Wisconsin Business Voice Magazine - July 2014

July 2014: Issue 11

Official magazine of Wisconsin Manufacturers & Commerce

The Future of Wisconsin Creating a 20-year plan for the Badger State Page 8

Inside: Lead Article: The State of Business Development p. 20 Guest Column from Mary Burke p. 28 Corporate Safety Award Winners p. 24 Making Wisconsin Irresistible to Business p. 2

WISCONSIN

BUSINESS VOICE From the Editor What if we could make Wisconsin irresistible for business?

We seem to be doing pretty well at this point. Amazon is moving here, Uline announced last month they are expanding, and we are confident there is more good news to come. It's been reported that Wisconsin has seen a net increase of 17,000 new businesses since January 2011.

We are hopeful the Badger State’s environment will continue to attract new – and encourage existing – businesses to expand and thrive.

The lead story in this edition of Wisconsin Business Voice focuses on business development in Wisconsin (see page 20), which pairs nicely with WMC’s commencement of The Future Wisconsin Project, a 20-year strategic plan for the state (see pages 8 and 9.) The numbers you’ll see in a few columns this edition are staggering – it’s predicted we’ll have only 0.4 percent working-age population growth by 2030. That's a problem because it's also predicted we will have an additional 317,310 jobs in only 10 years and not enough people to fill them. The Future Wisconsin Project aims to tackle these issues and more.

Stay tuned for further developments!

In this issue…

2

Making Wisconsin Irresistible to Business

4

Moving Forward on Worker’s Compensation Reform

6

Defeating Bad Bills: Just as Important as Passing Good Ones

KURT BAUER, WMC

CHRIS READER, WMC

SCOTT MANLEY, WMC

8

The Future Wisconsin Project

JIM MORGAN, WMC FOUNDATION

State Campaign Finance Developments 10 Recent Impact Business MIKE WITTENWYLER, GODFREY & KAHN SC

Aren’t Your Grandpa’s Environmentalists 12 These ERIC BOTT, WMC and Risk: A Global Issue 17 Fraud PENNY FOUST, BANK MUTUAL World: A Crash Course in 18 Business Entrepreneurship!

STEVE BENZSCHAWEL, WMC/WISCONSIN BUSINESS WORLD

20-23

LEAD STORY: BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT IN WISCONSIN:

ARE WE ON THE RIGHT TRACK?

Corporate Safety Awards 24 Wisconsin JANIE RITTER, WMC/WISCONSIN SAFETY COUNCIL Crossing Oceans 26 Cranes MIKE SHOYS, WMC You Should Hire a National Guard Member 27 Why MAJOR GENERAL DUNBAR, WISCONSIN NATIONAL GUARD

for Success 28 Investing MARY BURKE Katy Ryder Pettersen Editor, Wisconsin Business Voice kpettersen@wmc.org

Freight Demand Requires Rail Solution 29 Growing JASON CULOTTA, WMC DNR Working for You 31 Your SECY. CATHY STEPP, WISCONSIN DEPT. OF NATURAL RESOURCES

Issue Advocacy: The Time to Give is Now! 32 WMC JIM PUGH, WMC ISSUES MOBILIZATION COUNCIL, INC. Domino Effect – Reverse it!

34 The LINDA HANSEN, PROSPERITY 101, LLC Wisconsin Business Voice is published quarterly by Wisconsin Manufacturers & Commerce. WMC is Wisconsin’s chamber of commerce, manufacturers’ association, and safety council representing businesses of all sizes and from every sector of the economy. Send address changes to WMC, P.O. Box 352, Madison, WI 53701-0352.

WMC's physical address is 501 E. Washington Avenue, Madison, WI 53703, (608) 258-3400. This publication is proudly printed on paper made in Wisconsin.

Kurt R. Bauer, WMC President/CEO Katy Pettersen, Editor (kpettersen@wmc.org) Jane Sutter, Designer (jsutter@wmc.org)

from Retiring Legislators 38 Thoughts REPRESENTATIVES CLARK (D-BARABOO) AND SEVERSON (R-STAR PRAIRIE)

Corner: Opportunities with African 40 Chamber American Businesses

DR. EVE HALL, AFRICAN AMERICAN CHAMBER OF COMMERCE

Making Wisconsin Irresistible to Business Kurt R. Bauer, WMC President/CEO

W

isconsin’s working-age population will grow by just 0.4 percent by 2030, according to the UW-Madison Applied Population Lab. During the same period, Wisconsin’s 65 and over population will grow 94.7 percent.

Those two numbers beg the question; how can Wisconsin attract the workers/taxpayers the state’s economy will need in the future?

It’s a tough question to answer because there is no one magic solution as Japan and many European nations facing the same population challenges can attest.

federal immigration reform?

The simple answer is by making the state’s business climate irresistible, which the Merriam-Webster Dictionary defines as “impossible to resist especially because of strength or attractiveness.”

Business leaders from all sectors need to see that locating or expanding in Wisconsin gives them a competitive advantage other states can’t match. If we accomplish that, people – i.e., workers/taxpayers – will see that Wisconsin is the place to be.

On that score, Wisconsin is already headed in the right direction. Site Selection Magazine recently ranked us the 13th best state for business. Chief Executive Magazine improved Wisconsin to 14th best in the nation, up from 41st in 2010.

Both of those rankings matter because they don’t use the Japan is attempting to change the cultural tradition that arbitrary metrics often favored by economists and academics. pressures women not to work after marriage. Germany is They are surveys of the people who actually decide where to encouraging workers to delay their retirement. The Danes locate or expand a business based on factors like tax rates, have a cheeky campaign to encourage higher birthrates called regulatory culture, the legal environment and, of course, “Do It for Denmark.” Many European nations, including workforce.

Germany and Italy, have embraced liberal immigration policies in order to The WMC Board discussed what “Business leaders from all attract workers. reforms would make Wisconsin sectors need to see that locating or irresistible during its recent strategic The latter two solutions have the expanding in Wisconsin gives them planning meeting. Among other same common denominator. things, Board members identified the Couples generally decide to start a competitive advantage that other need to lower the state’s traditionally or expand a family when they have states can’t match…” high income and property taxes, the financial wherewithal to do so. That maintaining transportation infrastructure at means having a good paying and stable job. a time when gas tax proceeds are declining, ensuring K-12 Similarly, people move to places where there is economic students are better career- and college-ready (both four year opportunity. That is why so many Americans (including and technical), enhancing the national reputation of our Wisconsinites) have moved to North Dakota in order to take metropolitan areas, encouraging entrepreneurship, creating advantage of the energy boom and the high paying jobs it has a cooperative and predictable state regulatory culture and created. protecting the affordability of the state’s energy supply.

Unfortunately, Wisconsin doesn’t have shale deposits so we have to find other ways to attract workers. We’ve done it before. Wisconsin’s original European settlers came from Norway and Germany beginning in the 1840s looking for the upward mobility that was denied them in the “old country.” In the early 1900s, Wisconsin attracted thousands of African Americans to move from the Deep South to Beloit, Milwaukee and Racine to work in factories.

But how do we encourage our youth, especially the best educated and most skilled, to stay in Wisconsin in 2014 and beyond? How do we encourage people to raise their families here? And how do we encourage people to move here from other states and countries, notwithstanding the need for

2

Wisconsin isn’t alone in facing unfavorable population trends, which means the race is on to see who can find solutions that work. Making Wisconsin irresistible to business should be one of those solutions. WMC is committed to finding others via our ambitious new initiative, The Future Wisconsin Project, designed to create a statewide 20-year strategic economic plan (see page 8). BV

Follow Kurt on Twitter @Kurt_R_Bauer

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WORKER'S COMPENSATION Chris Reader WMC Director of Health & Human Resources Policy

Moving Forward on Worker’s Compensation Reform T

he Wisconsin Manufacturers’ Association was founded on January 18, 1911 by a group of business leaders in Milwaukee, led by F. J. Sensenbrenner, to ensure that the voice of employers was heard by state lawmakers. The association later merged with the State Chamber of Commerce and the Wisconsin Council of Safety and moved to Madison. This entity is now what you know as Wisconsin Manufacturers & Commerce (WMC).

One of the key policies that prompted Sensenbrenner and his colleagues to form the Association in 1911 was the creation of the Wisconsin Worker’s Compensation system, which also started in 1911. This government program was essentially a no-fault system where injured workers received set compensation for losses incurred from injuries sustained while working, and employers were held harmless in tort actions for unintentional workplace injuries. That basic premise remains today.

WMC has been involved in the system since 1911, representing the interests of employers before state government.

Historically, a package of reforms is negotiated every two years between management and labor through a process that has been statutorily defined since 1968 as the Worker’s Compensation Advisory Council (WCAC), and those reforms are forwarded to lawmakers. Because those reforms are agreed to by both management and labor representatives, they tend to not be very controversial with lawmakers and easily become law.

Earlier this year, however, something different happened. Per usual, a unanimous 10-0 proposal came out of the WCAC 4

process, but instead of being an easy, quiet bill for lawmakers to pass, the bill this year became one of the most lobbied bills of the session. Organizations of all stripes lined up for and against it – a total of 57 groups registered lobbying activities with the Government Accountability Board.

Because of that pressure, the bill ended up not moving forward – the first time since World War II that a law wasn’t passed during the legislative session to update the worker’s compensation laws.

While it was historic, that level of lobbying was not surprising. Unlike most other years, the agreed-bill this session included significant reforms, including the most controversial item, a fee schedule to control the growing cost of medical bills for worker’s compensation claims. Cost containment has been on the to-do list of management members of the WCAC for years, but this session was the first time organized labor agreed reform was necessary to control costs, giving the issue its first real shot at becoming law.

Once management and labor representatives on the WCAC agreed to include a fee schedule, strong opposition quickly arose from medical providers.

Typically allies with WMC and the general business community on legislative matters, the fee schedule issue drove a wedge between the medical providers and the rest of the business community that doomed the worker’s compensation reform bill this session from the start.

As we work at WMC to achieve our mission of making Wisconsin the best state in the nation to do business, we recognize the important role medical providers, such

as hospitals, play in our local communities getting injured workers back to work, keeping our families healthy and improving the overall character of our state. We also continue to hear from other employers, however, that the high cost currently associated with worker’s compensation puts our state at a competitive disadvantage for job creation. We believe there is a place where the entire business community, including hospitals, can agree on a path forward on this contentious issue. To that end, we have convened a working group of diverse WMC member companies with a stake in the worker’s compensation system, including manufacturers, insurance companies, hospitals and doctors, and trucking and construction firms, to work on this issue this summer and help us find that united path forward. BV Follow Chris on Twitter @ReaderWMC

Save the Date

Business Day in Madison

March 4, 2015 Monona Terrace Community & Convention Center

COME TOGETHER. MIKE HAUPERS President Swiss Precision Machining Inc. YEARS ATTENDING IMTS 25 GOAL FOR IMTS 2014 To identify new equipment, tools, and technologies that will enhance our abilities – giving us the competitive edge needed to expand into new markets. After 40 years in the machining industry, I’m still amazed at how much more there is to learn. IMTS is where I go to get smarter.

LEAVE SMARTER. Where else can you meet the minds that are moving manufacturing forward?

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LEGISLATIVE UPDATE Scott Manley WMC Vice President of Government Relations

Defeating Bad Bills

Just as Important as Passing Good Ones

P

resident Franklin Delano Roosevelt once said “In politics, nothing happens by accident. If it happens, you can bet it was planned that way.”

That’s especially true with respect to the pro-growth reforms enacted at the Capitol since January, 2011. Those reforms didn’t happen by accident – they happened because we had a pro-job majority in both houses of the Legislature and a Governor with the courage to tackle tough issues.

Thinking about the magnitude of those reforms, it’s nothing short of remarkable: collective bargaining reform, historic tort and legal reforms, sweeping unemployment insurance reforms, broad regulatory reforms and significant tax reforms, among many others.

Public policy is headed in the right direction in Wisconsin. With 95 percent of WMC’s member companies saying Wisconsin is on the right track, it’s easy to get complacent and develop the expectation that good policy will continue indefinitely.

Yet it was only three legislative sessions ago that Wisconsin businesses were the target of massive tax hikes, expanding legal liability and expensive new regulatory burdens. It’s easy to forget how badly policy can go off the tracks when the wrong people are making the decisions in government.

There are many ways to define victory, and sometimes preventing bad things from happening is every bit as important as helping to make good things happen. The 2013-14 legislative session is a compelling case study.

There were some truly awful bills introduced last session that WMC was able to defeat with the help of pro-growth lawmakers.

Following is a list of some of the most egregious anti-business proposals we were able to defeat because the right people were making the right decisions at the Capitol.

Proposals Defeated:

• Assembly Bill 898 – Rep. Cory Mason (D-Racine) Would require employers to pay mandatory paid sick leave to their employees at their regular rate of pay, and mandate that employees may accrue up to 72 hours of sick leave each year.

• Assembly Bill 872 – Rep. Chris Taylor (D-Madison) A package of tax increases on businesses and individuals that raise the tax burden by an estimated $200 - $300 million per year.

6

• Assembly Bill 894 – Rep. Sondy Pope (D-Cross Plains) Would create a new per-employee tax collected from employers to fund a paid family medical leave program.

• Assembly Bill 342 – Rep. Chris Taylor (D-Madison) Would prohibit an employer from inquiring about a job applicant’s conviction record prior to a job interview. Also defines asking about conviction records as employment discrimination.

• Senate Bill 660 – Sen. Mark Miller (D-Monona) Establishes expensive new global warming regulations expected to cost businesses and homeowners billions of dollars, including a 30 percent renewable energy mandate.

• Assembly Bill 755 – Rep. Mandela Barnes (D-Milwaukee) Creates a new class of employment discrimination based upon a job applicant’s status of being employed or unemployed.

• Assembly Bill 868 – Rep. Brett Hulsey (D-Madison) Would establish an extraction tax of $1 per ton for industrial sand, saddling this growing industry with millions of dollars in new taxes to stifle growth.

• Assembly Bill 887 – Rep. LaTonya Johnson (D-Milwaukee) Would force employers to pay for half the cost of their employees’ food stamp benefits and BadgerCare Plus healthcare benefits.

Looking at this list of bad bills, one can easily see how much damage the Legislature could inflict upon the business community and our economy as a whole if the wrong people are making bad decisions.

Nothing in politics happens by accident. WMC’s advocacy at the Capitol is constantly working to ensure the Legislature keeps its focus on pro-growth policies, while rejecting the anti-business proposals that would harm your business.

It’s all about making sure the right people at the Capitol are making the right decisions. To see the decisions your own lawmaker made on legislation impacting businesses during the 2013-14 legislative session, visit www.wmc.org and review WMC’s legislative scorecard. BV Follow Scott on Twitter @ManleyWMC

Congratulations to the Working for Wisconsin Award Recipients WMC is traveling around the state this summer to honor legislators who supported Wisconsin business with a 80% or better voting record.

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Wisconsin Individual Safety Award Winners Safety Hall of Fame Inductee Don Zietlow

CEO and Owner of Kwik Trip, Inc.

Lifetime Achievement Award Winners Warren Brockmeyer Retired from Wisconsin Department of Workforce Development

Robert Anderson, Sr. Retired from InSinkErator

FUTURE WISCONSIN Jim Morgan WMC Foundation President

The Future Wisconsin Project

“T

hose who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.”

That is a famous quote from George Santayana’s The Life of Reason.

Wise words for Wisconsin when you consider the following: What if 20 years ago, when we knew there was a severe labor shortage coming (and we did know) we had put a plan in place to address it?

What if 20 years ago, we had branded the state… not as cheeseheads from the frozen tundra… but as entrepreneurs from the state of innovation… as an attractive place for the next generation?

What if 20 years ago, everyone… Republicans and Democrats alike… had agreed upon a set of measures and goals that would ensure Wisconsin’s economic competitiveness?

What if 20 years ago, we had established an academic and career plan, and work experiences… for every student… to guide them and their parents in selecting a meaningful career track?

What if today, we decided not to let history repeat itself ?

A Georgetown University study suggests Wisconsin will create 317,000 jobs this decade. The Applied Population Lab at UWMadison says we will add 15,000 working age people in that same timeframe.

GEORGETOWN UNIVERSITY STUDY 2010 Total WI Jobs: 2,812,590 2020 Total WI Jobs: 3,129,720

APPLIED POPULATION LAB Additional Jobs = 317,130 (10 years) Additional Workers = 15,150 (30 years)

Since 1997, the number of kindergartners has not been replacing our graduating seniors.

Wisconsin will double its 65-year-old and older population in the next 25 years, from 750,000 to 1.5 million.

8

Do you see the problem yet?

How about the loss of Wisconsin college graduates? 14,000 every year.

How about the economic uncertainty caused by political swings in the past 10 years?

How about the skills gap we have seen throughout Wisconsin as students pursue degrees that do not lead to careers, while jobs go wanting skilled applicants?

How about some good news? We can overcome all of these challenges. ENTER: The Future Wisconsin Project.

For more than 100 years, Wisconsin Manufacturers & Commerce has been the state’s leading business association. The organization’s commitment to making Wisconsin the most competitive state in the nation has been a constant. In 1982, the WMC Foundation was founded to complement the work of the association by looking beyond policy cycles and taking a longer term look at the state’s economic health through programming and research. The Future Wisconsin Project is the culmination of that vision.

To ensure prosperity for the communities of Wisconsin, and rewarding and high-paying careers for our citizens, the Badger State must be positioned as a leader in the following areas: • Talent Development, Attraction and Retention • Business Competitiveness • Global Engagement

• Government Effectiveness • Life Quality

• Entrepreneurial Spirit

These six areas are known as the Competitive Quality Indicators (CQIs) – areas of focus that are critical if Wisconsin is to be a competitive place to do business 20 years from now, and beyond.

With the cooperation of the University of Wisconsin System, Wisconsin Economic Development Corporation and the Wisconsin Technical College System, as well as our long-time partners the local chambers of commerce, we are positioned to effectively plan for the future.

Already more than a year in the making, the project has seen the engagement of Wisconsin businesses, educators and leaders begin the discussion of ensuring a competitive state. Advisors with

WISCONSIN POPULATION 2010 census vs. 2040 projections

AGE

# PEOPLE

GROWTH

0-17

+ 27,438

+ 2.1%

18-64

+ 15,150

+ 0.4%

65-84

+ 598,121

+ 90.8%

85+

+ 168,205

+ 141.9%

Save the Date

94.7% of the growth is people over the age of 65! expertise in the six focus areas have been identified to react to ideas generated by hundreds of Wisconsin citizens. And a culminating event has been planned for December 3 in Milwaukee to organize and prioritize the initiatives we will take forward together. This process will be repeated every year to ensure Wisconsin’s competitiveness.

Though there are barriers to overcome such as access to venture capital, the worsening skills gap, infrastructure problems, an image problem, issues with the state’s largest cities, and obstacles for growing jobs and the economy, we have great strengths. The Badger State boasts business diversity, a strong work ethic, a high quality of life, great business and education partnerships, good schools, an improving business climate and a “can do” attitude.BV

December 3, 2014 Wisconsin Center, Milwaukee

www.futurewi.org

Follow Morgan on Twitter @JimMorgan1960

State of Wisconsin Business Luncheon Wednesday, October 15, 2014

Monona Terrace Community & Convention Center, Madison

Register online at www.wmc.org GUEST SPEAKERS

Dan Ariens President and CEO, Ariens Company

Dr. Martin A. Regalia Senior Vice President for Economic and Tax Policy and Chief Economist, U.S. Chamber of Commerce

Governor Scott Walker

Damond Boatwright Regional President/CEO, Hospital Operations at SSM Health Care of Wisconsin

John Pfeifer President, Mercury Marine

Recent State Campaign Finance Developments Impact Business

By Mike Wittenwyler

A

new law and two recent court decisions affect how campaigns will be financed in Wisconsin in 2014 and beyond.

2013 Wisconsin Act 153

2013 Wisconsin Act 153 revises portions of Wisconsin’s campaign finance and lobbying laws. Highlights of the new law include:

• In soliciting funds for its PAC or conduit, a corporation may now spend significantly more money – up to $20,000 or 20 percent of annual PAC or conduit contributions.

• A process was created for the redirection of conduit funds contributed by a member who no longer can be located.

• Lobbyist campaign contributions can now be made earlier in an election year – April 15 of an even year for a fall election.

• Lobbyists may now deliver and discuss PAC, conduit and nonlobbyist campaign contributions at any time.

• An individual’s volunteer Internet activities are now free from regulation including sending or forwarding emails, linking to another person’s Internet site or blogging.

McCutcheon v. Federal Election Commission (U.S. Supreme Court)

On April 2, 2014, in McCutcheon v. FEC, the U.S. Supreme Court struck down federal limits on aggregate individual contributions to federal candidate campaigns, political party committees and PACs. The court held that the First Amendment rights of donors are violated by the federal campaign finance law. As a result, aggregate contribution limits in eight states – including Wisconsin – are also considered unconstitutional and unenforceable.

Under McCutcheon, the Court held that federal limits on aggregate individual contributions to federal candidate campaigns, political party committees and PACs violate the First Amendment rights 10

of donors. Any restrictions on campaign contributions can only be justified when the limits prevent a direct quid pro quo corruption. Because aggregate contribution limits do not relate to a threat that any single candidate will be corrupted, the Court held these limits cannot be upheld.

McCutcheon does not address base campaign contribution limits to candidates, political parties and PACs. Those contribution limits remain in place. Similarly, corporations are strictly prohibited from making campaign contributions under federal and Wisconsin law. These source restrictions also remain in place after McCutcheon.

The Government Accountability Board (“G.A.B.”) subsequently announced that it is no longer enforcing Wisconsin’s $10,000 annual aggregate individual contribution limit. As a result, individuals may make an unlimited overall amount of campaign contributions provided that each contribution is within the respective base limit amount. Moreover, an individual is also now able to contribute an unlimited amount to a PAC or state political party committee.

Wisconsin Right to Life v. Barland (7th Circuit)

In 2010, the G.A.B. adopted an administrative rule that greatly expanded the scope of communications subject to regulation as independent expenditures. As a result, issue advocacy communications in the 30/60 days before an election that identified a candidate would have been presumed to be independent expenditures and subject to full PAC regulation under state campaign finance law, including donor disclosure.

In response to the G.A.B.’s adoption of this highly controversial rule, three lawsuits were filed almost immediately after the rule took effect. On May 14, 2014, the Seventh Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals issues a decision in the last of those lawsuits: Wisconsin Right to Life v. Barland.

The plaintiff prevailed in virtually all of its arguments, including:

Watch a video explaining the Wisconsin Right to Life v. Barland 7th Circuit Court decision on WMC's YouTube channel WMC501.

- Wisconsin’s ban on corporate political spending is unconstitutional under Citizens United; - The administrative rule that treats issue advocacy during the 30/60 day preelection period as fully regulable express advocacy/independent expenditures is unconstitutional; and,

- An administrative rule that imposes PAC-like registration and reporting requirements on all organizations that sponsor independent expenditures is unconstitutional as applied to sponsors who are not superPACs (such as 501(c) (4) organizations and other noncommittee sponsors).

The WRTL decision also is an excellent summary of the history of campaign finance regulation and litigation in Wisconsin during the last 20 years. It covers in detail successful legal challenges brought against the Elections Board / G.A.B by our law firm on behalf of Wisconsin Manufacturers & Commerce.

And, it discusses how despite losing in each of these instances, the G.A.B. continued to push for greater regulation – not less – of political speech.

In short, the WRTL decision makes clear that the government’s authority to regulate political speech extends only to money raised and spent for speech that is express advocacy and that “ordinary political speech about issues, policy, and public officials must remain unencumbered.” BV

Mike Wittenwyler is an administrative and regulatory attorney with Godfrey & Kahn. He can be reached at (608) 284-2616.

Safety Training | July - December 2014

The Wisconsin Safety Council, a division of WMC, is Wisconsin's leading provider of safety training and programming.

WSC offers training throughout the year at locations across the state.

www.wisafetycouncil.org MADISON AREA

FOX VALLEY/GREEN BAY AREA

August 4-6

October 14

Instructor Development Course (IDC) – First Aid/CPR/ AED

August 11-14

Principles of Occupational Safety & Health (POSH)

August 20

Coaching the Emergency Vehicle Operator (CEVO) Trainthe-Trainer – Ambulance & Fire

Job Hazard Analysis

WAUSAU/STEVENS POINT/ MARSHFIELD AREA August 21

November 12-13

OSHA 10hr Voluntary Compliance for General Industry

Coaching the Lift Truck Operator, Train-the-Trainer

November 18

Supervisor Development: Safety & Health Fundamentals

September 22-25

OSHA 30hr Voluntary Compliance for General Industry

Wisconsin’s No. 1 Dental Plan

September 29

Ergonomics: Managing for Results

October 1

RCRA Compliance for Hazardous Waste Generators (AM) DOT HazMat Transportation Refresher (PM)

October 7-8

Worker’s Compensation Law Symposium & Best Practices

October 9

Incident Investigation: A Root Cause Analysis

October 13-16

Safety Management Techniques (SMT)

October 21

Safety Inspections

October 23

Coaching the Lift Truck Operator, Train-the-Trainer

November 3

Selection & Proper Use of Fall Arrest Systems

November 6

Crisis Management Conference & Expo

November 10

Safety Communication & Training Techniques

December 9

Effective Team Safety

MILWAUKEE AREA July 16

Job Safety Analysis

July 23

Safety Inspections

August 5-6

OSHA 10hr Voluntary Compliance for General Industry

August 19

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Creating a World Class Safety Culture

September 11

Effective Team Safety

September 18

Confined Space (AM), Train-the-Trainer Lockout/Tagout (PM), Train-the-Trainer

October 22

Coaching the Lift Truck Operator, Train-the-Trainer

December 1-4

OSHA 30hr Voluntary Compliance for General Industry

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ENVIRONMENT Eric Bott WMC Director of Environmental & Energy Policy

These Aren’t Your Grandpa’s Environmentalists I n 1909, the man who coined the term “Conservation Ethic,” U.S. Forest Service Chief Gifford Pinchot, engaged in a very public row with then U.S. Secretary of the Interior Richard Ballinger. Pinchot was concerned that Ballinger might be engaging in what we would today call crony capitalism through the preferential sale of the nation’s mineral, timber and hydrological resources to well-connected elites.

Pinchot did not seek to leave these resources untouched but quite the contrary; he wished to see them developed in a responsible manner to the benefit of his fellow Americans. Indeed, Pinchot would go on to define forestry as “the art of producing from the forest whatever it can yield for the service of man.”

By January 1910, the dispute between Pinchot and Ballinger had grown so heated that President William Howard Taft was forced to dismiss Pinchot, causing a split in the Republican Party and igniting a rift between Taft and Pinchot’s close ally Theodore Roosevelt. Two years later Roosevelt would mount a third party challenge to Taft, resulting in the election of America’s first progressive Democratic President, Woodrow Wilson.

Pinchot’s philosophy, that we can simultaneously preserve our environment and utilize its resources toward the economic benefit of the nation, was once so powerfully held by conservationists that it contributed to the end of five decades of near total Republican dominance in presidential elections (Grover Cleveland excepted).

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Today that philosophy is largely absent in mainstream environmentalism. Little concern is paid to the costs of policy on working families and almost none for businesses. These days, environmentalists almost seem to have adopted the attitude that if it’s good for humans, it must be bad for the environment.

such policies contribute to larger and more destructive forest fires.

This growing inflexibility should concern business. As these ideas radicalize, their influence is growing. A common debate in political circles is whether or not the green movement has supplanted labor as the chief One of the latest green fads is to argue source of influence in the Democratic Party. for a halt to economic growth. Let me Looking at Keystone XL and the War on state that again. A growing number of Coal at the federal level or iron and sand environmentalists are calling for an end to mining in Wisconsin, the greens are batting economic growth. Drive around Madison a thousand whenever they play against labor. and you’ll see bumper stickers reading, Wealthy donors such as fossil fuel investor“Growing the economy is shrinking the turned-environmentalist Tom Steyer, ecosystem.” These are not your grandfather’s who has pledged $100 million to elect environmentalists. likeminded Democrats to the U.S. Senate this fall, are furthering the rise So what is the in influence of hardline “...environmentalists almost philosophy of greens. seem to have adopted the attitude modern greens?

At times it that if it’s good for humans, it must be Practically speaking, can be hard this means the partisan bad for the environment.” to tell. Today’s divide will continue to environmentalists grow and our federal regulators claim to support replacing coal-fired power at the EPA and other agencies will be more plants with natural gas and nuclear. Yet they apt to push ever bolder and costly regulatory oppose hydraulic fracturing to obtain the schemes. That’s bad news not just because it needed gas, building pipeline infrastructure creates a drag on our economy but because to move it, or constructing any new nuclear when environmental policy becomes a facilities. political weapon, everybody – including the environment – loses. BV Other times their agenda seems contradictory. They oppose importing petroleum from Canadian oil sands even when the practical alternative is importing equally heavy crude from Venezuela with an even greater carbon footprint. They oppose proper forest management practices because ‘nature should be left untouched’ even when

Follow Eric on Twitter @BottWMC

WMC at Home and on the Road

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WMC was integral in passing SB 547 (now Act 378) – Phosphorus reform that will give employers a better tool to address phosphorus impairment in Wisconsin’s waterways in a smarter, more cost effective way. Pictured with Gov. Walker are bill authors Sen. Rob Cowles (R-2nd District) and Rep. Amy Loudenbeck (R-31st District).

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Dr. Ausaf Sayeed, Consul General of India to the U.S. visited with WMC, WEDC and local chambers to discuss economic development opportunities available in India. Pictured here are (L-R) Phil Fritsche, President of the Beaver Dam Area Chamber of Commerce; Dr. Sayeed; Secy. Reed Hall, WEDC; and Van Nutt, Exec. Director of the Middleton Chamber of Commerce.

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The Wisconsin Safety Council’s 72nd Annual Safety & Health Conference and Expo hosted more than 1,200 safety and health professionals in Wisconsin Dells. Pictured with Janie Ritter, WSC Director, is Keni Thomas, former U.S. Army Ranger who keynoted the opening day of the conference.

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More than 165 high school students from Waupaca attended Mini Business World, produced

by WMC and hosted by the Waupaca Area Chamber of Commerce, to learn about the free enterprise system and opportunities available in Wisconsin.

WMC’s Kurt Bauer visited Saint Thomas More High School in Milwaukee in April to see its STEM program in action. Pictured is Dr. Mark Joerres (left), the school’s chief administrator, with student Rachel Welch, who helped build the robot pictured. Welch will be attending Worcester Polytechnic Institute this fall.

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WMC Chairman Dan Ariens, President & CEO of Ariens Company in Brillion, met with Republican and Democratic Legislative leaders including Assembly Speaker Robin Vos (R-Burlington).

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WMC hosted a lunch to hear about trade opportunities in Canada. Pictured here are (L-R) Kurt Bauer; Secy. Reed Hall, Wisconsin Economic Development Corporation; Roy Norton, Consul General of Canada to the U.S.; and Secy. Rick Chandler, Wisconsin Department of Revenue.

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Mercury Marine: Growing Strong in Wisconsin for 75 Years

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or the past 75 years, Mercury Marine has been a leader in manufacturing, technology and innovation in Wisconsin. The company’s rich history dates back to 1939 from the early days in Cedarburg to present day in Fond du Lac. Mercury employs 3,100 people at its Fond du Lac World Headquarters and directs 5,600 employees globally. Mercury Marine has benefited the entire state -- each new job at Mercury creates approximately 0.6 additional jobs in the community. That’s 1,860 jobs created in the communities surrounding Fond du Lac. In 2009, Mercury employed 1,500 in Fond du Lac; present day, that number has more than doubled.

Imagine Wisconsin and the Fox Valley without Mercury Marine – it’s an image no one wants to think about.

“I don’t want to imagine our state without Mercury Marine,” said Fond du Lac City Council President Sam Meyer. “It would cripple our community. I don’t think anyone should underestimate the value Mercury has to the entire state of Wisconsin.”

Mercury’s successes have been well documented. In 2014, its 75th Anniversary, the company won the Wisconsin Manufacturer of the Year award which honored its robust list of accomplishments in the workplace.

“The past 12 months have set the foundation for our future growth,” said Mercury Marine President John Pfeifer. “We’ve completed several multi-million dollar expansions which created jobs and growth opportunities that we plan to keep in the state of Wisconsin.”

Those expansions, which added an additional 150,000 square feet to Mercury’s headquarters, were completed at the end of 2013.

Mercury continues to hire – more than doubling its workforce from 2009-2013 – and there are still a number of job openings available today. Recovery in this industry will be prolonged and uneven but Mercury Marine says it will continue leading the charge to make boating more affordable while hiring a world-class global workforce committed to quality and efficiency in every product leaving its production line.

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Pfeifer says during the economic downturn in 2009, Mercury Marine dedicated itself to strengthening core principles and continuing to manufacture products of the highest quality.

Consumer Engagement, Extreme Reliability, Intuitive Design and Proactive Support are the brand pillars that Mercury Marine lives by. It is the foundation of the company’s global marketplace activities which has served them well for 75 years and will continue to do so well into the future.

“While the industry remains in flux, we are confident with our momentum and our body of work over the past few years, we will set the tone for the entire industry and remain a leader in marine technology and a company very proud to be based in Fond du Lac,” Pfeifer said.

In April, Mercury opened the doors to its new museum in Fond du Lac. The facility is a trip down memory lane for the company and the thousands of people who have contributed to its success. The museum showcases 75 years of innovation and technology – it also showcases a few non-marine exhibits such as the ZR-1 Corvette as well as snowmobiles, chainsaws and Mercury’s early dominance in NASCAR. BV

A Profitable Partnership with the Disabled

By David Laudon Owner, Venture Products, LLC

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enture Products produces driveway markers and other lawn and garden supplies. Since 2007, we have worked with Eisenhower Center, a vocational training center for people with disabilities, in Milwaukee.

Growing up, I was blessed to have had an aunt who was mentally disabled. Aunt Diane was a big part of our family. One of the most memorable things she ever said to me was, "You know, nephew David, I have a job."

To me, that simple statement was replete with pride and dignity. A paycheck was a part of the process, but the benefits went way beyond monetary value.

Working with Eisenhower Center is personal for me. But I am also a capitalist, so quality output is important. The clients at Eisenhower Center assemble parts, apply UPC stickers, repackage our product — and they do it well.

As a business owner, I can testify that there is no better feeling than running a profitable venture while helping those less fortunate live as fully and independently as possible.

A Place in the Business World for People with Disabilities

By David Ordan

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an people with severe disabilities hold their own in today’s competitive business environment?

The answer is yes – and here’s why.

For more than 30 years, Eisenhower Center has been helping people with disabilities gain vocational skills and job opportunities through its 66,000 sq. ft. center in Milwaukee.

Our clients are challenged with a range of developmental disabilities. These include cerebral palsy, traumatic brain injury, Down syndrome, autism, emotional disorders and a host of physical ailments that leaves the majority of our clients in wheel chairs.

Many require one-to-one assistance to complete daily living tasks that most of us take for granted, such as eating and using the bathroom facilities.

Despite these challenges, Eisenhower Center has been able to create a vibrant workplace that occupies a valuable niche in the business marketplace. Working with businesses and manufacturers throughout Wisconsin, Eisenhower Center offers competitive bids on a range of projects, including assembly, sorting, product re-work services, mail order and more.

For business owners, we are experts in projects that cannot be automated, are not worth sending overseas and which are an inefficient use of able-bodied employees’ times.

In 30 years, Eisenhower Center has never lost a single contract due to quality control issues. Our workforce is motivated, eager to learn and professional. Yes, our clients have disabilities – but that has never stopped the center from helping them live as fully and independently as possible.

Business owners who work with Eisenhower Center are confident they work with a full partner, who is equally concerned about their bottom line. BV David Ordan is the Development Director for Eisenhower Center in Milwaukee. Visit www. eisenhowercenter.org for more information.

Wisconsin Business Voice

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MADE IN WISCONSIN …the summer edition

Ariens Company

655 West Ryan Street Brillion, WI 54110 (920) 756-4688 Year Established: 1933 Number of Employees: 1,800 www.ariens.com

The scent of fresh-cut grass is one of the most obvious signs of summer and there is probably no chore more synonymous with summer than mowing the lawn. But did you know that a company in Brillion makes some of the most popular riding and walk behind mowers for commercial and residential mowing? For more than 80 years, Ariens® has been the choice of discerning homeowners when it comes to the purchase of lawn and garden equipment. Ariens also manufactures trimmers, edgers, lawn sweepers and other equipment useful for keeping a lawn looking impeccable all summer. Ariens products are available at independent power equipment dealers in North America and Europe, The Home Depot stores, broadline maintenance, repair and operating (MRO) suppliers, regional farm retailers and select online retailers. The next time you step outside on a bright, sunny day and see neighbors mowing the lawn, know there is an excellent chance their mower was made in Wisconsin.

Schoep’s Ice Cream Given that Wisconsin is "America's Dairyland" it should come as no surprise that nearly everyone’s favorite summer treat is ice cream. What you might be surprised to learn is that Wisconsin is home to a company that produced 12 million gallons of ice cream last year; that’s nearly a quarter of a billion scoops! Schoep's also manufactures frozen yogurt, lite ice cream, frozen custard, sherbet and novelties. Considering their modest start in 1928, making ice cream in the back of a Madison grocery store, they are quite proud of their current ranking as Wisconsin's largest independent ice cream manufacturer. The Schoep's "Home Pak" half-gallon line, familiar to ice cream connoisseurs throughout the Midwest, was first introduced after World War II and is still the heart of the Schoep's product line today. The next time you open the freezer for a cold snack on a blistering summer day, remember it’s extremely likely that your ice cream was made in Wisconsin.

514 Division Street Madison, WI 53704 (608) 249-6411 Year Established: 1928 Number of Employees: 140 www.schoepsicecream.com

Johnsonville Sausage, LLC There are few foods as critical to summer in Wisconsin as the bratwurst. Many meat lovers are probably already aware that the company with the No. 1 brand of sausage in America is headquartered in Sheboygan Falls. Since P.O. Box 906 its beginning in 1945, Johnsonville Sausage has become Sheboygan Falls, WI 53085 well-known for using its family recipe to make the sausage with the BIG TASTE. (920) 453-6900 Their award-winning product lines include bratwurst, Italian, smoked-cooked, breakfast, and snack sausage.

Year Established: 1945 Johnsonville products are now available in all 50 states and in about 30 additional countries, including Japan, Number of Members France, Mexico and Canada. Each year on Memorial Day weekend, Johnsonville Sausage sponsors Brat Fest in (Employees): 1,400 Madison, rain or shine, with proceeds benefiting local charities that help staff the event. The next time you grill www.johnsonville.com this summer and brats are on the menu, know that it is almost certain they were made in our great state.

Harley-Davidson Motor Company Harley-Davidson Motor Company, the only major U.S.-based motorcycle manufacturer, produces custom, cruiser and touring motorcycles and offers a complete line of Harley-Davidson motorcycle parts, accessories, riding gear and apparel, and general merchandise.

Founded in Milwaukee in 1903, Harley-Davidson is proud to call Wisconsin home with its corporate headquarters located in Milwaukee, the Willie G. Davidson Product Development Center in Wauwatosa, and manufacturing facilities in Menomonee Falls and Tomahawk. The 912,000-square-foot Pilgrim Road Powertrain Operations facility in Menomonee Falls produces engines and transmissions for the Touring, Softail®, Dyna®, and Sportster® model families and Custom Vehicle Operations™, and the 192,000-squarefoot Tomahawk Operations facility produces windshields, Tour-Paks and saddle bags for Harley-Davidson motorcycles. Fulfilling dreams of personal freedom is more than a phrase at Harley-Davidson. It’s a purpose and a passion. And it's headquartered right here in Wisconsin.

3700 W. Juneau Avenue Milwaukee, WI 53201 Year Established: 1903 Number of Employees: 6,500 www.harley-davidson.com

Fraud and Risk: A Global Issue

By Penny Foust

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he war against internal and external fraud remains. The current fraud landscape continues to change the types of fraud, how it impacts businesses, and the best practices needed to mitigate potential fraud loss. New twists on fraud schemes and techniques surface as payment options change. Although today’s sophisticated technology and online information tools provide more convenient ways to conduct business, they are also turning payments fraud into a global issue.

Building an effective deterrence plan is critical, since a great deal of time and money is spent trying to reconstruct fraudulent transactions to track down the perpetrator and reclaim missing funds. Most people who commit fraud in the workplace are not career criminals; they are long-time trusted staff members with no criminal history. Most frauds are not one-time events either.

The famed criminologist, Donald R. Cressey, originated the Fraud Triangle hypothesis, outlining the three factors that must be present for an ordinary person to commit fraud: pressure, opportunity, and rationalization. The Fraud Triangle applies to most embezzlers and occupational fraudsters but it does not apply to the person who takes a job with the intent to steal from the company.

All companies – small, medium and large – are vulnerable to fraud, which leaves room for a variety of considerations. Does your company have adequate controls in place to prevent it? Do you test your company’s fraud health, and if so, how frequently? You should also take steps that may help prevent fraud. Some ideas include conducting an annual fraud risk assessment, which is a best practice that can easily be implemented with little to no expense to your business. Utilize free training resources featuring checklists and videos; samples can be found on the Association of Certified Fraud Examiners (ACFE) website: www.acfe.com. Become familiar with a fraud prevention checklist that can help you identify inherent risks and implement policies and procedures to mitigate the risk of fraud loss.

We see a number of financial fraud cases originating from phishing emails to keystroke loggers, to more sophisticated attacks like ZeuS malware. However, standard check fraud continues to be the

number one type of fraudulent attack, despite the decline in overall check use. According to the Association for Financial Professionals’ 2014 Payments Fraud and Control Survey, the second most popular vehicle for payments fraud is corporate and consumer credit and debit cards. On a more positive note, ACH or electronic debit fraud has decreased in the past year.

Financial losses from check fraud reach into the billions of dollars each year and affect companies of all sizes and industries. Although ACH fraud decreased in the past year, the increased volume of ACH payments still creates an increased potential for ACH Fraud.

This white-collar crime is no longer limited to large corporations either.

Financial institutions must make fraud protection tools, such as check and ACH positive pay, an integral part of their cash management product and service offering. These powerful transaction management tools are designed to prevent and mitigate losses due to check fraud and unauthorized ACH debits.

Most fraudsters understand best practices and technology may vary with the size of a company. Where larger companies might have sophisticated technology and staff dedicated to more advanced security measures, many smaller to medium-size companies may not. Remember to be on guard against inside jobs, which include long-term, loyal employees, too. Ensure you have procedures in place to detect and deter fraud. Educate your staff not to click on links or open attachments from unsolicited emails. Never supply confidential information, even if it appears to be from a company with whom you do business. Utilize resources to help mitigate fraud risk, which today are available to companies of any size. Talk with your trusted advisors to understand what tools are available to mitigate risk and understand what insurance you have in place. BV Penny Foust, CTP, is Vice President/Director of Treasury Management for Bank Mutual. She may be contacted at (414) 257-8210.

WMC in the News

WMC's Scott Manley was featured on Wisconsin Public Television's Here and Now to talk about the EPA's proposed mandate on carbon emissions.

Kurt Bauer debated Wisconsin job growth on Up Front with Mike Gousha.

Wisconsin Business Voice

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BUSINESS WORLD Steve Benzschawel Director of Business World

Business World - A Crash Course in Entrepreneurship!

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his summer more than 300 high school students came to Business World for a hands-on experience in entrepreneurship. Hosted at Edgewood College in Madison and St. Norbert College in De Pere, our programs continue to teach and inspire the next generation of entrepreneurs and business leaders.

Working in groups of twelve, students embark on a four-day business venture, competing to create the most innovative product at camp. An executive management team is elected and department positions are staffed - the process begins! The production team works diligently to construct a prototype from a pile of everyday items. Every company needs solid branding, so the marketing department crafts an image and brand consistent with the company values identified by the young executives. The finance department monitors the fiscal health of the fledgling company through an online simulation that introduces students to basic corporate finance and the elements of running a manufacturing company.

Students learn the risks and rewards of entrepreneurship firsthand as they compete against other companies at camp and learn the free market has winners and losers – you don’t get a trophy just for showing up! Okay, they do get plenty of swag items, but the trophies and ribbons are earned! Competitions at camp include a trade show, a commercial contest and shareholder report presentations complete with tough questions from the adult panel of “shareholder” judges.

The creativity doesn’t stop with our simulations at camp. I see true entrepreneurial qualities in our Business World students. The stalwarts are there – baby sitting and lawn care – but we also are proud to see our alumni starting ventures like a photography business and a smartphone repair company! Others are utilizing their entrepreneurial spirit as engineers and production personnel working for Wisconsin companies like Briggs & Stratton, John Deere and Georgia-Pacific.

For over 30 years, students have come to Business World to learn about our free market economy and the value of entrepreneurship to society. Students learn skills and gain information that will continue to serve them throughout their professional careers. Some alumni get so much out of the program they return to teach the next generation of BW students. Eileen Baus (Class of ’86) and Andy Lemorande (’94) are both former students turned company advisors.

Twelve students, one adult volunteer, and a pile of everyday items. The rest, is Business World. BV

With this summer’s programs behind us, it is time to shift the focus to the Mini Business World programs for the 2014-15 school year. We take our Business World program on the road to communities all around Wisconsin. Contact us to learn about sponsorship opportunities and how you can bring BW to your hometown! @WiBusinessWorld Wisconsin-Business-World www.wibusinessworld.org 18

Check out our website; www.crystal-clean.com or call 877-938-7948 and ask for Dean Popovich for more information on our services and member only discounts and pricing.

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EVELOPMENT Business Development in Wisconsin Are We on the Right Track?

By Mark Crawford

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rying to define Wisconsin’s business appeal can be challenging—not only is the economic climate changing, there are geographic conditions beyond our control (winter!), as well as long-standing preconceived ideas about Wisconsin (cows, cheeseheads, beer) that are hard to break. We’re also coming out of a damaging recession—how many of our new gains are due to natural recovery, and how many are due to policies and structural improvements implemented by Governor Scott Walker? Can Wisconsin draw serious investment capital? Are there enough talented workers to go around?

This mix of variables makes it hard for businesses to decide if Wisconsin should be on their short list of places to locate or expand.

“There is great potential today for business development throughout Wisconsin,” says Reed Hall, CEO/Secretary of the Wisconsin Economic Development Corporation (WEDC). “We are making policy decisions today that are intended to assure long-term success for our residents, businesses and those companies considering investing here.”

Wisconsin’s economy has improved steadily over the last few years. The most recent WMC survey ( January 2014) found 95 percent of Wisconsin employers believe the state is headed in the right direction (up from 10 percent in 2010).

Private-sector job losses of 133,000 have turned into more than 100,000 new jobs.

According to Hall, nearly 20,000 net new businesses have been created in the last 3.5 years.

The Great Recession hit Wisconsin’s manufacturing businesses hard. Their recovery has been aided by the state legislature’s Manufacturing and Agriculture Tax Credit, which will eventually lower Wisconsin’s tax liability for eligible manufacturers from 7.8 to 0.4 percent by 2016. WEDC also administers the very successful Economic Development Tax Credit and Jobs Tax Credit programs.

“Wisconsin has always had a “…property taxes on a mediangreat quality of life and great valued home decreased for the people,” comments Eric Sauey, CEO of Seats Incorporated first time in twelve years.” in Reedsburg. “The business climate had greatly improved since Scott Walker became governor. Just to have the highest elected official in the state tell the world that Wisconsin wants businesses here says volumes.”

If You Believe in Rankings…

Surveys and polls can be tricky to interpret—that said, several surveys indicate Wisconsin is moving up in the ranks. For example, CNBC ranks Wisconsin as the fifth-best state in the nation for manufacturing job growth.

“This is good economic news,” indicates Jay Smith, Chairman/CEO of Teel Plastics in Baraboo. “Manufacturing is a key part of our economic engine and represents nearly 500,000 jobs—20 percent of the state’s workforce.”

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Other favorable rankings for Wisconsin include:

• Sixteenth for total private sector jobs created (Bureau of Labor Statistics) • Seventh for private sector job growth per capita (Bureau of Economic Analysis) • Tenth for job creation (Gallup Job Creation Index)

In contrast (and perhaps showing the vagaries of economic surveys), Forbes’ “2013 Best States for Business” survey ranked Wisconsin a dismal 41st. Yet CNBC ranks Wisconsin 22nd in its “Best States for Business” survey.

Regardless of survey results, “the good news is that Wisconsin has improved significantly over the last few years,” says Paul Jadin, president of MadREP, the economic development engine formerly known as Thrive in Madison. “The bad news is that we started from a very low base. Overall, though, Wisconsin demonstrates significant potential for business development. The fact that we have a balanced budget is certainly not lost on businesses, as it illustrates a stable and more predictable environment.”

Wisconsin’s Strengths

Tom Still, president of the Wisconsin Technology Council, scores Wisconsin’s potential for business development as “fair” for several reasons, especially its improved economic diversity, which means it can perform better during economic downturns. “The overall fiscal condition of state government has also improved,” he says, “which should lessen fears for companies about growing or relocating here. Our educational system is strong and the quality of life in Wisconsin is something that can overcome other business development obstacles, such as weather. A longerterm benefit is our ample water supply—that’s not true in many places across the country.”

“I also sense some deterioration of the historic Wisconsin work ethic, which may be due to wages being depressed for so long, cultural changes and a decline in the percentage of women in the workforce,” says Still. “And even though there have been some improvements, investment in Wisconsin’s start-up economy is still short of the mark for attracting significant outside dollars.”

A big negative factor for many companies is that Wisconsin is not a right-to-work state. “I think the first thing companies think about, if they will be employing significant numbers of people, is locating in a right-to-work state,” says Joe Pregont, president of Prent Corporation in Janesville. “Very simply, Wisconsin can greatly improve its business appeal by becoming the next right-towork state.”

Finding and retaining high-quality employees continues to be a challenge for businesses. The state’s Fast Forward Program helps address the growing need for skilled workers by providing worker training grants and making other investments to prepare workers for jobs. The program also includes resources to develop a cuttingedge labor market information system in the future.

“Not only will the system provide real-time labor intelligence, it will also serve as an effective forum to connect job seekers and employers with available jobs,” says Hall. “Recent legislation provides more than $35 million in additional funding to expand the Wisconsin Fast Forward program.”

Start-Up Funding

One of the best ways to strengthen and diversify an economy is by providing enough financial support to home-grown, start-up

Other key strengths for Wisconsin include a wellmaintained transportation infrastructure, a highly skilled and dedicated workforce that is supported by outstanding university and technical college systems, and some of the best health-care services in the country.

“The Upper Midwest is a major center of manufacturing and agriculture in the U.S.,” says Sauey. “Proximity to these industries is a strategic advantage for Wisconsin companies. We have plenty of material suppliers, a good transportation network for distribution, and well-educated workers.

The availability of water and electric supply is also a big advantage, as is the quality of life in Wisconsin.”

Wisconsin’s Weaknesses

There are several issues that might cause companies to think twice about locating in Wisconsin.

Wisconsin has failed to attract well-educated immigrants, who are needed to expand the state’s workforce. Although rural areas of the state offer some strong attributes (such as affordable, hardworking labor), rural economic development is lagging—in part because of lack of high-speed broadband in some areas.

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BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT

STRENGTHS

RANKINGS

START-UP FUNDS

WEAKNESSES

MOVING FORWARD

companies to keep them local, instead of having them move out of state where more investment capital is available.

Unfortunately, Wisconsin continues to significantly underperform peers such as Minnesota and Michigan in annual venture activity and new business formation.

“To put the gap in perspective, if we just matched Minnesota's performance, it would likely result in $500 million to $1 billion in additional investment into the state over ten years,” says Joe Kirgues, co-founder of gener8tor, a start-up accelerator in Madison and Milwaukee.

Help is on the way, however—over the last five years, a number of new venture funds have started with an emphasis on digital technology start-ups, including 4490, CSA Partners, the state's new Fund of Funds and gener8tor. “These entrants have significantly improved the financing climate for Wisconsin's emerging startups,” adds Kirgues.

The Wisconsin Department of Administration’s $25 million Fund of Funds program will start funding emerging-growth companies this fall. BrightStar Wisconsin is a non-profit investment fund that supports early stage companies that are focused on job creation.

4490 Ventures, a partnership between the Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation and the State of Wisconsin Investment Board, will invest $30 million in financing the growing IT sector.

“WEDC understands the importance of entrepreneurship and a strong start-up community,” says Hall. “We have great ideas coming out of our state and we need to start, seed and scale our companies.”

For the seed stage, WEDC has launched several innovative programs:

• Seed Accelerators provides mentoring, business modeling and financing to take ideas/technologies to commercialization

• Capital Catalyst provides matching grants to communities and other entities to capitalize a seed fund that supports highgrowth start-up and emerging growth companies

In the seed to scale stage, WEDC’s Qualified New Business Venture program provides an investor tax credit to individuals investing into high tech businesses. WEDC also has technology development loans that match equity, grants and debt financing to support R&D to commercialization.

the Ideadvance Seed Fund is designed to help commercialize technology and ideas developed on UW campuses across the state,” says Smith. “It is also open to companies that license technology from WiSys of the UWM Research Foundation.”

Moving Forward

One of the biggest business-development challenges Wisconsin has is refining its identity, or brand.

“I honestly don’t think the biggest thing keeping companies from coming here is taxes,” says Still. “I think it is a lack of knowledge about the state, perceptions that it’s off the beaten path and the idea that Wisconsin really can’t offer the truly big-bucks incentive packages to move. Although we are getting the state’s fiscal house in order, what we are not doing well is marketing the state’s number-one brand outside the Green Bay Packers and dairy—the University of Wisconsin. Policymakers need to understand UW is a global, high-quality brand.”

The state continues to educate site-selection consultants about the business merits of Wisconsin.

“Thanks to targeted efforts from both WEDC and regional groups like MadREP, we know that site selectors are impressed with what is happening in Wisconsin,” says Jadin. “Members of the Site Selectors’ Guild were very receptive to Governor Walker at his recent visit to their annual conference. These key decision-makers are paying attention to Wisconsin in a way they haven’t before.”

Hall notes WEDC must continue to develop partnerships across the state to make Wisconsin more appealing to business investments. Partners include Wisconsin Manufacturers & Commerce, the state’s local chambers of commerce, regional and local economic development entities, regional planning commissions and banks and credit unions.

“We must also expand our international operations to make the state more appealing to business growth,” adds Hall. “Our recent work with foreign trade commissioners is a good example. As the world population shifts, exports and foreign investment will take on an increasingly important role.” BV Crawford is a Madison-based freelance writer.

Several programs that support entrepreneurs are also available through the UW and UW-Extension systems. “For example,

The WMC Foundation is dedicated to building a better future for Wisconsin by providing business and economics education, workforce development initiatives, local chambers of commerce support, safety training programs and business best practices.

Thanks to these Foundation Sponsors Wisconsin Business Voice

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SAFETY Janie Ritter Director of Wisconsin Safety Council

Wisconsin Corporate Safety Awards

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or the past 20 years, the Wisconsin Safety Council has partnered with the Wisconsin Department of Workforce Development to sponsor the Corporate Safety Awards. I was honored to present these at our annual conference this spring. The awards program honors Wisconsin businesses for exemplary safety records and excellence in health and safety management.

The awards are given in four industry sectors: manufacturing; agricultural, forestry, transportation, mining and utilities; construction; and other. The categories are further broken down by size within those industries.

This year’s 13 winners include:

Fitesa Green Bay produces chemically bonded carded products with the majority of their facility devoted to nonwovens fabric manufacturing, producing fabrics that are primarily sold to the hygiene market for use in baby diapers.

In 2013, Fitesa Green Bay produced enough nonwovens material to completely cover well over 33,000 football fields. Fitesa has gone an incredible 16 years without a lost time incident.

Agropur inc. in Luxemburg is a worldwide supplier of awardwinning cheese and whey products. Agropur recently trained employees in CPR/First Aid/AED/ Bloodborne Pathogen clean up. In early 2013, this training was put to the test when Luxemburg’s employees administered CPR to a truck driver who was onsite securing a load, and who stopped breathing and had no pulse. Their AED was applied and activated, which enabled the driver to regain independent breathing before departing in the ambulance.

Expera Specialty Solutions – Nicolet Mill manufactures a variety of specialty papers. The Nicolet Mill has been a VPP star site since 1995, one of the first locations in Wisconsin. The mill has seen steady improvement in safety performance in terms of reduced recordable injuries, and in 2012 and 2013 they achieved the lowest injury rate ever at the facility with just one recordable injury each year.

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Wausau Window and Wall Systems manufactures engineered window and curtainwall systems. Ergonomic principles are considered whenever they purchase or build new equipment, or make a process change.

When implementing a new process, they utilize ergonomic measurement tools to evaluate the extent of risk for each task that must be performed.

GE Healthcare – Madison is a global provider of anesthesia delivery and ventilation systems. GE Madison participated in (and won!) the Dane County Bike Challenge in 2013 tallying 18,000+ miles promoting active and healthy lifestyles. Additionally, their ‘Green Team’ established an onsite employee garden, where they grew fresh produce to encourage healthy eating. Any produce not used by the employees is donated to the local food pantry.

Neenah Foundry produces some of the world’s highest quality municipal and industrial castings, including manhole frames, lids, ornate tree grates and curb boxes, and can be found in streets and on sidewalks anywhere in the world.

Employee involvement and adoption of safety principles has yielded incident rate reductions of 40 percent or higher, and no lost work day incidents in 2013, continuing a streak of 3.7 million working hours.

Alliant Energy – Wisconsin Power and Light provides domestic utility customers in the Midwest with electric and natural gas services. In 2013, Alliant Energy enhanced their Contractor Safety Program by partnering with ISNetworld, who now manages their contractor safety monitoring process. Alliant employees are allowed, and encouraged, to take home personal protective equipment to work on projects around the house, supporting their 24/7 safety goal.

Lakehead Painting Company is a family-owned industrial and commercial painting contractor primarily in the oil and gas industry with a focus on painting, abrasive blasting and fiber glassing of crude oil storage tanks. Lakehead has added an in-house safety and quality training facility, implemented a new health and safety program manual and tool box talk books specific to Lakehead’s safety programs and policies. Lakehead also welcomes all employee family members to become certified in first aid and CPR training at no cost.

Bassett Mechanical is a mechanical contractor which designs, builds and services refrigeration, air conditioning, heating, dust collection, process piping and plumbing systems for commercial, industrial and marine applications. Bassett’s total recordable injury rate for 2013 dropped to 1.8 from 5.2 in 2012; and proudly sits at 1,223,615 hours without a lost time injury, which represents 649 days of work for their crews.

AZCO INC. is a full-service industrial contractor and fabricator serving the power generation market including gas, coal and nuclear, alternative energy, metal casting and steel mills, and petrochemical and industrial manufacturing industries. AZCO INC. committed to certify all supervisors in the OSHA 30-hour program, and their fabrication facilities have achieved over 17 years without a lost time incident.

Flint Hills Resources – Terminal Operations is a leading refining and chemicals company that includes gasoline, diesel, jet fuel, propane, asphalt binders and asphalt emulsions. The backbone of FHR’s safety program is its Safe Work Permit process which includes reviewing the hazards of the job with the maintenance or contract workers prior to permits being issued.

Warehouse Specialists, Inc. has transformed itself into one of the largest privately held logistics companies in the U.S. Safety analysis and planning start long before the acceptance of new business at WSI. The company utilizes its Chemical Review Team to review its chemical storage opportunities and identify the hazards associated with the products, infrastructure concerns, training and reporting requirements, equipment needed and personal protection required to safely handle the products.

Only after the CRT review and approval does WSI accept new chemicals into a facility. WSI’s greatest safety and health achievement in 2013 was decreasing their Lost Day Incident Rate by 62 percent.

Colony Brands, Inc. is one of the world’s largest and most successful catalog companies.

Colony Brands declared the third Wednesday of each month Safety Day; time is set aside on this day for employees to participate in safety talks, quizzes and potentially win prizes. The success of this safety promotion was outstanding – the company averaged 2,500 employees over the past three years who participated, 10,000 quizzes were collected and 36 safety talks were presented, with a 98 percent participation rate company wide.

Again, congratulations to all of the 2013 Corporate Safety Award winners! BV Follow WSC on Twitter @WISafetyCouncil

The Corporate Safety Awards are sponsored by

Wisconsin Business Voice

25

EXPORTING Mike Shoys WMC Senior Vice President

Cranes Crossing Oceans

I

n a country that often bemoans the fact that it doesn’t “make things” like it used to, Manitowoc Cranes is a U.S.-based company that still thrives as a manufacturer and runs an equally vibrant export business.

In fact, more than half of the company’s $4 billion in revenue is generated outside of the country, with most of its cranes assembled in Wisconsin and Pennsylvania.

Manitowoc Cranes subscribes to an overarching theory when it comes to its exports: product support is the essential foundation to a successful export strategy. This includes offering expertise, customer service, job site assistance, maintenance programs, great warranties and more.

As explained by Larry Weyers, global executive vice president of Manitowoc Cranes, “Product support generates trust in our company’s cranes and the services that back them. It instills confidence among customers to import such a large ticket item as a multi-million dollar crane.

Customers can rest assured that they will have help in operating, servicing and maintaining the crane, and are therefore willing to import the crane into their country.”

Take the company’s relationship with Chunjo Ltd., a construction company in South Korea. Chunjo imported a Manitowoc 2,500ton 31000 in 2013, one of the largest cranes ever made and not a cheap machine by any standard.

Manitowoc worked with Chunjo on selecting the crane, training the company to operate it and sending experts to help its operators complete a massive power plant project.

“Chunjo would not have purchased this crane from us if not for the several years we’ve worked to cultivate the relationship by means of excellent product support,” Weyers said. “It’s for this same reason that when the power plant project was complete, Chunjo then bought 50 roughterrain cranes from our Grove line in a single purchase this year.”

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Wisconsin Exporters Reap Benefits of South Korea Free Trade Agreement A free trade agreement (FTA) that took effect in 2012 has already boosted Wisconsin’s exports to South Korea, and this number is only expected to increase further as Wisconsin companies step up to meet the demands of this growing market. South Korea fared better than most during the recent global financial crisis.

In 2013, Wisconsin’s exports to South Korea grew by seven percent over the prior year, to a total of $431 million, and the country rose from 13th to 11th in the ranking of the state’s largest export destinations. Major export categories include industrial machinery ($87 million), medical and scientific instruments ($74 million), and meat ($46 million), which jumped nearly 67 percent over the prior year thanks to FTA. At the beginning of this year, South Korea’s president announced plans to focus on growing five service industries—healthcare, education, tourism, finance, and software.

In the medical devices arena, Wisconsin companies are well positioned for sales in South Korea: Korean companies make comparatively lowerend medical devices, and the country depends on imports for high-end medical devices.

The energy sector represents another key opportunity: South Korea has set targets to decrease its use of coal and oil, and increase the proportion of its energy that comes from shale gas, solar, wind, geothermal and biofuels over the next 15 to 20 years.

For more information on exporting to South Korea or other parts of the world, visit www.inwisconsin.com/ exporting.

WISCONSIN EXPORTING FAST FACTS Wisconsin companies exported more than $5.6 billion in goods in the first quarter of 2014.

TOP DESTINATION FOR WISCONSIN EXPORTS IN FIRST QUARTER

34+66 34+12+54 46+6+48 52+5+43 57+4+39 33.7% CANADA

12.1% MEXICO

6.3% CHINA

5.0% JAPAN

3.7%

UNITED KINGDOM

WISCONSIN’S TOP EXPORTED PRODUCTS IN FIRST QUARTER

28+72 28+9+63 37+9+54 46+8+46 56+4+40 27.5%

INDUSTRIAL MACHINERY

9.2%

MEDICAL/ SCIENTIFIC INSTRUMENTS

9.1%

ELECTRICAL MACHINERY

8.1%

VEHICLES AND PARTS

4.4%

PLASTICS

PRODUCTS WITH SIGNIFICANT GROWTH FROM Q1 2013 TO Q1 2014

624% STEAM TURBINES

521% FORKLIFT TRUCKS

108%

COMPUTERS & COMPONENTS

40%

RAW FUR SKINS

14%

X-RAY EQUIPMENT

Source: U.S. Census Bureau data as reported by Global Trade Information Services

Manitowoc accomplishes this product support through a vast network of “Crane Care” service locations around the globe. A Crane Care location in Seoul helped Chunjo navigate its Manitowoc 31000 purchase and the projects on which it would eventually work. These locations help companies like Chunjo make informed product purchases, assist in lift plans for complex projects, and when needed, handle maintenance and service support.

“If not for our Crane Care service in Seoul that provides excellent product support to Chunjo and similar companies, Manitowoc would not be in as good a position to export so many cranes to South Korea,” Weyers said. “They might have purchased a cheaper, inferior crane from a manufacturer in their own region, for example. We see this scenario playing out in countries on every continent.”

For businesses in the U.S. looking to export their products to other countries around the world the lesson is clear: A company’s export operations can only be as good as the product support that backs them. BV

Why You Should Hire a National Guard Member

By Major General Dunbar

W

isconsin business leaders should make hiring a National Guard member a priority. Why? Not out of charity, but because it makes good business sense and it is how a business can contribute to defending this great nation. The 10,000 Soldiers and Airmen in your Wisconsin National Guard are among the most highly trained, educated and professional men and women in Wisconsin. Hiring a Guardsman is an investment in America and your business’s future.

you hire a Guardsman, you get an employee who is drug-free, disciplined and punctual. Service members respect authority and the chain of command in an organization. The level of responsibility and maturity required of military service members at a young age is unparalleled in any field.

When the Guard is mobilized, as it has often been since September 11, 2001, employers bear a burden.

They lose the employee while he/she is deployed. However, when your employee returns, he/she brings back incredible life experience gained in the cauldron of a combat deployment. That kind of leadership is unique and valuable.

Make hiring a National Guard Soldier or Airman a priority. Do it for the right reasons. Don’t hire a Guardsman out of charity or pity – we don’t need that. Hire a National Guard member because it is patriotic and a way for your business to support national defense – we all have a responsibility, not just those in uniform. Hire a National Guard member because it makes good business sense as it is an investment in exceptional human talent. Make it a priority – it’s the right thing to do. BV

Military service members are challenged with constantly changing and diverse environments where they must work together to accomplish their mission. Many of our Guardsmen have experienced working in different cultures around the world.

Our Soldiers and Airmen are disciplined, physically fit, and know how to work in a team environment. They are highly skilled in Today’s National Guard is a national treasure and fulfills two key leadership and they know how to roles for our nation. We are the nation’s primary combat follow. They took an oath to reserve for the U.S. Army and U.S. Air Force, and we defend our nation and willingly “When your employee returns, are the first military responders here at home when accept that they can be disaster strikes. When you hire a Guardsman you they bring back incredible life mobilized at any time for an get a dedicated individual who has technical skills, overseas conflict or a domestic experience gained in the cauldron leadership ability and lives by a code of core values emergency here at home. That of a combat deployment.” embodying integrity, courage, selfless service, trust and takes guts! honor.

Our service members are experts in their military disciplines.

Those skill sets include truck drivers, engineers, carpenters, masons, electricians, surveyors, pilots, heavy equipment operators, logistics experts, information technology specialists, vehicle and aircraft maintenance mechanics, human resources professionals and medical personnel to name just a few. Each Soldier and Airman receives continual education over his/her military career allowing them to master both their technical skills and also leadership techniques.

Major General Donald P. Dunbar is the Adjutant General for the Wisconsin National Guard.

Perhaps even more important than the technical skill sets are the intangible traits our men and women in uniform possess. When

Wisconsin Business Voice

27

Investing for Success

By Mary Burke

I

’ve spent most of my thirty-year career in the private sector. At Trek Bicycle in the early 1990s, it was my job to open up new European markets to sell great Wisconsin products overseas. Later, I was the Director of Strategic Planning and Forecasting at Trek for nearly a decade. Now, I’m running for Governor to make Wisconsin a thriving, top-ten economy.

The success we’ve had at Trek informs everything I’ve done since I left, and everything I’ll do as Governor. From insisting on accountability and metricsbased decision-making to making strategic investments to grow – there’s more we can do to strengthen Wisconsin.

That includes ensuring our tax code is competitive with states around the country.

The best way to reduce the tax burden while ensuring we have the workforce, infrastructure and safe communities businesses need to thrive is by growing our economy and our tax base. Cutting our way to prosperity isn’t going to get the job done, but neither is throwing money at it – it’s about setting budget priorities.

It’s also about bringing people together to tackle the real challenges facing our state.

Recently, I talked with a manufacturer in Southeast Wisconsin looking to expand

– but the workforce he needs just isn’t there. With just two more engineers and additional welders he could increase capacity.

With urgency, I would bring together industry and education leaders to devise a game plan to fill key shortages – ASAP! If we need 250 more engineers a year, then we’ll do it. Leadership and foresight is needed so our education system is meeting businesses’ current and projected needs.

To grow a business, you need to set clear objectives and lay out your plan, as well as how you’ll measure your success. You have to get the right people with the right skills in the right positions. And you have to encourage innovation and new thinking to compete and win in the global economy.

It’s time we took that businesslike approach to growing our overall economy so that Wisconsin businesses can thrive.

Each of those elements listed above - that successful businesses do every day - are embedded in my plan for the state economy, “Invest for Success.” It starts with a major shift of our economic development and policy focus, to concentrate on industry clusters so we’re meeting the needs of whole industries rather than individual companies. As I mentioned above, a big part of that cluster approach is ensuring our workforce is prepared for the jobs businesses need to fill.

Mary Burke recently briefed the WMC Board of Directors on her plan to grow the Wisconsin economy.

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We need to do more to encourage entrepreneurship and startup businesses in order for our economy to grow – creating more opportunity for businesses both established and new. Competing and winning in today’s economy means thinking globally, and there’s a lot more to do to increase exports and strengthen Wisconsin’s brand internationally.

Finally, we need strong communities where workers and entrepreneurs want to live, raise their families and make a life.

None of the strategies in my plan are controversial or needlessly political, nor should they be. They are a roadmap for leadership that puts ideas that work front and center, regardless of whether they’re “Democratic” or “Republican.” I’m flattered that WMC Board Member John Torinus called my plan “the best he’d ever seen from a Wisconsin candidate” – and I hope that you’ll take a look for yourself at www. burkeforwisconsin.com/jobs.

My commitment is straightforward. As Governor, I’ll work with groups like WMC and businesses around the state, as well as with labor, industry experts and our universities to make sure our economy is growing and businesses are thriving. BV Mary Burke is a former Executive at Trek Bicycle and led the Wisconsin Department of Commerce from 2005-2007. She is the Democratic candidate for Governor.

TRANSPORTATION Jason Culotta WMC Director of Tax & Transportation Policy

Growing Freight Demand Requires Rail Solution W ith a brutal winter behind us and the economy showing more signs of activity, pressure is growing on our national infrastructure system – especially rail – to handle increasing freight volumes.

Rail shipments for a range of commodities are growing at a strong pace. Crude oil trains have drawn the most media attention, though they comprise less than two percent of carloads. Shipments of grain, intermodal containers, and sand, stone and gravel by rail have seen strong gains this year, improving by 15 percent, 6.6 percent, and 5.5 percent, respectively, year-to-date over 2013.

Freight rail volume would grow even faster if railroads could quickly add capacity. Increasing demand for moving freight by rail has generated unprecedented investment from the railroad industry.

Including capital projects such as double-tracking of mainlines, installing passing sidings and industrial spurs, and acquiring locomotives to meet changing needs of shippers.

already speculate the rail industry will be forced to increase rates to slow increasing demand. Will the public benefits of converting overthe-road truck freight to rail and intermodal become a focus of our infrastructure policy debate?

Wisconsin is benefiting from the capacity expansion of the privately-owned Class I railroads, as the BNSF, CN, Canadian Pacific, and Union Pacific railroads have all recently made significant investments in the state.

The state also maintains programs to encourage shipper access to freight rail on light-density lines across Wisconsin. Short-line and regional railroads like Wisconsin & Southern are seeing increased carload totals as many shippers have utilized state loans (paid back with interest over time) to move goods by rail, both on Class I and smaller railroads.

Access to rail is particularly important to our agricultural and forest products industries. Moving both raw and finished products to mill or market is crucial to those industries, especially as more of what our state produces is exported.

The seven major Class I railroads are spending a record $15 billion in private funds on capital expenditure improvements this year. That compares “The seven major Class I railroads Supply chain managers will be reevaluating their to about $50 billion spent by the are spending a record $15 billion in appetite for “just in time” shipping in favor of federal government on transportation, private funds on capital expenditure the cost-effectiveness of moving many goods mostly on highways. more slowly. The marketplace will require rail as improvements this year.”

The shortfall in federal highway well as lake and river ports to handle greater freight funding has been widely discussed yet volumes. remains unresolved. The trucking industry, a crucial pillar of the With the inevitable increase in freight, the federal government economy, faces driver shortages and regulatory challenges that have increasingly unable to fund highway capacity, and trucking beset by no short-term answers. challenges, stress on our transportation and logistics infrastructure The Federal Highway Administration has projected a 45 percent increase in freight volume will occur between 2012 and 2040.

Without the construction of more highway capacity and the inevitable increase in road congestion, how is more freight going to move? Out of necessity more freight will have to move by rail.

will continue. Rail and intermodal will play a growing role in moving freight. BV

Follow Jason on Twitter @JGCulotta

Will we soon be discussing a shortfall in the railroad industry’s ability to finance additional capital investment? Some analysts

Wisconsin Business Voice

29

WMC-BusinessVoice-5x7.75-HRb.pdf

1

5/20/14

9:41 AM

Follow WMC on Channel WMC501

Interview with Consul General of Canada.

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•La Crosse

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Interview with Consul General of India.

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Seeking Nominations Wisconsin Business Achievement Award

Interview with National Association of Manufacturers' Jennifer McNelly.

Presented by the Flowers Family Foundation

Deadline August 1 Visit www.wmc.org for more information.

Legislative wrap-up with Speaker Vos.

30

Your DNR Working for You

By Cathy Stepp

A

s we enjoy summer in Wisconsin, I’m excited to share with you some recent efforts we’re engaged in at your Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources to better connect with businesses and the economy.

As you have probably heard me say in previous guest columns and at speaking events around the state, I believe protecting the environment and ensuring economic vitality go hand in hand.

The exceptional quality of life available in Wisconsin is one of our greatest attractions for individuals and businesses in the state.

To that end, since becoming secretary we’ve renewed our commitment as an agency to better mesh businesses and business development with managing our state’s world class natural resources.

Some recent activities to share with you:

We are building off our successful launch of the Office of Business Support, Science and Sustainability by expanding the role of the Office’s Small Business Assistance Program; this will help us go beyond regulatory help and better connect our staff with new and expanding small businesses.

Our sector development specialists have made great strides in serving as the agency’s points of contact for businesses, raising our profile in the business community. We recently added business sector specialists to focus on broader economic issues including waterfront redevelopment.

We continue to improve our coordination and regulatory efforts for industrial sand mining, including adding new staff to help handle compliance and air permit issues in this growing sector.

Finally, I am proud to say we are leaders in state government in sharing with the public how investing in their DNR is paying dividends, including our recently released agency report card available online: http://dnr.wi.gov/about/documents/leanII/ DNRresultsFeb2014.pdf. The report is a one-page “dashboard” that includes recent economic measures including meeting our goal of faster turnaround times for issuing air and water permits, along with meeting all our timber harvest goals.

Telling our customers how we’re performing is not new, but we think this report card will be a great new way to show in 2014 and beyond how we measure up and where we can improve. I encourage everyone to take a look at the report card to see how we’re doing.

You can also see where we’ve been in our 2013 Annual Report available online: http://dnr.wi.gov/about/ documents/2013YearReview.pdf. The annual report illustrates the big strides we have made in communications and using new technologies to help us be more accessible all over the state, even when we’re sitting at our desks. We also now have more experts and more boots on the ground to meet your business needs, for the benefit of our economy and for our natural resources.

I am extremely fortunate to be the secretary of an agency that is filled with such passionate and talented people, and I’m proud of what we’ve accomplished as a state, and as an agency, by working together. I look forward to more successful times ahead! BV Cathy Stepp is Secretary of the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources.

Our lean initiative is also rolling along; staff have recently completed a third round of process improvement projects which helped us speed-up permit review times, reduce paperwork and save precious budget dollars.

Celebrate Manufacturing Month in October wimanufacturingmonth.org WMC will once again be promoting manufacturing throughout the month of October. The point of Manufacturing Month is to expose students, parents, educators, legislators, and others to the career opportunities available in the manufacturing industry.

Visit www.wimanufacturingmonth.org for up-to-date information on tours and events happening throughout the month.

Contact Susan Nyffenegger, snyffenegger@wmc.org or (608) 258-3400, for more information or to add your event to the list.

OCTOBER 2014

Wisconsin Business Voice

31

ISSUE ADVOCACY Jim Pugh Treasurer, WMC Issues Mobilization Council, Inc.

WMC Issue Advocacy The Time to Give is Now!

“Every year, the WMC IMC spends millions to educate the public and drive the business agenda. We ALL benefit from the public policy outcomes that occur because of WMC’s issue advocacy, and therefore it is critical that we all support the issue advocacy campaign.”

Daniel T. Ariens, President & CEO Ariens Company, Brillion WMC Chairman

Over the next few months, Governor Scott Walker and the probusiness lawmakers will face brutal attacks from big unions, radical environmentalists, personal injury lawyers and others dedicated to taking our state backwards.

They want to go back to higher taxes, more regulation and frivolous lawsuits populated by jackpot justice.

The business community, under the leadership of WMC and the WMC Issues Mobilization Council, Inc., needs to fight back and deliver the business message. WMC IMC is a 501(c)(4) issue advocacy organization dedicated to driving the business agenda through advocacy, which is followed by WMC’s top-shelf lobbying at the Capitol. WMC is Wisconsin’s leading business issue advocacy organization – our policy agenda and aggressive lobbying efforts ensure proven results.

Over the past seven years, WMC IMC has raised and spent $20 million to educate the public as the business community has successfully achieved historic public policy victories – tax cuts, regulation relief, lawsuit reform, mining reform and more.

We will stand up for you and your business in the face of the policy threats posed by our adversaries.

“Governor Scott Walker and pro-growth lawmakers embraced our vision, and we have set a course for renewal,” said WMC President/ CEO Kurt Bauer. “Wisconsin’s business community must remain

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united in the face of policy threats that would make YOUR company less competitive. Imagine what Wisconsin would be like if Scott Walker were not the governor.”

As WMC’s Chairman Dan Ariens said in a recent letter to WMC supporters, “Our opponents will be well-funded and WMC IMC will provide the business perspective to the public.”

Truly, the time to give is now!

WMC IMC is currently taking donations in the mail and online.

You can make an online donation with your credit card at www. wmcimc.org or you can mail your check to WMC IMC, P.O. Box 352, Madison WI, 53701.

WMC IMC needs to raise funds for television, cable television, radio, direct mail, digital advertising, phone banks and more. All donations to WMC IMC are kept strictly confidential, and are not subject to disclosure under state or federal law. Donations are unlimited, and we can accept donations from individuals and corporations.

There has never been a more important time for the business community in our state to stand united to advance the cause of economic freedom.

We need to send a message to our adversaries that we will not be intimidated and that we have the courage of our convictions to stand in the public arena and fight back for job creation.

Please, write your check today to WMC IMC! BV

WISCONSIN BUSINESS FRIEND of the ENVIRONMENT AWARDS Presented May 14, 2014 at the Country Springs Hotel, Pewaukee For the 25th year in a row, Wisconsin Manufacturers & Commerce is recognizing nine companies with the Wisconsin Business Friend of the Environment Award. This year’s winners have been chosen for programs that demonstrate an innovative approach to environmental protection, or a level of effort beyond that which is required by regulatory compliance. These success stories reflect the continued commitment of Wisconsin industry to environmental protection.

Wisconsin Business Friend of the Environment award winners were selected by an independent judging panel that included representatives from industry, the Department of Natural Resources, and the University of Wisconsin.

2014 Award Winners Sustainability Category

New Glarus Brewing Company New Glarus (small)

Milk Source, LLC Kaukauna (medium)

Expera Specialty Solutions Kaukauna (large)

Environmental Stewardship Category

Badger Alloys Milwaukee (small)

Inpro Muskego (medium)

Madison Gas and Electric Madison (large)

Environmental Innovation Category

Badger Mining Corporation Berlin (small)

BRP US Inc. / Evinrude Sturtevant (medium)

Mercury Marine Fond du Lac (large)

Wisconsin Business Voice

33

The Domino Effect – Reverse It!

By Linda Hansen

I

f you own or manage a business you are well aware of the domino effect over-regulation, excessive taxation and intrusive government mandates can have on your corporate and personal prosperity. With each new wave of legislation, tax code changes, executive orders or environmental regulations comes a sea of details that need to be dealt with in order to ensure compliance. Legal fees, reallocation of staff and resources, and a host of other expenses combine to create a disaster for profitability. The focus becomes how to comply and survive, rather than how to create, innovate, and expand. The cost of compliance can become so prohibitive that companies are often forced to cut services or products offered, relocate, reduce their workforce, or (sadly) close their doors. The ripple effects can be overwhelming for any business, but for the small business owner they can be devastatingly destructive. The dominoes fall one after the other as jobs are lost and families and communities suffer.

and never consider the risks, personally and financially, involved in job creation. This is yet another domino that falls when policies do not encourage business growth, but instead promote wealth redistribution and dependency on government. Economic illiteracy contributes to the spread of misinformation and misdirected blame on job providers.

Most job providers want to ensure employees are paid well, treated fairly, and have opportunities for intellectual and career growth.

Yet, we all know employees may unwittingly vote for policies that could put their job in jeopardy and possibly put their employer out of business. It becomes a vicious circle of negative falling dominoes, but the trend can be reversed.

Employers have a unique opportunity and, in my opinion, responsibility to educate their workforce about threats to corporate or personal prosperity. Many have expressed fear of speaking out and facing possible criticism. However, doing so truthfully and in a How do we reverse the domino effect? How do we encourage non-partisan manner shows respect and concern for the employee’s pro-business, pro-growth policies when we are well being and encourages team building and busy struggling just to survive? Many job “An informed, trust between employer and employee. providers realize that uniting together in educated, economically literate Honesty about economic realities pro-business advocacy groups, lobbying only builds awareness, which in turn for pro-business legislation, and electing workforce translates to an increase in builds respect. When done properly, leaders who understand the needs of the informed, educated, and economically educating employees about public business community are all important steps literate voters.” policy issues affecting their job can be to reversing the negative domino effect, but those one of the most important things an employer actions, while positive, are not enough to reverse the trend. We must can do to reverse the negative domino effects brought on by poor first identify the cause of the problem, which lies in a cultural lack policies. An informed, educated, economically literate workforce of understanding about basic civics, economics, and why profits translates to an increase in informed, educated, and economically matter to job creation. Secondly, we must recognize and capitalize literate voters. Voters who understand the need for policies on opportunities to increase economic literacy, especially among promoting growth and opportunity will elect leaders who believe in employees, and do so in a non-partisan manner. the same. And the domino effect will begin to reverse. BV While many of us realize the business sector is the backbone of Linda J. Hansen is Founder and President of our economy providing millions of jobs and billions of dollars Prosperity 101, LLC. in tax revenues, not all employees share that understanding. It is popular in our culture to demonize the successful entrepreneur

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Movers and Makers

Two Fox Valley Tech Grads are Part of a Movement to Invigorate Careers in Manufacturing

J

onathan Patton was inches away from a career in the NBA. But when that dream faded, he reflected on playing in the 2005 Division 1 NCAA Basketball Tournament and learned that every experience is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. Later that year, the 32-year-old native of Picayune, Mississippi helped victims of Hurricane Katrina.

With the support of his family, Patton looked to life after basketball.

Among his family are his brothers college football player Terry Carter and Charles Woodson. Yes, that Charles Woodson – former Heisman Trophy winner and 2011 Green Bay Packers Super Bowl champion.

While attending one of his brother’s games in Green Bay, Patton met a senior-level official at Hattiesburg Paper Company. That friendly encounter led him down a new career path. “I had always been interested in manufacturing because you can make virtually anything,” he recalls. “I received a job offer at the Green Bay plant, and I knew a career in manufacturing was for me.”

To increase his technical capabilities, Patton enrolled in the Fox Valley Technical College’s Package and Label Printing program. “It was a no-brainer,” he says. “Fox Valley Tech is known as the best school for printing in the country, and going there made me more valuable to my company.”

Patton has also participated in marketing activities with FVTC to help spread the word about the rewards of working in manufacturing. “In just one year, you can gain the skills needed for a serious career in a high-growth industry,” he says. “You’ll earn a good salary without taking on the debt you would get at a four-year college.” Patton is now proudly enjoying a rewarding career as a quality assurance specialist for Hattiesburg Paper Company.

Ryan Geiger of FVTC’s Machine Tool program, which has seen 100% graduate placement.

36

While in high school, Ryan Geiger was already planning for his career and life. The world of manufacturing expanded the aspirations for the now 21-year-old Brillion, Wisconsin native.

Geiger’s way of thinking mirrors a proactive pathway at Fox Valley Technical College. Last year, the college implemented its JumpStart initiative with five regional high schools, including Geiger’s alma mater, Brillion High School. The program is designed to offer dual credits to high school students who wish to pursue careers in the in-demand industry of machine tool.

Geiger graduated from FVTC’s Machine Tool Technology program in May. The training helped advance his career at Ariens Company, where he started as an apprentice under the JumpStart partnership umbrella while still in high school.

Geiger will soon become a journeyman machinist, and he is enrolled in FVTC’s Mechanical Design Technology program to enhance his skills even further. “I love what I’m doing in advanced manufacturing and have a tremendous start to my career and life,” adds Geiger. BV

Jonathan Patton (background) shares his insight on a flexographic press.

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We see your path.

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Thoughts from Ret

WMC asked retiring representatives Clark and Severson for final thoughts as they finish their final legislative session.

By Rep. Fred Clark, 81st Assembly District (D-Baraboo)

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fter having the honor of representing parts of Sauk, Iowa, Columbia, and Dane counties in the State Assembly for three terms, I’ll be returning to the private sector. The experience of public service in Wisconsin is one I’ve proudly shared with many Wisconsin citizens before me, and one I’ll now pass on.

As the ranking Democratic member of the Assembly Committee on Jobs, Economy and Mining I’ve been involved first-hand in many of issues of interest to WMC members. While we’ve disagreed strongly with our majority-party colleagues on many policies, I’ve worked successfully with colleagues of both parties whenever we’ve had the chance to solve real problems and get something done. In 2013 for example, I worked closely with Rep. Mike Kuglitsch (R-New Berlin) to pass Act 41 which created Wisconsin’s new Venture Capital Investment Program. Additionally, I’ve worked closely with members of the business community at home to make sure I am representing their interests to the best of my ability.

I am a long-time small business owner and employer who has waded through my fair share of state regulations and oversight.

Overall I strongly believe our economy and our private businesses do best when we have a strong and effective state government.

The kind of economic growth that creates stable, long-term prosperity in communities of all sizes requires public investment in quality of life issues like good roads, high-performing public schools, desirable public parks and downtowns, and clean air and water. Maintaining these assets requires sustained public investment where the pay-back period is measured in decades, not quarters.

Wisconsin has long enjoyed its reputation as a state where clean air, water, lakes and forests go hand in hand with a vibrant, diverse economy. While it may create short-term benefits for select business sectors, weakening or eliminating necessary regulations and oversight and reducing taxes without attending to quality of life issues is like having ice cream for dinner but skipping the vegetables.

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The role of elected officials everywhere is to allocate public resources and balance competing interests. While we all want prosperity for our communities, the reality is that some kinds of economic development can bring as many problems as they do benefits.

Open-pit iron mining is one example of economic development that creates distinct winners and losers. While I do not oppose iron mines (last I checked my 2013 F-150 was made from iron by UAW workers in Dearborn, MI) I opposed the iron mining legislation AB-1 last session because it failed to strike proper balance between mining and protecting local communities and clean air and water.

Unfortunately, the role of special interests and money in politics can make it very difficult for even the most capable and wellintentioned legislators of either party to do what’s best for the people they represent when presented with tough choices and onesided pressure.

I believe all Wisconsin citizens will be best served whenever our elected representatives take positions and cast votes based on what is best for the people at home, not what is best for party leadership or the nice people in suits who happen to represent one side. There are always two sides to an issue and legislators doing their job will always try to understand both.

If, instead of taking the easy road of cutting taxes and regulations, we take the high road of balancing interests and maintaining critical public investments, Wisconsin WILL begin a sustained recovery as stable business and good-paying jobs grow and the quality of life for everyone in Wisconsin improves. That is the road ahead I hope we will follow. BV Fred Clark represents the 81st Assembly District. He can be reached at (608) 266-7746.

tiring Legislators

By Erik Severson, 28th Assembly District (R-Star Prairie)

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his legislative session has been both memorable as well as bittersweet, as I announced that I am not seeking reelection. While this decision was not easy, my children are growing up and I do not want to miss any important milestones in their lives. Looking back on my four years in the Legislature, I am proud of the work that I have been a part of, most importantly eliminating the budget deficit, improving insufficient mental health standards, and promoting more responsible government.

During my time at the Capitol, especially with the passage of Act 10, I know that I have made a difference in the lives of average Wisconsinites. While the Act 10 process was a difficult time, I fully believe Wisconsin has set the standard when it comes to state budget control by controlling both state expenditures and property taxes. During my four years in office the reforms we made to the size of government and its fiscal power have benefitted both individuals and businesses across the state. I truly believe I am leaving Wisconsin in a better economic place than it was when I first ran four years ago.

In addition to Act 10, I am most proud of the work I accomplished as chair of the Health Committee, including the passage of the mental health care package developed by the Speaker’s Taskforce

on Mental Health. It was an honor to chair the Taskforce as we worked to improve mental health statutes that had not been updated since the 1970s. Wisconsin can now be seen as a leader in mental health care reform and I look forward to watching continued improvements in coming years.

Many individuals have asked if I have any advice to pass along to the next person representing the 28th Assembly District. My advice to him or her would be to work hard and give your best effort because the people of the 28th District deserve it. The residents of Polk, Burnett, and St. Croix counties are tremendous people you need to consider with every decision you make. By working hard to help these great people, you will earn their respect and the respect of your fellow Representatives. Perhaps most important is to hire a staff that you can trust to do a great job. I have been fortunate to have a wonderful staff throughout my time in office who have helped me tremendously on a daily basis. The four hour drive from the 28th District is a tough one, but it is made much easier with a great staff. Lastly, enjoy the experience and don’t forget to have fun while you are working at the Capitol. There are many great and interesting people, so make the most of every opportunity you are given. Best of luck. BV Erik Severson represents the 28th Assembly District. He can be reached at (608) 267-2365.

Wisconsin Business Voice

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CHAMBER CORNER

Opportunities with African American Businesses

By Dr. Eve M. Hall

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he African-American entrepreneur Madam C. J. Walker, whose life spanned 1867-1919, reportedly stated “I am not satisfied in making money for myself. I endeavor to provide employment for hundreds of women of our race.” As a self-made millionaire, Walker was ahead of her time as an entrepreneur and manufacturer of hair care products; ultimately becoming a philanthropist and social activist for worthy endeavors advancing the black race. She held a Hair Culturist Union of America convention in Philadelphia for her representatives, and rewarded high sales and recruitment with money and prizes. According to official biographer and great-great granddaughter of Walker, A’Lelia Bundles, this was likely the first national meeting of businesswomen. Madam C. J. Walker employed hundreds of African American women and reflects the research today indicating that minority firms tend to hire other minorities.

Much of the news reported related to the state of Wisconsin and Milwaukee is dim – the city ranks last in minority entrepreneurship, educational outcomes for minority students, segregation, incarceration disparities, highest unemployment of African American men, and the highest concentration of black businesses in the central city as compared to other metropolitan areas where these businesses are widespread. African Americans featured in the news often are reflected in the negative or limited to sports, entertainment, and music. Not that these industries are unworthy of mention, but there is so much more.

I could go on and on about what’s “not” occurring and how bad it is. However, I challenge us to focus on the opportunities and possibilities our landscape contains. As the President and CEO of the African American Chamber of Commerce, my concentration is identifying the value-add of our community versus the deficits. In our growing chamber membership, we have hardworking African American entrepreneurs and business owners in construction, professional services and trades seeking to strengthen and expand their businesses. Professional services are in the areas of technology, engineering, printing, professional training and coaching, public relations and marketing, and retail, to name a few. Our state struggles with a reputation of being last in critical categories, yet growing and enhancing minority firms, in this case, African American, can serve as a vehicle to address the woes of unemployment and entrepreneurship.

According to the Commerce Department’s Minority Business Development, and U.S. Census Bureau’s 2007 Survey of Business Owners, African American-owned firms in the U.S. increased 60.5 percent between 2002 and 2007 to 1.9 million firms; driving job creation 22 percent beyond non-minority firms. Farah Z. Ahmad

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from The Center for American Progress recently reported African American women being the fastest growing segment of womenowned businesses and starting businesses at a rate six times the national average. Their $2.7 million firms are generating $226.8 billion in annual revenue and employing 1.4 million people.

I began this article with one of my favorite past entrepreneurs, Madam C. J. Walker, born Sarah Breedlove, to illustrate that successful entrepreneurship and employment are part of our past and can be part of the present. Earl Graves, Sr. for example, founder of the magazine Black Enterprise in 1970, exemplifies an entrepreneur whose media product remains strong today as a vehicle to promote black entrepreneurs and communicate success stories.

When black business stories were not popular or of interest, Graves went against the odds to challenge the industry and thus create an employment pipeline for minorities in print media. In our own state, we have African American newspapers and magazines delivering success stories in education, business, philanthropy, and the arts through minority writers and photographers.

Our city and state has the opportunity to capitalize on its assets.

According to the U.S. Census Bureau’s 2007 Survey of Business Owners and a 2013 issue brief by the University of WisconsinMilwaukee Center on Economic Development, African American owned businesses in Milwaukee doubled between 1997 and 2007; from 3,872 to 8,054 in the metropolitan area with employment increasing from 6,320 to 9,801. Let’s work together to build upon these numbers as we approach a new report and survey to be released in 2015. With our chamber’s Revolving Loan Fund, Women in Business Series, Entrepreneurship Mentoring Project and other programs and services, I am meeting with businessmen and women committed to expansion and job creation through their firms and corporate representatives on increased contract opportunities through strategic partnerships.

We can use the challenging set of circumstances in our city and state to complain or problem solve. I choose the latter as we grow our African American chamber to become a pipeline and example for what is right in our communities across this state. BV Dr. Eve M. Hall is President/CEO of the African American Chamber of Commerce.

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