October 2016 by New North B2B

Business Intelligence for the New North

Downtown

Heroes

Pillars of respective downtown communities across northeast Wisconsin go above and beyond to make central city districts thrive

Lambeau Leaps for Business

Entrepreneurship

Setting a Net to Catch Startups

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Business Intelligence for the New North

October Features 16

16 COVER STORY

Downtown Heroes

Pillars of respective downtown communities across northeast Wisconsin go above and beyond to make central city districts thrive

26 TECHNOLOGY

Cooking Up New Technologies

Northeast Wisconsin firms create software applications to rival those coming out of other more recognizable tech hubs

30 ENTREPRENEURSHIP

Lambeau Leaps for Entrepreneurs A couple upcoming events slated for Lambeau Field aim to propel innovation and entrepreneurial growth in northeastern Wisconsin

Departments 30

From the Publisher

Since We Last Met

10 Build Up Pages 36 Elections 40 Voices & Visions 44

Professionally Speaking

Whoâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s News

52 Business Calendar 53 Advertising Index 54 Key Statistics

www.newnorthb2b.com

NNB2B | October 2016 | 3

From the Publisher

Setting a net to catch startups

New venture fund aims to provide seed capital to potential high-growth entrepreneurs specifically in the Fox Valley

by Sean Fitzgerald, New North B2B publisher

It’s been 12 years since Wisconsin’s Act 255 began allowing special tax credits for investors supporting qualified new business ventures from the state. And while the venture capital and angel funding climate of Wisconsin is much warmer than it was a decade ago, the state still ranks near the bottom of the nation for new company formation and for available venture capital. Even here in northeast Wisconsin, where NEW Capital Fund has been providing early-stage venture capital for more than a decade, there’s still considered a shortage of investment capital available to help enterprising ideas materialize into commercial ventures. One reason – and perhaps a sound one, at that – is many VC funds won’t back business plans that don’t yet have any track record of turning a profit, much less generating its first dollar of revenue. That’s a much bigger gamble for any investor to take. That perceived gap in seed funding – often otherwise fueled by an angel investor, family, friends and the entrepreneur themselves – is where the start-up Winnebago Seed Fund hopes to make its mark. “(Many of the existing funds) don’t focus on pre-revenue. We think that’s the missing link,” said David Trotter, the 32-year-old who left a lucrative 10-year finance career this past spring to establish and manage the day-to-day operations of the Neenah-based fund. “I think we’re operating in two different segments. (Other investment funds) are looking a little bit further down the road.” Winnebago Fund is looking to invest specifically in northeast Wisconsin startups, Trotter noted, targeting an average of three deals per year for the first four years. Trotter is still seeking investors and needs to raise a minimum of $8 million in private investment. He expects the fund will begin seeking new business prospects to invest in by the end of this year. Trotter isn’t alone in trying to pull a few silicon startups out of his hat. The more substantial investment decisions are

4 | October 2016 | NNB2B

made by a committee of state and local startup professionals, including veteran investor Ken Johnson of the successful Kegonsa Capital Partners in Madison. Winnebago Seed Fund is one of the first two venture capital funds designated for investment from the Badger Fund of Funds, a state legislative directive created three years ago which will be managed through a partnership between Johnson’s Kegonsa Capital and Sun Mountain Capital of New Mexico. The goal of the $25 million state program is to invest in Wisconsin venture capital funds such as Winnebago Seed Fund that will in turn invest in Wisconsin-based new ventures. Together the partnership of Kegonsa and Sun Mountain raised an additional $11 million in capital from private investors, bringing a total of $36 million in venture capital to the Badger Fund of Funds. Once Trotter surpasses the $8 million mark for Winnebago Seed Fund, this Badger Fund would match 40 percent of the total amount raised. The strategy of seeking out pre-revenue firms for investment helps “get us in the door before everybody else,” Trotter said, but it also potentially sets up an earlier exit. Using Kegonsa Capital’s “Money for Minnows” strategy, the plan is to make various smaller dollar investments into a greater number of early-stage firms – the minnows – increasing the odds that one or more will erupt into second-stage companies and beyond. The amount of each investment would vary by company, Johnson said, but as a general rule of thumb, would be enough to provide 15 to 18 months of operating capital. Trotter indicated the firm is targeting smaller exits – and faster exists – than many of the more established venture capital groups in the state, with a goal of selling companies for an amount five times their annual revenue. Ultimately, Trotter feels the strength of Winnebago Seed Fund three to five years down the road will be its ability to help the Fox Valley companies it invests seed capital in find second and third rounds of financing further up the venture capital food chain. Fortunately, when the time comes, Trotter already has a robust network established for sources of capital across the state and beyond. The story that will eventually unfold around Winnebago Seed Fund is a story about helping launch companies that will create jobs here in northeast Wisconsin in years to come. It’s a story B2B will continue to share with readers as investments are made into area startups, those firms grow, and jobs are created across the New North. n

www.newnorthb2b.com

Sean Fitzgerald Publisher & President x sean@newnorthb2b.com Carrie Rule Sales Manager x carrie@newnorthb2b.com Kate Erbach Production Contributing writers Rick Berg Lee Marie Reinsch Chief Financial Officer Vicky Fitzgerald, CPA

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Since We Last Met

Since We Last Met is a digest of business related news occurring in the Greater Green Bay, Fox Cities, Oshkosh and Fond du Lac areas in the one month since the previous issue of New North B2B.

August 23 The City of Oshkosh Common Council approved a $680,000 tax incremental finance district to aid Discovery Properties of Oshkosh with a $3.9 million project to renovate the former Fraternal Reserve Association building into luxury apartments. The 102-year-old building on Washington Avenue in the downtown had served as a multi-tenant office building in recent decades. August 23 The U.S. Department of Defense awarded a $3.1 million federal grant for Initiative 41, an effort from 22 educational and economic development organizations in northeast

2002 October 17 – University of Wisconsin Board of Regents approved a $990,000 project to upgrade and remodel the University of WisconsinOshkosh Kolf Sports Center. 2003 October 31 – The former State Road 110 between U.S. Highway 41 and U.S. Highway 10 in Winnebago County reopened to traffic as the new U.S. Highway 45. The expansion of the two-lane highway to a divided four-lane expressway took two years and cost $38.4 million. 2004 October 15 – Alliance Laundry Systems of Ripon officially re-entered the consumer market with its Speed Queen brand. Due to a change in ownership, Alliance was contractually prevented from selling consumer laundry equipment in the U.S. until October 13, 2004. 2006 October 5 – J.F. Ahern Company announced plans for a 58,000-sq. ft. expansion to its facility at Morris Street and Pioneer Road in Fond du Lac. The company is expecting a 25 percent increase in sales for 2007, creating the need for 165 new jobs.

6 | October 2016 | NNB2B

Wisconsin to help create greater economic diversity along the Interstate 41 corridor. The initiative was launched in the wake of federal defense spending cuts at Oshkosh Corp. four years ago, which led to layoffs at the company and many of its vendors across the region. Projects funded by the initiative include: an effort to help aviation companies expand or relocate to the region; a branding strategy to promote the assets of the I-41 Corridor; a regional entrepreneurship development system to assist companies in diversifying from the defense industry; a nine-week entrepreneurship program through the University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh; a development program for second-stage businesses across the region; and a succession planning program for family-owned businesses.

2006 October 24 – A report from Appleton Mayor Tim Hanna’s ad-hoc Convention/Expo Center Exploratory Committee suggested downtown might be one of the best possibilities for a 100,000-sq. ft. convention facility. The 11-member committee determined the Fox Cities losses hotel business to a growing number of convention centers across Wisconsin, identifying those in Madison, Milwaukee, Wisconsin Dells and Green Bay. 2008 October 1 – The U.S. Senate approved a $700 billion bailout of the financial industry, a plan modified slightly from the package denied by the U.S. House of Representatives just days earlier. National political and financial leaders have called the package crucial to averting economic catastrophe. 2010 October 20 – St. Norbert College in De Pere received a $7 million gift from the Michels family, owners of Michels Corp. in Brownsville, to renovate the school’s Sensenbrenner Memorial Union into a state-of-the-art commons and dining facility. The new Michels Commons will include a ballroom, reception spaces and outdoor patios.

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August 24 North Shore Bank and NeighborWorks Green Bay launched a $300,000 loan fund to provide down payment closing cost assistance to low and moderate-income home buyers. NeighborWorks Green Bay guides individuals and families through the entire home ownership and purchasing process. August 26 The Wisconsin Department of Transportation reopened the Interstate 43 interchange with Interstate 41 on the north side of Green Bay. Much of the interchange had been closed to traffic since October 2015 for the 3-year, multi-million dollar reconstruction project, which includes safety enhancements, free-flow ramps and new bridges. August 30 Green Bay-based WG&R Furniture acquired the 28-acre site housing the former National Envelope manufacturing facility in the town of Grand Chute and plan to redevelop the parcel in a few years for retail. The furniture retailer plans to move its Appleton store from The Marketplace Mall on West College Avenue to the former industrial property located off of West Wisconsin Avenue and Interstate 41 and construct a new store, in addition to other leasable retail spaces for tenants whose products complement those of WG&R. August 30 The Fox Cities Convention & Visitors Bureau awarded a $15,000 Tourism Development grant to the Hearthstone Historic House Museum in Appleton for an electronic message center outdoor sign on Memorial Drive. September 2 The U.S. Department of Labor reported 151,000 new jobs were created in August, keeping the national unemployment rate relatively unchanged at 4.9 percent. Employment continued to trend upward in several service-providing industries. September 7 Green Bay Mayor Jim Schmitt agreed to plead guilty to three charges related to illegal campaign contributions between 2003 and 2014. The charges – each a misdemeanor – stem from an investigation of Schmitt’s campaign finance reports and include the following: making false statements on campaign finance reports; attempting to accept funds from someone other than the reported contributor; and attempting to accept funds in excess of the allowable contribution limit of $1,040 from an individual. As part of the plea agreement, the mayor is expected to dissolve his Friends of Jim Schmitt campaign committee and forfeit the more than $26,000 in remaining campaign funds. Schmitt issued a statement indicating he failed to accurately record and verify donations and acknowledged he wasn’t aware of the campaign contribution limits. www.newnorthb2b.com

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FNBFOXVALLEY.COM NNB2B | October 2016 | 7

Since We Last Met September 12 The Michigan-based parent company of Brillion Iron Works announced plans to shut down the foundry later this year, effectively laying off more than 300 employees. Metaldyne Performance Group Inc. purchased the 119-year-old company in early September and plans to consolidate operations from Brillion into five of its other facilities in the Midwest, including two Wisconsin plants located near Monroe and Reedsburg. Company officials blamed the downturn in mining and heavy truck manufacturing as a reason for closing the plant. September 13 The Outagamie County Board of Supervisors approved a proposal to locate a new sheriffâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s department facility on property the county already owns at the southeast corner of the intersection of Casaloma Drive and State Road 15 in the town of Grand Chute. Design plans have not been finalized, yet, for the proposed facility, though construction is expected to begin next spring with the facility completed and occupied by 2018.

September 13 The Village of Ashwaubenon Board of Trustees approved a proposal from Beechwood Development of De Pere to construct a 94-room Home2 Suites by Hilton just southwest of Lambeau Field. The four-story, extended-stay suite hotel would be built at 810 Morris Ave., which currently houses a cleaning company. Developers would demolish the existing building and hope to begin construction this fall, with plans to open the hotel by the summer of 2017. September 13 The Wisconsin Department of Transportation distributed $29.6 million in grants through the Freight Railroad Preservation Program for six freight rail improvement projects in the state during 2016-17, including $3.9 million toward a Wisconsin and Southern Railroad Company rail replacement project in Fond du Lac County. The grant covers 80 percent of the $4.9 million total project cost to replace existing 85 and 90-pound rail with 115-pound continuous welded rail on 7.5 miles of track between Brandon and Ripon. The project will also reconstruct seven public crossings and 13 turnouts. In addition, the state awarded a $4 million Freight Railroad Infrastructure Improvement Program loan to Country Visions Co-op of Wrightstown for an $8.5 million project to construct a large railroad-served fertilizer facility. As a result, dry fertilizers will be available to nearby farms on a more timely basis for spring planting.

MEMBER

8 | October 2016 | NNB2B

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September 13 Officials for the Fox Cities Exhibition Center unveiled the design plans for the 65,000-sq. ft. proposed facility, which will be constructed off of Lawrence Street near Jones Park in downtown Appleton. The facility will include 30,000 square feet of indoor exhibition space and an additional 7,300 square feet of flexible pre-function space, along with additional meeting rooms and a main welcome area. The design features a 17,000-sq. ft. outdoor pedestrian plaza and an 82-ft. tall LED-lit tower. Construction of the convention facility is expected to begin in October and be completed by fall 2017. The City of Appleton is renovating Jones Park to be timed with the opening of the new convention center next fall. September 16 The Oshkosh Corporation Foundation presented a $50,000 gift to Fox Valley Technical College Foundation’s Promise program, which aims to provide free tuition and books to the school for 6,000 low-income students during the next five years. The $1 million campaign to support the program’s goals – which kicked off in August – surpassed $250,000 with the substantial gift. September 20 Green bay-based Nicolet National Bank announced it will close six branch offices by the end of the year, including its College Avenue location in Appleton, its office on Hansen Road in Ashwaubenon, its office on South Broadway in De Pere, and its Main Street branch in Bellevue. The other two locations that will close are in Two Rivers and Kewaunee. Bank officials indicated most of the employees at the closing locations will be able to remain with the bank and transfer to other offices. September 21 Wisconsin Attorney General Brad Schimel joined a coalition of 21 states suing the U.S. Department of Labor over the new rule which would implement overtime changes for employers beginning in December. The lawsuit urges the court to block implementation of the new rule and repeal the “white collar exemption” and would make more higherearning workers eligible for overtime pay by raising the salary threshold under which employers must pay overtime from $23,660 per year to $47,476 per year. September 21 The Village of Little Chute Board of Trustees approved the site plan for Nestle to build a 300,000-sq. ft. warehouse and distribution facility in its industrial park. The $30 million expansion is expected to add 150 jobs to the community when it opens in July 17. The village board also approved a tax incremental financing package for Nestle which could provide the company as much $5.8 million toward the cost of the expansion project. n

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NNB2B | October 2016 | 9

Build Up Fond du Lac 3 1& 2 4 thru 6 7

8&9 10

Build Up

Indicates a new listing

Fond du Lac

1 - 300 Seward St., Ripon Ripon College J.M. Storzer Center, an 88,000-sq. ft. addition to the existing athletic facility to include a fieldhouse with an indoor track, atrium, classrooms, locker rooms, fitness center and offices. Project completion expected in fall 2017.

7 - 6665 N. Rolling Meadows Dr., Fond du Lac The Shops at WestWind, a 6,795-sq. ft. multi-tenant retail shopping center to include Pizza Hut and Kay Jewelers. Project completion expected in late fall. General contractor is Bayland Buildings of Green Bay.

2- 221 Shepard St., Ripon Alliance Laundry Systems, two separate additions totaling 225,000 square feet of space to the existing manufacturing facility, warehouse and corporate headquarters office building. Project completion expected in late 2017.

8 - 723 W. Johnson St., Fond du Lac Noodles & Company, a 5,804-sq. ft. multi-tenant commercial building. Project completion expected in early 2017.

3 - 805 Park Ridge Lane, North Fond du Lac Side X Side Construction, a 9,600-sq. ft. office building and construction shop. Project completion expected in March 2017. 4 - 1217 W. Scott St., Fond du Lac Blacksmoke Automotive, a new automotive dealership and repair shop. Project completion expected in late fall. 5 - 1393 Capital Dr., Fond du Lac Lawrence Screw Products, a 6,825-sq. ft. addition to the existing warehouse facility. Project completion expected in January 2017. General contractor is Keller Inc. of Kaukauna. 6 - 1257 Industrial Pkwy., Fond du Lac Brooke Industries, an addition to the existing industrial facility. Project completion expected in late fall.

10 | October 2016 | NNB2B

9 - 729 W. Johnson St., Fond du Lac Dunkinâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; Donuts, a 3,542-sq. ft. multi-tenant commercial building. Project completion expected in early 2017. 10 - 925 Forest Ave., Fond du Lac Jackson Kahl Insurance, a new commercial office building. Project completion expected in late fall. 11 - 158 S. Military Road, Fond du Lac Church of Peace, a 7,900-sq. ft. addition to and renovation of the existing church building. 12 - 235 N. National Ave., Fond du Lac Moraine Park Technical College, an addition to the main entrance of the educational campus and various interior alterations. 13 - 1071 E. Johnson St., Fond du Lac Starbucks, a new commercial retail building. General contractor is Bayland Buildings of Green Bay. www.newnorthb2b.com

Build Up Oshkosh

Build Up

Indicates a new listing

Oshkosh 14 - 545 W. Pioneer Road, Fond du Lac Mercury Marine, a 53,110-sq. ft. addition to the existing manufacturing campus for a machining plant. Project completion expected in December. 15 - 100 Camelot Dr., Fond du Lac Excel Engineering Inc., an addition to the existing commercial office building. 16 - 3321 County Road A, Oshkosh A.P. Nonweiler Co., an 8,600-sq. ft. addition to the existing manufacturing facility. 17 - 2303 Westowne Ave., Oshkosh Goodwill Industries, a 21,200-sq. ft. retail building. Project completion expected in late fall. 18 - 2510 W. Ninth Ave., Oshkosh Marsh Family Eyecare Center, a new optometry clinic. Project completion expected in late fall. 19 - 324 Washington Ave., Oshkosh Oshkosh Community YMCA, a 55,000-sq. ft. addition to the existing community center and various interior renovations. Projects completed since our September issue: None

www.newnorthb2b.com

425 W Wisconsin Ave. â&#x20AC;˘ Appleton 920.882.8700 millenniumconstructionwi.com NNB2B | October 2016 | 11

Build Up Fox Cities

100%

Build Up

Design/Build

2 - 1751 N. Margaret St., town of Grand Chute The Barbershop, a 2,345-sq. ft. corporate office building.

General Contractor

COMMERCIAL INDUSTRIAL AGRICULTURAL

Visualization Project Team Budget Schedule

Fox Cities

Indicates a new listing

1 - N1788 Lily of the Valley Dr., town of Greenville Greenville Junction, a 5,100-sq. ft. addition to the existing multi-tenant retail center to include The Barbers’ Chair. Project completion expected in October. General contractor is Consolidated Construction Co. of Appleton.

3 - 4520 Greenville Dr., town of Grand Chute Kwik Trip, a 9,022-sq. ft. convenience store and fuel canopy. 4 - 4811 W. Michaels Dr., town of Grand Chute Fireline Shooting & Training, a 15,107-sq. ft. indoor firing range and retail shop. Project completion expected in the fall. General contractor is Keller Inc. of Kaukauna. 5 - W6390 Challenger Dr., town of Greenville Appleton International Airport, a freestanding 6,000-sq. ft. rental vehicle office and service building. Project completion expected in December. 6 - 701 S. Nicolet Road, town of Grand Chute Kaldas Center for Fertility, Surgery & Pregnancy, an 11,290-sq. ft. medical clinic. Project completion expected in late fall. 7 - 314 N. Appleton St., Appleton The Mission Church, 4,115-sq. ft. addition to the building. Project completion expected in October. General contractor is Frontier Builders & Consultants of Kaukauna. 8 - 1025 W. Navitus Dr., town of Grand Chute Navitus Health Solutions, a four-story, 120,000-sq. ft. office building to expand the existing call center campus. 9 - 4321 N. Ballard Road, Appleton Thrivent Financial, a new data center facility on the existing insurance carrier complex.

Construction

10 - 401 E. Evergreen Dr., Little Chute Evergreen Power, a 14,000-sq. ft. small engine retail/repair shop. Project completion expected in fall. General contractor is Frontier Builders & Consultants of Kaukauna.

Opening Day

11 - 1601 Hyland Ave., Kaukauna Bernatello’s Foods/Orv’s Pizza, a 45,801-sq. ft. addition to the existing manufacturing facility and offices. 12 - 1662 E. Kennedy Ave., Kimberly Kimberly High School, a 54,000-sq. ft. addition to the school for an indoor athletic training facility. Project completion expected in August 2017. 13 - N410 Speel School Road, town of Buchanan Lamers Dairy Inc., two separate additions to the dairy processing facility totaling 7,300 square feet for warehouse, refrigeration and office space. Project completion expected in October. General contractor is Frontier Builders & Consultants of Kaukauna.

(920)498-9300 baylandbuildings.com 12 | October 2016 | NNB2B

14 - 1601 S. Covenant Lane, Appleton Covenant Christian Reformed Church, a 6,722-sq. ft. addition to the existing church. Project completion expected in December. General contractor is James J. Calmes & Sons Construction of Kaukauna. 15 - 400 E. North Island St., Appleton Neenah Paper Inc., a 45,000-sq. ft. addition to the existing specialty paper mill. Project completion expected in late fall. General contractor is Bayland Buildings of Green Bay. www.newnorthb2b.com

10 11

2 3 7

4 5

19 17 & 18

21 22

16 - 473 W. Calumet St., Appleton Arby’s, a new restaurant building. Project completion expected in December. General contractor is CR Structures Group of Kimberly. 17 - 1445 McMahon Dr., Fox Crossing McMahon, a 20,000-sq. ft. addition to and renovation of the existing office building. Project completion expected in early 2017. 18 - 1450 McMahon Dr., Fox Crossing WOW Logistics, a 24,000-sq. ft. corporate office building. 19 - Plaza Drive, Fox Crossing Community First Credit Union, a 120,000-sq. ft. corporate office campus. Project completion expected in late fall.

www.newnorthb2b.com

20 - 2881 W. Larsen Road, town of Clayton Earthscape, a retail landscaping center. 21 - 333 N. Green Bay Road, Fox Crossing ThedaCare Physicians, a 70,000-sq. ft. health care clinic for family practice, internal medicine and endocrinology. Project completion expected in late fall. 22 - 120 Main St., Neenah Plexus Corp., a four-story, 85,209-sq. ft. commercial office building to house the company’s design center. Projects completed since our September issue: • Allied Mechanical, N987 Craftsmen Dr., town of Greenville. • Tom’s Drive-In, 1915 Freedom Road, Little Chute. • Norka Inc., 2905 E. Newberry St., Appleton.

NNB2B | October 2016 | 13

Build Up Greater Green Bay area 1 2

3 7 6

12 & 13

22 thru 24 10 & 11

25 26 27 28

21 17

15 16

29 19 & 20

32 & 33

Build Up

Greater Green Bay area

Indicates a new listing

1 - 2300 Lineville Road, Suamico Xperience Fitness, a two-story, 20,000-sq. ft. workout facility. Project completion expected in the fall.

4 - 2015 Shawano Ave., Howard Meijer, 192,000-sq. ft. retail department store. Project completion expected in summer 2017.

2 - 2550 Glendale Ave., Howard Dr. Rebecca Van Miller, an addition to the existing dental clinic. Project completion expected in the fall. General contractor is CR Structures Group of Kimberly.

5 - 2231 N. Quincy St., Green Bay NEW Water/Green Bay Metropolitan Sewerage District, a wastewater treatment and electrical generation facility. Project completion expected in 2018.

3 - 2740 W. Mason St., Green Bay Northeast Wisconsin Technical College, a 67,760-sq. ft. addition to the existing Business and Information Technology Center and substantial interior renovations to the existing student life building. Project completion expected in late 2017.

6 - 515 W. Walnut St., Green Bay Kwik Trip Express, an addition to the existing service station for a new convenience store and fuel station. Project completion expected in late fall.

14 | October 2016 | NNB2B

www.newnorthb2b.com

7 - 320 N. Broadway, Green Bay DDL Holdings/Titletown Brewing, an addition to the former industrial facility for a mixed-use retail development.

22 - 1267 Lombardi Ave., Ashwaubenon Hinterland Brewery, a two-story, 23,325-sq. ft. brewery and restaurant. Project completion expected in summer 2017.

8 - 503 Main St., Green Bay Camera Corner, a 12,000-sq. ft. addition to the firm’s networking and audiovisual departments. Project completion expected in October.

23 - 1950 S. Ridge Road, Ashwaubenon Lodge Kohler, a five-story, 150-room hotel, restaurant and spa. Project completion expected in summer 2017.

9 - 304 N. Adams St., Green Bay Hotel Northland, a substantial overhaul of the existing 8-story building for a 160-room luxury hotel with two restaurants and a spa. Project completion expected in spring 2017. 10 - 1901 Main St., Green Bay North Shore Bank, a 3,534-sq. ft. financial institution office. Project completion expected in February. General contractor is CR Structures Group of Kimberly. 11 - 1911 Main St., Green Bay Arby’s, a 2,000-sq. ft. restaurant building. Project completion expected in October. General contractor is CR Structures Group of Kimberly. 12 - 2400 University Ave., Green Bay Festival Foods, an 80,000-sq. ft. grocery store. Project completion expected in December. 13 - 2448 Sturgeon Bay Road, Green Bay University Avenue Center, a multi-tenant retail building. 14 - 2700 Block of N. County Road P, New Franken Harold Tauschek Excavating, an 8,800-sq. ft. shop and office facility. Project completion expected in October. General contractor is Keller Inc. of Kaukauna. 15 - 900 Ontario Road, Green Bay American Prosthetic Components, a 14,268-sq. ft. addition to the existing manufacturing facility. 16 - 1230 Ontario Road, Green Bay Seura, a 15,000-sq. ft. addition to the existing manufacturing facility. 17 - 1160 Kepler Dr., Green Bay Aurora Baycare Medical Center, a two-story, 11,000-sq. ft. addition for cancer care and a separate four-story addition to the surgery center. Project completion expected in late 2017. 18 - 4200 Main St., town of Ledgeview BelGioioso, an addition to the existing cheese manufacturing facility. Project completion expected in October. 19 - 2328 Costco Way, Bellevue Discount Tire, a 9,179-sq. ft. automotive and tire service center. Project completion expected in October. 20 - 2394 Costco Way, Bellevue Buffalo Wild Wings and Mattress Firm, a 9,742-sq. ft. multitenant commercial retail building. 21 - 470 Marina Lane, Ashwaubenon Residence Inn by Marriott, a 103-room hotel. Project completion expected in October. www.newnorthb2b.com

24 - 1900 Block of South Ridge Road, Ashwaubenon Bellin Health Sports Medicine Clinic, a nearly 30,000-sq. ft. sports medicine facility. Project completion expected in summer 2017. 25 - 2282 S. Ridge Road, Ashwaubenon Kwik Trip Express, a substantial overhaul of the existing service station for a new convenience store and fuel station. Project completion expected in October. 26 - 2340 S. Oneida St., Ashwaubenon McDonald’s, a 5,300-sq. ft. commercial restaurant building. 27 - 2654 & 2664 S. Oneida St., Ashwaubenon Midwest Expansion, two multi-tenant retail buildings. 28 - 2763-2817 S. Oneida St., Ashwaubenon Fresh Thyme Farmers Market/Bayside Marketplace Mall, demolition of portions of the existing multi-tenant retail center and reconstruction of a 28,675-sq. ft. addition for a new grocery store. Project completion expected in late 2017. 29 - 3383 Spirit Way, Ashwaubenon FedEx Ground, an addition to the existing distribution center. 30 - 2221 Innovation Ct., De Pere American 3 Fab, a 51,840-sq. ft. metal fabrication shop. 31 - 601 Third St., De Pere St. Norbert College Mulva Family Fitness & Sports Center, a nearly 50,000-sq. ft. addition to the existing athletic facility for a competition swimming pool and fitness center. Project completion expected in May 2017. 32 - 633 Heritage Road, De Pere Belmark, a three-story, 41,000-sq ft. addition to the existing Plant #3 for an office building, as well as a skywalk connecting to another building on the industrial campus. Project completion expected in February 2018. 33 - 1820 Enterprise Dr., De Pere Sierra Coating Technologies, a 33,615-sq. ft. addition to the existing industrial facility. Project completion expected in December. General contractor is Keller Inc. of Kaukauna. Projects completed since our September issue: • Saint Paul Episcopal Church, 2809 Flintville Road, Suamico. • Familia Dental, 1937 Main St., Green Bay. • EuroPharma, 955 Challenger Dr., Green Bay. • O’Reilly Auto Parts, 845 Cormier Road, Ashwaubenon. • Heyrman Printing, 2083 Holmgren Way, Ashwaubenon. • Forever Dance Co., 1930 Bart Starr Road, Ashwaubenon. • The Mail Haus, 1745 Suburban Dr., De Pere.

NNB2B | October 2016 | 15

Cover Story

Downtown

Heroes Pillars of respective downtown communities across northeast Wisconsin go above and beyond to make central city districts thrive Story by Lee Marie Reinsch

It’s easy to get depressed about the state of Downtown America, especially when you’re out and about on a Saturday in the thriving, buzzing vicinity of a certain Fox Cities shopping mecca. But alas! Rest assured downtown isn’t dead. There are individuals who, one by one, are doing their best to revive downtowns in cities along the Interstate 41 corridor. These quiet pillars are quietly building up their main streets with their many acts, large and small, that form the scaffolding of our downtown culture. 16 | October 2016 | NNB2B

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Neenah’s Umer Sheikh

Some people see what exists and they stop there. Others see what could be – and their vision takes them there. Umer Sheikh of Investment Creations LLC of Neenah falls into the second category. When others saw orange shag carpeting and hideous foam drop-ceilings inside the 1909 neoclassical Equitable Reserve Association building, he saw its intricate woodwork restored and its floors buffed to a shine. Sheikh envisioned viable businesses inside, like a microbrewery, salon, photo studio, marketing and IT firms. Now they’re reality. But a few years ago, the mood was a bit darker. “As a community we were like ‘What are we going to do with this building?’ because it was going to take an extensive amount of updating to make it more desirable as an office space,” said Amy Barker, executive director of Future Neenah. “It was three stories full of a lot of neat features but buried features … You could see bits and pieces of old woodwork, like mahogany, but it needed a big investment. And no one from an investor standpoint was crazy enough to take that on until Investment Creations came along.” Sheikh and his wife, Trish Lison Sheikh, saw opportunity, a chance to preserve a building designed by renowned architect William Waters and keep downtown Neenah together. “Old buildings have so much character, so much history,” Sheikh said. “When you begin to peel off the layers and give them a little bit of love, you see how they become just beautiful pieces of art.” Renovations in the three-story, 18,000-sq. ft. former ERA building involved gutting it, installing new heating and electrical systems, elevator and sprinkler system, restoring woodwork and returning the third floor to a ballroom – among other projects. Lion’s Tail Brewing Co., Fabric hair salon, Dynamic Insights, Swoonbeam Photography and Excelion make their home there now, and The Ballroom at The Reserve comprises the third floor. Sheikh called the renovation a labor of love. He spent several years living in Wales, U.K., in an 18th-century row house and said that may have sparked his interest in old buildings. “Outside of the U.S., a 100-year-old building is not old at all,” he said. “Over time I realized this was really what I was passionate about.” It’s not his first experience with historic buildings. The Marketplace building, 124 W. Wisconsin Ave. in downtown Neenah, is among his restoration portfolio. It had been in foreclosure when Investment Creations came along. “He just thought it was really important to have the middle of our downtown really functional and vibrant, and he had a vision for that building,” Barker said.

Sheikh’s Investment Creations renovation of the former Equitable Reserve Association building in downtown Neenah. The building now houses a brewery, professional offices and an upscale ballroom and banquet facilities.

That vision included opening Timshel Cafe, which they operate, on the first floor. Red Door Mercantile, Broken Tree Pizza and Thomas A. Lyons Fine Books are among the tenants, and Future Neenah holds an indoor farmers market there in colder months. The 1893 brick building across the street at 131 W. Wisconsin Ave. is another of Investment Creations’ (re)creations. “He doesn’t shy away from keeping our downtown properties looking good, and he’s found a passion for continuing to invest in the community where he’s raising his children,” Barker said. “There’s definitely some heartfelt investment and risk-taking involved.” Sheikh volunteers as vice president of the Neenah business improvement district board of directors and serves on its retention and recruitment committee. “He’s not only invested (in downtown) and busy with his own investments, he’s willing to help our downtown be a better place by serving as a volunteer ... and he also works to help out his neighbors,” Barker said. “Umer keeps in touch with the other property owners to know what somebody else might have open for space, and he’s really careful to ensure that what he accepts to come in for a new business isn’t running in competition” with nearby businesses, Barker said. “It’s not just about filling a space. He’s making sure it’s a good fit, and sometimes the best fit for that business isn’t his property, it’s his neighbor’s property.” Barker said Sheikh’s also very humble and quiet about what he does. He still shies away from the spotlight, preferring to shine the light on his tenants. “Life becomes a lot easier when you work with good people,” Sheikh said. “There are a lot of good people around here.”

“Old buildings have so much character, so much history. When you begin to peel off the layers and give them a little bit of love, you see how they become just beautiful pieces of art.”

Umer Sheikh, Investment Creations of Neenah

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NNB2B | October 2016 | 17

Cover Story Tracy Mathweg, Fond du Lac

Vibrant. Positive. Goofy. The biggest cheerleader for downtown Fond du Lac. That’s how people describe Tracy Mathweg, owner of Lillians of Fond du Lac women’s clothing boutique, 27 S. Main St. “She’s one of our strongest ambassadors,” said Amy Hansen, executive director of Downtown Fond du Lac. “Not only is she always trying to be innovative in her marketing ideas, but she’s constantly trying to be innovative for other businesses.” Mathweg loves drumming up promotional ideas for other business owners even if they don’t benefit her, Hansen said. “Even if it’s just an idea that she thinks will help this business owner succeed, she’s always willing to shoot around ideas and do any kind of cross promotion.” She never hesitates to post events and promotions of other downtown businesses on her Facebook page if they’re having an open house or job openings or are doing something special for a downtown event, Hansen said. “Her passion is for downtown, but she’s also very passionate about Fond du Lac.” It was actually her traveling husband who jump-started Mathweg’s involvement in downtown Fond du Lac. “Instead of sitting home by myself and saying ‘Woe is me,’ that’s when I personally got out and explored small businesses and got involved in little groups – that’s when I really started to fall in love with Fond du Lac,” Mathweg said. “I think sometimes people wait for opportunity to knock on their door

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The storefront of Mathweg’s Lillians of Fond du Lac.

instead of just getting out there and getting involved. When you get out there and enjoy your community and help out, it makes it a good place for everyone to be.” Social media is good for many things, but it’s also made it easy to sit back and complain, Mathweg said. That fuels her even more, spurring her to get out and highlight good things happening in Fond du Lac. So she instigated Positively Fond du Lac, a Facebook page where only positive comments about Fond du Lac are allowed. It started three years ago and has 1,700 connections. “My personal motto is you have to love where you live,” she said. “If we want people to visit Fond du Lac, we have to show

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them how much we like it here.” Mathweg did an informal “Downtown Day” to let people know what downtown stores have to offer. “Small businesses struggle because many people just drive quickly by and people don’t know what’s in the shops,” Hansen said. “Our mission for the day was for people who weren’t all that familiar with (downtown).” Even before she became a downtown business owner, she was “a big advocate” for shopping locally, Mathweg said. “I think all of our local stores are what make our community unique,” she said. Personal relationships make it special, she said. “You can go to big-box stores for everything, but you don’t get to have the fun that you do at a small business, talking to the owners and getting the personalized service.” She stays positive in hopes that it’ll be contagious. “I just have learned over life that I like to lead by example,” she said. “Hopefully people will catch on to my positiveness and my energy. For the most part, it flows over and gets people excited.”

Oshkosh’s Sandy Prunty

The owner of AtomicKatz and AtomicKatztoo at 17 Waugoo Ave. is invaluable to downtown Oshkosh’s business improvement district. “Sandy, ever since I started here, was a huge help for anything I needed,” said Cassie Daniels, manager for the Downtown Oshkosh Business Improvement District for the past five years. Prunty serves on the BID board and its marketing consortium, which is a small group of business owners and downtown activists that meets monthly to brainstorm ideas, events and promotions for the downtown. She’s on the holiday committee and the Chalk Walk committee, which are two of the downtown’s most instrumental events of the year. And she helps out whenever and however she can. “She’s always volunteering for stuff I need her to do,” Daniels said. “We have a farmer’s market booth, which she signs up for, and she helps with chamber expos and anything I need help with.” “I’m on almost every committee there is for an event because I have the time to volunteer and do,” Prunty said. Prunty even helps out with promotions she’s not familiar with, like a recent Downtown www.newnorthb2b.com

Vibrant downtowns are key to communities’ economic health by Errin Welty Wisconsin Economic Development Corp. Wisconsin’s downtowns and historic commercial districts are the centers of our communities and neighborhoods. Throughout the New North region, they are the hubs of commerce, government and social life. By preserving and revitalizing these traditional cores, communities can distinguish themselves from the competition and set the table for economic development. Successful commercial districts don’t just happen. They need to be planned and nurtured. Their prosperity requires interest and action from many stakeholders who share a vision for the community. Wisconsin is widely recognized for our innovative approaches to encouraging social connections between community residents through well planned, maintained and programmed spaces. Wisconsin Economic Development Corp. provides technical assistance to communities in the planning, management and implementation of strategic development projects in downtowns and urban neighborhoods. This includes support for the Wisconsin Main Street program and has been expanded to include Connect Communities, a new downtown assistance program. The New North region includes nine Main Street and 15 Connect Communities, many of which have made great strides in positioning their downtown districts as economic, tourism and residential attractions. Examples of these local strategic initiatives range from the expansion of arts amenities and residential development in Fond du Lac and Sheboygan, entrepreneurial support for new storefront businesses in Ripon, waterfront development planning in Omro, and larger employer-driven infill developments in Green Bay and De Pere. Each of these initiatives capitalizes on the unique assets and amenities that make the individual community, and also ensure those amenities are accessible and visible to residents and visitors alike. The importance of such downtown efforts – and their role in a community’s overall economic prosperity – cannot be overstated. Businesses today have many options when it comes to where they establish or expand their operations, and quality of life and the ability to attract and retain talent are critical factors in those decisions. Community leaders who focus on downtown improvements as part of an effort to deliver value to businesses looking for a place to set up shop or expand will find themselves one step ahead of the competition. Economic development is about leveraging our assets, and many of our downtowns have the ability to be a catalyst for local job growth. WEDC’s downtown development programs have and will continue to provide the programs and locations to support entrepreneurship in Wisconsin. Errin Welty is a downtown economic development account manager for Wisconsin Economic Development Corp., who works with communities across the state to provide dedicated outreach and technical assistance for business owners, property owners, developers and downtown organizations. She can be reached at 608.210.6832.

NNB2B | October 2016 | 19

Cover Story Oshkosh Pokemon Go event. “She was willing to do anything (to help out) even though she didn’t know anything about it. Overall, she just wants what’s good for downtown,” Daniels said. “She’s always pushing for downtown.”

she saw it. Like Umer Sheikh of Investment Creations, she had a vision of what downtown Oshkosh could be. “Oshkosh has become very exciting, dynamic and energized, but at that point it was kind of going into the pre-butterfly stage,” she said. “They still had lots of things downtown, but there were a lot of empty businesses and empty storefronts.” One Christmas season she organized artists, got a grant and filled 10 empty downtown windows with scenes from The Nutcracker. Downtown Oshkosh has come a long way since then. “At this moment we have one retail spot open in downtown Oshkosh – that’s how far we’ve come,” Prunty said. Daniels describes Prunty as outgoing and bubbly. “She really has a passion for downtown, and she’s one of those business owners who’s not just for the good of her own business, but the good of others as well,” Daniels said. The Oshkosh BID board hosts holiday promotions, monthly art gallery walks, the Christmastime Whoville Holiday and a Don’t be a Grinch-themed gift donation program for those in need. “The neat thing about the downtown business people is we’re always looking out for the next person,” Prunty said. They promote each other’s events, even when it’s of no obvious benefit to themselves.

Sandy Prunty in front of AtomicKatz in downtown Oshkosh.

AtomicKatz and AtomicKatztoo sell vintage clothing and midcentury modern furniture. It’s a business Prunty fell into by doing what that old adage advises: “Do what you love and the money will follow.” She worked as a rehabilitation nurse and later as director of a five-state area for HCR Manor Care, a career that had her doing a lot of traveling. For fun, she antiqued.

“Like for the comic book store, everybody plugs (Free) Comic Book Day, and that’s just a real big thing,” she said. “Sometimes you’ll have some silly thing in your store to promote somebody else’s business – I think that’s a camaraderie that’s really unique to the city of Oshkosh.” Business owners take care of each other, she said. “We’re all like ‘If you can’t find it here in my store, I’m going to give you a map and show you six other stores that might have it,’” and recommending other downtown businesses to visit. It hasn’t all been easy, though. “We had one whole calendar year where the main street was closed (for construction). We had no traffic down our entire Main Street.”

Prunty’s foray into vintage happened in the late 1990s when she and friend (now business partner) Debra Toman were buying and selling at antique malls and flea markets.

She said only one store closing could be attributed to the street closure.

In 2001, she opened AtomicKatz vintage clothing store after buying a downtown Oshkosh storefront just a few days after

“That says monumental things about our downtown,” Prunty said.

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Fox Cities’ Randy Stadtmueller

If something’s cool enough, it’s worth saving. It’s fair to say that spectre of abandoned paper mills and factories - with their accompanying contamination and brownfield sites – hogging up prime real estate along the Fox River would, in most cases, be awful. But forward-thinking and community-minded developer Randy Stadtmueller of Stadtmueller & Associates of Kimberly wasn’t about to sit back and do nothing about it. Most of his industrial-site revamp projects are with buildings over 100 years old, and many but not all are on the Fox River. He and his firm are behind the renovation and restoration of large and abandoned manufacturing facilities on the riverfront. The 1878 cream brick Atlas Paper Mill, 425 W. Water Street, Appleton – home of Atlas Coffee Mill – is among his many projects. That endeavor involved restoring the Vulcan power plant, now Fratellos Riverfront Restaurant, and Vulcan Heritage Park. A later renovation transformed the paper mill into the Paper Discovery Center museum, which offers programs and workshops for schools and the public. The 116-year-old Historic Herzinger Market Building, 307 N. Commercial St., and the Jersild Knitting Mill, 333 N. Commercial St. – both in Neenah – are other Stadtmueller undertakings. “Old buildings are the ones that are on the river, they’re old manufacturing buildings, and generally speaking, they’re interesting buildings,” he said.

The Landing at Eagle Flats near downtown Appleton, a recent project from Stadtmueller & Associates.

The former 82,000-sq. ft. Eagle Mill in Kaukauna, now known as Grand Kakalin, is another. It’s home to the Kaukauna Public Library and corporate headquarters for Expera Specialty Solutions. “The Grand Kakalin building in Kaukauna was done under the historic tax credit program so the windows are as close to the windows that were originally in that building as we could make it,” Stadtmueller said. “Shop drawings of every single window in that building had to conform to standards found in old photographs of the building.” The Cedars at Kimberly, on the 90-acre site of the former NewPage paper mill, is Stadtmueller’s latest project. Design plans were recently revealed for a mixed-use commercial and

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Cover Story residential neighborhood that will have plenty of walking trails and parks. So why do all of these good, community-minded projects? Why not bulldoze or slap on some duct tape and be done with it? “It’s a good question if you think of my work as real-estate development,” Stadtmueller said. “There are many other folks involved in real-estate development that don’t pay attention to opportunities like this.” City of Appleton Community Development Director Karen Harkness praised Stadtmueller for the kinds of projects he selects to help recapture the history of Fox Cities’ communities.

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“Randy takes on the really difficult, complicated, ‘patience-required’ projects that will have a large positive impact on their surrounding neighborhoods and the entire community,” Harkness said, citing Eagle Flats, a project his firm is undertaking at the former Riverside Paper Mill just steps from downtown Appleton. It currently includes a 54-unit apartment building and a 70-unit affordable senior living facility. Stadtmueller is a proponent of Stadtmueller placemaking, which the Project for Public Spaces says “inspires people to collectively reimagine and reinvent public spaces as the heart of every community.” “If you think of my work as community development, then the logic of these things is that we have a huge reservoir of very interesting places that are transitioning from manufacturing into commercial, residential and recreational use,” Stadtmueller said. “Engaging the community in designing these projects is very meaningful to me and to the community.” Stadtmueller says he’s not the only one. “Most of the partners I have worked with felt the same way and were looking for people in the way of developers or consultants to help them go through the process and establish something they felt good about,” he said.

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committee. In September he hosted Catalyst, an art ‘experience’ in downtown’s Watermark building to raise funds for future projects.

Bero’s Morty the Moose mural in Green Bay’s Olde Main Street District.

Green Bay’s Matt Bero

You can want to, wish to, plan to, need to and dream of doing something forever, but unless you actually do something about that pipe dream, that’s all it’s going to be. Green Bay artist Matt Bero noticed what he saw to be a dearth of public art in Green Bay’s central business districts and set out to remedy that. Look Up Art is his personal mission to help communities and artists find each other. It started at a happy hour a little over a year ago. Bero – who by day is a digital designer for Associated Bank in Green Bay – and friends were talking about all the development and construction going on in Green Bay. “We said it’s really great that this stuff is going up, but there’s a huge piece missing in the downtown area and in Green Bay as a whole – the arts and culture aspect that gets people engaged and involved in their community and really gives them a sense of pride in a lot of ways,” Bero said. The group got on the topic of how murals can enliven a city. “By the time we came out of there I self-assigned myself a task of creating a mural within the year.” That was May of 2015. By October, the community was admiring his “Morty the Moose” mural at 1274 Cedar St. in the Olde Main Street district. It took lots of networking, legwork and arm work – but most of all was just declaring he was going to do it. “There are too many people who are just not fully intentional with what they’re doing, and they think about doing stuff, whereas I was like ‘I am definitely doing a mural this year, I don’t care where it is, I don’t care what the topic is, but it is www.newnorthb2b.com

my goal to do one of these by the end of the year,’” he said. While doing the mural, Bero experienced firsthand the benefits public art brings to a community: engagement, traffic, economic development, pride in the community, and quality of life, he said. “People came up and thanked me and were interacting with each other, and now they own that area as much as I do. They have a sense of pride in an area you’d otherwise just drive by and not think about.” In August of this year, Bero spent two weeks traveling the country with the Millennial Trains Project fine-tuning his plans for Look Up Art. The crosscountry journey on vintage rail cars was intended to inspire Millennials to advance their ideas for social projects, ranging from getting high school students politically active to creating refugee awareness. Bero focused on creating opportunities for artists through public art projects. “Matt gets (the fact) that creativity without tactical execution is really just a waste of gifts,” said Brian Johnson, executive director of On Broadway, Inc. in Green Bay. “He knows how to execute and how to bring these things to market, and that’s what is really unique and different about him.”

“I wanted to make it easier for other people moving forward,” he said. “Funding and permission are the two hardest things because if it’s a public building, there are all these hoops to jump through, and if it’s a private building, it becomes more of a funding thing.” Funding was one piece of the puzzle he felt they could get a jump start on. His Catalyst event raised close to $20,000 for Art On Main. “So we can be able to say ‘yes’ instead of ‘we have to wait on funding,’” Bero said. “Instead of waiting, I’m a doer. I want to fix things, and this is one thing we could fix.” n Lee Marie Reinsch of Green Bay worked 18 years at daily newspapers before launching her freelance business, edgewise, in 2007.

Bero

Bero was instrumental in establishing a new public arts commission this year, which advises the mayor and city council on policies, funding and regulations related to the arts. “Matt knows how to ignite passion in other people,” Johnson said. “Everyone’s got a different passion, but he knows how to light that spark within each person and get them excited.” Bero serves on the Olde Main Street District’s Art On Main public art NNB2B | October 2016 | 23

24 | October 2016 | NNB2B branded content / Oshkosh Public Museum

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NNB2B branded content / Oshkosh Public Museum | October 2016 | 25

Technology

Cooking up new technologies technologies

A photo illustration of an engineer using Microsoft’s HoloLens innovation to evaluate holograms of a machine part design in a manufacturing lab. It’s just an example of a use for HoloLens, for which Cineviz of Green Bay is creating interactive software.

Northeast Wisconsin firms create software applications to rival those coming out of other more recognizable tech hubs Sure, we know we’re more than beer, cheese curds and lazy autumn afternoons at the pumpkin patch. Story by Lee Marie Reinsch

We know we have high-tech firms in northeast Wisconsin that do space-age, whiz-bang things we wouldn’t have thought possible a few years ago. But thanks to companies like Apple and Google, the most famous technology valley in the world is not the one called Fox. Yet, there’s an increasing number of information-related and technology companies from northeast Wisconsin that – while they may not get a lot of ink – they are changing the way people around the world do business.

26 | October 2016 | NNB2B

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Mixing up reality

If you’ve seen or played Pokemon Go, then you’ve been exposed to this thing called augmented reality. Unlike virtual reality, which steeps you into a virtual world, augmented reality takes your actual world and puts virtual elements into it - you’re in your own living room and suddenly Ted, the foulmouthed, computer-animated bear from the movie “Ted,” appears on your couch. With mixed reality, those virtual elements can move and interact with you. Think Ted again, not just popping open a beer and offering it to you, but you having the ability to see the beer bottle in your hand, move it around, and set it down. Granted, you can’t actually drink the beer, and the expensive headset you’re wearing would probably clunk against the bottle if you could chug it down. But even so, mixed reality is changing the way people experience the world around them.

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Microsoft’s new baby, HoloLens, uses mixed reality to enable holograms to “look and sound like they’re part of your world,” according to Microsoft. Green Bay-based Cineviz received early permission to use HoloLens in development several months before Microsoft released it. Cineviz is an experiential design company, which means it creates experiences – mainly for education and museums – using technology. “HoloLens, being mixed-reality, really projects that augmented-reality experience into holographic imagery, but takes it beyond just the holographic image to the point where you can interface with that piece of imagery,” said Scott Koffarnus, Cineviz CEO and creative director. “So you can control it, you can work with it, you can build it – there’s an interface in it. When we look at it from our standpoint as an experiential design and technology company, it really fits in with a lot of the things we’re trying to do.” HoloLens removes a barrier between user and experience. “HoloLens is going to allow people to open their minds to different things and release limitations that you have today on a phone, where you’re limited to that boundary,” Koffarnus said. He indicated Cineviz is planning to use it for educational applications, learning experiences, gamified learning experiences, building collaborative work environments and in designing products. “A lot of the stuff we do is built around an educational type of experience, often using gamification techniques, so when you apply that to something like the Microsoft HoloLens, it allows us to do a lot of different things, building gaming-like experiences that can be educational for a museum-type of experience that (guests) can actually interact with,” Koffarnus said. It could even be used in more practical applications, such as in a manufacturing facility or to train firefighters to react to varied circumstances. Cineviz has carved out a niche and made a name for itself in the eight years it’s been around. Koffarnus founded the firm in 2008 out of another business he started in 2003 and merged the two. Cineviz bore full speed ahead in the local and national advertising sphere, having worked with Disney, www.newnorthb2b.com

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Technology Nickelodeon, the NFL, Playboy, Axe, Diet Pepsi, Gatorade, Betty Brinn Children’s Museum in Milwaukee and The Children’s Museum of Green Bay, among others. Although Cineviz uses gamification technology, it’s not a gaming company, Koffarnus said. “We created an interactive soccer game for Nike where you kick a ball into a net, but you have a bank of monitors behind it so you have to kick the ball into a moving target,” Koffarnus said. For Axe, Cineviz created a gestural application wherein people could manipulate virtual bubbles on the image of a model to create an experience. For Super Bowl XLVIII, they built an interactive speed track. For the Wisconsin Potato and Vegetable Growers Association, they designed a mobile museum called the Spudmobile that lets visitors experience what it’s like to be on a potato farm. The KI Convention Center in Green Bay hired the firm to develop its visual communications network, which encompassed seven interactive wayfinding signs, five interactive registration kiosks, 29 digital room signs and two large video walls. Koffarnus said most of Cineviz’ business falls into three categories: experiential design (which encompasses everything from museums to a corporate lobby, creating an immersive environment using technology); visual communications (which encompasses digital signing and wayfinding); and content capabilities (including design, animation and overall content).

“HoloLens is going to allow people to open their minds to different things and release limitations that you have today on a phone, where you’re limited to that boundary.” Scott Koffarnus, CEO and creative director Cineviz in Green Bay

Robo investing your wealth

Automated financial advisers aren’t all that new, but they’re shaking up the financial-advising industry, according to Tim Landolt, managing director for ETF Model Solutions in Appleton. But they aren’t perfect. So he and his partners created My Robo Adviser (myroboadviser.com) using the company’s endowment investing philosophy, along with adding some features they felt other robo advisers lacked. “It’s a digital way to provide our endowment investment strategies to individuals, and it’s set up – because it’s on a digital platform – to be more scalable and expand our geographic footprint to basically anyone in the country with any amount of money,” Landolt said. There’s no minimum investment, and that makes endowment investing more accessible to those who aren’t typical investors. It’s also available 24 hours a day, even when markets aren’t open. “The types of services we provide with our full-service endowment wealth management are more for people with a higher net worth and more resources …. whereas My Robo Adviser is for people who know that they need some help and are looking for advisory services but they don’t need a fullscale platform or a concierge service,” he said. Most individuals who invest have a general familiarity with stocks, bonds and mutual funds. But large-scale institutional investors often seek alternative investments for their globallydiversified portfolios, which requires seemingly endless research to evaluate. “With My Robo Adviser, we’ve democratized this institutional type of asset allocation for individual investors,” Landolt said. Users can transfer or set up a Roth or traditional IRA, set up automatic transfers from a bank account into their investment account, and more. “You would log on, answer a couple questions, such as what is your goal and what is your time horizon, and the digital algorithms would determine which of up to 100 existing portfolios that we’ve set up is most appropriate to meet your goal,” Landolt said. “The system monitors where you’re at relative to your goal and lets you know if you’re on track or off track and if you need to add some money to get back on track. The system automatically moves you to other portfolios, say, as you get closer to your goal and need to get more conservative.”

28 | October 2016 | NNB2B

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Once you have your financial goal set up, My Robo Adviser handles itself, Landolt said. “It does automatic rebalancing, where let’s say the equity portion of the portfolio gets out of balance by more than 3 percent, it will rebalance your entire portfolio,” he said. “If you’re in a taxable account and something has declined, it will automatically ‘harvest’ tax losses and reallocate proceeds into a very similar holding.” Users have control of My Robo Adviser, so if they think their investments are a little too conservative, they can change or modify the investments themselves or set up multiple goals. “We’re really unique and different from other services like this because many of the other ones have very simple allocations, like they’ll work with equity and fixed-income only. We add these alternative investments to the mix,” he said. “We thought there was an opportunity in the market to provide a more sophisticated investment solution based upon an endowment-type approach.” My Robo Adviser’s allocated portfolios consist of 18 securities, based upon the firm’s proprietary Endowment Index calculated by Nasdaq OMX, Landolt said. His firm developed the index by analyzing the asset allocations of portfolios from more than 800 college and university endowment funds. It’s innovative work on My Robo Adviser made ETF

A screen shot of the My Robo Adviser web tool created by ETF Model Solutions of Appleton.

“With My Robo Adviser, we’ve democratized this institutional type of asset allocation for individual investors.” Tim Landolt, managing director ETF Model Solutions in Appleton Model Solutions one of the finalists for the 2016 Wisconsin Innovation Awards. Despite its many advantages, Landolt doesn’t think robo advisers will completely replace financial advisers. “As with medical services, there’s a lot of trust involved between doctor and patient and the same with adviser and client,” he said. “It’s a relationship business and probably always will be.” But technology is changing the way some people do business. “It’s enabling businesses to purvey their services to people who prefer to purchase them a certain way and who don’t want the interaction, don’t need the interaction, and find it much more convenient to use an app on their phone to obtain the services they want or need,” Landolt said. “They’re very comfortable doing their banking online, getting transportation, and making reservations online. This is just another revolution.” n Lee Marie Reinsch of Green Bay worked 18 years at daily newspapers before launching her freelance business, edgewise, in 2007.

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NNB2B | October 2016 | 29

Entrepreneurship

Lambeau Leaps for Entrepreneurs

A couple upcoming events slated for Lambeau Field aim to propel innovation and entrepreneurial growth in northeastern Wisconsin Story by Rick Berg

She calls herself a “serial entrepreneur” and her track record so far is pretty impressive. But April Knutson, the founder of Green Bay-based OrendX, said she wouldn’t be where she is today if she hadn’t taken advantage of the resources available through the Small Business Initiative at Northeast Wisconsin Technical College. And she didn’t even know those resources existed until she attended the 2015 Business Summit, hosted by NWTC’s Corporate Training and Economic Development. “For me the summit was a good launching point to get entrenched and start to figure out what services were available,” Knutson said. This year’s Business Summit, to be held on Nov. 9 at Lambeau Field, is one of two events targeting

30 | October 2016 | NNB2B

innovation and entrepreneurship in the region. The other – Launch Wisconsin 2016 – will be held Oct. 12, also at Lambeau Field. NWTC’s Corporate Training and Economic Development department is the chief sponsor of the Business Summit, but is also a co-sponsor of Launch Wisconsin. According to Tom Duffy, small business development consultant at NWTC, “the Summit was originally an idea of Governor Walker. He asked the tech colleges around the state to have an event to promote business growth. “Each year we bring in subject matter experts to conduct breakout sessions so business owners get the knowledge and tools they need to achieve peak performance.”

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Duffy said Knutson’s experience at last year’s Business Summit is fairly typical for attendees at the event. “We hear the stories about the new connections they made at the event and how those relationships have grown into business and personal relationships,” Duffy said. “Events like this offer great networking opportunities, but they also let (attendees) know that there are resources available to help grow their business and that it’s OK to ask for help.”

Launching Innovation

John Ernst, executive director of Launch Wisconsin, said Launch Wisconsin began in 2015 after the event’s founders, including De Pere-based ZyQuest CEO Al Zeise, realized the region needed to ramp up its efforts to support innovation and entrepreneurship. “When the founders of Launch Wisconsin researched what other successful regions had around the country we found four things,” Ernst said. “Each area had global brands, engaged local government, a thriving Millennial community – usually part of a supportive university system – and a population density that networked and gathered regularly. “In fact, that last item was found to be the most important. Areas that cultivated meetups, hack-a-thons, workshops and major destination events could draw in talent, ideas and expertise from outside their areas. This is where the vision for building a destination event in Green Bay, Wisconsin called Launch Wisconsin came from.” Both the Business Summit and Launch Wisconsin have grown exponentially in the past two years. “I became involved with the Business Summit last year and our team doubled the size of the event (from its inaugural year in 2014),” Duffy said. “This year we decided to move it to Lambeau Field because we out grew the space here at NWTC.”

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Ernst noted that Launch Wisconsin grew from 25 speakers on five panels in 2015 to more than 140 speakers on 60 panels this coming year, with an expected audience of 2,000 attendees.

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Entrepreneurship Miami, Dallas, Chicago, Minneapolis, Columbus, Denver, Madison, Milwaukee and more,” Ernst said. “This type of growth is tremendous in one year’s time and we are hopeful we can continue with the momentum.”

Building an Innovation Tribe

Knutson’s experience as an entrepreneur is a lot like that of other entrepreneurs who are big on ideas but short on business experience. “I’m an idea person,” Knutson said. “I like to develop the concept and I like to test it. I’m the visionary and I need to surround myself with people who are good at execution, who have the tools and the resources and the know-how to take it out to the market. That’s my methodology.” Knutson – a registered nurse by training – along with two business associates, had already launched a business called Clinical Optimizer in 2012 and were in the process of negotiating with potential acquisition partners in the fall of 2015. The partners eventually entered into an asset purchase agreement with North Carolina-based CastleBranch to acquire Clinical Optimizer this past June. “We already had our exit path worked out on that business,” she said, “but I had another business idea in September of 2015 and I had no business partners on that. It was still in the concept phase.” The business idea eventually became OrendX, an employee-

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engagement and communication technology application for use in the health care industry. Knutson spotted a promotional flyer for the 2015 Business Summit and decided that might lead her to some resources she would need to take the OrendX concept to reality. Besides several valuable contacts she made at the summit, Knutson also learned about the Small Business Initiative at NWTC, and

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decided to take advantage of the programs it offers.

Creating an Innovation Ecosystem

“I am not only impressed with the creativity and determination of the clients who come to us for services and programs, but also their willingness to be coached,” said Karen Widmar-Altekruse, who founded the Business Success Summit in 2014 and leads the Small Business Initiative at NWTC. “Some inventors are too close to their product or idea and are not open to feedback. This can be detrimental to their growth.”

Wisconsin has tended to rank poorly compared to other states when it comes to startup business activity. The annual Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation start-up activity report released in August found that among the 25 largest states, Wisconsin came in last in terms of the rate of business startups. Wisconsin also lags behind most other states in terms of venture capital investment.

Knutson was more than willing to be coached. As a starting point, she worked with Widmar-Altekruse and her team at NWTC on a personality assessment designed to help entrepreneurs identify their strengths and weaknesses.

Nonetheless, the founders of Launch Wisconsin and the Business Summit agree that entrepreneurship and innovation thrive best in a supportive business culture, and that the Midwest in general and northeastern Wisconsin in particular are poised to create that culture.

“It asked a lot of questions about my entrepreneurial style, how I tend to make decisions, and it generated a profile,” Knutson said. “The results showed that I have a certain set of strengths, and there is an area of opportunity where I maybe am not the strongest and it will help me to build a team with people who are strong in those areas.” For example, Knutson found it made sense to involve a technical co-founder possessing the I.T. skills she lacked, rather than subcontract technology work. “They told me, build your tribe around you, and here are the skill sets you should think about including,” Knutson said. “I function really well at the 30,000-foot level and I would do well to surround myself with people who can actually come in and develop the details of a product and take it out to market. Because by the time that happens with a product, my brain is already on to the next idea.”

Launch Wisconsin’s Ernst noted that Capital Drive, a Columbus, Ohio-based venture capital firm, predicts the Midwest will have more startups in the next five years than California’s Silicon Valley. “We’re hopeful that the time is right for the Midwest to become a ‘touch-down’ region vs. a ‘fly-over’ region,” Ernst said. “We really want people to realize that Wisconsin has a tremendous start-up ecosystem already here. It’s not something we will have in the future – it’s here now. Innovation and business startups are on the rise like never before in Wisconsin.” “We are nowhere near the end of great ideas and more ideas will continue to come for years,” Ernst said. “How we do it is up to us. In the last 10 years alone, many of the innovations of today were born, and they have changed how we live, share,

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Entrepreneurship

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create and learn forever. We want people to realize this and continue to engage, ignite and collide all year long. That will help our region tremendously.” NWTC’s Duffy noted events like the Business Summit and Launch Wisconsin consistently provide feedback from attendees – “stories about the new connections they made at the event and how those relationships have grown into business and personal relationships,” Duffy said. There are likely few better examples than Knutson, who despite some past success as an entrepreneur, recognizes the strength in building a community of support. “Attending that event had a big impact on how I look at my business going forward,” Knutson said. “I made connections in that one day that I continue to use today and will continue to use in the future.” The biggest takeaway, Knutson said, is that there is no reason for entrepreneurs to go it alone, regardless of the value of their ideas. “In my case, as a nurse, I kept seeing problems in the health care world that I believed could be solved by technology,” she said. “I just needed to find the resources to make those solutions happen. I always kind of felt that but it was helpful to have a third-party confirmation that I needed to continue to do what I’m strong at and make use of the resources available for areas where I’m not so strong. “That was really helpful and I would recommend that to anyone getting into business. Talk to someone who is unbiased and who doesn’t have any stake in your business, and take their advice to heart.” n

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Rick Berg is a freelance writer and editor based in Green Bay.

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Elections

The mood of the electorate in northeast Wisconsin mirrors that of the rest of America as voters make their final choices for the Nov. 8 general election. On the heels of the state’s primary election held in August, the stage is now set for crucial legislative races across Wisconsin that could change the balance of power in Madison. Republicans currently hold a 63 to 26 majority in the Assembly, where more than half of sitting officials are unchallenged for their seat. Democrats are fielding unopposed candidates in 28 districts, including Rep. Amanda Stuck (D-Appleton) and Rep. Eric Genrich (D-Green Bay). Republicans have unopposed candidates in 21 districts across the state, including Rep. Andre Jacque (R-De Pere) and Rep. Mike Schraa (R-Oshkosh). In Wisconsin’s State Senate, Republicans hold only a 19 to 14 majority, with roughly half of the seats up for re-election this year. Of those, eight incumbents are unchallenged, meaning there’s only eight contested races for Wisconsin Senate this year. The following is a list of candidates for contested Wisconsin legislative seats from New North B2B’s readership area, along with the candidate’s place of residence and campaign website.

36 | October 2016 | NNB2B

www.newnorthb2b.com

State Assembly District 1

(Includes portions of Green Bay and eastern Brown County)

Joel Kitchens (R) Inc.

Lynn Utesch (D)

Sturgeon Bay Joelkitchens.com

Kewaunee Lynnuteschforassembly.com

District 4

(Includes Allouez, Ashwaubenon and portions of Green Bay, Hobart and Howard)

District 3

(Includes Combined Locks, Kimberly, Sherwood and portions of Appleton, Menasha and Little Chute as well as rural portions of northwestern Calumet County)

Ron Tusler (R}

Sharon Wasileski (D)

Appleton Rontuslerforassembly.com

Menasha Waz4wisconsin.com

District 5

(Includes Kaukauna, Seymour, rural eastern Outagamie County and portions of Little Chute)

Dave Steffen (R) Inc.

Tony Lee (D)

Jim Steineke (R) Inc.

Sam Kelly (D)

Howard Steffen4wisconsin.com

Green Bay Tonyleeforassembly.com

Kaukauna Jimsteineke.com

Kaukauna Samkellyforassembly.com

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Elections District 52

(Includes Fond du Lac, Oakfield and rural portions of southern Fond du Lac County)

District 55

(Includes Neenah, town of Grand Chute and portions of Appleton and northern Winnebago County)

Jeremy Thiesfeldt (R) Inc.

Paul Czisny (D)

Mike Rohrkaste (R) Inc.

Bob Baker (D)

Fond du Lac Fightingforthe52nd.com

Fond du Lac Paulforassembly.com

Neenah Mikefor55thassembly.com

Appleton Bakerforwisconsin.com

District 54

District 56

(Includes Oshkosh)

(Includes Winneconne and portions of Appleton as well as rural southern Outagamie County and northern Winnebago County)

Jordan Hansen (L)

Gordon Hintz (D) Inc.

Dave Murphy (R) Inc.

Mariana Stout (D)

Oshkosh Electjordanhansen.com

Oshkosh Hintzforassembly.com

Greenville Murphy4assembly.com

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State Senate District 2

District 88

(Includes 4th, 5th and 6th Assembly Districts)

(Includes Bellevue, portions of Green Bay and eastern Brown County)

John Macco (R) Inc.

Noah Reif (D)

De Pere Johnmacco.com

Green Bay Noahreif.com

Rob Cowles (R) Inc.

John Powers (D)

Green Bay Voterobcowles.com

Wittenberg Voterpowers.com

District 18

District 89

(Includes Suamico and portions of Green Bay, Howard and southern Oconto County)

John Nygren (R) Inc.

Heidi Fencl (D)

Marinette Votejohnnygren.com

Sobieski Friendsofheidifencl.com

(Includes 52nd, 53rd and 54th Assembly Districts)

Dan Feyen (R)

Mark Harris (D)

Fond du Lac Feyenforsenate.com

Oshkosh Harrisfor Wisconsin.com

District 30

(Includes 88th, 89th and 90th Assembly Districts)

Eric Wimberger (R)

Dave Hansen (D) Inc.

Green Bay Ericwimberger.com

Green Bay Hansenforsenate.com

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Retail

V V

oices isions &

A monthly conversation with New North small business owners, each shedding light on the local economy through the perspective of their industry sector.

The Cake Guru guides her growing workforce as easily as she shapes a flour, sugar and egg mixture into art. What started as a special-order business with receipts of $25,000 now employs 50 people and breaches $1 million in annual sales. Her family tradition fits into fresh cultural interest in fine baked goods, and Tamara Mugerauer meets that growing demand with a growing retail presence. A new storefront opens in downtown Appleton this month, the third of what could soon be many more. Sweet-toothed customers aren’t the only ones satisfied with the Cake Guru’s work. In 2015 she earned three gold medals and the Best of Show award at the Upper Midwest Baker’s Association Cupcake Competition, and was named the 2015 Wisconsin Baker’s Association Bakery Operation of the Year. Delicious success is baked at her Oshkosh headquarters, which the Oshkosh Chamber of Commerce named its 2014 Small Business of the Year.

Tamara Mugerauer Tamara – The Cake Guru Oshkosh, Grand Chute & Appleton Cakeguru.com

You must feel appreciated when customers gladly pay a premium for your product. Yes, I do feel that. It’s pretty cool when I see someone give a cupcake for Teacher Appreciation Day. We think it’s great that you can get something for three dollars and make someone’s whole day with it. We can do a smaller cupcake – we make minis that are $1.55 – but that isn’t going to have the same impact. They don’t just want a cupcake. They want an experience. All of our cupcakes have a polkadot liner, except for gluten free. If someone wants to order one without filling, I don’t necessarily lower the price. We’re building a brand, and our brand is our brand. The nice thing about a cupcake is that each one is at a fairly low price point. It is a little gift that, although under $5, it is still something special and personal.

40 | October 2016 | NNB2B

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Is it challenging to be a manager as well as a baker and an artist? If there’s one thing I would love more training on, it’s probably that. I’m a pleaser, and I have issues trying to keep everyone happy all of the time. As we expand, so does demand on our people and it can be hard getting the most from everyone. Sometimes it feels like doing the cakes, which have to be done, is holding that back. In the food and hospitality industries, all of us are facing a shortage of great staff. Also, as a decorator, people like your style, and that’s something you can’t really teach.

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I have a head baker and her mom helps. We have three part-time bakers. We divide our shop into departments. The cupcake room is the biggest department. We have a cake room, we have the front of house. We have dishwashers and a delivery guy.

It seems like the bakery has been growing ever since you started it. While working for another bakery I single-handedly ran the decorating department and grew their wedding cake business from 13 weddings each year to over 100 weddings the first year I worked there. This was through marketing a fresh, modern look for weddings. I started my own company in 1997 at 610 Oregon Street (in Oshkosh). We’re into our fourth year in our new location at 1529 Oregon. When I started it was me and two other employees. We did 600 weddings a year. Now there are 50 people on the schedule. We do all production in our Oshkosh location and deliver to Appleton twice daily. I have ten employees there. It is our goal to offer the same amount of options at both stores, but in Oshkosh we can continue to add products throughout the day. We’re looking to expand again in downtown Appleton. We should be open by the end of October. It’ll be a very small location, with one employee at a time. Maybe two. We’re looking into some possible franchise or additional growth options. We have talked with someone in Cedarburg who’s asking us to provide product for a store down there. This has led us to talk of what our future looks like for growth. We certainly would not close the door on more locations.

Where did you learn the trade?

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My mom always made our own cakes growing up, and my grandma made wedding cakes for extra money out of her house. My first job was at a Dairy Queen in Michigan. I started doing cakes there, and when I went to school in Milwaukee for graphic design, I worked at a different Dairy Queen.

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NNB2B | October 2016 | 41

Retail Start or expand your business in the

FASTEST GROWING WISCONSIN COMMUNITY

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What’s the process to create each cupcake? We do everything assembly-line style. We do upwards of 100 dozen cupcakes (1,200 total) on any given Friday, so we are really all about volume while keeping quality high. Also, it depends on the flavor of cupcake. We can fill, ice and garnish a triple chocolate cupcake in less than 30 seconds but a “Ladybug Liberty” takes us more like two to three minutes just for that part of the process. Cupcakes are the biggest part of our business, and then wedding cakes.

What’s behind the growing interest in elaborate cakery? Be part of the progress by leasing space in a multi-tenant building or select land for design/build construction. This is the ideal location if you want to command market share in western Brown County. The Village of Hobart offers: • tax increment incentives • immediate customers with median HH income among highest in the state • high visibility and ready access to people traveling daily in the 23,600 vehicles on state highway 29/32 The 100 acre MarketPlace District in Centennial Centre capitalizes on the work-live trend and your business would benefit from locating here.

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42 | October 2016 | NNB2B

I think a few factors have contributed to the interest in our products. One is the increase of television shows with a bakery focus – these truly have catapulted our industry into a different direction, opening people’s eyes to what can be done with dessert. Cupcake Wars was out on TV four or five years ago. There’s Ace of Cakes and Cake Boss. Another factor is the overall interest in food. “Foodies” is a common day term! People are proud to understand and appreciate good food. But I do worry about staying relevant. Are cupcakes always going to be a big thing?

With 35,000 “likes,” it seems social media is key to growth. The customers tell us via social media what they want us to try. We started out using my grandma’s recipes. Now, every single week we have new flavors of cupcakes coming out. Customers may want to see if something tastes better with bacon on top! We have Wacky Wednesday and Thirsty Thursday and we pick a

Cake Guru’s spiked chocolate salted caramel cupcakes.

theme for them to suggest a flavor. Today’s (Sept. 19) was Brangelina, because of the breakup of Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie. Contests really help us build social media. People post what they want us to make and of all the suggestions, our bakers will pick four. If we picked your idea, you get a free cupcake. I can get 200 posts, which means 200 people are saying something about us and their friends are reading it. We also advertise at wedding shows, with some newspaper and radio as well.

Does most of your business come through word of mouth? Yes, for sure. Especially weddings, which so many people attend and all get to try our product. We also do a lot of charity work and get our name out that way. My oldest daughter was adopted from China. Her name is Liberty. All the proceeds from sales of our Ladybug Liberty Cupcake go to Holt International, which aids the plight of orphans around the world. One of our focuses is “The Cake Guru Cares.” We are committed to our community through events like The Nutcracker in the Castle at the Paine Art Museum where we donate $10,000 worth of designs annually. n

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Professionally Speaking

Professionally Speaking is a paid promotional spot in B2B.

3 Reasons Your Tradeshow Marketing Program is Failing by Peter Linn of Exhibit Systems 920.460.0303 While many companies use tradeshows and events to fuel incredible growth and profitability, others are struggling to break even. Some don’t know how well they are doing at all! There are many factors that go into successful exhibiting at tradeshows. Here are some common reasons your event marketing program might be failing to perform well: 1. Little or no (or poor!) pre and post show marketing Are you reaching out effectively to your target audience before and after the show? Do you let them know about your booth and what they can learn about or experience there? Consider a multichannel approach using direct mail, email and social media for your “broadcast” messaging, as well as personal invites to key clients and prospects.

Segment your list and target your messaging as much as possible – avoid the “spray and pray” method of marketing! Start planning your campaign well in advance to get the best possible results. 2. Your follow up stinks A staggering number of trade show leads are never followed up on. Not only do you need to follow up, but you need to do so quickly and thoroughly. Make good notes after every interaction and send specific information related to each discussion. Document everything in your CRM system. 3. You’re not at the right show(s) If you are in front of the wrong people, you’re wasting your time and money. You need to constantly evaluate the amount and quality of interactions from each show and its relationship to closed new business. If a show isn’t panning out, consider reallocating resources towards an expanded presence at your most profitable shows and/or look at

different shows to attend. To ensure it’s the right event, you should consider walking it first before you decide to exhibit at it. Event marketing is one of the best vehicles for face-to-face interaction with potential buyers. In a world of constant, (and often superficial!) electronic communication, there is still nothing better than meeting with your clients, shaking their hand and forming long-term, trusted partnerships. But like anything, strategy, planning and execution are essential if you are going to maximize your event opportunities in today’s highly competitive marketplace.

Peter Linn is the Account Executive covering Northeast Wisconsin for Exhibit Systems, a full-service tradeshow display and exhibit house. Visit www.exhibitsystems.com for more information or email Pete directly at peter@exhibitsystems.com.

5 Questions to Ask Your Banker Tomorrow by Matt Bakalars of Fox Valley Savings Bank 920.379.9378 When was the last time you visited with your banker or were solicited to switch over your banking to another financial institution? In the age of shiny offers and boisterous claims, how do you know how to pick the right banker for you? We’ve put together 5 simple questions to ask when interviewing your future or current banker to help ease your decision making process. 1. Are you prepared to meet my lending needs? When the time is right, and you need working capital to support the growth of your organization, make sure your banker has the local lending power to help your organization succeed.

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2. Are you the right partner for my organization? Financial institutions come in all shapes and sizes. It’s important that you select the right banker for your current and future needs. Cookie-cutter services and experiences work for the big banks, but for FVSBank, delivering a custom experience is what we’re all about. 3. Are loans approved locally? If your banker doesn’t have local decisionmaking authority, what’s the point of working with them? Your banker should be there to support and understand your organization’s needs. 4. Who do I call if I need help? If you don’t know or if you have to get through assistants, secretaries and customer service call centers before you get to your banker, it’s time to start looking for a new financial partner. At FVSBank, we work hard to know each one of our clients, allowing us to give knowledgeable,

responsive and personal service. When you need help: call me, email me, text me, stop by or come over for dinner! 5. How do you show value to your clients? Your business banker needs to be more than a banker, they need to be your partner. They should take the initiative on a regular basis to find opportunities that support your growth and success. At FVSBank, we don’t believe in “bankers’ hours.” We work during your hours. At FVSBank, we strive to create a business banking experience that is personal and exceeds your expectations. If you have questions, give me a call at the Oshkosh branch. Better yet, call my cell phone at 920-379-9378. I’ll return your call, even outside of “bankers’ hours.” Matt Bakalars is Vice President of Business Banking with Fox Valley Savings Bank.

www.newnorthb2b.com

Professionally Speaking

Professionally Speaking is a paid promotional spot in B2B.

Shame of Thrones – OSHA’s New Electronic Reporting Requirements by Anthony S. Wachewicz, III of Davis & Kuelthau, s.c. Earlier this year, the Occupational and Health Administration (OSHA) issued new injury reporting regulations. Most notably, the regulations will make employer illness/injury statistics available for public viewing, which is a form of public shaming. OSHA believes this will “nudge” employers to reduce worker injuries/illnesses. As any devoted Game of Thrones viewer can attest, public shaming has consequences. Employers may feel subject to an electronic “walk of atonement” after submitting this information for public scrutiny. The regulations effective January 1, 2017 require employers to electronically submit injury and illness data to OSHA. Employers with 250 or more employees will submit OSHA Forms 300, 300A and 301, conveying a log of work injury/illnesses, a summary of work injury/illnesses and the injury/

920.431.2238

illness report, respectively. These employers need to submit OSHA Form 300A by July 1, 2017, and Forms 300, 300A and 301 by July 1, 2018. Industries with high rates of injuries, such as construction, manufacturing, transportation, etc., with 20 to 249 employees will submit Form 300A by July 1 in 2017 and 2018. OSHA notes that employers already document this information; therefore, there are no new requirements. Starting in 2019, the deadline shifts to March 2. OSHA will then post the data on its website with the intent to provide a benchmark for health and safety performance against other employers to improve safety programs in a “race to the top” and to allow researchers to analyze the data for prevention research and causation solutions. Most alarming is that OSHA stated this information will allow it to more efficiently target enforcement resources and assist in compliance. In other words, OSHA will be using the employer’s

own information to direct enforcement resources against them. OSHA has communicated many justifications for the regulations, from appealing to an employer’s competitive spirit to relying on behavioral economics suggesting that public disclosure will demonstrate the employer is a safe place to work. All in all, employers should review their OSHA policies and procedures and develop a communication plan once they submit their injury reports for public consumption. Winter is coming. Anthony S. Wachewicz, III is a senior attorney with Davis & Kuelthau, s.c. in Green Bay. Mr. Wachewicz provides counsel to public and private sector employers on a wide variety of labor and employment law matters. Mr. Wachewicz can be reached at 920.431.2238 or awachewicz@dkattorneys.com for further information/advice.

What’s Missing From Your Worksite Wellness Program? by James Nelson of Prevea360 Health Plan 920.351.4636

Health care costs increased an average 6 to 7 percent this year. No wonder employers are turning to wellness programs to find ways to reduce costs and lower employee absenteeism due to illness. In fact, a study by the Society for Human Resource Management found that 70 percent of employers now offer some type of wellness program, compared to 58 percent in 2008.

It’s often the piecemeal approach that is the downfall of these initiatives. For example, the biggest ROI for wellness programs – 87 percent, according to a Rand Corporation study – comes from disease management services, such as managing diabetes or monitoring medication adherence. Yet these services are often outside the scope of wellness vendors. It’s clear we need to reconfigure our “siloed” approach.

Yet many Northeast Wisconsin and Lakeshore area employers are skeptical. Even those large enough to invest in a wellness program, either by building their own or contracting with a vendor, are not sure they’ll see the returns for a number of years. Studies on wellness program ROI are also mixed. For each success

An effective wellness program integrates disease management services, promotes primary and preventive care, and implements wellness programming at the worksite. Think of an environment where employers work with an organization that has access to both clinical and insurance data, operates in an integrated

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story, there’s likely to be another about a wellness program that underperformed.

data network, is able to analyze the merged data, then encourages employee engagement through a primary care-led clinical workforce that partners with patients in managing their health. It’s a different playbook for success. And it’s a solution available in the Northeast Wisconsin and Lakeshore area today from Prevea360 Health Plan, Prevea Health and LeadWell (Prevea’s worksite wellness programming service). Together we have designed an effective wellness program to help businesses of any size improve their ROI on employee health.

James Nelson is the Director of Sales for Prevea360 Health Plan and can be reached at James.Nelson@Prevea360.com or (920) 351-4636.

NNB2B | October 2016 | 45

Who’s News

Incorporations

New North B2B publishes monthly new business incorporations filed with the Wisconsin Department of Financial Institutions. Brown County

Customized Office Services LLC, James Sell, 127 N. Ontario St., De Pere 54115. Chef Stephen Foods LLC, William Van Beek, 2200 Dickinson Road, De Pere 54115. Basanti Trucking CORP., Gurnek Basanti, 1207 Danena Dr., De Pere 54115. Hobart Fieldhouse LLC, Deron J. Andre, 1255 Scheuring Road, Ste. C, De Pere 54115. Arya Massage Therapy LLC, Debra Ann Colling, 503 N. Superior St., De Pere 54115. Precision Custom Homes LLC, Joseph Erik Granquist, 2113 Ryan Road, De Pere 54115. Lucy 7 Dog Rescue CORP., Madeline Vasseau, 1602 Zita St., De Pere, 54115. Moonlit Meadows Performance Horses LLC, Mandi L. Mincheski, 5544 Blahnik Road, Denmark 54208. Simon Law Firm S.C., Todd G. Simon, 715 Superior Road, Ste. 102, Green Bay 54311. Mighty Decent Auto LLC, James Wendt, 2255 O’Conner Rd., Green Bay 54305. Aardvark Wine Lounge LLC, Lee-Ann Klingsporn, 1123 S. Van Buren St., Green Bay 54301. Wind Mill Woodworking LLC, Mark Kasper, 2455 Century Road, Green Bay 54303. Lombardi Auto Mart LLC, William Thayse, 1545 Cornell Road, Unit 23, Green Bay 54313. Gwidt Aviation Services LLC, Mitchell A. Gwidt, 3451 Amber Lane, Green Bay 54311. Zellner Landscaping LLC, Angeline M. Zellner, 2061 Hillside Lane, Green Bay 54302. Better Readers Foundation INC., Joseph Walters, 3384 Davies Ave., Green Bay 54311. Canadeo Mowing Co. LLC, Rocco Anthony Canadeo, 526 Chardonnay Ct., Green Bay 54301. Perinatal & Women’s Mental Wellness LLC, Kim Marie Smith, 840 Challenger Dr., Ste. 18, Green Bay 54311. Dump ‘N Go INC., Jonathan Rose, 810 Liebman Ct., #8, Green Bay 54302. Tattoo Nouveau LLC, Theresa M. Hale, 1370 Porlier St., Green Bay 54301. A and M Finish Works LLC, Ronald James Maloney, 2253 Woodale Ave., Ste. E, Green Bay 54313.

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Devroy Home Renovations LLC, Robert Michael Devroy, 1212 Nicolet Ave., Green Bay 54304. Sweet Soil Market Garden LLC, Scott W. Rosenberg, 318 13th Ave., Green Bay 54303. Bug-A-Boo Lice Treatment LLC, Monica Veley, 1029 Langlade Ave., Green Bay 54304. Mark’s Electrical Service LLC, Mark Novitski, 1235 Waube Lane, Green Bay 54304. Daisy Muse Designs LLC, Laura Norman, 1055 Langlade Ave., Green Bay 54304. Fat Burner Foods LLC, Mark Rotherham, 1017 Tommark St., Green Bay 54304. Heartland Express Services INC., Tara Gerl, 1135 Contract Dr., Green Bay 54304. Flawless Janitorial LLC, Ana-Hec Sepulveda, 1828 Newberry Ave., Green Bay 54302. A.P.L. Roofing LLC, Arturo Pacheco Luna, 1025 Heyrman St., Green Bay 54302. Exo Productions LLC, Orrey Matelski, 1710 Decker Ave., Green Bay 54302. Rolling Rock Transport LLC, Robert D. Hannon, 1966 Harold St., Green Bay 54302. Precision Financial Strategies INC., Jenny Delvaux, 5965 Clover Valley Dr., Green Bay 54308. KW Motors LLC, Rosalinda Villasenor, 1705 E. Mason St., Green Bay 54302. Williams Auto Mart LLC, William Thayse, 1545 Cornell Road, Unit 23, Green Bay 54313. Final Touch Land Shaping LLC, Donald Stewart, 760 Meadowbrook Ct., Green Bay 54313. Lost Creek Studios LLC, James R. Pintar, 3409 Blackberry Lane, Green Bay 54313. Alternative Pain Management Therapies LLC, Heather Haluska, 431 Van Caster Dr., Green Bay 54311. Bay Fence and Exteriors LLC, Justin Schmidtka, 1126 Jaymar St., Green Bay 54313. Sinks For Less LLC, Joseph M. Lazzaro, 2500 Deerfield Ave., Ste. E, Suamico 54173. Knockerball Fox Cities LLC, Brenda O’Brien, 328 N. Poplar St., Wrightstown 54180.

Calumet County

Birds Of A Feather Apparel LLC, Bryce Walther, W5085 Fox Lane, Sherwood 54169. Lugnut Bar & Grill LLC, Alexander A. Stumpf, N7475 State Road 114, Sherwood 54169.

Fond du Lac County

Hanson Tool and Fabrication LLC, Jordan Hanson, W1402 Pine Lane, Campbellsport 53010.

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Wiesner Auto Sales LLC, James Michael Wiesner, W3050 Elmore Dr., Campbellsport 53010. Valley Creek Kennel LLC, Jesse James Dieckman, 144 S. Barton Road, Campbellsport 53010. Veteran’s Resource Center INC., Kenneth S. Folberg, 498 W. Scott St., Fond du Lac 54937. Apex Realty LLC, Kevin J. Jones, N6576 Carrington Dr., Fond du Lac 54937. Fond du Lac County Crematory LLC, Donald Ray Kurki, 31 E. Division St., Fond du Lac 54935. Swept Away Office Cleaning LLC, Ilenia M. Escamilla, 550 Van Dyne Road, Lot 54, Fond du Lac 54937. MPZ Trucking LLC, Martin Paul Zaher, Jr., 707 Wisconsin Ave., Apt. 4A, North Fond du Lac 54937. Unknown Keepsakes and Ideas LLC, Brian Lee Miller, 332 Deer Trail Lane, Oakfield 53065. J Lambert Transport LLC, Jacqueline A. Perkins, 53 Union St., Ripon 54971. Glory Be Photography LLC, Tara M. Bos, W10076 Triple Kay Road, Rosendale 54974. Awesome Exterior Paint and Construction LLC, Louise Covill, 205 W. Railroad Ave., St. Cloud 53073. Peerless Well & Pump INC., Scott A. De Young, 1212 Storbeck Dr., Waupun 53963.

It doesn’t have to be a foreign language.

Outagamie County

Oak Tree Textiles LLC, Christine Marie Armstrong, 907 W. Browning St., Appleton 54914. Lemur Productions & Event Services LLC, Chris Robert MacEwen, 1630 Holland Road, Appleton 54911. Radiology Prime LLC, Noam Littman, 4528 N. Grassmere Ct., Appleton 54913. Upside Bookkeeping LLC, Kimberly Ann Knuppel, 2802 E. Lourdes Dr., Appleton 54915. Benevolent Bookkeeping LLC, Hannah Joyel Holley, 1903 E. Frances St., Appleton 54911. Camille Rae Music LLC, George Michael Schroeder, 4705 Buttercup Ct., Appleton 54914. Art-E-Corner LLC, Sarah J. DeBruin, 2631 N. Meade St., Ste. 103, Appleton 54911. Fond du Lac Baseball Club LLC, Rob Zerjav, 2400 N. Casaloma Dr., Appleton 54912. A.J.F. Tree Service LLC, Jasmine Tamara Aparicio, 301 E. Juniper Lane, Appleton 54915. Queen of Cleaning LLC, Anne Mullen King, 325 E. Hoover Ave., Appleton 54915. Engagement Jewelers Diamond Center LLC, Maria S. Rodriguez, 835 S. Lynndale Dr., Apt. C, Appleton 54914. Visual View Media LLC, Zachary James Kovach, 1410 E. Harriet St., Apt. 6, Appleton 54915. Forever Grateful Glassworks LLC, Trevor John Klemp, 932 W. Eighth St., Appleton 54914. NP Health Partners LLC, Tammy Evers Weyenberg, 4308 E. Appleseed Dr., Appleton 54913. Custom Interiors Quality Finish Painting LLC, Kimberly Peikert, N2669 Butternut Road, Hortonville 54944. NXT Level Fitness LLC, Robert Guyette, 503 S. Nash St., Hortonville 54944. The I*M Possible Project LLC, Brian Allan Ramsay, 456 Mystic Dr., Hortonville 54944. S & A Peters Heating & Cooling LLC, Scott Peters, W3210 Sunshine Road, Kaukauna 54130. Forest Junction Bar LLC, Nicholas S. Michiels, 8213 Wink Road, Kaukauna 54130. Kussow Insurance Services LLC, Shelby L. Kussow, 8000 County Road D, Kaukauna 54130. Poppy Avenue Boutique LLC, Audra Balof, 506 Miami Cir., Little Chute 54140. Packer’s Pizza & Sub Shop INC., Andrew J. Packer, 251 N. Main St., Seymour 54165.

www.newnorthb2b.com

Successful Journeys Need a Guide™ 920.427.5077 www.guidentbusiness.com

NNB2B | October 2016 | 47

Who’s News Winnebago County

Preferred Panels LLC, Keith Schroeder, 1535 Plank Road, Menasha 54952. Adohi Designs LLC, Mary Rita Miller, 736 Warsaw St., Menasha 54952. Great Lakes Pellet LLC, Lee Jesse, 130 W. Franklin Ave., #1046, Neenah 54956. Eye Candy Lash Studio LLC, Jean A. Heise, 1233 S. Commercial St., Ste. B, Neenah 54956. Simply Nicole Designs LLC, Nicole Marie Clark, 2687 Marathon Ave., Neenah 54956. Fist - Firearms Instruction and Specialized Training LLC, Robert M. Dumont, 309 Castle Oak Dr., Neenah 54956. Lucky’s Freightways LLC, David Roland Labarge, Jr., 1771 Irish Road, Neenah 54956. Reiki Light LLC, Holly F. Skelton, 1709 Dublin Tr., Apt. 18, Neenah 54956. TPM Construction LLC, Tory Nett, 923 S. Main St., Ste. E, Oshkosh 54902. Forner’s Fitness LLC, Steven Forner, 825 Wisconsin St., Apt. 1A, Oshkosh 54901. Naturalfantasyart LLC, Richard David Wheatley, 763A Bowen St., Oshkosh 54901. Bright Orthodontics LLC, Adam Veit, 4567 Bellhaven Lane, Oshkosh 54904. Blazers Bar & Grill LLC, Paula Lee Davis, 609 Division St., Oshkosh 54901. Just Be Therapy LLC, Brianne Elizabeth Schneider, 2337A Jackson St., Oshkosh 54901. Excel Realty LLC, Brian M. Tisler, 915 Christian Dr., Oshkosh 54901. Brinkley’s Boutique LLC, Barbara H. Nelson, 419 N. Main St., Oshkosh 54901. Permanent Makeup By Jody LLC, Jody Lee Whitworth, 1641 Western St., Oshkosh 54901. Gomoll Painting LLC, Gary Gomoll, 1025 W. 20th Ave., Unit 2094, Oshkosh 54903. Grab a Gear Trucking LLC, David Paul Fleischman, 537 Pleasant St., Oshkosh 54901.

Maple Oaks Farm LLC, David Kennedy, 953 County Road M, Pickett 54964. Kampo Heating LLC, Timothy J. Kampo, 7204 Clarks Point Road, Winneconne 54986. North Shore Surgical Suites LLC, Jarod M. Dain, 203 S. 2nd Ave., Winneconne 54986.

Building permits

B2B includes a monthly list of building permits (not to include residential projects) in excess of $400,000. Bernatello’s Foods/Orv’s Pizza, 1601 Hyland Ave., Kaukauna. $5,100,000 for a 45,801-sq. ft. addition to the existing manufacturing facility and offices. General contractor is Schuh Construction of Seymour. July 28. Sierra Coating Technologies, 1820 Enterprise Dr., De Pere. $14,000,000 for a 33,615-sq. ft. addition to the existing industrial facility. General contractor is Keller Inc. of Kaukauna. August 3. University Avenue Center LLC, 2448 Sturgeon Bay Road, Green Bay. $1,093,000 for a multi-tenant retail building. General contractor is Blue Sky Contractors of Appleton. August. Evergreen Power, 401 E. Evergreen Dr., Little Chute. $920,000 for a 14,000sq. ft. small engine retail and repair shop. General contractor is Frontier Builders & Consultants of Kaukauna. August 8. North Shore Bank, 1937 Main St., Green Bay. $843,500 for a 3,534-sq. ft. financial institution office. General contractor is CR Structures Group of Kimberly. August.

Fond du Lac’s 2016 Fall

OCTOBER 14, 15, 16 & 21, 22, 23 Friday (4pm to 7pm) Saturday & Sunday (11am to 4pm)

Tickets $10 each/ Children 5 and under FREE

www.ParadeOfHomesFdl.com

48 | October 2016 | NNB2B

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FedEx Ground, 3383 Spirit Way, Ashwaubenon. $1,350,000 for an addition to the existing distribution center. Contractor is Poerio Inc. of Pennsylvania. August.

WOW Logistics, 1450 McMahon Dr., Fox Crossing. $3,545,490 for a 24,000-sq. ft. corporate office building. General contractor is Utschig Inc. of Greenville. August 24.

A.P. Nonweiler Co., 3321 County Road A, Oshkosh. $406,066 for an 8,600-sq. ft. addition to the existing manufacturing facility. General contractor is CR Meyer of Oshkosh. August 10.

Southside Ultimart, 1424 S. Main St., Oshkosh. $700,000 for a 7,800-sq. ft. addition to the existing commercial building. General contractor is Bayland Buildings of Green Bay. August 25.

McMahon, 1445 McMahon Dr., Fox Crossing. $2,300,000 for a 20,000-sq. ft. addition to and renovation of the existing office building. Contractor listed as self. August 12.

Kwik Trip, 515 W. Walnut St., Green Bay. $1,250,000 for an addition to the existing fuel station and convenience store. Contractor listed as self. August.

Dry Goods, 4301 W. Wisconsin St., town of Grand Chute. $500,000 for interior alterations to the existing retail building. Contractor is Ragnar Benson of Illinois. August 15. Midwest Expansion, 2664 S. Oneida St., Ashwaubenon. $460,406 for a new multi-tenant commercial building. Contractor listed as self. August. Erb Park Swimming Pool, 1800 N. Morrison St., Appleton. $1,680,436 for a new pool, pavilion and bath houses. General contractor is Miron Construction Co. of Fox Crossing. August 19. The Barbershop, 1751 N. Margaret St., town of Grand Chute. $377,000 for a 2,345-sq. ft. corporate office building. General contractor is Fred J. Piette Company of Appleton. August 19. Arbyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s, 473 W. Calumet St., Appleton. $693,000 for a new restaurant building. General contractor is CR Structures Group of Kimberly. August 19. Baycare Health Systems, 1035 Kepler Dr., Green Bay. $1,110,000 for renovations to the first and second floors of the existing office building. General contractor is Gauthier & Sons Construction of Green Bay. August.

Business honors American Foundation of Counseling Services in Green Bay will present the following 2016 Ethics in Business Awards: New Community Shelter of Green Bay, non-profit category; The Foth Companies of De Pere, business category; and Denis Hogan, senior vice president of business support at Bellin Health in Green Bay, individual. Independent Printing of De Pere received three Gold Ink Awards from Printing Impressions magazine for work the company did for Neenah Paper and for Appvion of Appleton.

New hires Aurora BayCare General & Vascular Surgery in Green Bay added Dr. Michael J. Mackowski as a surgeon specializing in trauma and critical care, Dr. Anna Pierce as a general and bariatric surgeon, and Dr. Gregory C. Thom as a vascular surgeon.

Supply-chain & manufacturing. Health care. Business. THE DONALD J. SCHNEIDER School of Business & Economics

Enroll now. snc.edu/mba www.newnorthb2b.com

NNB2B | October 2016 | 49

Who’s News

Scherer

Kettner

Rubietta

McMahon in Fox Crossing hired Jennifer Scherer and Greg Kettner as architectural draftspersons, and hired Titus Rubietta and Brad Hartjes as project engineers. Kettner has five years of architectural design experience, while Hartjes has 22 years experience in site development, municipal engineering and water resources management. Greater Green Bay Chamber hired Brandon Peterson as youth workforce development manager and Renae Schlies as director of membership and retention. Peterson previously provided front-line student support at Northeast Wisconsin Technical College in Green Bay. Schlies most recently was director of admissions for Rasmussen College in Appleton. Appleton-based ThedaCare added Amy Zafarani, D.O. as an obstetrician and gynecologist with Women’s Care of Wisconsin; Shannon Schmidt, M.D. as a physician specializing in hematology and oncology at ThedaCare Regional Cancer Center in Appleton; Kevin O’Donnell, M.D. as an orthopedic surgeon with ThedaCare Orthopedic Care; Kelly Adams, M.D. as an obstetrician and gynecologist at Women’s Health Specialists; and hired Rebecca Fabisch as a nurse practitioner at Encircle Health in Appleton. Woodward Radio Group in Appleton hired Abby Justinger as an account executive for two of its stations. YWCA Greater Green Bay hired Kay Baranczyk as its chief executive officer. Baranczyk is a registered nurse and previously served 10 years as chief nursing officer with HSHS St. Clare Memorial Hospital in Oconto Falls. Green Bay-based Prevea Health added Richard Ellison, M.D. as a general surgeon at Prevea St. Mary’s Health Center in Green Bay and Prevea Pulaski Health Center; Stephanie Bakey, D.O. as a trauma surgeon at HSHS St. Vincent Hospital in Green Bay; Ye-Jin Lee, M.D. as a gastroenterologist at HSHS St. Mary’s Hospital Medical Center in Green Bay; and Richa Aggarwal, M.D. as a child and adolescent psychiatrist at Prevea Behavioral Care. Neenah-based First National Bank – Fox Valley hired Brad Grant as senior vice president - market president for its loan production office in Brillion. Grant has nearly 35 years experience in the financial industry, having spent the last 14 years as president of Calumet County Bank in Brillion.

Hartjes

Schlies

Justinger

Investors Community Bank hired Will Deppiesse as vice president of business banking and Loran Leech as a personal banker at its Appleton location. Deppiesse has 18 years of commercial lending and treasury management experience. Keller, Inc. hired Michael Queoff as a regional manager of construction management in Kaukauna. Queoff previously worked for Keller until 2012, managing the firm’s Milwaukee market for 14 years. Volunteer Center of Brown County hired Eric Sponholtz as its executive director. Appleton Housing Authority hired Cassie Kafczynski as a family support specialist. Kafczynski has one year of experience working with housing choice voucher and family self-sufficiency programs and two years experience providing housing assistance. Orthopedic & Sports Medicine Specialists of Green Bay added Ben Zellner, M.D. as an orthopedic hand surgeon. Dr. Zellner is fluent in Spanish, having completed medical mission work in Guatemala, Ecuador and Colombia. Appleton-based Valley Transit hired Ron McDonald as its general manager. McDonald has more than 25 years of management experience in the transportation industry, having served much of the past 10 years as director of parking and transit for Shoreline Metro in Sheboygan. Prior to that, he was the ADA coordinator and operations supervisor for 13 years with Green Bay Metro and the director of operations for Wisconsin Michigan Trailways based in Green Bay. De Pere-based Element hired Mike Dockum as an account strategist and Chloe De Young as a public relations specialist. Dockum has more than 10 years experience in the marketing and advertising industry, working most recently as a marketing strategist for an accounting firm in suburban Chicago. De Young previously worked for H.J. Martin and Son in Green Bay as a marketing communications specialist and for Spark Advertising in Neenah as an assistant account executive. H.J. Martin and Son in Neenah hired Bob Gmeiner as a project manager. Gmeiner has 10 years experience in the flooring industry, and most recently worked as an office manager, shop manager and assistant project manager for Absolute Plumbing in Greenville.

Pediatric Dentistry Clinic and Family Dental Center of Green Bay hired Dr. Jessica Pasono as a dentist.

Baranczyk

50 | October 2016 | NNB2B

Grant

Pasono

Deppiesse

Queoff

Sponholtz

www.newnorthb2b.com

Kafczynski

Zellner

Dockum

Agnesian HealthCare added Sameer Gupta, M.D. as a nephrologist at its Fond du Lac Regional Clinic. Cypress Benefit Administrators of Appleton hired Laurie Molle as director of operations. Molle has 12 years experience in the health care industry, most recently serving as vice president of operations for another national third-party benefits administrator.

De Young

Gmeiner

Business calendar

New North B2B encourages businesses and organizations looking to attract interested persons to upcoming events to email sean@newnorthb2b.com.

Promotions

October 4 Greater Green Bay Chamber Power Networking Breakfast, 7:30 to 9 a.m. at the chamber offices, 300 N. Broadway, Ste. 3A in Green Bay. No cost to attend for chamber members. For more information, call 920.437.8704 or email members@titletown.org.

Silver Star Brands in Oshkosh promoted Bruce Valk to president. Valk initially came to Silver Star Brands as a partner in an Appleton-based leadership and strategic consulting business. After stepping in as interim chief information officer for several months, he joined the company in September 2014 as CIO and vice president of information technology.

October 5 Fond du Lac Area Association of Commerce Coffee Connection, 7:30 to 8:30 a.m. at Lakeland Care District, N6654 N. Rolling Meadows Dr. in Fond du Lac. For more information, call 920.921.9500 or email info@fdlac.com. October 6 West Side Association of Oshkosh monthly meeting, 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. at LaSure’s Banquet Hall, 3125 S. Washburn St. in Oshkosh. Oshkosh City Manager Mark Rohloff will recap key development projects in the city. Cost to attend is $11.50 and includes lunch. For more information or to register, email rachelh@belvillechiro.com or go online to www.westsideassociation.com.

Coming to B2B in November 2016 Invention & Innovation

Various local innovators discover creative solutions to unusual problems

October 11 Oshkosh Chamber of Commerce Sales Club, 7:30 to 8:30 a.m. at the chamber building, 120 Jackson St. in Oshkosh. No cost to attend for chamber members. For more information, call 920.303.2266 or go online to www.oshkoshchamber.com. October 11 Heart of the Valley Chamber of Commerce Business Before Hours, 8 to 9 a.m. at the chamber building, 101 E. Wisconsin Ave. in Kaukauna. Topic is Crisis Communication.

• Prime Highway 41/441 corridor with commercial and industrial sites available

• Many commercial and industrial sites are located in Tax Increment Districts

• Favorable tax and utility rates with fully serviced sites available

• Quality schools, great Village park system and excellent municipal services available Contact James Fenlon, Village Administrator, at 920-423-3850 or visit www.littlechutewi.org.

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NNB2B | October 2016 | 51

Business Calendar

Suttner ACCOUNTING

No cost for chamber members. For more information or to register, call 920.766.1616 or visit www.heartofthevalleychamber.com. October 13 “Dealing with Employee Leaves of Absence,” a Breakfast Briefing presented by the Oshkosh Chamber of Commerce and the law firm von Briesen & Roper, 7:30 to 9 a.m. at von Briesen & Roper, 2905 Universal St. in Oshkosh. Presenters are attorneys Jim Macy and Doris Brosnan of von Briesen & Roper. No cost to attend, but registration is required by going online to www.vonbriesen.com/events. October 13 Oshkosh Chamber of Commerce Social Hub, 7:30 to 8:30 a.m. at the chamber building, 120 Jackson St. in Oshkosh. Topic is Optimizing your Website. No cost for chamber members. For information, call 920.303.2266 or go online to www.oshkoshchamber.com. October 13 Women in Management – Oshkosh Chapter monthly meeting, 11:15 a.m. to 1 p.m. at La Sure’s Banquet Hall, 3125 S. Washburn St. in Oshkosh. For more information or to register, go online to www.wimiwi.org or email Anne at anne@steinertprinting.com. October 13 Women in Management – Fox Cities Chapter monthly meeting, 11:45 a.m. to 1 p.m. at Pullmans at Trolley Square, 619 S. Olde Oneida St. in Appleton. Cost to attend is $16 for members and $20 for nonmembers and includes lunch. For more information or to register, go online to www.wimiwi.org. October 13 Heart of the Valley Chamber of Commerce Business After Hours, 5 to 7 p.m. at Vanderloop Shoes, 400 Moasis Dr. in Little Chute. No cost to attend for members. For more information or to register, visit www.heartofthevalleychamber.com or call 920.766.1616.

Stephanie Geurts, CPA Partner sjg@suttnercpa.com 920.235.6789

Tax Planning & Preparation Financial Statements Bookkeeping/Write Up Payroll Services Visit suttnercpa.com/client services for a more complete list of services

Quality ❘ Value ❘ Timeliness 52 | October 2016 | NNB2B

October 18 Fond du Lac Area Association of Commerce Business Connection, 5 to 7 p.m. at National Exchange Bank & Trust, 130 S. Main St. in Fond du Lac. For more information, call 920.921.9500 or email info@fdlac.com.

Better Business Bureau New Members Businesses accredited through the Northeast Wisconsin office during August 2016 Al Huss Auto, Freedom Central Supply and Service, De Pere Gasper’s Auto Clinic, Sheboygan Hartmann Signs & Art Gallery, Sister Bay JDW Construction, Greenleaf Leatherneck’s Paint Brush, Cleveland Manitowoc Pet Sitters, Manitowoc National Auto Sales, Fond du Lac P.H. Enterprises, Manitowoc Quali T Screening, Luxemburg Quorum Realty, Green Bay R-Tek Safety Solutions, Luxemburg Silly Toast Designs, Appleton TechVisions & Solutions, Casco The Energy Shop, Green Bay Thyes Properties, Suamico Tim’s Body Shop, Appleton Tyler’s Painting, Manitowoc Van Rite Construction and Restoration, Green Bay

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October 18 Greater Green Bay Chamber Annual Dinner, 5 to 9 p.m. at KI Convention Center, 333 Main St. in Green Bay. Keynote address is Attracting Next Generation Talent. For more information or to register, call 920.437.8704 or email members@titletown.org. October 19 A.M. Oshkosh, a morning networking event from the Oshkosh Chamber of Commerce, 7:45 to 9 a.m. at 5Gbenefits, 5111A Green Valley Road in Oshkosh. Cost is $2. For more information or to register, call 920.303.2266 or go online to www. oshkoshchamber.com. October 19 Heart of the Valley Chamber of Commerce Business Between Hours, 11 a.m. to 12 noon at the chamber building, 101 E. Wisconsin Ave. in Kaukauna. Topic is Crisis Communication. No cost for members. For more information or to register, visit www. heartofthevalleychamber.com or call 920.766.1616. November 1 Greater Green Bay Chamber Power Networking Breakfast, 7:30 to 9 a.m. at the chamber offices, 300 N. Broadway, Ste. 3A in Green Bay. No cost to attend for chamber members. For more information, call 920.437.8704 or email members@titletown.org. November 9 2016 Business Summit at Lambeau Field, an event for business owners and managers hosted by the Corporate Training & Economic Development office at Northeast Wisconsin Technical College, 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. at Lambeau Field Atrium, 1265 Lombardi Ave. in Green Bay. Speakers include Green Bay Packers President and CEO Mark Murphy and Wisconsin Lt. Gov. Rebecca Kleefisch. Cost to attend is $79. For more information or to register, go online to www.newbizsummit.com. n

Thank you

Mike Dempsey

Joan Woldt

Meghann Kasper

Bill Bradley

Trevor Rabbach

BUSINESS SOLUTIONS MADE BETTER. YOU CAN BANK ON IT. Fox Valley (920) 237-5126 Green Bay (920) 469-0500 Manitowoc (920) 652-3100 Sheboygan (920) 694-1900

For better banking, think First www.BankFirstNational.com

to the advertisers who made the October 2016 issue of New North B2B possible.

Aegis Financial ⎮aegisfinancialplanners.com. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34 Amplify WORK IT event ⎮ AmplifyInnovateIT.com. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22 Appleton International Airport ⎮atwairport.com. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54 Bank First National ⎮bankfirstnational.com . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53 Bayland Buildings ⎮baylandbuildings.com. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12 Borsche Roofing Professionals ⎮wiroofer.com. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34 Candeo Creative ⎮candeocreative.com . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39 Consolidated Construction Company ⎮1call2build.com . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 CR Structures Group ⎮crstructures.com. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48 Davis & Kuelthau, s.c. ⎮dkattorneys.com. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45 Dynamic Designs ⎮dynamicdesignspulaski.com . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47 energybank ⎮energybankinc.com. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56 EP Direct ⎮ep-direct.com. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31 Exhibit Systems ⎮exihibitsystems.com. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44 First National Bank ~ Fox Valley ⎮fnbfoxvalley.com. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7 Fox Communities Credit Union ⎮foxcu.org. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29 Fox Valley Savings Bank ⎮fvsbank.com. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35, 44 Guident Business Solutions ⎮guidentbusinesssolutions.com. . . . . . . 47 Home Builders Association of Fond du Lac & Dodge Counties⎮ paradeofhomesfdl.com. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48 Horicon Bank ⎮horiconbank.com. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31 Investors Community Bank ⎮.investorscommunitybank.com. . . . . . . . . 8 J. F. Ahern Co. ⎮jfahern.com. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18 Kaldas Center for Fertility, Surgery & Pregnancy, S.C. ⎮ kaldascenter.com. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9 www.newnorthb2b.com

Our team helps businesses large and small to achieve their goals with financial solutions customized to fit their current and future needs.

Keller Inc. ⎮kellerbuilds.com . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37 Millennium Construction Inc. ⎮millenniumconstructionwi.com. . . . . . 11 Moraine Park Technical College ⎮morainepark.edu. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43 Network Health ⎮meetnetworkhealth.com . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55 NEW Building & Construction Trades Council ⎮newbt.org. . . . . . . . . . 20 NEW Business Summit ⎮newbizsummit.com. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46 NWTC Corporate Training & Economic Development ⎮ corporatetraining.nwtc.edu . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21 Oshkosh Public Museum ⎮atwairport.com. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24 Peninsula Stone, Inc. ⎮peninsulastoneinc.com. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9 Precision Roofing Services ⎮precisionroofinginc.net. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18 Prevea360⎮prevea360.com. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41, 45 Security Health Plan ⎮securityhealth.org. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32 St. Norbert College MBA program ⎮snc.edu/go/mbasnc . . . . . . . . . . . 49 Strang, Patteson, Renning, Lewis & Lacy ⎮strangpatteson.com. . . . . 43 Suttner Accounting ⎮suttnercpa.com. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52 UWO Lifelong Learning & Community Engagement ⎮ uwosh.edu/go/certificates. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 Verve, a Credit Union ⎮verveacu.com. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33 Village of Hobart⎮hobart-wi.org. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42 Village of Little Chute ⎮littlechutewi.org. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51 von Briesen & Roper ⎮vonbriesen.com. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27 Winnebago County Solid Waste Management ⎮ www.co.winnebago.wi.us/solid-waste/container-rental-program. . 28 Winnebago Home Builders Association ⎮whba.net . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38 NNB2B | October 2016 | 53

Key Statistics

If there are indicators you’d like to see in this space, contact our office at 920.237.0254 or email sean@newnorthb2b.com.

local gasoline prices

u.s. retail sales

Per gallon of regular unleaded gasoline.

september 18. . . . . . september 11. . . . . . september 4. . . . . . . august 28. . . . . . . . . sept. 20, 2015. . . . . .

$2.18 $2.18 $2.24 $2.25 $2.33

august

$456.3 billion 0.3% from July 1.9% from august 2015

Source: New North B2B observations

existing home sales

july

homes sold median price brown cty . .....................322 . .................... $175,125 Fond du Lac cty ............121 . ....................$129,900 outagamie cty ..............240 . ....................$156,200 winnebago cty . ............237 . ....................$135,000 WI Dept. Revenue Collections

fy 2016

$15.091 billion 3.8% from FY 2015

54 | October 2016 | NNB2B

u.s. industrial production (2012 = 100)

august

104.4

0.4% from July 1.1% from August 2015 air passenger TRAFFIC (Local enplanements) aug 2016 aug 2015 Appleton Int’l ATW.....................22,668 . ...... 21,222 Austin Straubel GRB............................NA . ...... 30,888

local unemployment july june july ‘15 Appleton ........3.9% ...... 4.4% . .......4.1% Fond du Lac ....4.1% ...... 4.3% . ...... 4.6% Green Bay........4.1% .......4.5% . ...... 4.6% Neenah ............4.0% ...... 4.4%......... 4.3% Oshkosh ..........4.1% .......4.5% . ...... 4.9% Wisconsin ......4.1% ...... 4.4% . ...... 4.6%

natural gas prices Prices for small businesses using less than 20,000 therms. Listed price is per therm.

september................. $0.389 august....................... $0.353 september 2015........ $0.366 Source: Wisconsin Public Service

ism index Numbers above 50 mean expansion. Numbers below 50 mean contraction. august. . . . . . . . . . 49.4 july. . . . . . . . . . . . . 52.6

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Wisconsin Society of Professional Engineers

Plant Engineering

US Green Building Council

Governor’s New Product of the Year Engineering Excellence

Product of the Year Lighting Category

Award of Excellence – Innovation Wisconsin Chapter