuits almost never move quickly and it’s nearly impossible to predict election-year politics.

That’s why, in mid-September, Christine DeMuth got proactive about the impending Dec. 1 overtime rule change.

The U.S. Department of Labor’s new rule will significantly increase the minimum salary threshold at which nonexempt employees are required to receive overtime pay under the Fair Labor Standards Act, to $47,476. Employers have several options to comply with the rule: 1) Pay time-and-a-half for overtime work; 2) Raise workers’ salaries above the new threshold; 3) Limit workers’ hours to 40 per week; or 4) Some combination of the options.

While there are two pending lawsuits

related to the rule, they are unlikely to be concluded before Dec. 1 and a judge is unlikely to issue an injunction at this stage in the process.

Starting Oct. 1, New Berlin-based Med-Stat USA LLC, where DeMuth is director of administration, began requiring all employees to keep track of their hours each week and then analyzed the data.

“We’ve had to make some adjustments, and one of the ways to do it is to force everybody to punch in,” DeMuth said. “This is our way to track and make everybody equal.”

Med-Stat transports medical equipment, labs, specimens and pharmaceuticals.

It has skilled technicians delivering everything from organs to medical equipment.

Like many employers, Med-Stat has

Construction Matters.

We specialize in interiors – delivering your project on time and on budget.

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several types of employees. Its workforce is spread among two shifts and some are oncall after hours. Many of its salaried employees work 50 or more hours each week. Its office employees and drivers are paid an hourly rate of more than $11 an hour.

But based on its analysis, Med-Stat will have to reduce some flexibility for about 12 of its salaried non-exempt employees to keep overtime costs down. The company has a total of 53 employees.

“More importantly, (punching in) got people thinking about it and it also forced them to get into the habit,” DeMuth said.

“We’ve been sending out weekly announcements, anywhere from ‘We’ve got too many missed punches,’ to ‘Did you approve your time card?’”

Thirty days in, Med-Stat has achieved 80 percent punch compliance.

DeMuth is working to update the employee manual, from the time tracking to the procedure for off-hours calls and emails. Tracking employees’ time has created more administrative work for Med-Stat.

“We’ve already adjusted schedules so that we’re shifting some of the shift work around, utilizing people at different start times and end times and then telling them that they have to manage that schedule,” she said.

Management level employees will be kept more strictly to a 45-hour workweek, and they’ll need to use PTO to go to events where they previously had some flexibility, like medical appointments or to a child’s school event, DeMuth said. They’ll be paid at a cost-neutral hourly rate.

“I did an analysis and yes, potentially, it will cost us significant more (for payroll),” she said. “If we don’t really manage to the 45-hour workweek, it’s like adding probably another full-time management level (employee).”

Employees initially asked a lot of questions about the changes, and DeMuth encouraged them to research the law online and explained to them how it would impact their hours and pay. Communication has been key to making the

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Med-Stat USA, which delivers medical equipment and specimens, has had to change its policies to meet the new overtime regulation.

change, she said.

Med-Stat worked with Payroll Complete, a division of Waukesha State Bank, to adjust its payroll policies.

Payroll Complete has about 400 employer clients, most of whom are based in Waukesha County. They range in size from one employee to 500 employees, said Paula Brierton, president of Payroll Complete.

Employers have first been evaluating how many of their employees are impacted by the new regulation, and then changing their policies to come into compliance. Sometimes, that involves shifting employee compensation to hourly pay.

“I think it’s more of a struggle initially because they have to decide how they’re going to stay in budget considering the new rules without demoralizing their employees,” Brierton said. “A lot of times, there’s a stigma moving from a salaried position to an hourly position.”

Many of Payroll Complete’s clients have been busy implementing and communicating about the regulation switch, she said.

The majority of companies she has spoken with are concerned about the change.

“The biggest concern is I would say just making sure that their budget stays intact,” Brierton said. “Also, for larger employers, just trying to work their way through the evaluation of each employee to determine where they fall under the new rule.”

Employers first must conduct a com........................OVERTIME continued on page 11

innovations UWM researcher’s method could pave way for future genetic research

E

arlier this fall, a biostatistics researcher at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee School of Public Health named Paul Auer published a paper, in collaboration with several other scientists, identifying 17 different types of rare genetic mutations in humans associated with diseases like heart disease and diabetes.

The research they conducted was sweeping, and involved sifting through genetic information from more than 36,000 people with EuroBEN STANLEY (414) 336-7121 ben.stanley@biztimes.com Twitter: @BizTimesBen

pean ancestry from the United States, the United Kingdom and mainland Europe.

While the discovery of links between certain genetic variations and specific diseases is nothing new – scientists have known of or suspected genetic links to certain cardiovascular and blood diseases for years – the specificity of their research OVERTIME..................................... from page 10

pensation analysis to determine how many employees are below the new threshold, and then determine what they will do to come into compliance with the regulation.

“What I’m hearing employers say is that an employee typically works 45 hours a week and they’re salaried, but they’re still under the threshold. If they scale back that employee so that they don’t have to pay overtime, what do they do with those five extra hours?

Because they still need coverage.”

Each company has taken a different approach to meeting the regulation change, depending on their individual situations, Brierton said.

“I don’t think that there’s a rule of thumb, because I think each of them has made individualized strategic decisions to try to find the best way forward,” said

on mutations within the human genome is, and could University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee inform medical research for School of Public Health years to come.

Milwaukee Because cardiovascular Innovation: New method to sift through large and blood diseases are so datasets of genetic information. complex and can be caused www.uwm.edu/publichealth/ by so many different factors, finding specific genetic causes is extremely difficult. due University.

But Auer and his collaborators, many of “I got involved in whom are based at the Wellcome Trust research with plant Sanger Institute, a nonprofit genom- genetics,” Auer said. ics and genetics research institute near “We were doing lots Cambridge, England, developed a new of data analysis and, method to identify links that involves really, the fundasifting through massive datasets of ge- mental principles Auer netic information. of what you do with “It gives us a level of granularity that plant genetics are similar to what you do you really couldn’t have before we put this with humans.” together,” Auer said. “It let us go into fine After obtaining his Ph.D. from Purgrain detail along the genome.” due, Auer went to the Fred Hutchinson Auer obtained his undergraduate de- Cancer Research Center in Seattle, where gree in mathematics and didn’t get in- he worked with a team that was using gevolved with genetic research until he was netic techniques to study diseases, such pursuing his doctorate in statistics at Pur- as cancer, in humans. Three years later, Scott Paler, partner and chair of the Labor and Employment practice group at DeWitt Ross & Stevens S.C. For example, one of the area’s largest Paler employers, Wauwatosa-based Froedtert Health, has been grappling with the regulation change’s impact on its workforce, which works varying hours.

“The new overtime rule affects less than one percent of Froedtert Health’s approximately 11,000 staff members,” said John Konicek, executive director, compensation and benefits at Froedtert Health, in a statement. “Regardless, it’s an important, complicated issue and we’ve been working to address it for sevw w w.biztimes.com

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eral months. Health care requires flexible staffing options as patient volumes ebb and flow. Accordingly, we have staff who frequently change from full- to part-time status and back. The new rule creates a significant administrative challenge as we put a process in place to monitor all staff every pay period and adjust pay appropriately when changes occur.”

Employers with between 50 and 200 employees tend to have the most difficult time meeting the threshold, since their bottom lines tend to be more sensitive and they can be tied to the traditional way they have paid employees, Paler said.

“I would say a decent chunk have been able to make this cost-neutral, but that’s certainly not true of everyone,” he said. “There is a sizable minority that is increasing the compensation that they’re paying overall to employees.” n

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in 2013, he took a faculty position at the School of Public Health at UWM. Auer and his collaborators on the paper published earlier this year used data from previous studies to create a resource called a “dense imputation panel” that holds a vast trove of genetic detail that can fill in gaps from previous, low-resolution genetic studies to help researchers find connections or possible links between genes and diseases.

“The focus of our paper was really on risk factors for heart disease, but the approach and the imputation map that we composed is applicable to any other disease with a genetic component,” Auer said.

While identifying precise links between genetic variations and diseases is a first step, Auer said translating their research into treatments for those diseases will take some time to develop and still could be years away.

Auer sees genetics and genomics becoming a major part of medical research and treatment in the next decade, and said he believes individualized genomes will become commonplace on patient medical records accessible by doctors during routine checkups.

Recent advances in genetic research have “transformed the way we think about treating and preventing diseases,” he said.

“This notion of tailoring treatments for each individual is absolutely where health care is headed, and geneticists will play a part of that for sure.”

Opportunities to apply advancements in genetic research to the medical industry in a business sense are multifaceted.

Scientists and doctors could take their findings in the direction of therapeutics and work with the pharmaceutical industry to develop new treatments for certain diseases. Entrepreneurs also could begin building startups around the idea of direct-to-consumer genetic testing.

At least one such company, called 23andME, already exists and promises to test customers’ DNA for $99 and give them a breakdown of their global ancestry. It also offers a $199 test that gives a more detailed breakdown, with healthrelated information about their genes.

Other existing companies focused on ancestral research, such as ancestry.com, offer similar DNA testing services for a comparable price “I think, in time, it will become a routine part of your medical history that your physician sees,” Auer said. n 11

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special report

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Donsia Strong Hill, Deshea Agee and Carla Cross.

THE ACRE ALUMNI D I V E R S I T Y P R O G R A M P R O D U C E S I N D U S T R Y, C O M M U N I T Y L E A D E R S

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BY CORRINNE HESS, staff writer

WHEN KEVIN NEWELL HIRED TERRELL WALTER at his Milwaukeebased real estate development company, Royal Capital Group, there was one stipulation: Walter had to graduate from the Associates in Commercial Real Estate program.

Newell was an ACRE graduate himself, having gone through the program while still a senior at the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater in 2007.

He knew the connections and skills Walter would make through ACRE, a program created in 2005 at Marquette University to train minorities for career paths in the commercial real estate industry, would be invaluable

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to both Royal Capital and his young protégé.

Walter, now a project manager at Royal Capital who oversees $12 million to $20 million deals, graduated from ACRE in 2015.

“ACRE was a core component of Terrell’s overall development of his career,” Newell said. “ACRE opened up the doors for me. It was the networking, but it also taught me the basic fundamentals of the industry.”

Since the ACRE program’s first class graduated in 2005, its impact has been seen throughout the City of Milwaukee and beyond in the work being done by minority developers, brokers and contractors.

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real estate

In addition to Newell and Walter, ACRE counts as alumni three current Milwaukee aldermen – Milele Coggs, Khalif Rainey and Jose Perez – and three Milwaukee business improvement district executive directors: Jacqueline Ward, North Avenue/Fond du Lac - Marketplace BID 32; Deshea Agee, Historic King Drive Business Improvement District #8; and Keith Stanley, Avenues West Association.

James, Jalen and Clifton Phelps, owners of Milwaukee-based JCP Construction, all graduated from the program, as did Melissa Goins, founder and president of Milwaukee-based Maures Development Group LLC, Carla Cross, president and chief executive officer of Milwaukee-based Cross Development Group Inc., and Vincent Lyles, president and CEO of the Boys & Girls Clubs of Greater Milwaukee – and that’s just to 14

name a few.

“There are also those that are quietly changing their own neighborhoods through the ownership of a duplex or four-unit, building wealth, building community,” said Mark Eppli, Robert EPPLI B. Bell, Sr., chair in real estate at Marquette, who started the ACRE program after moderating a commercial real estate conference in Milwaukee in 2004. Following the conference, Eppli was approached by a colleague, former Marquette dean of business Tom Bausch, who noted there wasn’t a single minority in the audience.

Eppli took the comment to heart and started doing some research. What B i zT i m e s M i l w a u k e e

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he found was a report in the Wall Street Journal that showed less than 1 percent of the industry’s 100,000 professionals – including leasing brokers, asset managers and real estate company executives – who handle the $1.5 trillion of commercial real estate in the country are black.

By comparison, blacks make up 7.9 percent of business executives and 5 percent of lawyers.

“Locally, someone only needs to attend one commercial real estate event to witness the lack of diversity in the profession,” Eppli said. “At a recent commercial real estate breakfast held at Marquette University, there were over 360 attendees, but no minorities were present, confirming the need to expand the profession beyond its current demographic.”

Bader Philanthropies Inc., formerly the Helen Bader Foundation, agreed to fund

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the program for the first three years and the ACRE program was launched in 2005.

“Overall, the inaugural class had the greatest impression on me, maybe because we were all in this together and trying something new,” Eppli said.

During the year prior to launching ACRE, Eppli and other industry experts collected contact information from potential students. The students who applied were required to take a mini-Graduate Management Admission Test/ACT exam to make sure they had the quantitative and qualitative skills needed to be successful in the field.

They were then interviewed to assess their passion for the commercial real estate industry.

When the Great Recession hit in 2008, the brightest and best capitalized developers in Milwaukee were struggling to

real estate

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Downtown Milwaukee

get developments off the ground, so Eppli decided to put the ACRE program on hiatus in 2010.

By that time, ACRE had been running successfully for five years and had graduated 140 men and women of African-American, Asian, Latino and American Indian descent.

“Graduating students into that environment with the expectation of using their newfound knowledge in the field was peddling false hope,” Eppli said. “To me, false hope is extraordinarily corrosive.”

The Milwaukee office of Local Initiatives Support Corp. took the lead on revitalizing the ACRE program in 2013, this time partnering with Marquette, the Milwaukee School of Engineering, the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee and private industry.

Eppli has remained an active ACRE

board member and assists with student and instructor selection, student project reviews and financial support.

Robert Lemke, an architect and associate professor at MSOE, and Carolyn Esswein, director of community design solutions at UWM’s School of Urban Planning, have since stepped up to take on more prominent roles in the program.

Donsia Strong Hill, LISC Milwaukee’s executive director and a 2005 graduate of ACRE, oversees the program.

“I want to make sure the talented people who spend their time with us leave with a demonstrated ability to go forward in some capacity of development if they want to,” Hill said. “It’s quite a joy. I feel very passionate about it.”

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Department of Regulation and Licensing. In her work, she often represented financial institutions, underwriters and developers. Strong Hill said she wanted to understand how they thought, how they came to certain conclusions and why a lot of transactions would start and stop because of what she called “money tension.”

The 26-week program gave Strong Hill and her colleagues, many of whom were already working in the profession, a better handle on the financial side of development.

“Everyone is not equipped with the demeanor to be a developer,” she said.

“My biggest takeaway was the understanding of the spreadsheets, pro formas and understanding what goes into creating the formulas.”

LISC graduated its first ACRE class in 2014. The class of 2015 consisted of

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23 students ranging in age from 25 to 63, with an average age of 37.

Most students have college degrees and real world experience. Applicants still have to pass a rigorous screening test, which includes an interview with an ACRE alumnus and a real estate professional. They also must be proficient in Microsoft Word and Excel and be employed full-time. The $300 application fee is refunded after successful completion of the 26- to 28-week course.

The current round of funding for ACRE comes from Milwaukee-based Mandel Group Inc., The Opus Group (based in Minneapolis with a local office in Menomonee Falls) and other Milwaukee-area commercial real estate companies, as well as from NAIOP Wisconsin, the Commercial Association of Realtors Wisconsin and the Associated General 15

real estate Contractors of Greater Milwaukee. Local real estate professionals also volunteer as ACRE instructors.

Barry Mandel, president of Mandel Group, has contributed approximately $175,000 to the program. He also has been an instructor and hosted many of the networking events for ACRE students and graduates over the years.

“The money is a small comparison to what I’ve received back and the relationships I’ve been able to have with the

ACRE students and the impact they’ve had on the city,” Mandel said. “Attending the graduations and seeing many of the alumni move forward in their professions has been the most gratifying for me.”

Jim Villa, CEO of NAIOP Wisconsin, said the program is invaluable for its ability to pave the way for minority students to be connected to the commercial real estate industry.

“NAIOP has historically been involved in bringing in industry professionals for

& development

networking and to provide the curriculum and we hope to continue that partnership,” Villa said. “Increasing diversity in our field brings diversity of thought, perspective and background. It’s great to be expanding that base.”

LISC started its current ACRE class on Oct. 11. The focus has always been commercial, industrial and residential real estate, but this year, Strong Hill has added another component.

Two Milwaukee Department of City

Development staff members, Kenneth Little and Dwayne Edwards, serve as ACRE board members. This year, the class will partner with DCD to study some of the properties the city owns and the students will come up with their own potential projects for the sites.

“ACRE graduates can develop anywhere and we want them to do that, but we hope we have a strong cohort of folks interested in bettering the lives and the real estate in the areas that we work in,”

DESHEA AGEE

CARLA CROSS

DONSIA STRONG HILL

Deshea Agee was selling advertising for radio station WMCS-AM 1290, when he heard an ad for a new program through Marquette University to train minorities for careers in commercial real estate. He applied for the ACRE program and did well enough during the 26-week class to get an internship with Pabst Farms, developer Peter Bell’s 1,500-acre Oconomowoc mixed-use development.

“I was at one of the biggest developments in the state at the time, sitting in on brokerage meetings and having conversations about the hospital (Aurora Medical Center in Summit) and its TIF,” Agee said. “It was amazing.”

After the internship, Agee went to work with fellow ACRE alumna Carla Cross at her firm, Cross Development Group Inc., and later took a job with Milwaukee’s Department of City Development, where he worked for nine years before taking on his current role as executive director of the Historic King Drive BID. “ACRE showed me this was the place I should be,” Agee said.

Carla Cross was not new to the real estate development world when she signed up for the ACRE program; she started Cross Management Services Inc. and Cross Development Group in 1999. But Cross was intrigued by all of the different pieces that went into a deal and wanted to learn more.

Donsia Strong Hill was a bond lawyer who represented developers and hoped the ACRE program would give her a better understanding of the tension money often created in the 11th hour of a deal.

Executive director, Historic King Drive Business Improvement District #8

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MEMBERS OF THE ACRE CLASS OF 2005

President and chief executive officer, Cross Development Group Inc.

Executive director, Local Initiatives Support Corp. Milwaukee

“I thought (ACRE) was really good,” Cross said. “We covered the financial aspects, pro forma, cap rates, and many of the aspects of putting a deal together.”

“The program gave me a very good understanding, and it also helped me understand there is a certain level of risk you have to be able to handle in this profession,” Strong Hill said. “It’s not for the faint of heart. Not everyone is equipped to be a developer.”

After graduation, Cross worked on several projects and tried her hand at a commercial development that would have included an office building and condominiums, but the timing wasn’t right with the Great Recession looming.

After graduation, Strong Hill continued practicing law and began working with her husband’s development company, Hill Group Companies. She has spent much of her career making sure good, affordable housing stock is available.

And while Cross may try commercial development again, her firm was recently hired by the Milwaukee Bucks to assist in meeting workforce development goals for construction of the new arena being built in downtown Milwaukee.

Now, as the executive director of LISC, Hill has a chance to bring new people through the ACRE program.

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“It’s quite a joy and I feel very passionate about it,” Hill said. “I really want to make sure we get this right.”

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real estate Strong Hill said. “For example, Mitchell Street or King Drive, how would they orient a building? Does it make sense for market rate, first floor commercial, does it cry out for community space or is it better kept as straight retail space? We want to look at properties like that in a clustered approach because that is how you make a difference.”

Strong Hill said the ACRE program will continue to be tweaked to keep it focused and relevant. Its strongest attribute is the creation of a lifelong network, she

said. Strong Hill often finds herself calling on her fellow ACRE graduates for projects or lifting up someone she knows through ACRE because she can count on their work ethic, she said.

“This is one area where all three major institutions are involved, the political apparatus is engaged and supports us and industry supports us, not only financially, but also in-kind,” Strong Hill said. “I believe there is goodwill all around this city, but there has to be a vision of what something can be in order

& development

for people to come around it. ACRE created that vision.”

Across Milwaukee, other industries, particularly manufacturing, continue to struggle with the skills gap – the idea that employers are not able to find enough potential employees to fill their needs, while unemployment remains an issue in the central city.

So why won’t a program like ACRE work in other industries? Those involved with the program said the reason for ACRE’s initial success was its inception,

and those achievements are now building upon themselves.

“The reason this worked was there was a committed individual, Mark (Eppli), who talked to others, and The Bader Foundation, and everyone had a desire to move this forward,” Strong Hill said.

“And then you had a group of people with a pent-up desire. Those kinds of people exist in all races and all income levels, but ACRE was the perfect stew.

I don’t know if the same thing exists in other industries.” n

VINCENT LYLES

JAMES PHELPS

Mark Eppli met Vincent Lyles and told him about a program he was putting together called ACRE. Lyles, who was working in the public finance group at Robert W. Baird & Co. Inc. at the time, had gotten pretty familiar with tax credits but didn’t know the real estate business very well and was intrigued.

“I had no clue who else would be involved and how many talented people would wind up in one room,” Lyles said. “I give a lot of credit to Mark, but also the Irgens, Mandels and Dennis Kleins of the world for stepping up; that’s what made it a lot of fun.”

Lyles left Baird to be president of M&I Community Development Corp. and later, president of the Boys & Girls Clubs.

“I’m very bullish on the ACRE program,” Lyles said. “I was glad to see it came back and came back with a vengeance. I’m glad to see a new group of people out there wanting to improve our city.”

James Phelps was a painter with Milwaukee Public Schools when he heard about the ACRE program.

He wanted a better opportunity and real estate had always intrigued him. During a networking event held

by ACRE, Phelps made a connection with Dennis Klein, formerly of KBS Construction Inc., which is now part of C.D. Smith Construction Inc. That connection is what made Phelps decide to go into construction.

He interned with KBS after graduating from the ACRE program and later worked for the company before launching his own successful construction business, JCP Construction, in 2009 with his brothers Jalin and Clifton, who later graduated from the ACRE program.

“You can have a skillset, but if you don’t have the relationships to go along with it, it’s really hard,” Phelps said. “ACRE gives you a really well-rounded understanding of what goes into making a project a real project.”

President, Boys & Girls Clubs of Greater Milwaukee

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CONTRIBUTED

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MEMBERS OF THE ACRE CLASS OF 2005

KEITH STANLEY

Owner, JCP Construction

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Keith Stanley has always had an appreciation for the real estate business. His mother has been a residential real estate agent in Sherman Park, where he grew up, for 35 years. Stanley applied to the ACRE program to see if there was a way to bring more commercial development to the neighborhood.

“My takeaway was the issue is more challenging and complicated than I knew,” Stanley said. “But I was able to connect with some really outstanding and smart people within the commercial real estate industry.

ACRE is the most amazing program in the universe.”

Stanley said he uses the lessons and connections he made through ACRE daily.

“I value what Dr. Mark Eppli did to change the landscape for the City of Milwaukee,” Stanley said.

“He was able to look at an industry and say, ‘We need to bring in people of color.’ That takes an amazing person. If we could do that in all fields across this country, we would be a better country for it.”

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real estate

CORRINNE HESS

& development

The Downtown Transit Center will be demolished to make way for The Couture, a 44-story tower with 302 apartments and 50,000 square feet of retail space.

Development heats up in area around U.S. Bank Center

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hen the Milwaukee Streetcar launches its Lakefront Line extension in 2019, riders will have access to the Westin Hotel, the 833 East office tower, two upscale steakhouses, The Couture development and the Lakefront Gateway Plaza.

Less than a year ago, none of this existed.

For decades, the state’s tallest building, the U.S. Bank Center at 777 E. Wisconsin Ave., was the only substantial building in the two-block area bordered by Wisconsin Avenue on the north, Lincoln Memorial

BY CORRINNE HESS, staff writer

Drive on the east, Clybourn Street on the south and Van Buren Street on the west, despite the prime location in the downtown central business district.

U.S. Bank owned the majority of the land surrounding its building and for years, those valuable parcels sat vacant or were used for parking. In 2003, U.S. Bank and Milwaukee-based developer Irgens transformed a surface parking lot at 875 E. Wisconsin Ave. into a 225,000-squarefoot office building. The building, now owned by Wangard Partners, is occupied

by Ernst & Young LLP, Roundy’s and Artisan Partners, drawing hundreds of employees to the site daily.

From there, U.S. Bank created a master plan for its remaining property, said Joseph Ullrich, U.S. Bank vice president and director of real estate leasing.

“We had multiple lots that were underutilized,” Ullrich said. “We don’t see ourselves as the main catalyst for what has happened here, but hopefully this did spark some of the redevelopment.”

In 2009, U.S. Bank replaced its

36-year-old parking structure at 716 E. Clybourn St. with a larger parking structure on a smaller footprint. During this time, another plan emerged, drafted by a task force led by the Milwaukee County Parks Department, that included demolishing the Downtown Transit Center immediately east of the U.S. Bank annex garage and the redevelopment of the U.S. Bank annex garage.

The Downtown Transit Center currently is being demolished to make way for The Couture, a $122 million, 44-story luxury apartment tower that will include 302 units and about 50,000 square feet of retail space, public parking, transit connections and numerous public amenities, including a connection to the Lakefront Gateway Plaza.

Several developers who wanted to purchase the U.S. Bank annex garage came forward and Irgens ultimately was chosen to develop it into the 833 East Michigan building, which opened in March.

The 17-floor, 358,017-square-foot, Class A office building includes Rare Steakhouse on the ground floor and is anchored by law firm Godfrey & Kahn S.C. The building is currently about 80 percent leased.

Shortly after negotiations began with Irgens, U.S. Bank began talking to Milwaukee hotel developer Jackson Street Holdings LLC about building a Westin on the parcel of bank-owned property that was freed up when the new parking structure was built in 2009. The 220room Westin Hotel, which will include an Italian steakhouse on the ground floor, will open next summer on the east side of Van Buren Street, just south of the U.S. Bank Center.

“That site was very complicated,” Ull-

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rich said. “It took extra time and gymnastics putting the pieces together to make sure we had the right balance, the right flow and to make sure we knew we had the right package to have a hotel and the right mix of everything to connect.”

Douglas Nysse, principal at Arrival Partners LLC, which is developing the Westin project with Jackson Street, said the goal of the U.S. Bank block has been to replace vacant lots and underutilized buildings with higher and best use properties.

Nysse said development is happening in this area of the city now because Milwaukee is ready for it.

“It’s a matter of the economic recovery, the new office demand and the new hotel demand,” Nysse said.

Lyle Landowski, an office space broker and partner with Colliers International | Wisconsin, which is based in the 833 East building, believes the Irgens tower and Westin Hotel are just the beginning of what’s to come for this area of the downtown.

“The U.S. Bank area has always per-

formed really well, but now Mark (Irgens) has developed an exceptional building here,” Landowski said. “I don’t think people really have an appreciation for the infrastructure going on along Clybourn and Michigan (streets) daily to make it more pedestrian-friendly.”

Other big changes coming to the area near the U.S. Bank Center include the 32-story office tower at the Northwestern Mutual campus and road improvements as part of the Lakefront Gateway project, including the extension of North Lincoln Memorial Drive, which will improve the connection between the central business district, the Historic Third Ward and the lakefront.

“It’s different today, but in five years when you look back, this is going to be a totally different neighborhood,” Landowski said. “There are so many more people down here, and when you add the residential with The Couture, it’s going to actually start to feel like a neighborhood.”

When U.S. Bank began selling its land, competitors thought the company was

crazy to invite competition in, Ullrich said.

Today, the only piece of surplus property U.S. Bank still owns is a small parking structure south of the 833 East building, which Ullrich said the company does not view as having any development potential. If anything, the parcel will be used for additional parking, he said.

“Selling our underutilized property wasn’t a matter of what we were giving up. That wasn’t how we see the world,” Ullrich said. “Hopefully, others see it as connectivity of the city to the lake.”

U.S. Bank leases a 92,000-square-foot office building at 615 E. Michigan St., which is connected by a skywalk to the 42-story U.S. Bank Center. That building, and the parking lot to the south of it, was sold this summer to a Midwest-based partnership in a 1031 tax exchange for $14 million. The four-story office building, built in 1963, occupies about half the block. However, there are no immediate plans for redevelopment of the site and U.S. Bank has a lease through December 2026.

On the block to the north, a seven-

story office building at 611 E. Wisconsin Ave. is owned by Northwestern Mutual Life Insurance Co. Built in 1964, the 131,040-square-foot building occupies less than half of the block.

“U.S. Bank has sold off its two best sites,” Landowski said. “In general, downtown development sites are a lot more challenging to find than they used to be.

The biggest key here (for the neighborhood) is what, if anything, does Johnson Controls do?”

Since early 2015, many have speculated that Johnson Controls will build an office tower at a site southwest of the intersection of East Clybourn Street and North Lincoln Memorial Drive, which is being opened up by the relocation of freeway ramps. Last year, Johnson Controls and the City of Milwaukee agreed to split the cost of a $500,000 feasibility study for development of the site. Last month, a Johnson Controls spokesman said it would be at least a year before a decision is made on the company’s “facilities master planning for Milwaukee.” n

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real estate

& development

CARW members turn less optimistic

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n perhaps a sign that the southeastern Wisconsin commercial real estate market is nearing a peak in this cycle, members of the Commercial Association of Realtors Wisconsin are less bullish than they have been during the past three years, according to the annual poll of CARW members by BizTimes Milwaukee.

To be sure, CARW members are still optimistic. When asked, “What is your impression of the condition of the current commercial real estate market?” 63.5 percent of the 85 CARW members who responded to the survey said the market is “improving.” Only 36.5 percent said the market is “flat” and none described the market as “weak.”

While those are positive results, they pale in comparison to the overwhelmingly confident response CARW members gave in the survey for the past three

CARW members’ impression of CRE Market Conditions

years. When asked the same question, 84 percent of CARW members described the market as “improving” in 2015; in 2014,

86 percent said the market was “improving;” and in 2013, 80 percent said the market was “improving.”

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With 63.5 percent of CARW members in the 2016 survey saying the market is improving, sentiment is at its lowest level

ANDREW WEILAND

The Rhythm apartment building under construction in Milwaukee. In an annual survey of CARW members, 70.6 percent said the apartment sector is most in danger of being over-developed.

since the 2012 survey, when only 43 percent described the market as “improving.”

When asked if they believe the southeastern Wisconsin commercial real estate market will improve in 2017, 73 percent of CARW members said “yes.” An overwhelmingly positive response, but down from last year, when 88.5 percent of CARW members said the region’s commercial real estate market would improve in 2016. The year before that, 94.6 percent of CARW members predicted the region’s commercial real estate market would improve in 2015.

“I think (area commercial real estate brokers) are still very optimistic and bullish, but they are also are very realistic,” said CARW president and chief executive officer Tracy Johnson. “Still, there is a lot of movement in the marketplace. There is so much under construction. Our guys are so busy. No one is saying they are nervous.”

The capital markets for commercial real estate are becoming stagnant, according to CARW members responding to the survey. Only 43.5 percent described the capital markets as “improving,” while 53 percent said they are “flat” and 3.5 percent said they are “declining.” That is a much less optimistic outlook than last year, when 72 percent of CARW members said the capital markets were “improving” and only 28 percent said they were “flat.”

The industrial market remains the strongest sector of the southeastern Wisconsin commercial real estate market, based on Xceligent data and the CARW survey results. Of those surveyed, 73 percent said the area’s industrial market is “improving.” The region’s industrial market had a vacancy rate of 4 percent in the third quarter, down from 4.9 percent a year ago. The region absorbed 819,932 square feet of industrial space in the quarter and 3.76 million square feet of space for the first three quarters of the year.

However, CARW members are less

optimistic about southeastern Wisconsin’s industrial market than they were last year, when 83 percent said the market was “improving.”

CARW members also have become far less optimistic about the area’s retail market than they were a year ago. For the 2016 survey, only 48 percent said the market is “improving,” while 46 percent said it is “flat” and 6 percent said it is “declining.”

Last year, 81 percent said the retail market was “improving.”

That decline in the retail outlook comes despite a lot of positive activity in the region’s retail real estate market.

The retail vacancy rate was at 7 percent in the third quarter, down from 8.1 percent a year ago, according to Xceligent.

The region absorbed 504,407 square feet of retail space in the third quarter and absorbed 829,404 square feet of space for the first three quarters of the year.

CARW members are more optimistic about the office market, but less so than last year. Of those surveyed, 52 percent said the area’s office market is “improving,” 43.5 percent said it is “flat” and 5 percent said it is “declining.” Last year, 64 percent said the area’s office market was “improving.”

Xceligent data shows the area’s office market is improving. The region’s office space vacancy rate was at 16.8 percent in the third quarter, down from 18.4 percent a year ago, 19.1 percent two years ago and 20.6 percent three years ago. The region’s office market absorbed 150,722 square feet of space in the third quarter, and has absorbed 626,945 square feet of space for the first three quarters of the year.

In an attempt to gauge the concerns of CARW members, the survey asked which real estate sector in the area was most in danger of being overdeveloped. The responses were: apartments, 70.6 percent; hotels, 11.75 percent; office space, 9.4 percent; retail space, 2.35 percent; industrial space, 1.2 percent; none, 4.7 percent. n w w w.biztimes.com

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& development

Commercial real estate pros will bust common industry ‘myths’

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ith major commercial real estate developments under construction throughout the Milwaukee area, regional interest in the high-profile and decidedly visible industry is at its peak.

And with so much attention and activity, a lot of people have strong opinions about all of the development going on.

That can lead to some frequent misconceptions about the marketplace.

Some of the most prominent Milwaukee-area commercial real estate professionals will debunk many of the oft-repeated myths about southeastern Wisconsin’s commercial real estate industry at BizTimes Milwaukee’s annual Commercial Real Estate and Development Conference, to be held Thursday, Nov. 17, at Potawatomi Hotel & Casino in Milwaukee.

The panel of speakers will include: Doug Nysse, principal of Arrival Partners; James T. Barry III, president of The Barry Co.; Bill Bonifas, executive vice president of CBRE; Robert Monnat, partner with Mandel Group; and Bruce Westling, principal of NAI MLG Commercial.

Each speaker represents a different industry sector and there is plenty to talk about, as each is extremely active in the area.

Nysse will discuss the hotel market, which has had numerous developments completed in Milwaukee this year and others that are ongoing. The 158-room Kimpton Journeyman Hotel opened earlier this year in the Historic Third Ward.

Also earlier this year, a 150-room Spring-

Hill Suites by Marriott hotel opened near the Wisconsin Center downtown. A 220room Westin hotel is under construction downtown. Bear Development is converting the Button Block building downtown into a 94-room Homewood Suites by Hilton hotel. Drury Southwest Inc. recently purchased the First Financial Centre office building downtown and may convert it into a 200-room hotel. A Hyatt Place hotel is planned at The Brewery complex downtown. Nysse is part of a group that has proposed a $279 million mixed-use development, including three hotels with a total of 506 rooms, at North Fourth Street and West Wisconsin Avenue downtown.

The surge in development activity makes some wonder if the city’s hotel market is getting overbuilt. The older hotels in the city will be hit the hardest if the market reaches oversaturation, said Greg Hanis, president of New Berlin-based Hospitality Marketers International Inc. Monnat will discuss the apartment market, which is probably the most active commercial real estate development sector in the region. Numerous apartment developments have been constructed in the region in recent years and several others are planned or under construction.

The most prominent apartment project is the 302-unit, 44-story Couture project, which Barrett Lo Visionary Development plans to build downtown at the lakefront. Mandel Group is working on several apartment projects in the suburbs and near downtown, including the 132-

Jackson Street Holdings has proposed a mixed-use development with three hotels at the vacant site at Fourth Street and Wisconsin Avenue.

unit DoMUS development in the Third Ward and the fourth phase of the North End project on the East Side, just north of downtown. Mandel Group also is working on a 24-story apartment tower project at North Prospect and East Odgen avenues on the East Side, which is expected to break ground in 2017.

Like the hotel market, some wonder if the apartment development surge in the area is creating an oversupply for that market. In an annual survey by BizTimes Milwaukee of members of the Commercial Association of Realtors Wisconsin, CARW members were asked which real estate sector was most in danger of being overbuilt. Of those surveyed, 70.6 percent said the apartment market.

Westling will talk about the retail real estate market. There is currently more than 2.1 million square feet of retail space under construction in the region, including work

Commercial Real Estate & Development Conference Panelists

Nysse

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Bonifas

Barry

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Westling

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at The Corners of Brookfield, 84South in Greenfield and Drexel Town Square in Oak Creek, according to Xceligent.

Also in Oak Creek, IKEA plans to build a 295,000-square-foot store along I-94.

Bonifas will discuss the office market.

This also has been an active market, with numerous suburban office tenants moving, or making plans to move, to downtown Milwaukee. Tenants that will move downtown include marketing and public relations firm Bader Rutter, which will move from Brookfield to the Wangard Partners redevelopment of the downtown Laacke & Joys property, and Hammes Co., which also will move from Brookfield, to a five-story office building it plans to build downtown. In addition, Irgens earlier this year completed construction of a new 17-story, 358,000-square-foot office building at 833 E. Michigan St. downtown, and Northwestern Mutual Life Insurance Co. is building a new 32-story office tower at its downtown corporate headquarters campus.

Barry will discuss the industrial market, which statistical data shows is the strongest real estate sector in the region.

The region’s industrial market had a 4 percent vacancy rate in the third quarter, down from 4.9 percent a year ago.

There are more than 3.1 million square feet of industrial construction projects ongoing in the region, according to Xceligent and CARW. The largest is Uline’s 800,000-square-foot distribution center, being built in Kenosha. n

real estate CORRINNE HESS

& development

The Milwaukee Bucks practice facility will be adjacent to The Brewery complex, connecting the Park East corridor with the former Pabst brewery.

Bucks arena project anchors hot Park East, North Water Street area

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n late October, Alderman Nik Kovac stood in a vacant lot at the northeast corner of East Knapp and North Water streets in downtown Milwaukee pointing to the ground, where it was just announced a five-story office building would be built.

Kovac was standing on one of the last available development sites in the Park East corridor. On that site, Brookfield-based Hammes Co. announced plans to build a $30 million, 94,000-squareCORRINNE HESS P: (414) 336-7116 E: corri.hess@biztimes.com Twitter: @CorriHess

foot office building and will move its corporate headquarters there.

The site for the Hammes project is at the epicenter of the hottest development zone in downtown Milwaukee, right at the middle of the Park East corridor and North

Water Street, where numerous developments have been built recently, are under construction or are planned. The area is transforming dramatically and changing the feel of downtown Milwaukee.

“I think a lot of people were confused for a while because they thought Park East was called Park East for parking,” Kovac said. “We had pretty much torn down a major freeway and all we had was gravel for a fairly long time.”

For too long, Kovac said, downtown Milwaukee was a place known for shutting down on weeknights and weekends.

But that has changed with the development along North Water Street and in the Park East corridor.

“In the last 10 years, we’ve really seen the wisdom of that decision (to tear down the Park East freeway spur), which was made before (Mayor Tom Barrett) or I ever entered City Hall as elected officials,” Kovac said. “The Bucks arena is the most prominent example, but you can see w w w.biztimes.com

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The Moderne, Bader Rutter and coming around the curve (on North Water Street) all of the apartments that Stu Wangard and Barry Mandel are developing.”

The City of Milwaukee demolished the Park East Freeway, a mile-long spur that was built as part of a larger plan to

encircle the downtown business district with freeways, in 2003 to open up the land for development.

The freeway was replaced with West McKinley Avenue and the Park East corridor now consists of more than 60 acres of land, 24 of which were sites available for redevelopment.

For more than a decade, much of the Park East land, particularly west of the Milwaukee River, remained vacant. City officials tried to convince Menomonee Falls-based Kohl’s Corp. to build a new corporate headquarters campus in the western portion of the Park East corridor, but the company rejected the idea in 2012.

A 22-story development that would have included a 175-room Palomar Hotel and 63 condominiums at the northwest corner of West Juneau Avenue and North Old World Third Street died in early 2009.

Some of the first major developments completed in the Park East corridor included the 160-room Aloft hotel in 2009, the first phase of The North End in 2009, and the 30-story Moderne residential tower in 2012.

When Milwaukee County Executive Chris Abele took office in 2011, filling the large amount of vacant land that remained in the Park East corridor was one of the first items on his list of things to do. Milwaukee County owned 16 acres of land in the Park East corridor and set up a website with the city, working with the Commercial Association of Realtors Wisconsin to market the available real estate within the corridor.

In 2014, an RFP was issued by the county for 10 acres of land bordered by West McKinley Avenue on the north, North Old World Third Street on the east, West Juneau Avenue on the south, and

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West Winnebago Street on the west. Two groups responded, each offering $1. The ownership group of the Milwaukee Bucks was awarded the parcel and a $524 million new Milwaukee Bucks arena is currently being built, as is a parking structure and a training facility/health center. The Bucks plan additional mixed-use development in the rest of the Park East corridor, west of the Milwaukee River.

The arena project, of course, was not easy to get off the ground. Abele was criticized for giving the county’s land away. The arena deal also needed state, county and city approval for the various funding mechanisms. “(The arena project) was a good learning experience,” Abele said. “It helped us learn about partnering effectively. I’m a big fan of when things go right, or wrong, making a concerted effort to learn from it.”

Ken Kraemer, executive director of Building Advantage, the Construction Labor Management Council of Southeast Wisconsin, said when developer Rick Barrett announced the Moderne project west of the Milwaukee River, everyone chuckled, but it proved to be a phenomenal project that finally jump-started development of that portion of the Park East corridor.

“The Bucks, in my opinion, had the right partners with the city, state and county doing the heavy lift and now what they have going on is a three-year project with a $1.3 billion total overall build,” Kraemer said. “For us, it’s a jobs story, and I think that’s been lost a bit, plus all of the

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other surrounding development – it has been amazing.”

The sale of the Park East land to the Bucks for $1 has an estimated net benefit in direct job creation through construction and new job creation expected to be valued at $400 million, according to Abele’s office.

A total of 15,221 jobs are expected to be created during construction of the arena and the ancillary development. The new real estate pledged or currently under construction totals $234.2 million As of today, there is only one remaining parcel in the Park East corridor that is not under construction or an option to purchase. That parcel, known as Block 12, is owned by Milwaukee County. The 16,000-square-foot (one-third acre) parcel is bordered by North Water, North Edison and East Knapp streets.

Both Hammes Co. and Milwaukeebased The Marcus Corp. have submitted proposals to purchase and develop it. However, Jon Hammes, company founder, said he and Marcus Corp. have agreed to use the land as a park. Milwaukee County officials would not confirm.

“I think most people would say there is never a deal that couldn’t be improved upon – fair enough – but I also think most people would agree the jobs involved, just the construction jobs alone, with this project are paying thousands of people who are getting paid right now,” Abele said. “I would think it would be difficult to point to any other catalyst than the Bucks arena.” n

strategies Politicians, please do no harm to our economy Elected officials need to focus on family businesses Dear politicians:

W

hen you read this, the elections will be over. If you are in office, you are safe for the time being, but I thought I would write this note to you on behalf of the family businesses I represent and work with.

First, to the alderperson in Milwaukee trying to block a successful choice school – family-owned and -operated – from expanding: Why do you think this school has been successful? It has 350 students, many of whom can’t succeed at Milwaukee Public Schools. On average, when they join this school that is looking to expand in your district, their test scores go

money from the government aid they were receiving. It was better to not work.

Third, to the politicians who are satisfied with the current unemployment rate: My families involved with trucking, shipping and distribution can’t find workers. American workers don’t want to do the job, despite the competitive salaries being paid, and foreign workers are being blocked because our immigration policy is all screwed up.

As an example, there are students here for college – here legally – who can’t work because their F-1 visas will not allow it. They

“ Businesses employ people who pay taxes, support their families and ultimately, raise our standard of living. To impede their progress to growth is counterproductive and just plain wrong.” up and they leap two grade levels in one year. The neighborhood you represent is being boarded up, and yet here you have a successful business serving the underserved in your community. And you are blocking their expansion because…?

Second, to the politicians who support raising the minimum wage to $15 an hour: You should talk to my clients who raised their salaries to workers in their food preparation business. This family business wants to support the community and it was experiencing tremendous absenteeism. Thinking it was a salary issue, they raised the hourly rate, only to find that their absenteeism increased! Exasperated and looking to expand their business, they asked the workers what the problem was. The response was that working was costing them too much

want to work. There are jobs Americans don’t want. And they are being blocked.

You really need to be paying attention to family businesses. About 75 percent of new job creation and growth and about 57 percent of gross domestic product comes from family-owned businesses, according to Family Enterprise USA. Like a doctor who takes the oath to “do no harm” to the patient, the politician should take the oath to do no harm to businesses and the economy. Businesses employ people who pay taxes, support their families and ultimately, raise our standard of living. To impede their progress to growth is counterproductive and just plain wrong.

I am writing to you, Mr. and Ms. Politician. You promised to serve your constituents and community. Are you serving w w w.biztimes.com

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DAVID B ORST FAMILY BUSINESS

them or yourself? Are you serving some political agenda, your own political class position, or are you truly helping our nation to expand from the moribund economic growth reported since the Great Recession? We need your help. If you can’t help, then at least get out of the way so we can do what we need to make our world and community a better place.

P.S. To the rest of you, our family businesses need your help. From over-regulation to lack of workers with the proper skillset necessary, our family businesses are being decimated. We have a responsibility to not sit idly by. Regardless of your political persuasion or leanings, without work we become the Weimar Republic before the Nazis took over or modern day Greece, where people are not working and everyone is on a government pension without the dollars to support it. According to a Joint Committee on Taxation analysis of the 2009 tax year, 51 percent of our workforce was not paying into the federal income tax system, and according to the U.S. Census Bureau, 49 percent of Americans received federal government benefits in 2011. The gap is closing, and while everyone is so worried about the gap between the rich and poor, nobody is looking at this phenomenon which is devastating to our economy.

Hopefully, we can all agree that those that can work should, and that our government needs to create an environment that supports these family-sustaining family businesses. n

YOUR MONEY’S ON THE WRONG TRACK .

BRING IT HOME .

If you’re banking with a big, outof-town bank, your money’s going full steam ahead down the wrong track. Who knows what becomes of it once it’s caught the express right out of town?

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David Borst, Ed.D., is executive director and chief operating officer of the Family Business Legacy Institute, a regional resource hub for family business. He can be reached at davidb@fbli-usa.com.

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strategies

Help, don’t hinder Incompetent men sometimes block advancement of competent women

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eaders who have paid close attention this year know all of my columns have had to do with issues surrounding women in the workforce. I have made the point that focusing on developing women is not only the right thing to do, but also the smart thing to do. Women are going to be the largest and best-educated group of entrants to the workforce of the United States in the next few years.

In this column, I will talk about a barrier to the development of women that is not often discussed (at least by men): incompetent men sometimes stand in the way or block the way of competent women.

I have frequently been asked over the past few months why I am writing about the need to develop women. Am I trying to gain “brownie points” with the women in my life? No; I am writing and talking about this issue because I have seen firsthand, in both my personal and professional lives, the challenges confronted by women.

My first boss was my paternal grandmother, who ran the newspaper distribution agency in my hometown. Grandma Schroeder, like many women of her generation, entered the workforce during World War II, when the men joined the 30

U.S. Armed Forces. Grandma Schroeder, though, stayed in the workforce after the men returned from the war. She worked for more than 40 years until she “retired” at the age of 77, and then volunteered in the community (e.g., transporting the sick and disabled) until she was nearly 90. Grandma Schroeder had to fend for herself; she was widowed as a relatively young woman. She put up with sniping comments about her toughness, the fact that she worked, that she was not following the typical female role, etc. But she did not worry very much about what people were saying behind her back; she was looking out for herself the best way she knew how. Grandma Schroeder was certainly no Betty Crocker. Her speech was peppered with quips and credos, one of my favorites of which was, “Talk is cheap; it takes money to buy whisky!” Ultimately, Grandma Schroeder turned out be one of the most important leadership heroes in my life.

So that is how this man came to be attentive and sensitive to the challenges faced by working women in our society. Now, back to my observation that incompetent men sometimes are a significant barrier to B i zT i m e s M i l w a u k e e

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DANIEL SCHROEDER HUMAN RESOURCES the success and development of women.

A few years ago, Harvard Business Review had an article that explored the impact typical masculine behaviors or characteristics, such as overconfidence, arrogance and aggressiveness, have on gaining a leadership role. These attributes are overrepresented in men as compared with women. Historically, the article noted, men have been more successful in seeking and obtaining leadership roles, perhaps as a function of these attributes.

Interestingly, research has demonstrated that hubris is inversely related to leadership effectiveness. In other words, over time, aggressive and arrogant leaders tend to fail. The Center for Creative Leadership, for example, documented in 2005 that 80 percent of “rising star” leaders with whom it has worked through the years, and who later turned into “plummeting comets,” shared a common shortcoming,

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which CCL called “an interpersonal flaw or deficit.” Put simply, leaders who are self-aware and modest tend to be more effective than leaders who are vain and narcissistic. Humility, by the way, tends to be more common among women than men.

It is also interesting to note some emerging demographic trends regarding men in the U.S. workforce. A few years ago, the Chronicle of Higher Education had a cover story titled, “Where the Boys Are…not.” The title was a play on the title of the 1960s beach movie, “Where the Boys Are.” The article explored the fact that men were falling behind women in educational attainment. Indeed, in American colleges and universities, women now outnumber men at both the undergraduate and graduate levels. Yet men continue to outnumber women among the managerial and leadership ranks, especially in the C-suite. Is it not ironic that, increasingly, men who are less educationally prepared are supervising better educationally prepared women?

Perhaps even more disturbing than that trend is the finding, according to the University of Chicago, that since 2000, the labor force participation rate of young men without a college degree has declined more than any other age or gender group. For the first time since the Great Depression and the World War II era, young men ages 18 to 34 are more likely to be living with their parents than with romantic partners, according to Pew Research data. Left unchecked, these young men will eventually become 30 year olds and 40 year olds who will find it difficult to fit in or find their way in an increasingly sophisticated economy. Who will have to fill that void? Who will have to support these guys? You know the answer: Women will have to.

If women are truly going to fulfill their full potential, then men have to do the same. For men, this means adopting a deep and rich understanding of what it means to be a man in our American society of the 21st century, driven by an egalitarian and enlightened perspective that recognizes being successful means helping all people, including women, to be successful . n Daniel Schroeder, Ph.D., is president and chief executive officer of Brookfield-based Organization Development Consultants Inc. (www.od-consultants.com). He can be reached at (888) 827-1901 or Dan.Schroeder@ODConsultants.com.

strategies

Confidence is key Tips to build yours

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paradox of our current times is that as confidence continues to erode in many of our traditional systems and institutions, the interest in learning how to build confidence is on the rise.

People everywhere are talking about confidence – what it is, why it matters and how to build it. Confidence is a highvalue asset.

What is confidence? Ask 10 people and you will likely get 10 different answers.

Often, these answers include an aspect of self-trust. Sometimes, they feature boldness or courage. Generally, people agree that confidence has something to do with feeling good about yourself.

Rosabeth Moss Kanter, celebrated Harvard professor and prolific author, defines confidence as “having a positive expectation for a favorable outcome.”

Notice it doesn’t say by next Tuesday at noon. Nor does it place conditions like, “If this happens, my confidence will grow.” It simply suggests that setting our minds toward learning and having a desired outcome in mind, we can move ahead with purpose.

build your confidence.

1. Step outside your normal routine.

Engage with someone new or not yet familiar to you. Take a different route to work. Experiment with a new food. Listen to different music or a program that offers an alternative point of view.

2. Stop talking for a day in order to listen deeply to those around you.

Let down your guard and open your imagination to someone else’s reality. Appreciate how this expands your awareness.

3. Volunteer to lead a group project.

Take responsibility for being the goto person, especially if the project is not squarely in your wheelhouse.

4. Introduce yourself first at a networking event. Make a point to approach others with a smile, firm handshake and genuine interest in who they are.

5. Make time each day to record your experiences. Where did you go? Who did you meet? What did you hear?

What did you learn? Did anyone or anything surprise you? This doesn’t

“ Building confidence is about engaging in life, drinking deep of its experiences, noticing what is happening to you and others, and sharing your insights. ” Confidence is forged through action, feedback and learning. The old missive is true: Wisdom comes from experience and experience comes from making mistakes. The key is in finding the lessons.

Building confidence requires challenge. If you never confront anything other than what you already know and can do, there is no growth. Conversely, when you start protecting what you know against outside challenge, insecurity sets in. Building confidence also requires support. We all need encouragement and support when times grow difficult and we become fatigued and discouraged.

Here are some tried-and-true ways to

have to be a lengthy journaling exercise; jotting notes on your calendar can suffice.

6. Share what you are learning with a group of trusted friends or colleagues. Their interest and encouragement can be an important counterbalance to the intentional stresses you undertake.

As you begin to try new behaviors and approach new situations, expect to feel uncomfortable. Expect also that some of these experiences will turn out to be more trouble than they are worth. That’s a realistic part of learning. It is how we develop judgment and a basis for confident w w w.biztimes.com

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decision-making. Don’t shy away from things that on the surface look forbidding. Sometimes your curiosity and genuine interest can bring new energy to old challenges. Remember that you are strong enough to experience scary things. In the aftermath, you may find a new reason to be proud of yourself.

As important as it is to challenge yourself to grow beyond what you know, it is also critical to make time to rest and reflect. Distraction is a disease of epidemic proportions today. It wears down the best minds, sows confusion and drains energy.

Without proper restoration, you run the risk of becoming a liability, not only to yourself, but also to those with whom you work, play and share life.

You may have heard that life is a con-

S US A N M A R S H A LL COACHING tact sport. Building confidence is about engaging in life, drinking deep of its experiences, noticing what is happening to you and others, and sharing your insights.

The best part of building confidence is the powerful peace that comes from having a positive expectation for a favorable outcome, no matter the circumstances. n Susan A. Marshall is an author, speaker and the founder of Backbone Institute (www.backboneinstitute.com). She can be reached at (262) 567-5983 or susan@backboneinstitute.com.

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Friday, December 2 11:00AM - 2:00PM

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Keynote Speaker Sandy D’ Amato Entrepreneur, Chef, Author & Teacher

WWBIC supports entrepreneurs in Wisconsin with quality financial & business education programs, one-on-one coaching and lending.

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biz connections CA L E NDAR

NONPROFIT DIRECTORY

The Greater Brookfield Chamber of Commerce will host its 59th Annual Meeting on Thursday, Nov. 17, from 10:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. at Embassy Suites, 1200 S. Moorland Road in Brookfield. The event will include a networking reception, silent auction, luncheon and address by Tim Sheehy, president of the Metropolitan Milwaukee Association of Commerce. Sheehy will discuss the need for regional collaboration to drive economic development. Cost is $40 for members or $55 for non-members. For more information or to register, visit business.brookfieldchamber.com/events.

SPOTLIGHT

The YWCA Southeast Wisconsin will host an Evening to Promote Racial Justice on Tuesday, Dec. 6, from 5 p.m. to 8 p.m. at the Marcus Center for the Performing Arts. The evening will include a social hour, entertainment, presentation of the Eliminating Racism and Empowering Women Awards and an address from Robin DiAngelo. DiAngelo will discuss what it means to be white in a society that proclaims race meaningless. For more information or to register, visit www.ywcasew.org.

The Metropolitan Milwaukee Association of Commerce’s World Trade Association will host The Global Economy Post-Election and Holiday Reception on Thursday, Dec. 1, from 4 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. at the Milwaukee Marriott Downtown, 323 E. Wisconsin Ave. in Milwaukee. The event will address where the region is headed and what business leaders can expect for the global economy post-election. The WTA will also present its 2016 WTA Global Spirit Award and honor its past presidents. Cost is $50 for WTA members and $75 for non-members. For more information or to register, visit web.mmac.org/events.

The Waukesha County Business Alliance will host Key Industries for Wisconsin in 2017 and Beyond on Thursday, Dec. 8, from 7:30 a.m. to 9:30 a.m. at the Country Springs Hotel & Conference Center, 2810 Golf Road in Pewaukee. A panel of industry-leading experts and Wisconsin Lt. Gov. Rebecca Kleefisch will discuss manufacturing, construction, information technology, health care and tourism. Cost is $60 for WCBA members and $75 for non-members. For more information or See the complete calendar of to register, visit www.waukesha.org/events. upcoming events & meetings.

www.biztimes.com

BIZ NO T ES Okanjo Milwaukee-based Okanjo has received the Local Visionary Award for Most Innovative Local Media Business Strategy from Street Fight Magazine.

The Local Visionary Awards honor those who are changing the world of local marketing technology.

Okanjo was singled out for its efforts to create new, e-commerce based revenue for premium publishers and local merchants through native marketplaces, product match and pressed content.

The awards were judged by industry influencers and announced by Street Fight at its summit in New York on Oct. 25.

SC Johnson Racine-based SC Johnson has been named one of the 25 World’s Best Multinational Workplaces by the Great Place to Work Institute. SC Johnson was No. 20 on the ranking, which is the largest annual study of workplace excellence.

The company has earned a spot on the list five times. Eligible companies have appeared on a minimum of five national best workplaces lists, have a minimum of 5,000 employees worldwide, and have at least 40 percent of their workforce based outside of their headquarters country.

The aggregation of national lists, as well as points awarded for each country an organization surveyed employees in and the percentage of its workforce represented by the survey, combine to

form the rankings.

The Buckler Apartments The Buckler Apartments in downtown Milwaukee has earned a TOBY Award for Outstanding Community Amenities from the Building Owners & Managers Association-Wisconsin and the Apartment Owners & Managers Association of Greater Milwaukee. The Buckler complex, located at 401 W. Michigan St., has a half-court basketball court, a 24-hour concierge, a pet spa, on-site bike rental, a guest suite and other amenities for residents. The TOBY (Outstanding Building of the Year) awards go to the best commercial buildings each year. They were presented at BOMA-AOMA’s awards banquet in September.

UFS LLC Grafton-based UFS LLC, a community bank technology provider, has earned a Governor’s Worksite Wellness Award. The award helps Wisconsin businesses that have reduced health care costs, increased productivity and improved employee job satisfaction. UFS employees’ average tenure is 10 years. It recently opened a new data center and expanded offices, which include wellness spaces, stand-up desks and healthy food options. The company also received a Wisconsin Workplace Wellness Grant, which it plans to put toward health initiatives at UFS.

Latino Arts Inc. 1028 S. Ninth St., Milwaukee (414) 384-3100 | www.latinoartsinc.org Facebook: facebook.com/LatinoArtsInc Twitter: @LatinoArtsInc Year founded: 1997 Mission statement: Latino Arts Inc. is a 501(c)(3) dedicated to bringing cultural awareness, artistic educational experiences and high-quality programming to the Greater Milwaukee and southeastern Wisconsin community, featuring Hispanic artists from throughout the world. Latino Arts leases its facilities from the United Community Center in the heart of Milwaukee's south side, a vibrant neighborhood that is home to many of the metropolitan area’s nearly 100,000 Hispanic residents.

Primary focus: The organization’s primary focus is to provide the Greater Milwaukee and southeastern Wisconsin community with Hispanic cultural arts programming.

Other focuses: The organization also aims to bring cultural awareness and artistic educational experiences to the broader community in order to share the diversity and richness of the Hispanic culture.

Employees at this location: 1 full-time, 3 part-time Key donors: »» Arts Midwest »» Bader Philanthropies Inc. »» Milwaukee County Arts Fund (CAMPAC) »» D’Addario Foundation »» The Edith Olson Music Foundation »» Greater Milwaukee Foundation, Mary L. Nohl Fund »» MillerCoors »» ArtWorks »» National Endowment for the Arts »» United Performing Arts Fund »» Wisconsin Arts Board Executive leadership: Jacobo Lovo, managing artistic director Board of directors: »» President: Michael Reyes, Flores & Reyes Law Offices

To have your business briefs published in a future issue of BizTimes Milwaukee send announcements to briefs@biztimes.com. w w w.biztimes.com

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»» Vice president: Ricardo Diaz, United Community Center »» Secretary: Raúl Galván, Milwaukee Public Television »» Treasurer: Daisy Cubias, Community volunteer »» Gary W. Ballestreros, Rockwell Automation Inc. »» Yolanda Carmona, Robert W. Baird & Co. Inc. »» Alex Fuentes, Northwestern Mutual Financial Services »» Thomas "T.J." Ladky, Jr., Frank W. Ladky Associates Inc. »» Danielle Machata, Godfrey & Kahn S.C. »» Maria López Vento, Helen Bader Foundation Inc. »» Ruben Silva, Robert W. Baird »» Jacobo Lovo, Managing artistic director Is your organization actively seeking board members for the upcoming term? Yes Ways the business community can help your nonprofit: Latino Arts works closely with corporate partners to find programs, sponsorship and naming opportunities that match specific corporate giving aspirations. Opportunities include: »» Volunteer projects and events »» Instrument donations »» Raffle and auction prize donations »» Event sponsorship – Noche de Gala »» Attendance at cultural events Key fundraising events: Noche de Gala is Latino Arts Inc.’s largest fundraiser, which takes place every September in its gallery and auditorium spaces. Guests can purchase seats or sponsor a table at this elegant evening of Latin music and dance.

All funds raised go toward cultural arts education programming, including the award-winning Latino Arts Strings Program.

Get the latest nonprofit news delivered to your inbox every Friday.

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biz connections PER SO NNE L F I L E

■ Building & Construction

Havener a civil engineer in the land

oversight for the hotel division and became a member of The Marcus Corp. executive management committee. He previously served 30 years with Hyatt Hotels.

development services division. Havener held a co-op position with the firm while earning her bachelor’s degree in civil engineering from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee and Gebhart recently earned his bachelor’s degree in civil engineering from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee.

■ Insurance Holz

Grzywa

■ Education

Hunzinger Construction Co., Brookfield, hired Brian Holz, Anne Grzywa and Patrick Lohaus as assistant project managers.

Lohaus

After an extensive national search, Milwaukee-based Cardinal Stritch University has named

Mitra Fallahi, Ph.D., associate dean of the College of Education and Leadership.

■ Engineering Greenfire Management Services LLC, Milwaukee, hired Eric Rank as assistant project engineer. Rank also is a certified cement concrete technician. He will join the Greenfire team with additional experience in surveying, soils and materials testing, structures and statistics, and knowledge of sewer and water systems.

■ Health Care

R.A. Smith National, Brookfield, named Richard Gebhart a civil engineer in the municipal services division and Katie

Kathy’s House, a nonprofit organization dedicated to providing housing and services for families of hospital patients who don’t live in the Milwaukee area, has named new members to its board of directors. They include: Anthony Anzelmo, partner at Husch Blackwell; Sue Derus, executive director of cancer services at Froedtert Health; Elizabeth Forman, owner, Endwell Associates LLC; and William Severson, retired Allen Bradley/ Rockwell Automation professional.

■ Professional Services Sheila Firari has joined Lake Business Group Inc., Waukesha, as a new consultant. She has more than 30 years of experience as an entrepreneur and real estate broker in the area.

Mollie Newcomb

Disch

Gandhi

Joanne Disch has been named chair of the

■ Hospitality Havener

■ Nonprofit

■ Legal Services

Aurora Health Care board of directors. She has been an Aurora board member since 2008 and is the first nurse to serve as chair for the board. Dr. Tejal Gandhi was also appointed to the board of directors.

Gebhart

West Bend Mutual Insurance Co. has hired Mike Faley as senior vice president of human resources and administration. Faley has more than 20 years of financial services experience. He most recently served as vice president of human resources and organizational development for GuideOne Mutual Insurance Co. in Des Moines, Iowa.

manufacturer of industrial magnetic and electronic products.

The Marcus Corp., Milwaukee, has named Joseph Khairallah president of Marcus Hotels & Resorts. Khairallah joined Marcus Hotels & Resorts in 2013 as chief operating officer. In 2014, he assumed day-to-day

joined Ryan Kromholz & Manion S.C., Brookfield, as an attorney. Her practice includes all aspects of intellectual property law, with an emphasis on patent prosecution and enforcement.

■ Manufacturing Macromatic Industrial Controls, Menomonee Falls, hired Mark Butterfield as eastern regional sales manager.

He has 34 years of sales experience in industrial manufacturing. Prior to joining Macromatic, he was employed by a

■ Real Estate Local broker and owner Mia Scaffidi announced the opening of RE/MAX Xpress in Brown Deer, focused on providing clients a full range of residential real estate services. RE/MAX Xpress is a family business owned by Mia and her husband, Frank Scaffidi. The RE/MAX Xpress team led by Mia, a real estate veteran with 15 years of experience, will serve clients in southeastern Wisconsin.

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

Health Care Heroes

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biz connections

n GLANCE AT YESTERYEAR VOLUME 22, NUMBER 17 NOVEMBER 14 - 27, 2016 126 N. Jefferson St., Suite 403, Milwaukee, WI 53202-6120 PHONE: 414-277-8181 FAX: 414-277-8191 WEBSITE: www.biztimes.com CIRCULATION E-MAIL: circulation@biztimes.com ADVERTISING E-MAIL: ads@biztimes.com EDITORIAL E-MAIL: andrew.weiland@biztimes.com REPRINTS: reprints@biztimes.com PUBLISHER / OWNER

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

JOHNSTON EMERGENCY HOSPITAL This photo, taken on an unknown date and credited to the City of Milwaukee, shows the Johnston Emergency Hospital in Milwaukee.

It was used from August 1894 to February 1931 and was located at 320 W. Michigan St. It was demolished in 1933. This address is now the location of the Courtyard by Marriott Milwaukee Downtown hotel.

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

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

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SALES & MARKETING DIRECTOR OF SALES

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COMME NTA R Y

End the arbitrary liquor license limits

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new business opened in Brookfield recently, but the president of the company is upset with city officials.

Total Wine & More, a Bethesda, Maryland-based chain that sells wine, beers and spirits, opened a store recently at Calhoun Crossing on Bluemound Road.

“We really love Brookfield and think we will do great there,” said David Trone, co-founder and president of Total Wine.

But the Total Wine store in Brookfield will not be able to operate at its optimal level because city officials have only granted it a Class A liquor license, instead of the Class B liquor license it requested.

What’s the difference? With a Class A license, the store will be allowed to serve customers small samples but will not be allowed to hold wine tastings and classes, which make up 20 percent of its revenue and are a major part of its overall custom36

ANDREW WEILAND er experience, Trone said.

Brookfield Mayor Steve Ponto said the city didn’t want to grant Total Wine a Class B license because it only has one regular Class B license and six reserve licenses available.

“If we have a hotel come in, we have to be able to offer them a Class B license for a restaurant,” Ponto said.

This situation begs the question: Why are municipalities in Wisconsin limited to an arbitrary number of liquor licenses?

Local officials should certainly only grant liquor licenses for appropriate locations and to responsible operators. But as far as the total number of establishments in a community, that should be determined by the marketplace.

The state has a complex formula for determining how many liquor licenses each municipality gets. The idea of limB i zT i m e s M i l w a u k e e

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iting them harkens back to the days just after the end of prohibition, according to state Rep. Dale Kooyenga (R-Brookfield).

He has worked to make changes to Wisconsin’s liquor license laws, but it has been an uphill battle.

The laws are outdated and have not kept up with modern consumer preferences, which is hurting business opportunities in the state, Kooyenga said. Wineries, for example, are not allowed to serve alcohol late at night, which makes it difficult for them to host events like weddings.

Anyone in Wisconsin who owns a bar, restaurant or retail liquor business is not allowed to obtain a permit to open a brewery. For that reason, state officials last year actually encouraged one group to open a brewery in Illinois instead of Wisconsin, then later changed their position in that particular case.

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Editor BizTimes Milwaukee

“This is how bad it is,” Kooyenga said.

It is difficult to make changes to liquor license laws because of the influence of the Tavern League of Wisconsin. The Tavern League protects its members from competition by opposing any legislation that would make it easier for other establishments to get a liquor license, Kooyenga said.

But we ought to be encouraging, not discouraging, competition for restaurants, bars and other liquor license holders.

Ponto said Total Wine and others wanting a Class B license should go to the state Legislature and ask for the liquor license laws to be changed.

“People don’t want to go to Madison because there are powerful forces there,” he said. n

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Business Ready Wisconsin Economic Development Washington County recently hosted its annual Business Ready Wisconsin Conference. The event offered insights from thought leaders from around the country about navigating disruptive change, workforce opportunities and extraordinary leadership.

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Mary Hoehne of Granville EDC/BID and Marcia Theusch of SCORE.

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John Walther of the Village of Jackson and Phil Cosson of Ehlers and Associates.

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Kristin Brandner of United Way, Marcia Arndt of Moraine Park Technical College and Sarah Malchow of United Way.

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Marty Brogaard of Aurora Health Care and Kory Dogs of ActionCOACH Business Coaching.

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Lynn Olson of Cedar Community and Karl Schultz of Froedtert Health.

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Dick Leinenkugel, Pete Gabelmann and John Leinenkugel of Jacob Leinenkugel Brewing Co.

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Randy Jerome of We Energies, Paul Roback of UW Extension and Justin Drew of the City of Hartford.

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Dave Borchardt of Commerce State Bank, Brian Depies of SEH, Kevin Volm of Commerce State Bank and Joel Herriges of BMO Harris Bank.

Photos courtesy Deborah Reinbold, EDWC. w w w.biztimes.com

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ERICH SCHROEDER PHOTOGRAPHY

the last word

A good captain knows when to change course John Feaman is the president of Delafield-based Integrated Payroll Services Inc., a comprehensive payroll services company. He says companies should never get too comfortable with current success.

“Once you achieve sustained profitability, it’s easy to fall into the trappings of running a ‘business-as-usual’ operation. Why rock the boat when you are content to sail along a calm sea?

“Unfortunately, the sea never stays all that calm and constant vigilance is a must. To avoid a sinking ship, always be prepared to: “Challenge your status quo. Investigate industry trends that may seem far off on the horizon, but could 38

close in on you faster than you think. It’s healthy to regularly play out ‘if/then’ scenarios when preparing for the future.

“Think strategically about biz tech. Technology moves fast, and you are always wise to strengthen IT infrastructures. But be smart about technological investments; do your homework and don’t be afraid to consult with a trusted outside organization.

“Canvass the changing marketplace. As the speed of doing business increases, it’s not uncommon to see the needs of smaller companies begin to converge with those of big business. Stay close to your customers through formal surveys, informal lunches and everything in between. Then, be ready to make a strategic pivot if the data supports it.

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John Feaman, CPA President Integrated Payroll Services Inc. 19 Crossroads Court, Suite 102, Delafield Industry: Payroll services www.integrated-payroll.com

“Tune up the brand. As Bob Dylan once sang, ‘the times they are a-changin.” And sometimes, so should your brand. Everything from messaging to your visual identity should be periodically analyzed to make sure it’s all still resonating as it should, both internally and externally.” n

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