IN THIS ISSUE
This month, we look forward to celebrating the accomplishments of Chamber Champion award nominees at the 2023 Chamber Champions Gala.
february 2023
From the Desk of the Executive Director
“True leadership must be for the benefit of the followers, not to enrich the leader” — John
C. Maxwell
2023 is off to a great start and already moving very quickly. We are thrilled to welcome new and returning board members, voted in at the Annual Meeting and Economic Outlook Breakfast on January 19th. About 150 members joined us for breakfast at Pine Hills, voted on the board slate and learned more about what we can expect from an economic standpoint during 2023 from several community leaders. Thanks to all who joined and if you missed it, please watch recorded update here
Welcome new board members, Paul Kuplic, Oostburg State Bank; Paul Griffin, MilliporeSigma; Samuel Spurney, Steimle Birschbach; and Claudia Krepsky, Rohde Brothers, and thank you to all current and past board members for your servant leadership to the chamber and its members over the years. We are blessed with so many wonderful leaders. If you are interested in learning more about our board or have interest in joining the board in the future, please reach out to me directly at deidre@sheboygan.org
This month we are excited to launch the first of six sessions that will be offered this year, Creating Inclusive Workplaces: A Professional Development Opportunity. These professional development experiences are offered free to members and are filling up quickly. We encourage all members of your organization take advantage of these. We are also excited to share that we have partnered with Sheboygan Area-SHRM and these sessions are eligible for continuing education units for HR professionals. To learn more and to register for the first session, please click here
UPCOMING Events
From the Desk of the Executive Director [CONTINUED]
And of course, the Chamber Champions Gala, the event of the year, will be held Thursday, February 16th at the beautiful Osthoff Resort. We are thrilled to report that the main ballroom sold out in record time this year and we have heard from several folks that they too would like to join us. Although the main ballroom is no longer available, we are working very hard on creating an additional onsite opportunity to include more people in this momentous celebration.
Lastly, the Sheboygan County Chamber of Commerce will be launching a Junior Leadership Sheboygan County program this upcoming fall. This first year we are piloting this program along side Sheboygan Area School District to provide an opportunity for high school juniors and seniors to engage with the business community, learn valuable leadership skills and be immersed in Sheboygan County in a greater way, during an interactive 10-month program. Students who complete this program will also be eligible to earn high school credit. This is a free program to students, and we encourage all juniors and seniors in SASD high school to reach out if they are interested. Please share with anyone you know, and students can share interest by completing a simple interest form to get started. To learn more, please click here. Student sponsorship opportunities are available and will help us make this program available free to students and their families going forward. If you would like to learn how you can make a donation to the Sheboygan County Chamber Foundation and support education programs such as these, please contact me directly at deidre@sheboygan.org
We want you to Think BIG (betterment, improvement, growth), Influence Local! The Sheboygan County Chamber of Commerce is committed to providing expertise for fostering dynamic organizations throughout Sheboygan County. We are truly Better Together!
Klohie
- Reception & member services
Happy Gala Month!
As February rolls in, the Chamber is busy creating the 2023 Chamber Champions Gala plans! With this being my first gala, I am outrageously excited to see our community come together and support one another. As for YP events, our January programming had a terrific turn out. The YPs volunteered over 18 hours of service to A Million Dreamz and their mission to bring 24-hour childcare to Sheboygan County.
Looking into future YP programming, we are excited to partner with Elevate Yoga to host the first social event of the year! On February 9th from 7pm-9pm the YPs will practice Yin Yoga at Elevate’s 8th Street location.
Klohie Kuehne - Reception & member services [CONTINUED]
Following the class, a social will be hosted with refreshments. To register, please visit the Chamber website as spots are filling quickly!
As for professional development opportunities, the Chamber is hosting its first ‘Creating Inclusive Workplaces’ on February 8th. Once again, registration can we completed on the Chamber website!
Coastal Young Professionals goal is to attract, engage, and retain young, diverse talent to Sheboygan County by providing opportunities for young professionals to design their social culture, serve as civic innovators and community stewards, and develop into the next generation of leaders for Sheboygan County. If you, an employee, or a co-worker is interested, please contact myself at klohie@sheboygan.org or Kierra Brooks at kierra@sheboygan.org.
The new 2023-2024 Sheboygan County Community Guides are in the process of being created! We want to be sure your company’s information is up to date in our online database. Please make sure to take the following steps so the information we are sharing with residents & visitors is correct. You can check your information by visiting HERE and following the directions listed. Thank you for taking the time to complete this. We greatly appreciate it!
As for now, I wish you a healthy, happy, and lovely February. Be good, Sheboygan!
NEWS FROM THE DIRECTOR OF MEMBERSHIP & WORKFORCE DEVELOPMENT
Welcome to February, we’re only 48 days away from the first day of Spring, hang in there! I hope the first month of the year has seen your business and you off to a great start! As you know, we had an event called Explore Your Future that spanned over two days and three workshops at Lakeshore Technical College. The event was huge a success, as we welcomed over 1,000 7th & 8th graders to the campus to learn more about their personalities, and how their personality will ultimately play a role in their future career choice(s). This was an incredible opportunity for students to ask questions and learn more from our county business leaders.
I want to specifically thank Dave Hermann, Brittnee Truttschel, Tanya Jaeger, and the rest of his team at Lakeshore Technical College for doing an amazing job in directing and providing support in so many ways! Also, a huge shout out to Candice Boutelle from Inspire WI whom I spent hours and hours
NEWS FROM THE DIRECTOR OF MEMBERSHIP & WORKFORCE DEVELOPMENT [CONTINUED]
with to plan, strategize and implement the layout for all workshops, the Chamber staff and of course all our wonderful volunteers and sponsors, specifically Acuity Insurance and Masters Gallery Foods that helped make this event happen! Thank you, thank you, thank you!
Don’t forget, you can post events, introduce new employees, and many other topics via Member News.
Member news is part of your membership, so at no additional cost you may post every day, every week, etc., whatever makes sense for your business and staff. Please reach out to me if you’ve never posted before and we can walk through this process, or you can send me what you’d like to post. It’s quick, easy and it’s a great way to let everyone in Sheboygan County know who you are, what your business does or if you’ve got an event coming up!
Some other things to think about as we move into 2023:
• Deep Dive opportunities are a great way to meet new Chamber members and their respective businesses and gain referrals in the process. Every member is from a different business sector, so no two members are alike in any one group! Who do you want to do business with? People you know and trust of course. Join a Deep Dive today! Check out a short video at www.sheboygan.org to learn more about Deep Dives.
• Roundtables are a terrific way to meet others within your business sector. Whether it’s Human Resources, Sales & Marketing, Not for Profit, and others, you’re sure to learn something from your peers. These peer-to-peer networking groups can help any one of your employees, or yourself, accelerate your learning curve, and minimize potential setbacks within your organization. Our own John Rogers does an outstanding job keeping each group on task, and always shares his own wealth of knowledge. Contact john@sheboygan.org and join a Roundtable today!
• Our Young Professionals network goal is to attract, engage and retain young, diverse talent to Sheboygan County by providing opportunities for young professionals to design their social culture, serve as civic innovators and community stewards, and develop into the next generation of leaders for Sheboygan County. If you are interested in joining the YP network, please contact Kierra Brooks at kierra@sheboygan.org
Have a wonderful start to the year and don’t forget, we are all #BETTERTOGETHER!
christy jacobs - director of events
“You may never know what results come of your actions, but if you do nothing, there will be no results.”
— Mahatma GandhiI came across this while surfing the web, getting ideas and planning for the Gala to be held in February. I started to think about the many changes, new ideas, and opportunities that we all come across in our daily lives. What do we do? Do we try something new, take the same route to work, step out of our comfort zone? Or do we not challenge the norm that we know and take no action, stick with the same routes, restaurants, and places that we know and love?
This coming month is a very busy one for us here at the Chamber. With the Gala going full steam ahead, we are all doing things that are out of our norm and waiting patiently to see what the results will be. So far, some of those actions taken during the planning process have proven to be great, fantastic, extremely pleasing, but now we wait to see the outcome from the Big Show.
I am so excited for this year’s Gala, and I hope you are too! We are looking forward to celebrating all of our wonderful members and their many accomplishments from 2022. If you have never attended, you must! It’s the event of the year!
~Christy
john rogers - business roundtables facilitator
BETTER TOGETHER – Important Examples
At the Chamber’s Economic Outlook Breakfast on January 19, it was wonderful to see Mayors Randy Meyer and Don Pohlman. Soon after my tenure with the Chamber began, we formed a county-wide committee of government and business leaders to begin a project in the true sense of “BETTER TOGETHER.” After many monthly meetings, those same leaders gathered in July 2008 to sign an important document called the “Guiding Principles for Economic Development.”
john rogers - business roundtables facilitator [continued]
The concept was, and still is, to encourage communities to work together in attracting businesses to Sheboygan County and allow potential clients to then decide what community in the county would best meet their needs for an economic development project site. Randy and Don were part of the team that developed the “Guiding Principles.”
What they and other speakers said on January 19 proves that the time we spent developing the “Guiding Principles” actually works. So many new and exciting projects were described, and these projects are happening throughout Sheboygan County.
Another important BETTER TOGETHER example - the 8 different peer-to-peer roundtables sponsored and hosted by the Chamber. Somewhat like borrowing a cup of sugar, at the roundtables you can borrow an idea or 2 you can use at your workplace.
BETTER TOGETHER at the Chamber’s Gala? Of course and I truly hope you registered. Let’s talk how BETTER TOGETHER impacts you.
No Time Like the Present to Explore Your Future
At Masters Gallery Foods, we believe there is no time like the present to prepare for the future. It’s also a good time to explore your future, especially when it comes to student career exploration.
Formerly Career Connections, the Sheboygan County Chamber’s Explore Your Future event allows 7th and 8th grade students to explore career pathways, interests, and personality types with the help of business professionals from different career clusters. Masters Gallery Foods is proud to sponsor Explore Your Future and participate in this meaningful experience recently held at Lakeshore Technical College.
Team members participating on behalf of Masters Gallery represented a sampling of careers within the company, including engineering, technical services, agriculture, food science, and natural resources. Founded in 1974, Masters Gallery Foods continues to experience strong growth and offers a unique opportunity for students to jumpstart a career right out of high school by taking advantage of our tuition reimbursement and student loan forgiveness programs. Our line attendant and machine
No Time Like the Present to Explore Your Future
operator positions are prevalent and an excellent starting point toward advancement. In fact, fortysix percent of our employees have advanced within the company since being hired. Students are welcome to schedule a job shadow, mock interview, or ask questions about careers at Masters Gallery Foods directly through INSPIRE. To explore your future at Masters Gallery Foods, visit www.mastersgalleryfoods.com. There’s no time like the present.
january in Review
January
Sheboygan County Chamber
Newsletter sponsorship opportunities now available! Please contact Scott Kuehn at 920-395-8705 or scott@sheboygan.org for more information.
