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BizTimes Milwaukee (ISSN 1095-936X & USPS # 017813) Volume 27, Number 15, December 13, 2021 – January 23, 2022. BizTimes Milwaukee is published bi-weekly, except monthly in January, February, July, August and December by BizTimes Media LLC at 126 N. Jefferson St., Suite 403, Milwaukee, WI 53202-6120, USA. Basic annual subscription rate is $96. Single copy price is $5. Back issues are $8 each. Periodicals postage paid at Milwaukee, WI and additional mailing offices. POSTMASTER: Send all UAA to CFS. NON-POSTAL AND MILITARY FACILITIES: Send address corrections to BizTimes Milwaukee, 126 N. Jefferson St., Suite 403, Milwaukee, WI 53202-6120. Entire contents copyright 2021 by BizTimes Media LLC. All rights reserved.
Contents
4 Leading Edge 4 NOW BY THE NUMBERS 6 IN FOCUS 7 BIZ POLL ON MY NIGHTSTAND 8 COFFEE BREAK 9 ‘QUOTE UNQUOTE’
10 Biz News 10 WAUWATOSA DOCTOR LAUNCHES OUT ON HER OWN WITH AN ALTERNATIVE CLINIC MODEL 14 THE INTERVIEW: JASON LUTHER
16 Real Estate
COVER STORY
18
37 Notable Heroes in Health Care
Their Year: 2021 BizTimes Best in Business
Special Reports
24 Innovation and Entrepreneurship Awards Meet the winners of BizTimes Media’s annual Innovation and Entrepreneurship Awards, including Lifetime Achievement Award winner Jon Hammes and Regional Spirit Award winner Dan Katt.
30 Manufacturing: Food & Beverage Coverage includes a closer look at Dutch firm Royal DSM’s acquisition of Germantown-based First Choice Ingredients.
33 Banking & Finance
45 Notable Food & Beverage Executives 48 Strategies 48 SUPPLY CHAIN Cary Silverstein 49 TIP SHEET
52 Biz Connections 52 G LANCE AT YESTERYEAR COMMENTARY 53 NONPROFIT 54 5 MINUTES WITH … ROCKWELL AUTOMATION CFO NICK GANGESTAD
Associated Bank’s new chief executive officer discusses his growth strategy for the company.
B E YO U R B A N K E R’S TO P P R I O R I T Y Let us get to know your business. TO W N B A N K . U S / D E S E RV E
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Irgens plans to acquire, redevelop former Boston Store site at Brookfield Square By Alex Zank, staff writer Milwaukee-based Irgens Partners LLC is under contract to purchase the former Boston Store building at Brookfield Square mall and plans to tear down the building and redevelop the site into a mix of uses, including offices. Mark Irgens, chief executive officer and manager of Irgens Part-
ners, said he expects to close soon on the sale of the 200,000-squarefoot building located southwest of West Bluemound and North Moorland roads. “We’ll take that building down,” Irgens said during BizTimes Media’s Commercial Real Estate and Development Confer-
BY THE NUMBERS The Milwaukee Public Museum has raised
$12.2 MILLION so far in its $150 million private fundraising campaign to build a new museum. 4 / BizTimes Milwaukee DECEMBER 13, 2021
ence. “That (site) is 16 acres, and we’ll have a mixed-use development on that location consisting of office, perhaps medical office, and other complementary commercial uses.” Irgens said following the event that the project is still in the early stages. Irgens Partners entered into a contract in November to purchase the property, and it will demolish the Boston Store building “as soon as possible.” But the firm has another six months of planning work before it has a better idea of what the development will all entail, he said. Irgens said he’s looking to create about 400,000 square feet of new development at the site. The goal is to create more density, but the exact density will be driven by the amount of parking. The firm plans to build a new parking structure there. Market demand will determine the size and design of the office portion of the project, Irgens said. Beyond that, other uses could include housing and hospitality. Irgens said there might be limited new retail space, but he does not want to compete with the mall and other existing area retail. “We’re looking at creating kind of a walkable, suburban office environment, along with some other uses that will use the amenities that are already there,” Irgens said. Irgens Partners has been work-
ing with the city of Brookfield on acceptable development layouts and land uses. Irgens pointed out the city rezoned the site in recent years to encourage as much density as possible there. The firm has also spoken about its plans with Chattanooga, Tennessee-based CBL Properties, the owner of Brookfield Square, and is working with Milwaukee-based architecture firm Kahler Slater on some conceptual ideas. Irgens said he likes the site because of its size and that it’s next to a mall that has reinvented itself in recent years. Ongoing or recent developments at or near the mall include a new hotel and conference center, a 231-unit apartment project, an Orthopaedic Associates clinic, a Marcus Theatres Movie Tavern and a WhirlyBall venue. He added Brookfield has a good business environment. Irgens Partners has other ongoing projects in the city, specifically two new office buildings under construction at the Golf Parkway Corporate Center. Irgens said his firm first signaled interest in the former Boston Store property when it, along with two other Milwaukee-area Boston Store properties, were put up for auction last year. None of those vacant buildings were sold at that time, but Irgens said his firm has worked with the owner after the auction. n
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Is 2022 The Year of the Great Reallocation? Inflation. Supply chain issues. Labor force challenges. The lingering COVID-19 pandemic. These and other factors are leading to major economic shifts and reallocations in supply and demand. With so much in flux, what lies ahead for the economy in 2022? Will the Fed raise interest rates? Will consumer spending keep up as prices rise? What’s coming down the road for tax policy and government spending? Economist Michael Knetter Ph.D. and leading industry experts will provide their perspectives and answers to these questions and more at the 21st annual Economic Trends breakfast on January 27, 2022. Seating is limited – register today at biztimes.com/trends. Featured Speakers: Michael Knetter Ph.D., University of Wisconsin Foundation (1) Tina Chang, CEO, SysLogic (2) Jonas Prising, Chairman/CEO, ManpowerGroup (3)
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SEEDLINGS have begun sprouting at Hundred Acre. The indoor urban farm, located in the city of Milwaukee’s Century City Business Park, uses a vertically stacked system within a 5,000-squarefoot controlled environment, allowing it to grow greens at a more efficient rate than an outdoor farm. Hundred Acre, which is owned by New Yorkbased Planet to Plate Inc., encountered a series of challenges bringing its vision to life this fall, including numerous supplier issues. The team had initially planned to install an off-the-shelf vertical hydroponics system before its supplier announced it was pulling out of North America. Founder Chris Corkery and his team went back to the drawing board and decided to develop their own grow system using primarily locally sourced materials. In the end, building a system in-house aligned with Hundred Acre’s ethos, Corkery said. “Because we were no longer buying this product from China, we sourced all of our material from the U.S., mostly from Wisconsin,” he said. “To assemble it required us to contract local labor. … Instead of (our money) going to some foreign country, it went back to the local area. So, we basically made good on our mission before we even grow food. Now, we’re asking customers to follow in our footsteps.” Hundred Acre plans to begin supplying customers this month with fresh greens, including its spring mix and basil varieties. n — Lauren Anderson 6 / BizTimes Milwaukee DECEMBER 13, 2021
JAKE HILL PHOTOGRAPHY
Sprouts in Century City
BIZ POLL
on my nightstand...
A recent survey of BizTimes.com readers.
Do you plan to get (or have you already received) a COVID-19 vaccine booster shot? YES:
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ROSARIO SANCHEZLEDESMA Co-founder and principal LIFECAMP
36.8%
“Positive Intelligence” By Shirzad Chamine
Share your opinion! Visit biztimes.com/bizpoll to cast your vote in the next Biz Poll.
IN A WORLD full of stressors and distractions, mental fitness can prove to be just as important as physical fitness. Building a strong mind is a key focus of Rosario Sanchez-Ledesma’s new consulting firm, LIFECAMP. For some extra inspiration, she’s currently re-reading “Positive Intelligence: Why Only 20% of Teams and Individuals Achieve Their True Potential and How You Can Achieve Yours” by Shirzad Chamine, chairman of global coaches training organization CTI.
Chamine identifies ten “mental saboteurs” that prevent people from reaching their greatest potential and success. To counter those obstacles, Chamine shares tools to build mental fitness by accessing five untapped powers of the mind. Sanchez-Ledesma has benefitted from the Positive Intelligence practice in her own career as a business owner, coach and consultant. She recommends the book to anyone looking to sharpen their mental edge, decrease stress and boost happiness. n
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Leading Edge COFFEE BREAK
Raynetta “Ray” Hill NOTABLES & RISING STARS 2022
Executive director Historic King Drive Business Improvement District No. 8 2745 N. Dr. Martin Luther King Drive, Suite 206 kingdriveis.com Industry: Real estate, economic development
Keep up with BizTimes’ 2022 roundup of the leaders making a difference throughout southeast Wisconsin.
in wealth management BizTimes’ inaugural Rising Stars in wealth management are young, talented, individuals who are who are innovating and leaving a mark in southeast Wisconsin. Nomination deadline: January 7, 2022 Issue date: February 21, 2022
Look for these Notable and Rising Stars nominations in 2022! Notable Women in Engineering Nomination deadline: Feb. 4, 2022 Notable Commercial Banking Executives Nomination deadline: Feb. 25, 2022
Notable Office and Operations Managers Nomination deadline: July 8, 2022 Rising Stars in Law Nomination deadline: July 29, 2022
Rising Stars in Real Estate Nomination deadline: Mar. 25, 2022
Notable Women in Manufacturing Nomination deadline: Aug. 26, 2022
Notable LGBTQ+ Executives Nomination deadline: Apr. 22, 2022
Notable Veteran Executives Nomination deadline: Sep.23, 2022
Rising Stars in Technology Nomination deadline: May 6, 2022
Notable Women in Health Care Nomination deadline: Oct.28, 2022
Notable CFOs Nomination deadline: June 10, 2022
Visit biztimes.com/notable for information and deadlines 8 / BizTimes Milwaukee DECEMBER 13, 2021
• Ray Hill was recently named the new executive director of the Historic King Drive BID No. 8. It’s a return to the organization for Hill, as she once served as associate director under former executive director Deshea Agee. Hill said she was moved to continue the work Agee started. “Because of the familiarity (with the BID) and because there’s a mission there, I decided to go for it,” she said. • Hill has an extensive background in property management. She worked for nine years for a small developer, which had to begin holding onto and managing its properties, rather than selling, due to the 2008 recession. Hill helped the company establish its property management operations. • She more recently worked at affordable housing nonprofit CommonBond Communities and has sat on the board of the Wisconsin Housing and Economic Development Authority since 2019. • Hill is a 2016 graduate of Marquette University’s Associates in Commercial Real Estate program. She said the program exposed her to the development side of real estate. “Really understanding the whole process from beginning to end was the most impactful part,” she said. • Before the COVID-19 pandemic, one of Hill’s favorite pastimes was traveling. More recently, she has enjoyed outdoor activities and exploring closer to home. “Milwaukee is a great place because our summers are amazing,” she said. • Hill likes her coffee with nothing in it. “So, strong and dark and bold.” n
LILA ARYAN PHOTOGRAPHY
At companies across southeast Wisconsin, notable executives are running businesses, and investing in growth throughout the region. Rising Stars are mentoring, teaching and volunteering in their communities. The leaders profiled in these categories are nominated by their peers at work and in the community.
Employees: 2
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O LY M P I C G O L D M E D A L I S T A N D F O U N D E R O F S AY S H TEMPO Milwaukee’s 16th annual Leadership Event featured Allyson Felix, a five-time Olympian and the most decorated U.S. track and field athlete in Olympic history. Earlier this year, she launched her own footwear company, Saysh, which sells shoes “designed for and by women.” The move followed her departure from longtime sponsor Nike, which she accused of refusing to guarantee salary protections for pregnant athletes. In a fireside chat with TEMPO president and chief executive officer Jennifer Dirks, Felix shared insight on entrepreneurship, motherhood and her advocacy for women in sports. n
“I think a lot of times we see athletes as being invincible and that nothing really affects them – and as athletes we expect that of ourselves – but there’s a lot of pressure and there’s a lot of expectations. I’ve learned over the years that it’s OK not to be OK. It’s OK to have off days.”
“I gave birth (to daughter Camryn) at 32 weeks and had a severe case of pre-eclampsia, and my eyes were just opened to maternal health issues and the racial disparity going on. I thought if I can do anything about this – raise awareness, partner with organizations – I wanted to do that.” “It’s already so daunting to be a new mom. It’s incredible, but it’s also really challenging, and having health issues on top of that really adds to the stress. But coming out on the other side of that has been incredible. My daughter has given me a different motivation.”
“I was pretty exhausted in asking for change. I had been up on that fight for quite a while, and here was an opportunity to not have to ask anymore but to be that change and to create what I had been searching for,” she said of starting her company.
“When I was going through everything, I felt like I was alone in it. By sharing my story, I realized I’m absolutely not alone – there are so many people who are on this journey, who connect with this, and, in a sense, it was amazing to have all that encouragement, but it was also a bit heartbreaking to know that we all have so many collective stories. And then, it inspired me because there’s so much work to do.”
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Wauwatosa doctor launches out on her own with an alternative clinic model By Lauren Anderson, staff writer THE MATH wasn’t adding up. Family medicine physician Dr. Katrice Brooks had over 2,500 patients. On any given day, she was squeezing in appointments with about 25 of them. That pace was not only difficult to manage during the day – Brooks often had to put in additional hours of work during evenings and weekends to catch up on a backlog of patient notes. “It started to feel unsustainable,” she said. “… I always spent too much time talking with patients. That’s what I really enjoy, talking to them and helping them, but I would run behind
Dr. Katrice Brooks
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all day.” The COVID-19 pandemic exacerbated her dilemma. In addition to doing virtual visits, Brooks began managing more emails and calls coming in from patients, and much of that extra work wasn’t reimbursable. She felt burned out. Like many professionals over the past year, she began reevaluating her work arrangement. “It made me do some internal reflection and really reconsider my values and go back to: why did I do medicine? What is really my purpose? And am I living out my purpose?” she said. Brooks’ patient panel size was slightly bigger than the national average among family physicians – which was 2,194 in 2017, according to the American Academy of Family Physicians – but her story is familiar among primary care providers. Just under half of doctors that year surveyed by AAFP had 2,000 or more on their patient panel, which is defined as the number attributed to a physician and seen by them in the past 24 months. Brooks considers those data to be symptomatic of a broken health care system that incentivizes physicians to see as many patients
“
It seemed like the type of medicine I had dreamed of doing when I was a kid, and I didn’t even know it was possible to do that type of medicine.”
as quickly as possible, resulting in rushed appointments that aren’t conducive to holistic are. As her contract was coming to a close after eight years with a large area health system, she decided it was time for a change. She began researching online to find career alternatives for someone with her background and discovered an emerging, alternative care model called Direct Primary Care. DPC clinics operate under a membership-based payment system; patients pay a flat membership fee to gain access to all primary health care services, with no fee-for-service payments or third-party billing. Nationally, there are about 1,500 DPC
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clinics currently operating. The national Direct Primary Care Coalition counts about 15 practices in Wisconsin as “pure DPCs,” meaning they only see patients via the membership model and don’t participate in any third-party feefor-service billing. Many more practices in the state are “hybrid DPCs,” where a portion of the practice’s patients are DPC member patients and the remainder use the traditional third-party fee system. “When I saw the type of doctors that DPC (doctors) were, the doctors who spent an hour with their patients, the doctors who maybe saw four to eight patients a day, but they got to do all the deep medicine I want to do, it seemed
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He’s rightfully known as the Daddy-O of SpaghettiOs for his most famous food creation, but Donald Goerke’s achievements go far beyond conveniently canned pasta. In his lengthy career at the Campbell Soup Company, Goerke oversaw the introduction of more than 100 different products, including the Chunky Soup line. His creations transformed the company, which had been known for condensed soups, and helped introduce an era in convenience foods. In retirement, he was an informal brand ambassador for the company. At Carroll, we consider him the Pioneer of Pasta. • Learn more at carrollu.edu/175
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the additional health care expense. “But there are some people who want more time with their doctor, and (for whom) the extra $99 per month is just worth it,” Brooks said, likening DPCs to the days when doctors would make house calls. As a Black physician, Brooks serves patients from across the region, including those coming in from Racine and Waukesha who want to receive care from a physician who looks like them. She wanted to create a practice where patients felt safe. “In Milwaukee, there are not a lot of African American providers,” she said. “… The nice
A GU I DE TO
who mak es it?
to me – my email, my phone, they can text me, they can send pictures, and I respond to them in an expedited way, usually within two hours.” Patients opt into DPC membership for various reasons, Brooks said. Some value the access to a doctor it provides. For some uninsured patients, it’s an affordable health care option. Some consumers prefer to not have insurance agencies or the government dictating what kind of care they receive or how it’s reimbursed, she said. But she acknowledges the model might not be for everyone. If someone has insurance through their employer, they might not want
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The nice thing about (Direct Primary Care) is that it’s so individualized that I’m able to focus in on what I’m interested in, and I’m interested in providing health care to Black and brown people." DESIGNED, MADE AND BUILT IN WISCONSIN
perfect,” Brooks said. “It seemed like the type of medicine I had dreamed of doing when I was a kid, and I didn’t even know it was possible to do that type of medicine.” In October, Brooks opened her own DPC clinic in Wauwatosa, called Quench Clinic. At Quench, Brooks charges a $99 monthly or $999 annual flat fee for adult patients, and $49 monthly or $499 annually for children. The fee does not act as insurance, nor does Quench accept any insurance for payment. Under the DPC model, the patient fee covers primary care services, including clinical and laboratory services, consultative services, care coordination and care management, according to the AAFP. Because some patients will inevitably need more intensive care or will end up in an emergency or needing surgery, Brooks recommends all her patients also maintain a high-deductible wraparound policy. Quench patients can choose in-person or virtual visits, generally with no wait time or limits on appointment duration. “They can see me as many times as they need to,” Brooks said. “They also get full access
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thing about DPCs is that it’s so individualized that I’m able to focus in on what I’m interested in, and I’m interested in providing health care to Black and brown people.” As of November, Quench had about 45 patients. Brooks envisions capping her panel when she gets to 300 patients. The rise of DPCs runs counter to a trend of consolidation in the health care industry, in which large health systems continue to acquire small, independent practices. A sign of the model’s decline, 49% of physicians worked in a private practice in 2020, the first year that less than half of doctors worked in a practice wholly owned by physicians, according to the American Medical Association. As a new entrepreneur, Brooks is faced with not only medical decisions, but also decisions related to her burgeoning business. “Before I was not a business owner, I was an employee,” she said. “I would show up at work, see my patients, do my notes and go home. That was all I had to worry about. I didn’t have to worry about supplies and rent and all those sorts of things. … It’s a whole new skill set.” She’s sought out a small business mentor through SCORE SE Wisconsin to help her launch her business. “I was told that it could help me find resources and get me on track locally,” she said. “I’ve certainly found this to be the case. My mentor, Brian Alves (group project manager for Milwaukee Tool), has been nothing but helpful and encouraging.” Brooks currently runs the clinic by herself; based on her current projections, she will be able to afford a medical assistant once she reaches 68 patients. “The whole model of DPC is to keep the overhead as low as possible,” she said. “… Right now, patients like that when they call, they’re reaching me. And when they see me, I start the visit right away because it’s not a waiting room full of people, and we’re not double-, triple-booked.” Now licensed to also practice in her home state of Illinois, Brooks has plans to begin offering telehealth across state lines in the future and host pop-up clinics in other parts of the Milwaukee area. In the meantime, Brooks said she’s able to offer additional services she couldn’t before under a traditional clinic model, such as meditation classes and “Walk with the Doc” – an hour-long outdoor walk with patients. She also envisions being able to do home visits in the future, particularly for post-partum patients or those recovering from surgery “I can meet people where they are,” she said. n
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Interview
REAL ESTATE FIRM Luther Group LLC has been busy of late. It has added employees
during the COVID-19 pandemic, surpassed $100 million of assets under management and recently announced it is partnering with Watertown-based nonprofit organization Bethesda on a $31 million mixed-use development in Wauwatosa that includes apartments for adults with developmental disabilities. Luther Group invests in and develops real estate and offers services like owner’s representation, development management, commercial brokerage and property management. BizTimes reporter Alex Zank recently spoke with president and manager Jason Luther about his company’s growth, the local real estate market and the future of Luther Group. How do you choose which real estate sectors to invest in? “I think for us, medical office, industrial and very strategic office and retail make a lot of sense. The mixed-use, multi-family projects really are ones that we would work on with an outside group like Bethesda and really lever their expertise in that market sector because that’s what they shine at.”
You’ve made several industrial real estate investments in Waukesha County, particularly in New Berlin. What do you see there that you like? “New Berlin is a great place for these types of businesses – manufacturing, distribution – to be located. That’s where a majority of our product is right now, it’s strategically located between I-43 and I-94, so you have these great, natural transportation corridors that exist there. As you look up north to Menomonee Falls, Germantown and that area, it sort of continues that you have really good access to transportation corridors. The vacancy rate for Waukesha County industrial and distribution is at historic lows. It’s very expensive to build, and so right now we certainly want to mix in some development opportunities, but on the acquisition side we like the ability to buy essentially at or below replacement cost.”
How has your company grown over the past couple of years? “I started the company in December in 2012, and really for the first couple of years it was me and that was it. We started to slowly grow, and really, I would say from 2018 and beyond is when we’ve seen the most growth in the company, from opportunities and adding staff. … We’re up to 11 people. We added two people during the pandemic just due to our need for continued growth. We do a really nice job, too, with levering our partners. We have strategic partners that provide us with services, as well, that allow us to grow (more easily) than if we tried to house all our services within.”
“I think you’ll continue to see us remain very active in medical real estate development – most of that happens very quietly, but working with very large strategic partners on those efforts. You’ll continue to see us be an active developer and acquirer of strategic properties in industrial and limitedly in office. Ultimately, we want to grow our firm to new heights and keep pushing our assets under management higher and higher, but at the same time making sure we are always keeping a focus on the relationships we have and providing a good value and yield for our partners. “On the employee side, I think we have a really great team that’s able to handle a lot of complex work. But in terms of assets under management, I think we’d like to try to continue to look at how do we double within the next couple years. … And perhaps we would even travel. We feel like we have a great team with great ideas, we understand real estate. And there’s no reason we would have to be limited to southeast Wisconsin in general.” n 14 / BizTimes Milwaukee DECEMBER 13, 2021
JA KE HILL PHOTOGRAPHY
Where do you see Luther Group headed in the future?
Jason Luther President and manager Company: Luther Group LLC Address: 780 Elm Grove Road, Suite 120, Elm Grove Employees: 11 Website: luthergrp.com
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The Opportunity Center project.
The next big opportunities that local developers have their eyes on
JOSH KRSNAK, a co-developer of The Avenue redevelopment in downtown Milwaukee, said he was recently informed of another large mall up for auction. This one is in Topeka, Kansas, and it totals nearly 1 million square feet. Krsnak, president and chief executive officer of Minneapolis-based Hempel Cos., has experience with this sort of project. The Avenue is a remake of the former Shops of Grand Avenue mall, which has been turned into a mix of uses, including offices, apartments and a soon-to-open food and entertainment hall. So, what was his reaction to this latest opportunity in Kansas? “I’m never doing this again. It’s too hard,” he said. But Krsnak and other developers active in the Milwaukee area have their sights set on other, new opportunities. Those opportunities include building up sites that have excess land and developing in communities and neighborhoods with potential. Developers think they’ll find success in suburban office markets. Hempel Cos. is buying existing suburban office properties because the market is “mispriced right now” due to the excess land that comes with it in the form of expansive surface parking lots, Krsnak said. “What we’re doing in all of
UGLY BUILDING: D O W N T O W N M I LWAU K E E M A I L P R O C E S S I N G FAC I L I T Y The former owner of the downtown Milwaukee U.S. Postal Service facility has thrown out its lofty vision for redeveloping the property with the rest of the junk mail. The 1.1 million-square-foot building at 341 W. St. Paul Ave. is indeed a major center of jobs but takes up prime Milwaukee real estate. It suffers from deferred maintenance, which shows from the outside. It does, however, offer picturesque river views – which are only able to be enjoyed by its fleet of mail trucks. Chicago-based R2 Cos. bought the building in 2015 but later failed in a lawsuit to evict the postal service over maintenance issues. R2 threw in the towel and sold the property this fall to Postal Realty Trust Inc., an investment company that owns properties leased to the USPS.
16 / BizTimes Milwaukee DECEMBER 13, 2021
our suburban office (properties) is we’re building apartment buildings, hotels, (and in) one project we’re building an industrial building on the excess land,” Krsnak said at BizTimes Milwaukee’s recent Commercial Real Estate and Development Conference. “We think the parking ratio has gone from four to five cars per 1,000 square feet, down to like two to two-and-a-half cars per 1,000 square feet.” Milwaukee-based Irgens Partners LLC has a full pipeline of suburban projects of its own. In Wauwatosa, it plans to develop two office buildings at the UWM Innovation Campus. It also plans to put up more buildings at the site of the old UnitedHealthcare office site in the Milwaukee County Research Park. In Brookfield, Irgens Partners is constructing two new office buildings at Golf Parkway Corporate Center. Mark Irgens, CEO and manager of Irgens Partners, recently revealed plans to demolish the former Boston Store building at the Brookfield Square mall and develop in its place potentially 400,000 square feet of new commercial space. Frank Cumberbatch, vice president for engagement at Milwaukee-based Bader Philanthropies Inc., said he is bullish on neighborhoods just outside of downtown, such as Walker’s Point and the Harbor District. The Harbor District, for one, has major new corporate development projects, such as Michels Corp.’s R1VER mixed-use development and the new Komatsu Mining Corp. headquarters and manufacturing campus. Walker’s Point is home to established businesses, including Rockwell Automation, and will soon add Rite-Hite Holding Corp. to the list. The neighborhood is also seeing a number of new apartment buildings going up. And, there’s still a lot of room to grow in Walker’s Point, Cumberbatch said. “I’m really bullish on it because I think it’s one of those spaces that could really (address) our segrega-
tion issues,” he said. “It’s such a strong Latino community, but it’s just right there to blend everybody into one. And it could be a beautiful space.” Krsnak compared what he’s seeing in the Harbor District to what he witnessed with the North Loop neighborhood in Minneapolis. He said development there started moving from a Third Ward-type area northeast along the river. According to the North Loop Neighborhood Association website, the neighborhood has turned from a largely abandoned section of Minneapolis into one of the city’s most vibrant and walkable neighborhoods. “We’re seeing the same things kind of start to lay out here,” he said. “So, I think that’s a really interesting area.” Developers also see potential surrounding sports and entertainment. Cumberbatch is developing an athletic facility, called The Opportunity Center, which is designed to serve people of all ability and income levels. The 300,000-square-foot project is planned for 4206 N. Green Bay Ave., near the Milwaukee-Glendale border. Cumberbatch said sports tourism is now a $4 billion dollar industry. He pointed out that Wisconsin Dells, known for its waterparks, has become a destination for youth sports like baseball, volleyball and basketball. He said more of those tourism dollars could be brought into cities like Milwaukee if more venues were created here to host youth sports. n
INDUSTRIAL FACILITY IN NEW FRANKLIN BUSINESS PARK Wauwatosa-based Wangard Partners Inc. is kicking off its latest industrial project, located in Franklin. The developer plans to build two or three facilities southwest of Oakwood Road and 27th Street, starting with this 235,000-square-foot speculative building. It is just one of several buildings planned for the city’s new 520-acre business park. Wangard later plans to build either two more buildings – one at 300,000 square feet and the other at 80,000 square feet – or one 400,000-square-foot building, following this one. The developer said market demand will determine what it eventually builds at the site. DEVELOPER: Wangard Partners Inc. SIZE: 235,000 square feet ARCHITECT: Stephen Perry Smith Architects Inc.
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STORY COVER
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PAST BEST IN BUSINESS HONOREES Corporation of the Year: 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020
Northwestern Mutual Generac WEC Energy Group Direct Supply Foxconn Klement’s Sausage Fiserv Milwaukee Tool
CEO of the Year:
THEIR YEAR: THE REGION’S TOP NEWSMAKERS OF 2021 DID ANYONE IN SOUTHEASTERN WISCONSIN have a better year than the Milwaukee Bucks? We think not. The Bucks captured their first NBA championship in 50 years, and massive crowds flocked to downtown Milwaukee – not just to attend Bucks playoff games, but also to gather around Fiserv Forum just to be part of the excitement. The mass of humanity in the Deer District during the Bucks’ title run was an incredible sight, a vision of a community coming together and eager to celebrate after a brutal 2020, when the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic led to illness, death, isolation, an economic shutdown, cancellation of numerous events and activities, and the loss of what was supposed to be a special year for Milwaukee and southeastern Wisconsin as the Democratic National Convention was held virtually and the Ryder Cup was postponed. While the COVID-19 pandemic continues, vaccines helped the region begin to recover and move forward in 2021. After playing games with no fans or only small crowds in the stands, the Bucks welcomed full-capacity crowds during the playoffs. An enormously successful Ryder Cup was held at Whistling Straits in September. Several major real estate developments moved forward, including the unique Ascent project in Milwaukee. Some area companies, including Generac, experienced significant growth during the year. And efforts to improve the region’s startup and venture capital scene showed some signs of progress. With all of that in mind, BizTimes Milwaukee presents its ninth annual year in review by recognizing our staff’s picks for southeastern Wisconsin’s corporation, CEO, small business, family-owned business and community leader of the year. This year’s honorees are the Milwaukee Bucks, for their championship victory and the massive crowds they brought to their Deer District development; Generac CEO Aaron Jadgfeld, who is leading the company through significant growth, including several acquisitions and an additional office location in Pewaukee; New Land Enterprises, which is building new apartment developments, including Ascent, the tallest hybrid mass timber structure in the world; Kohler Co., for hosting the Ryder Cup; and Dana Guthrie, managing partner of Gateway Capital Partners, for closing an oversubscribed $13.5 million fundraise. Read about these accomplishments in this special report.
18 / BizTimes Milwaukee DECEMBER 13, 2021
2013 Paul Grangaard, Allen Edmonds 2014 Mark DiBlasi, Roadrunner Transportation Systems 2015 Peter Feigin, Milwaukee Bucks 2016 Tim Sullivan, REV Group 2017 Nick Turkal, Aurora Health Care 2018 Peggy Troy, Children’s Wisconsin 2019 Michelle Gass, Kohl’s 2020 Mark Irgens, Irgens
Small Business of the Year: 2013 Colectivo Coffee Roasters 2014 Bartolotta Restaurant Group 2015 Gehl Foods 2016 Rinka Chung Architecture 2017 Access Healthnet 2018 Good City Brewing 2019 J. Jeffers & Co. 2020 Fiveable
Family-Owned Business of the Year: 2013 Super Steel 2014 Uline 2015 Steinhafels 2016 Milwaukee Blacksmith 2017 Coakley Brothers 2018 Michels Corp. 2019 Bartolotta Restaurant Group 2020 Rite-Hite
Community Leader of the Year: 2013 Rich Meeusen, Badger Meter 2014 Tim Sheehy, MMAC 2015 The Ramirez Family, Husco International 2016 The Baumgartner Family, Paper Machinery Corp. 2017 Joanne Johnson-Sabir, Sherman Phoenix 2018 Mike and Amy Lovell, Marquette University 2019 Alex Lasry, Democratic National Convention 2020 Marty Brooks, Wisconsin Center District
CORPORATION OF THE YEAR:
MAREDITHE MEYER
MILWAUKEE BUCKS
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Corporation of the Year
Giannis Antetokounmpo celebrates the Buck’s championship win in front of a crowd at Deer District.
BY MAREDITHE MEYER, staff writer ON A WARM, overcast Thursday in late July, downtown Milwaukee was abuzz. Tens of thousands of people lined the streets – families with children in strollers, teenagers riding skateboards, business professionals on lunch break, elderly couples holding hands – all there to catch a glimpse of a championship parade. Earlier that week, the Milwaukee Bucks had secured its first NBA title since 1971. That team, led by Kareen Abdul-Jabbar and Oscar Robertson under coach Larry Costello, didn’t get a parade, and it took 50 years to finally get another shot. Bucks players and families, coaches, owners and staff in full celebration mode rode high on a fleet of double-decker buses, parading from the Milwaukee County War Memorial Center to Deer District, where fans gathered like they had each game night during the eight-week postseason run. The spectacle captured the attention of national media outlets, elevating Deer District to a household name – a symbol of downtown Milwaukee’s renaissance. And what’s more, the influx of activity during the Bucks’ playoff run contributed to an estimated $57.6 million economic impact on the area. “Seven years ago, we made the investment in the team … and this was the plan,” said Bucks
co-owner Wesley Edens, motioning to the sea of fans before him. “From the first minute of the first day, we wanted to bring a championship to this town, and we did it by putting out a plan and following the plan. We hired the best people. … We built the most beautiful arena to play in, and, hell, we already had the best fans.” What obviously wasn’t etched into the Bucks’ playbook was a global pandemic and the industry-wide financial devastation that followed. Fiserv Forum’s seats were empty for 11 months; workers were put out of work. Once fans were allowed back inside, it was under limited capacity and strict COVID-19 safety measures. Change was constant. “This was a year of such tremendous adversity that to be able to come out of this with some success, great success, and some positive momentum is just incredible,” said Bucks president Peter Feigin. “That has so much to do with being flexible in times that were so fluid that they changed on an hourly basis.” Closing out last season at full fan capacity, with a deep playoff run that culminated in an NBA championship, enabled business for the Bucks to recover from the pandemic a year-and-a-half to two years faster than it likely would have otherwise, said Feigin. The franchise hit the ground running this season, selling out full-season ticket memberships for
the first time in team history. The Bucks’ development arm continues to move forward on long-term plans to fill the available land on the 30-acre Deer District site with hotel, office, retail and residential buildings. In September, the development team broke ground for The Trade Milwaukee, a 205room Marriott International Autograph Collection hotel that will open in early 2023 directly north of Fiserv Forum. In recognition of this year’s big accomplishments, both on and off the court, the Milwaukee Bucks are the BizTimes Milwaukee Best in Business Corporation of the Year. Hired in 2014 by the team’s then-new ownership group, Feigin has spent the past seven years as the public face of the organization, preaching its grandeur vision, aspirations and potential to essentially anyone who would listen. A championship team makes it much easier to spread that message, Feigin said. “What winning a championship does is it tells the story itself,” he said. “It becomes factual. The audience is factual, and there are hundreds of millions of people watching.” During the NBA Finals, the Bucks were the “No. 1 digital product in pro sports for two weeks,” said Fegin, and two-time MVP Giannis Antetokounmpo secured the No. 2 spot on the NBA’s most popular jersey list. That level of brand awareness allows the Bucks to market the team on an international level and sell sponsorships to more globally based companies. Internally, it frees up space to explore growth opportunities that lie beyond building the existing core businesses of ticket, retail, parking, and arena food and beverage sales. For example, the Bucks recently expanded its Deer District quick-service concept Cream City Cluckery to a brick-and-mortar restaurant location in Mequon. Another focus going forward is tackling labor as one of the industry’s most daunting challenges. With hospitality workers in short supply, the Bucks are weighing the role of technology in the fan experience. At least one process – ticketing – has become almost 100% digital, but that’s not a one-sizefits-all solution. “We’re an entertainment and hospitality company, so at the end of the day, we want to provide human engagement and create experiences beyond expectations,” said Feigin, adding the key is finding the balance between human interaction and automation. biztimes.com / 19
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FAMILY-OWNED BUSINESS OF THE YEAR:
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MAREDITHE MEYER
KOHLER CO.
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Spectators on land and on water watched Ryder Cup action at Whistling Straits.
BY ANDREW WEILAND, staff writer IN MANY WAYS this year’s Ryder Cup was a capstone event for Kohler Co.’s foray into championship golf. After seeing many of its guests at The American Club resort playing golf at area courses, then-chairman and chief executive officer Herbert V. Kohler Jr. decided to build world-class golf courses Blackwolf Run, which opened in the village of Kohler in 1988, and Whistling Straits, which opened north of Sheboygan along Lake Michigan in 1998. Those courses have been ranked among the best in the world and have held numerous professional golf championship events, including the 1998 and 2012 U.S. Women’s Opens at Blackwolf Run and the 2004, 2010 and 2015 PGA Championships at Whistling Straits. But the Ryder Cup is probably the most prestigious golf event ever hosted by the Kohler Co. Held every other year, the Ryder Cup pits a team of Americans against a team of Europeans. The 2020 Ryder Cup at Whistling Straits was postponed until this year due to COVID-19. When the event was finally held in September, it was an enormous success, featuring enthusiastic crowds, beautiful weather, a spectacular lakefront setting and a victory for Team USA. 20 / BizTimes Milwaukee DECEMBER 13, 2021
In a Sports Illustrated article, golf writer Joe Passov called Whistling Straits the best course in the history of the Ryder Cup, which has been played since 1927. “We set out to host an incredible event, showcase Wisconsin as a global golf destination, and I think we really blew people away,” said David Kohler, the company’s current president and CEO and son of executive chairman Herbert V. Kohler Jr. “It really was incredible.” In recognition of hosting the highly successful Ryder Cup, Kohler Co. is the BizTimes Milwaukee Best in Business Family-Owned Business of the Year. Designed by legendary golf course architect Pete Dye, Whistling Straits and Blackwolf Run put Wisconsin on the international golf map and led to the development of more world-class courses in the state including Erin Hills and Sand Valley. “We wanted to see Kohler host (the Ryder Cup), recognizing the contribution my father and Pete Dye had to the game of golf in Wisconsin,” David Kohler said. “Their courage and commitment and imagination … led to other investment in golf in the state that has altogether created a tremendous contribution … making Wisconsin one of the most sought-after global golf destinations.” But now, for the first time in many years, Kohler Co. is not scheduled to host another ma-
jor golf tournament. However, talks are ongoing, David Kohler said. “We’re absolutely committed to continuing to host major-level events and championships,” he said. “We’re in conversation with all of the governing golf bodies right now as to which events. We’ve built a pretty incredible resume. It’s just a matter of us, with the governing golf bodies, (figuring out) which events make the most sense. I’m very confident you’ll see signature events continue on these courses.” Kohler said he “firmly” believes Whistling Straits will get to host more Ryder Cups. With several future venues already picked, the earliest opportunity for Whistling Straits would be in 2041. The PGA’s decision to move the PGA Championship to May (from August) makes it less likely Whistling Straits would host that event again, but Kohler refuses to rule it out. “I wouldn’t say anything is out of the picture, but certainly that time of year from a growing standpoint is more challenging when you are in the state of Wisconsin,” he said. Meanwhile, Kohler Co. is still trying to get its plans for another lakefront golf course approved for a site on the south side of Sheboygan. The project has run into numerous legal and environmental roadblocks, but Kohler said the company is committed to working through the process and expects to eventually get it done. “We’re very committed to seeing it through,” he said. “We’re long-term oriented as a company and are working through those specific issues and challenges.” Continuously looking to enhance its offerings, this year Kohler Co. opened The Baths, a 10-hole Par 3 course and a two-acre putting course at Blackwolf Run. “It’s really fun,” Kohler said. “It’s a delightful experience.” On the manufacturing side of its business, Kohler Co. is building a 155,000-square-foot expansion of its facility in the Sheboygan County town of Mosel. The expansion, which will become operational in the first quarter of 2022, will provide a “state-of-the-art” production and testing facility for the company’s generator business, Kohler said. “That business continues to grow at a very rapid pace, with demand for standby power (residential and industrial),” he said. “(The plant will have) significant capability to produce a wide variety of generators for the North American market.”
COMMUNITY LEADER OF THE YEAR:
JAKE HILL PHOTOGRAPHY
DANA GUTHRIE, GATEWAY CAPITAL
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Dana Guthrie, managing partner at Gateway Capital.
BY LAUREN ANDERSON, staff writer THE STATISTICS HARDLY NEED TO BE rehashed at this point. It’s well documented that Wisconsin has routinely found itself toward the bottom of lists ranking venture capital activity nationally. In recent years, various efforts have taken aim at that problem in hopes of increasing the flow of VC dollars to the state. A couple of years ago, Dana Guthrie identified a particular need within the state’s startup ecosystem for pre-revenue investment in the Milwaukee area. She drew that conclusion after reading a 2018 Wisconsin Tech Council report showing that, of the $300 million in VC invested in the state that year, less than 10% went to Milwaukee County and less than 5% of that total made its way to the city. She saw an opportunity in the state’s most diverse and populous – yet undercapitalized – city. So, Guthrie, a software engineer and Milwaukee School of Engineering alumna, set out to solve that problem. In 2020, she began raising funds for Gateway Capital Fund, a fund designed to invest in pre-revenue startups in the metro area. Within eight months, she had exceeded her $10 million target, closing an oversubscribed $13.5 million fundraise – a significant feat for an emerging investor in a city that has proven to be difficult for first-time fund managers to raise capital.
Early commitments from the Greater Milwaukee Foundation and West Bend Mutual Insurance Co. helped build momentum, and Guthrie ultimately assembled a diverse group of limited partners, including corporations, foundations and individual investors. One-third of her limited partners are African American and a fourth of them are women, she said. She’s bucking trends nationally; only 5% of U.S.based VC partners are women and 33% of them are women of color, according to Women in VC, an organization that tracks demographics in VC. “From a personal level, I think it’s significant because representation does matter,” Guthrie told BizTimes in a July interview after reaching her fundraise goal. “So, I think the raise means a lot mostly because it’s a true reflection of everything great about Milwaukee.” Now, she has begun making investments. Gateway Capital has so far made a $400,000 lead investment in Tip a ScRxipt, a Milwaukee-based fintech startup that helps intermediaries like health care providers and pharmaceutical companies deploy payment assistance programs; and a $400,000 investment in Geno.Me, a Madison-based biotech startup that links genomic and electronic health record data in an open marketplace. Gateway Captial is industry agnostic. Guthrie noted it’s “pure coincidence” that her first two in-
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vestments are connected to the health care industry. “Tip a ScRxipt and Geno.Me have potential to generate great returns. Both are led by strong founders that understand their value proposition and also have ‘customer obsession,’ which is important at the early stages. They’re both going after large market problems, which presents opportunity to scale,” she said. For her contributions to Milwaukee’s startup ecosystem, Guthrie is the BizTimes Milwaukee Best in Business Community Leader of the Year. Guthrie worked for 12 years in software product development at Johnson Controls and founded her own angel investment network, Milwaukee-based Alchemy Angel Investors, before launching Gateway Capital. Compared to her previous roles, making investments as a VC fund manager has introduced new challenges related to her decision-making process. “I’m an engineer, so I’m accustomed to making decisions based on a lot of hard data. In early-stage investing, many of the startups don’t have financial history that help inform the investment decision. So, your decision has to be based on other parameters such as the strength of the founding team. That doesn’t come natural to me. I’m always searching for more data to back my decision, in addition to the conviction that I have for the team,” she said. In November, Geno.Me founder Britt Gottschalk, a native of Milwaukee, said the company plans to relocate to her hometown – another win for a city that has historically lagged Madison on startup activity metrics. “I can’t take all the credit for Geno.Me coming to Milwaukee. Britt was raised here, so she already had an affinity to the area,” Guthrie said. “While I believe there’s opportunity already here in Milwaukee, bringing talent to Milwaukee also develops the ecosystem, so I’m open to the concept (of attracting a founder to Milwaukee). The winters don’t make it an easy sell. But I’m not from Milwaukee originally, yet I’ve been here for 15 years now. So, it’s not impossible.” While Guthrie anticipates the fund generating financial returns, she also expects its investments will produce social returns that promote upward mobility and economic growth in the region. “Ideally, we’ll have multiple founder success stories, founders of all different backgrounds that are reflective of the market and who will invest back in Milwaukee,” she told BizTimes in July. “That’s the vision.” biztimes.com / 21
IN BUSINESS
CEO OF THE YEAR:
AARON JAGDFELD, GENERAC KWAT SCHLEICHER PHOTOGRAPHY
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Generac CEO Aaron Jagdfeld.
BY ARTHUR THOMAS, staff writer GENERAC HAS GROWN a lot since Aaron Jagdfeld took over as chief executive officer in 2008. Its revenue in 2021 is on pace to be around $3.7 billion – more than six times the 2008 total. Net income this year could come close to matching the $574 million in total sales from that year. Home standby generators were a major part of the Town of Genesee-based company back then, and that’s still the case today. In fact, that core product is responsible for much of Generac’s explosive growth in recent years. With people spending more time at home and more frequent and severe power outages, interest in the product continues to grow. To keep up with demand, Generac has invested in expanded capacity at its Wisconsin facilities and added a new assembly plant in South Carolina. It also bought the former American Family Insurance building in Pewaukee and sponsored a stage at Summerfest, both to help continue growing its local workforce. The company also opened an office in Boston to attract top tech talent. At the same time, Generac has made a series of acquisitions to position it for an electrical grid that 22 / BizTimes Milwaukee DECEMBER 13, 2021
is more focused on clean and distributed energy. Those deals have included home energy storage, microinverters and monitoring for the solar market, a smart water heater device maker and a propane tank monitoring solution. The company also recently bought smart thermostat maker ecobee in a potentially $770 million deal. Jagdfeld said ecobee’s platform will help Generac bring together all of the energy technology pieces it has to get the most out of them. For leading Generac to explosive growth and positioning the company for a clean energy future, Jagdfeld is the BizTimes Milwaukee Best in Business CEO of the Year. Looking back on his tenure, Jagdfeld said one of the biggest lessons has been the importance of thinking about the future – not just where the industry is headed or specific issues in the business but bigger-picture topics that the company refers to as mega-trends. Jagdfeld said there are two decisions that helped unlock Generac’s current growth. The first was changing the company from a functional to a business group structure centered on specific products and end markets. That gave each of the company’s business leaders more authority to make
decisions instead of things filtering up to Jagdfeld, enabling more speed and better focus. “That was really important in terms of unleashing the potential growth that existed in each of those businesses,” Jagdfeld said. The other decision was to take a close look at the clean energy space, ultimately acquiring Pika Energy and Neurio Technologies in 2019, and identify a position for Generac as the market changed. Jagdfed said the company knew the trends around clean energy and climate change but had struggled to identify its role in it. Executives eventually saw the chance to apply the company’s skills in making a market, building a brand and scaling supply chain and manufacturing to the energy storage and monitoring spaces, even though they hadn’t been in those industries previously. “We just thought that the things that we knew how to do really well would apply to these markets as they grew,” Jagdfeld said. “The one thing we probably got wrong in that whole thing was how fast it would grow. It’s grown a lot faster than we thought, which has been a good thing. If you’re going to be wrong, be wrong that way.” As Generac has grown, the kinds of decisions Jagdfeld makes have changed. There was a time he’d deal with how many generators to make next quarter and what inventory levels should be. Now, the choices are bigger and focused on the entire enterprise. Some of the questions he faces are more ambiguous, like should the company sponsor a Summerfest stage or what to do about running out of space at Generac’s headquarters. Jagdfeld said his approach is to understand who a decision impacts, what the company is trying to achieve and the potential downside. “I’m a finance person by classic training, so I maybe dig into the numbers probably deeper than most CEOs because that’s just my orientation,” he said. Every decision comes with financial and strategic implications, and Jagdfeld said sometimes that requires freeing yourself from financial thinking to do the right thing strategically or opportunistically. “Speed is so important in business today that I think making decisions quickly is really, really critical,” he said. “I think as long as you believe, either because of the data or in your heart because you have experience or because strategically something fits that you’re 90% of the way there, the last 10% you’ll figure out as you go.”
SMALL BUSINESS OF THE YEAR:
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NEW LAND ENTERPRISES
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Tim Gokhman of New Land Enterprises at the Ascent project site.
BY ALEX ZANK, staff writer NEW YORK TIMES. Washington Post. NPR. PBS Newshour. Those are some of the major news outlets that have done reports on the Ascent project in Milwaukee. The 25-story, 259-unit apartment tower under construction at 700 E. Kilbourn Ave. has caught national and international attention on its way to becoming the world’s tallest hybrid mass timber building. “I don’t think we anticipated this level of attention,” said Tim Gokhman, managing director of Milwaukee-based New Land Enterprises, the development firm behind Ascent. “We knew it would be newsworthy, but this is a little bit more of a grander scale than we anticipated.” You could forgive New Land for focusing its attention on this single project. After all, the project team conducted studies and navigated approval processes that paved the way for mass timber construction of this scale in Wisconsin and the U.S. But the firm is also building the nearby Nova, a nine-story, 251-unit apartment building at 1237 N. Van Buren St. It’s also building the 66-unit Element at Fifth and Mineral streets in the Walker’s Point neighborhood. It is New Land’s hustle and innovative methods that kept it in the headlines throughout 2021, gar-
nering its recognition as the BizTimes Milwaukee Best in Business Small Business of the Year. Gokhman said Ascent will do more than claim the title of the tallest timber structure. “I actually think it’s less important that we’re setting a world record and more important that we’re serving as proof of concept that tall timber works,” he said. Although the technology has been around for a while, mass timber hadn’t been widely used in the country. Ascent helps legitimize the building method, Gokhman said. The project went through 14 tests with the U.S. Forestry Service. Wisconsin’s Department of Safety and Professional Services is now looking to Ascent while updating its commercial building code in hopes of making the code friendlier to mass timber. Gokhman pointed to other innovative features of Ascent. The seventh-floor swimming pool is enclosed and elevated, but the glass is operable, which gives tenants the feeling they’re outside during warmer months. Gokhman said he has heard of a similar pool being built in Chicago but hasn’t seen one anywhere else. The HVAC system in Ascent is so advanced that the chief executive of Mitsubishi Electric Trane flew to Milwaukee from Atlanta this fall to
iness of the Year
visit the project site. Gokhman said the heating and cooling systems in Ascent are water-driven. It will use radiant hydronic floor heating similar to other New Land projects, but it will also use variable refrigerant flow technology. “We do it because it’s all-around a better way to do it for the tenants (and) for energy efficiency,” he said. “In many ways it’s akin to mass timber. We believe that, in the right application, it’s a superior building technology. And we’ve always leaned toward superior building technologies.” New Land has more plans for the area around Ascent. The site where Ascent is being built is one of two sites the firm owns at Kilbourn and Van Buren. The other is across Kilbourn Avenue. “We had always imagined two towers bookending Kilbourn Avenue,” Gokhman said. This development vision also explains how Ascent got its name. Gokhman’s grandmother’s name started with an “A,” and his grandfather’s name began with a “Z.” His dad, New Land founder Boris Gokhman, wanted the two towers to be named after them. New Land plans to eventually build a “Z” tower. Tim Gokhman said New Land also builds strictly in urban environments. You won’t see a New Land project in a car-centric community. “My rule is, if it doesn’t have sidewalks, we’re probably not going to build there,” Gokhman said. But Gokhman sees plenty of challenges in Milwaukee and ways it could improve. He referenced a recent Brookings Institution study that showed Milwaukee was one of only four major U.S. cities that shrank in population in the past decade. Milwaukee should look at what similar cities, such as Cleveland, Minneapolis and Pittsburgh, are doing differently, he said. Gokhman said Milwaukee is lagging behind in its built environment – its streets, sidewalks and public spaces. Milwaukee is not pedestrian-friendly, which is a disadvantage as the city competes for talent, he said. Gokhman said this fact will be a “huge opportunity” for the next Milwaukee mayor. He added that developers can also think about how to improve the sidewalks, calm traffic and achieve other improvements to the built environment as part of their projects. “There are plenty of opportunities, and there’s certainly the ability, we just have to think a little bit bigger,” he said. biztimes.com / 23
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Celebrating innovators and entrepreneurs EACH YEAR, BizTimes Media recognizes top innovators and entrepreneurs in southeastern Wisconsin. At the recent Innovation + Entrepreneurship Forum, Jon Hammes, founder and partner of Milwaukee-based Hammes Co., was named the Lifetime Achievement Award winner. He joins a prestigious list of past BizTimes Media Lifetime Achievement Award winners including Harry Quadracci of Quad/Graphics, Robert Kern of Generac, George Dalton of Fiserv, Steven Marcus of The Marcus Corp., Sheldon Lubar of Lubar & Co., Michael Cudahy of Marquette Electronics, real estate developer Gary Grunau, and Valerie Daniels-Carter of V&J Holding Companies Inc. Hammes founded his company in 1991 and has grown it into the nation’s top developer of health care facilities. The company has also been project manager for the construction of several major sports facilities, including the Kohl Center in Madison and four NFL stadiums.
Good City Brewing co-founder Dan Katt is the recipient of the annual BizTimes Media Regional Spirit Award, largely in recognition of the company’s role in filling the Century City 1 building in Milwaukee’s Century City Business Park and working to attract more businesses there. ENTREPRENEURSHIP AWARD WINNERS INCLUDE: » James Kyle, CEO and founder, Millennium » Ryan Povlick, founder, Scratch Ice Cream » Dr. Indrajit Choudhuri, founder, MediCardia Health Inc. INNOVATION AWARD WINNERS INCLUDE: » Renaissant » Hug Sleep Read more about the Lifetime Achievement, Regional Spirt, Entrepreneurship and Innovation award winners in this special section.
Renaissant
Hug Sleep
840 N. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Drive, Suite 500, Milwaukee renaissant.com
TODAY’S POST-PANDEMIC BUSINESS climate has left many industries at the mercy of the global supply chain. While companies have little control over bottlenecks and shortages, at least one thing they can fully control – for better or for worse – is their loading docks. “Loading docks are often a source of significant time loss due to inefficient truck, yard and warehouse management,” said Patrick McGartland, co-founder and executive vice president of business development at Milwaukee-based IT company Renaissant. Through its digital platform Dock|C2, Renaissant helps warehouse and logistics companies improve loading operations. The tool organizes warehouse and transportation management system 24 / BizTimes Milwaukee DECEMBER 13, 2021
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PATRICK MCGARTLAND
data in one place, allowing companies to visualize their operations. It then optimizes shipping and receiving schedules based on weather, traffic patterns and other variables incorporated into its machine learning algorithms. McGartland and chief executive officer Tom Dean founded the company in 2018, initially to provide schools with a safety platform to micro-locate people and events. Then the COVID-19 pandemic shut down its primary market. “While we are solving a different problem today at the loading dock than when we first started; many of the same principles apply,” said McGartland.
AS A TROUBLED SLEEPER, Matt Mundt was searching for tips for better sleep when he discovered the benefits and drawbacks of weighted blankets. While the blankets aid some sleepers, they often trap in heat, are hard to wash and are difficult to transport. In 2018, after several months of brainstorming, prototyping and iterating, he came up with his own solution: a light-weight blanket that simulates the feeling of a weighted blanket. “The next morning, I woke up feeling well rested – something I had not felt in a while,” said Mundt, a graduate of the Milwaukee School of Engineering. “It was at that moment I realized others could benefit from this product and that I had a real shot at creating a successful business.” Mundt co-founded Hug Sleep, maker
MATT MUNDT
of the flagship Sleep Pod product, in 2019 with his wife, Angie Kupper. Their breakthrough came a year later, when the startup was catapulted to the national spotlight during its appearance on ABC’s “Shark Tank.” Hug Sleep not only left the show with a $300,000 investment but later did $4 million in sales thanks to the exposure of its product. “Appearing on the television show ‘Shark Tank’ exposed our company and product to an entirely new audience at a scale we had not previously experienced,” Mundt said. “The viewers resonated with our product and mission at a time of peak anxiety and uncertainty in the world due to COVID, at a time when many more people had difficulty sleeping. The result was record-breaking sales and exposure which helped launch Hug Sleep into its next chapter as a company.”
Jon Hammes built firm into a national leader in health care real estate BY ANDREW WEILAND, staff writer
THIRTY YEARS AGO, Jon Hammes left his position at Dallas-based Trammel Crow Company, one of the largest commercial real estate development firms in the nation. Hammes had been with Trammel Crow since 1974, the same year he received a master’s degree from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. At Trammel Crow, he worked his way up to becoming a managing partner, serving as the firm’s regional partner in its Chicago office. “It was just a great experience to understand a multitude of real estate (types) in a multitude of different geographies,” Hammes said. “That was probably the best business decision I ever made just coming out of school and working with a very entrepreneurial organization that embraced innovation.” Hammes left Trammel Crow in 1991 to start his own real estate development company in the Milwaukee area. However, it was a challenging time to do so. The economy was in a recession and the real estate industry was in even worse shape. “We knew it was going to be four, five or six years before real estate was going to be restabilized,” he said. “So, we looked at a lot of different ideas.” Hammes Co. turned its attention to health care. That industry was intriguing because of its size, and developers of health care buildings were “not quite as sophisticated as compared to the type of players we were competing against during my Trammel Crow
tenure,” he said. Hammes thought his firm could apply its expertise to health care real estate, providing project management services to help facilities get built on time and on budget. “Which back then was rarely done,” he said. “But we felt if we could build a high-rise building in Atlanta, we should be able to take that same level of expertise … and provide that same discipline to health care.” At the time the health care real estate market was commodity-driven, so projects were usually awarded to the lowest bidder, Hammes said. Seeking an advantage and a better way to grow the business, Hammes Co. positioned itself as a consultant to guide health care providers through the planning and evaluation process for building new facilities, which helped the company get awarded project management contracts for the construction projects. “We rolled all of those services into a strategic planning group, and we were out in front of the market,” Hammes said. That approach led Hammes Co. to become the industry leader. For 19 years, it has been ranked as the nation’s top health care facility developer by Modern Healthcare’s Construction & Design Survey. The company also became a major player in sports facility development. It started in the 1990s when UW-Madison was working on plans for the Kohl Center. The project was behind schedule and over budget. The state turned to the private sector to manage it, and, through an
JON HAMMES
RFP process, Hammes Co. was selected. “I guess the thought was if we could build a high-rise office building or a hospital, we should be able to take those same fundamental disciplines and apply it to a sporting facility,” Hammes said. After the completion of the Kohl Center, Hammes Co. became project manager for several other major sports facility projects, including Ford Field for the Detroit Lions, the expansion of Lambeau Field in Green Bay, MetLife Stadium for the New York Giants and New York Jets and U.S. Bank Stadium for the Minnesota Vikings. Hammes Co. also launched a private equity fund in 2014 to raise capital for health care real estate investment and development. The fund was necessary to help it compete with large real estate investment trusts. The company initially raised $400 million for the fund and three years later raised another $700 million. The money mostly came from state pension funds. By leveraging it with debt, the company generated more than $3 billion for its health care real estate investments and developments. “It’s been a significant game-changer for our organization,” Hammes said. The fund is an example of how the company has remained nimble and innovative. “We’ve always embraced the idea of staying ahead of the market a little bit and looking at our own bundle of ser-
vices and realizing internally where we need to change,” Hammes said. Hammes Co. has completed a staggering number of projects over its 30 years in business. “Any of these projects, large or small, it takes a team and it takes a lot of quality input from a lot of people,” Hammes said. “We’ve been able to attract quality talent and, just as importantly, retain the people that have been with us.” Hammes also said he’s grateful for mentors including Trammell Crow, whom he described as “a second father to me,” and James Graaskamp, professor and real estate department chair at UW-Madison. At Graaskamp’s urging, Hammes taught at UW-Madison for a time. He has served on several education-related boards including Teach for America, Wisconsin Foundation & Alumni Association, Marquette University and the Medical College of Wisconsin. “I think we have a responsibility to help others,” Hammes said. “It’s been a fun ride. It’s been a very rewarding career. There’s been a number of mentors and role models. … I feel very fortunate. “Nothing’s easy. It’s hard work. The subject of entrepreneurship is work. It takes a lot of work to build an organization that wants to be thought of as innovative and continue pursuing strategic initiatives. It just takes work. It’s not something that comes naturally.” biztimes.com / 25
Dan Katt, co-founder of Good City Brewing GOOD CITY BREWING and its co-founder Dan Katt are not shy when it comes to taking risks. In 2018, the company took a chance on the Century City Business Park on Milwaukee’s northwest side. An ownership group led by Katt bought the 53,000-square-foot Century City 1 building, where the brewery moved some of its operations. “We saw great potential for the site and future development and just felt like we could play a small part in getting the ball rolling,” Katt said. His partners were on board with the move. The decision meant that Good City had found the modern warehouse space it was seeking. It also meant the company would be a catalyst to bring
DAN KATT
investment in a part of the city that badly needs it. “We always intended the name ‘Good City’ to speak to all of Milwaukee, not just the East Side where we started, or downtown where we were expanding, but also the northwest side or wherever people call home,” Katt said. To be sure, the business park has been slow to develop. But the future appears brighter.
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After five years, the Century City 1 building is now finally fully leased. Katt has now filed plans to develop a similar facility next door. He said the high demand for modern industrial space in Milwaukee outpaces supply. Users also want immediate access to a dense labor pool. “Our hope is that we can continue to build momentum to attract businesses who care deeply about Milwaukee and who see value in being at Century City
like we do,” Katt said. Beyond that, Good City has seized another opportunity in Wauwatosa amid the COVID-19 pandemic, recently opening a taproom at the Mayfair Collection. At the time of the announcement, Katt said he and his colleagues thought they were crazy for even entertaining the idea, given the challenges surrounding the pandemic. But that’s what has defined Good City since its founding: its willingness to take calculated risks. Katt said he’d like to see more people in the community do the same. “My hope for Milwaukee would be to see more individuals taking risks, more people leaving comfy jobs to bet on (themselves) and start a new business,” he said. “For businesses, I am no expert or business genius, but I think the ‘risk’ should be to bet on our community here in Milwaukee, in southeast Wisconsin. Invest here, get really involved, put down roots and keep investing so our money stays here and is recycled into all sorts of economic prosperity for the entire region.”
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Dr. Indrajit Choudhuri
James Kyle
Founder and chief executive officer MediCardia Health Inc. Mequon (fully remote) medicardiahealth.com DR. INDRAJIT CHOUDHURI hadn’t set out to launch a company. But, as an electrophysiologist with the Froedtert South Medical Group, he saw a problem in the health care industry that needed a solution. Patient data is often housed across various platforms, requiring specialists like Choudhuri to log onto several portals to seek out a full picture of a patient’s medical information. Electronic health record platforms house a lot of information, but they aren’t comprehensive. “Using the systems that we use today, the information is scattered all over the place. On a patient-by-patient basis, I never had a great sense of confidence that I wasn’t missing something,” he said.
DR. INDRAJIT CHOUDHURI
Choudhuri began developing in 2017 the idea for what would become MediCardia – a digital health platform designed to aggregate, organize and operationalize comprehensive clinical data for clinicians. Initially bootstrapped by Choudhuri, the company incorporated in 2020, received its first round of angel funding that year, and has since raised a $3 million seed round. MediCardia, which is in Verona-based Epic Systems’ App Orchard platform, is now focused on bringing the product to market. In a change-averse industry, Choudhuri said his company is focused on innovating to improve patient care, reduce provider burnout and lower costs. “Changing the industry is what’s required,” he said.
Chief executive officer and founder Millennium 120 S. Wright St., Delavan Mymillenium.us
THIS YEAR, Delavan-based Millennium broke ground on a new 75,000-square-foot office and warehouse that will serve as the rapidly growing fiber optic network materials distributor’s new headquarters. The company was founded by James Kyle. Since 2004, he has led his team to acquire and develop a network of warehouses and services to help its clients plan, finance and build communications networks. “We offer enterprise-level resources to growing fiber optic network owners,” Kyle said. “Whether it’s engineering, financing their projects, extending capital equipment rental options or managing their materials, we help our clients connect homes to their network faster and at a lower cost per home passed.”
JAMES KYLE
Millennium is one of the fastest growing companies in America and has been named to the Inc. 5000 list six times. “Like so many entrepreneurs, having the mindset that no one can do this better than me drove the first 10 years of the business,” Kyle said. “(But) learning that allowing (employees) to do what they are good at gives them a sense of purpose and self-accountability that has resulted in explosive growth for Millennium and our whole team. “We encourage everyone in the organization to be curious. Don’t just sell products and services, listen to the clients and find ways to help them meet their vision of success. Allowing and promoting curiosity allows a business as simple as a material distributor to be innovative and grow at levels that far exceed industry trends.”
Ryan Povlick
The Right Ingredients Make All the Difference Reinhart's multi-disciplinary food and beverage team delivers a full complement of legal services to the food and beverage industry. We understand the unique challenges you face. Our attorneys have the experience necessary to guide you through the regulatory maze, keep you updated on trends and emerging issues, protect your hard-earned assets, and minimize your risk and liability.
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Founder Scratch Ice Cream 1818B N. Farewell Ave., Milwaukee (production facility) scratchicecream.com
WHEN MILWAUKEE-BASED Scratch Ice Cream launched in 2016, its handpacked pints of small-batch ice cream were sold out of display freezers at a few frozen yogurt shops in the area. Today, the company’s retail footprint spans 50 locations across southeastern Wisconsin, including restaurants, grocery stores and storefronts at Zócalo food truck park and Crossroads Collective food hall. Founder Ryan Povlick took interest in ice cream production early in his recovery from a heroin addiction. Working for his aunt and uncle’s frozen yogurt business, Yo Mama!, he spent off time learning and developing recipes from scratch. Povlick owns the business with his brother Justin Povlick.
RYAN AND JUSTIN POVLICK
Earlier this year, Scratch landed a contract to sell its products across Sendik’s Food Market’s 16-store footprint. The deal was a major milestone, especially as business recovered from the COVID-19 pandemic. But as challenging as it was for Scratch and other local businesses, Povlick believes the pandemic spurred the startup’s breakthrough. “The day after we were forced to shut down our dine-in at our shop, we launched a door delivery service, called Care Packs,” he said. “It took off on social media, and we got a lot of exposure to people that never heard of our brand.” While delivery sales carried the business through those early months, it was the newfound brand awareness that has fueled Scratch’s growth.
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Special Report MANUFACTURING: FOOD & BEVERAGE
First Choice Ingredients finds the right fit with Royal DSM BY ARTHUR THOMAS, staff writer JIM PEKAR’S DREAM was always to build First Choice Ingredients into a company with $100 million in annual revenue. When he agreed to sell the company to the Dutch firm Royal DSM at a multiple of around 20-times earnings, First Choice was on pace to deliver $75 million in sales this year and Pekar could see the path to hitting the $100 million target. Based in Germantown, First Choice ferments and blends dairy products into clean-label dairy and dairy-based savory flavorings. From salad dressings to soups to restaurants, there’s a good chance you’ve eaten something recently that includes its products. First Choice has also found traction in plant-based products, helping to further spur its growth.
Cheese is added to a vessel at First Choice Ingredients in Germantown. The company makes dairy concentrates in pastes, liquids and powders.
But the possibility of tax changes, including on capital gains, following the 2020 election led Pekar, like many other business owners, to take a closer look at selling the business.
Selling now also gives First Choice a better chance to achieve Pekar’s even bigger vision for the company he started in his basement in 1994. “My grand number has always been $500 mil-
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lion,” he said. “For us to reach $500 million we had to do international business and that meant manufacturing our products at international sites and then distribute from there.” Pekar pointed out that, beyond concerns about freight costs, it would be easier to sell internationally if customers knew the company was using manufacturing, raw materials and people from that region. A decade ago, Pekar – who’s now in his early 60s – might have partnered with a private equity firm, sold 30% or 40% of the company and continued to grow the business. Today, partnering with DSM is the easiest way for First Choice to reach that goal. “If I was ever going to see $500 million, I needed to partner with a big boy,” Pekar said. That’s where DSM comes into the picture. The company – which had sales of €8.1 billion in 2020 and serves a variety of markets, including animal feed, dietary supplements, early life nutrition, food and beverage, personal care, automotive and electronics – has production facilities in Europe, Asia and South America, opening up sales growth possibilities. “Our companies are a great fit, with a shared passion for science-based solutions for delicious, nutritious and sustainable food and beverage prod-
ucts,” Geraldine Matchett and Dimitri de Vreeze, co-CEOs of Royal DSM, said when the deal was announced. “This acquisition is an attractive next step for DSM as we continue to build our health, nutrition and biosciences capabilities.” Fit was a big part of what Pekar was looking for in a buyer. He’d built the company with the support of his wife, Lisa. Three of his four children worked in the business. He saw employees as family and swore off the advice that says you shouldn’t work with friends and family. Finding the right landing place for the business was important. He worked with Houlihan Lokey as his investment bank and worked his way down from nine companies to five and then three. As it turns out, DSM, which paid $453 million, was not the highest offer and others were offering more than $480 million. “It was strictly because they showed the best company to place my people with,” Pekar said. He was also looking for someone that would be a good cultural fit. “We’re successful. The last thing I want to do is have somebody come in and say ‘hey, I know your business better than you,’” Pekar said. At the same time, Pekar doesn’t plan to stick
around. He will formally leave the company at the end of the year. He knows there will be changes and he might not agree with all of them. “I would have everybody looking at me,” Pekar said, noting that almost everything at the company came across his desk at some point. “DSM is in a great position to take First Choice to a whole new level.” Pekar also left $5 million for bonuses to First Choice’s roughly 100 employees, and DSM added another $2.5 million. Half of the bonus was paid when the deal closed and the other half will be paid after a year as a tool to help retain the employees that built the company into what it became. “Let’s face it, dairy is not very glamorous,” Pekar said. “… Everybody wants to be a flavorist, everybody wants to be a flavor chemist. You can be those things, but when you’re doing it with something as simple as dairy, you know the glamor is not there, but all the people that we had on treated butter, cream, cheese and buttermilk, they treated it as if it was gold.” Pekar expects First Choice to keep its facilities in Germantown and Menomonee Falls under DSM, adding that it will need another dry manufacturing site at some point. “Our biggest challenge right now … is people,” he said. n
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BANKING & FINANCE
New CEO putting Associated Bank in growth mode BY ARTHUR THOMAS, staff writer ANDREW HARMENING was already familiar with Associated Bank’s core markets. He grew up in Chicago, has been coming to family reunions in Wisconsin for 30 years and has a brother living in Minnesota. Now the chief executive officer of the Green Bay-based bank, Harmening said he was attracted to the opportunity to lead because of its good brand, reputation for customer satisfaction, engaged board and good risk culture. “To me, those are all building blocks and then you get to say ‘OK, how do we become a growth company?’” Harmening said. After taking over as CEO in April, Harmening spent 10 weeks talking with 400 of his new colleagues and gathering feedback from the wider company. In September, Associated unveiled new strategic plans aimed at accelerating the bank’s growth. Those plans include expanding into auto and
equipment financing and asset-based lending. Auto financing alone is expected to add $2.5 billion to Associated’s outstanding loans by the end of 2023. Asset-based and equipment lending will add another $600 million. Upwards of $250 million in additional loans will come from bolstering commercial middle-market lending, enhancing small business and consumer direct lending and retooling the bank’s mass affluent strategy. Harmening said he had some of the ideas coming into his new job but also wasn’t sure exactly where Associated Bank would find opportunity. “You can read any report you want, but you don’t really know what you’re getting until you arrive,” he said. Talking to his new colleagues was energizing, Harmening said, and he found a desire for the bank to be bold, compete in the communities it serves and remain independent. He also noticed pride in the bank being based in Wisconsin.
Andrew Harmening
“When I thought about those things, I thought about what is local for us? And we have heavy manufacturing, so equipment finance was logical, I didn’t have that on my mind before I came here,
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but it was a byproduct of engaging the communities that we’re in,” Harmening said. In announcing the new plans, he noted Associated is already doing business with many potential equipment financing clients but doesn’t currently have an offering to meet the need. Beyond adding new lending and enhancing existing business, Harmening said he also knew the bank would need to be digitally forward.
“ THE ECONOMY IS IN PRETTY GOOD SHAPE, OUR UNEMPLOYMENT NUMBERS ARE LOW, GDP HAS BEEN STRONG, AND SO IT’S A MATTER OF CAN THEY KEEP UP WITH THE GROWTH OF THE ECONOMY. ... WE ACTUALLY THINK WE’RE INVESTING EXACTLY WHERE THERE’S MOMENTUM.” —Andrew Harmening, chief executive officer of Associated Bank
“Five, ten years ago, it was OK to be a fast follower entirely,” he said. “Today, you have to lead in some version of what you do digitally, and then you can follow in some others.” Associated is redirecting $50 million of spending over the next five years to digital. The bank plans to launch a new digital platform for retail banking at the end of the first quarter. When it does, Harmening said it will have features unique to Associated. The bank also plans a revamp of its digital platform for commercial customers in 2023. In discussing Associated’s plans, Harmening repeatedly used the phrase “people-led, digitally enabled” – and people certainly play an important role in it. The bank plans to increase its full-time employment by 250 over the next 12 months, including 200 hires related to technology or in revenue-driving roles. The hiring has already started with more than 40 people brought on for the new auto lending business, hiring a leader for the asset-based lending
Associated Bank plans add $150 million in equipment finance loans by the end of 2022 and grow the total to more than $300 million in 2023.
business and adding to its middle-market team. It might seem that growing the team in a tight labor market would prove challenging, but Harmening said shifting to a growth mindset and having a vision for where the bank is headed helps. “I find that people want to make a difference,” he said. Associated has also made promotions to boost its small business and wealth teams and Harmening noted that the hires the bank has already announced have led to more people being willing to have a conversation about joining the bank. “Success breeds success,” he said. It also might seem the bank would be challenged to grow at a time of low interest rates and businesses and consumers in good shape financially, in part due to the amount of government support during the pandemic. When Harmening visited with customers in central Wisconsin in early November, he heard from many about supply chain issues and challenges hiring, but many also said they’d had their
best year ever. “The economy is in pretty good shape, our unemployment numbers are low, GDP has been strong and so it’s a matter of can they keep up with the growth of the economy,” Harmening said. “We actually think we’re investing exactly where there’s momentum.” While Associated is aiming to grow, don’t expect to see the bank expand beyond its current footprint in the near term. “I feel like you need to be good at home first,” Harmening said. Pursuing acquisitions also isn’t a priority. “The question of scale is one that comes up all the time,” Harmening said. “If you ask a $5 billion bank, they think they need to be 10, if it’s 10, they need to be 20 and so on. That’s not lost on me and we of course see all the deals coming by. The first thing we need to do is be a growth company, be known for something.” “Assuming that you execute on that, then scale can be helpful,” he added. n
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LESLIE WALTKE DP, DPT
MARK STEVENS MANAGER OF CHILDREN’S PROGRAMS
CANCER REHABILITATION SPECIALIST
AURORA SINAI MEDICAL CENTER
BizTimes Milwaukee presents its second annual showcase of Notable Heroes in Health Care, spotlighting accomplished medical professionals across southeastern Wisconsin. The providers on the following pages demonstrate the diversity of talent and dedication in the region.
METHODOLOGY: The honorees do not pay to be included. Their profiles were drawn from nomination materials. This list features only individuals for whom nominations were submitted and accepted after a review by our editorial team. To qualify for the list, nominees must be based in southeastern Wisconsin, work in a health care organization and make meaningful contributions to their organization and/or patients.
CENTERS FOR INDEPENDENCE
Leslie Waltke has spent her career treating the cardiopulmonary, musculoskeletal, integumentary and functional needs of patients during and after treatment for cancer.
Mark Stevens, manager of children’s programs for the Centers for Independence, joined the organization in 2014 after serving two tours in Iraq as a combat medic with the U.S. Army.
Over the decades, she has treated thousands of people with cancer. She is respected nationally and internationally as an oncology physical therapist, cancer rehabilitation key opinion leader, author, educator and consultant.
In the service, Stevens was responsible for the health, welfare and morale of four platoon-level medics in a light infantry unit. On his return, he received certified nursing training from CFI, joined the children’s program staff as a CNA and became a registered nurse.
Since 2005, Waltke has been the cancer rehabilitation coordinator for Advocate Aurora Health, one of the United States’ largest NAPBC-accredited cancer programs and holder of the Commission on Cancer’s Outstanding Achievement Award.
Stevens, who has twice been nominated as Wisconsin Nurse of the Year, oversees CFI’s medical daycare for medically fragile children, school for children with complex medical needs, and early childhood Birth to Three program.
Her role, in addition to treating patients with cancer, includes cancer rehabilitation program development, program integration, education and training, and best practice and clinical standards development.
Although the medical day program closed briefly in 2020, Stevens, who is trained in a trauma-informed care approach, escalated safety protocols at the daycare and transport vans so children could return and receive the critical nursing care they needed.
Waltke teaches and lectures throughout the world to rehab professionals, universities, medical and oncology providers, cancer organizations as well as cancer patients and survivors. She is the founder of the Facebook and YouTube channel “The Recovery Room,” a platform of positive, medically accurate educational videos followed by thousands of cancer patients and survivors.
Without its reopening, the children, many of whom are ventilatoror tracheostomy-dependent, would have had to stay at home with costly in-home nursing and without the opportunity to receive care, learn and socialize.
Congratulations to Mark Stevens, the manager of MCFI’s Children’s Programs for being selected as one of the 2021BizTimes Media Notable Heroes in Health Care!
Cong the m Prog one o Nota
CANCER PHYSICAL THERAPIST
DR. LESLIE WALTKE Congratulations to ABCD founding and current board member, Leslie Waltke. Thank you for your outstanding service to ABCD, always helping us reach and support more people impacted by breast cancer.
MCFI’s early intervention and education programs help children with identified developmental challenges and reach their highest potential. MCFI is an affiliate of the Centers for Independence. LEARN MORE AT: www.mcfi.net
OUR MISSION PARTNERING WITH PEOPLE OF ALL ABILITIES TO ADVANCE THEIR
TOTAL HEALTH.
OUR VISION HEALTHY AND HOPEFUL COMMUNITIES
Contact us today at abcdbreastcancersupport.org 800-977-4121 | programdept@abcdmentor.org biztimes.com / 37
MCFI educ with i challe poten the C
LEAR
ANGELA JOHNSON
DR. MICHAEL GUTZEIT
CHIEF INFORMATION SECURITY OFFICER, VICE PRESIDENT
CHIEF MEDICAL OFFICER
CHILDREN’S WISCONSIN
CHILDREN’S WISCONSIN Angela Johnson, chief information security officer and vice president, is a “silent hero” each day at Children’s Wisconsin, said board member Tina Chang.
During the past 18 months, Dr. Michael Gutzeit has been the face of Children’s Wisconsin and a voice of reason and calm, said the health system’s president and chief executive officer Peggy Troy.
“But her expertise and commitment to our community especially shined when she was tapped to lead and enable the critical technology and infrastructure required for the Alternate Care Facility at State Fair Park,” said Chang, who is chief executive officer of Brookfield-based SysLogic Inc.
Gutzeit, chief medical officer at Children’s, embraced the challenges of COVID-19 as an opportunity, including helping create a robust telehealth service and strengthening the system’s Care Closer to Home initiatives with new clinics throughout eastern Wisconsin, Troy said.
The overflow facility supported the growing number of COVID-19 patients and optimized community bed capacity for those who needed treatment. “The task might sound straightforward, but it was certainly more complex since it involved coordinating numerous health systems; the entire team needed to move with extraordinary speed – with no precedence – in order to stand up this new facility,” Chang said.
“He’s always available to offer his unique insight into an issue, no matter how big or small,” she said. “During the fall of 2020, when adult hospitals were facing a surge of patients with COVID-19, he worked with our hospital leaders to devise a plan that would allow Children’s to accept adult patients while maintaining our ability to provide the best and safest care to kids.”
Johnson spent many hours to extend internet connectivity, communication technology and complex critical medical systems to the facility.
While focused on large initiatives, Gutzeit also continues to talk directly to families, offering comfort and guidance, Troy said.
“Technologists would especially appreciate the daunting obstacles that needed to be overcome to create protected and isolated virtual environments while adhering to strict governance, compliance, security and licensing protocols,” Chang said.
GO BABY GO CHILDREN’S WISCONSIN The Go Baby Go program at Children’s Wisconsin provides motorized cars to young children with special needs to improve mobility and combat learned helplessness. It was founded as a collaboration between the health system’s Physical and Occupational Therapy department and Marquette University’s Biomedical Engineering department by physical and occupational therapist Allison Friel, physical therapist Elizabeth Conrath, and Dr. Gerald Harris, director of the Orthopaedic & Rehabilitation Engineering Center at the Medical College of Wisconsin. Conrath and Friel today serve as lead clinicians for Go Baby Go. On average, the program provides cars to more than 70 children annually. The cars are designed specifically for each child and their needs. Last year, despite the COVID-19 pandemic, more than 30 families received cars, and this year the program has distributed nearly 60. Self-initiated mobility is important for a child’s overall development, and very young children are in a critical period for developing brain plasticity and learning, said Juliet Kersten, vice president of ambulatory and regional services for Children’s Wisconsin. “Through the use of miniature motorized cars (children with special needs) can foster confidence, facilitate holistic development and reduce their dependence on caregivers,” Kersten said.
38 / BizTimes Milwaukee DECEMBER 13, 2021
DR. SUSANNE CABRERA PEDIATRIC ENDOCRINOLOGIST, PHYSICIAN LEAD
GENDER HEALTH CLINIC, CHILDREN’S WISCONSIN Dr. Susanne Cabrera is a pediatric endocrinologist at Children’s Wisconsin. But for countless LBGTQ+ youth in southeastern Wisconsin, she’s a savior, according to Peggy Troy, president and chief executive officer of Children’s Wisconsin. As the lead behind the Children’s Wisconsin Gender Health Clinic, Cabrera has helped hundreds of kids who have questions or concerns about their gender identity. Prior to 2016, when Cabrera saw kids at the Children’s Wisconsin Endocrinology Clinic who had questions about their gender identity, she would have to refer them to other health systems in Illinois. She saw there was a need in the community and she took action to fill it, Troy said. In 2016, Cabrera – along with child health psychologist Jacquelyn Smith and Lori Bush, APNP – started the Gender Health Clinic at Children’s Wisconsin, an interdisciplinary team of endocrinologists and psychologists who work to support youth who have questions or concerns about their gender identity. It was the first clinic in southeastern Wisconsin dedicated exclusively to caring for gender-diverse kids.
TRACH/VENT TEAM CHILDREN’S WISCONSIN The Children’s Wisconsin trach/vent team implemented virtual appointments during the COVID-19 pandemic and achieved impressive results despite not being able to see patients in-person, according to Lisa Jentsch, vice president of patient care and service lines for the health system. Every year, approximately 100 kids at Children’s Wisconsin have a tracheostomy tube placed. The ultimate goal is to reduce the time kids need to use a trach and successfully transition them off, a process called decannulation. When the trach/vent team moved to virtual appointments, doctors monitored parameters remotely and also reviewed historical trends to see how patients were responding to changes over time. During appointments, providers assessed patients on camera, reviewed their data and made adjustments in real time. Patients were still able to meet with all of their normal specialists, with providers from respiratory, pulmonology, ENT and speech therapy swapping out throughout the virtual appointment. The trach/vent team estimates they were able to decannulate patients at least two to three months faster utilizing virtual appointments. While the team has moved back to in-person visits, virtual appointments continue to be part of their care model.
REGINA COLE CLINICAL RESEARCH COORDINATOR
CHILDREN’S WISCONSIN Regina Cole, clinical research coordinator for the Herma Heart Institute at Children’s Wisconsin, gives 110% to her work, engaging with patients and families while working to support physicians, colleagues say. “She is selfless and dedicated, making herself available 24/7 and graciously working evenings and weekends to support our mission of improving outcomes for kids with congenital heart disease,” said Joy Lincoln, director of Cardiovascular Research for HHI. “Regina has touched the hearts and souls of so many of our patient families and team members, through the organization of HHI Parent Education Days and the family zoo picnics.” Cole is also an advocate for the community and engages in diversity, inclusion and equity initiatives. She has been a leader on Children’s campus to ensure that processes and programs are impartial and fair, Lincoln said. Cole has served on the Medical College of Wisconsin Diversity and Inclusion Action Committee for years as a member and co-chair. She is also a member of the MCW Community Citizenship Mission Engagement Group and leads the HHI Diversity, Inclusion and Equity group.
Heroes to the kids of Wisconsin
These heroes reflect our commitment to not only
Michael Gutzeit, MD Chief medical officer
making every child in our care better, but to
Angela Johnson Chief information security officer Vice president of supply chain
to the COVID-19 pandemic; supporting diversity,
Susanne Cabrera, MD Gender Health Clinic Allison Friel, MOT, OTR/L, C/NDT Elizabeth Conrath, PT, DPT, PCS Go Baby Go Program Jennifer Henningfeld, MD Cecilia Lang, APNP Trach/Vent Team Regina Cole, BS, MT(ASCP), CCRP Clinical research coordinator Herma Heart Institute
making the world better for all kids. Responding inclusion and equity; improving access to mental and behavioral health; driving innovation and research; fostering collaboration — these are the mission, vision and values of Children’s Wisconsin brought to life. Congratulations to the Notable Heroes in Health Care from Children’s Wisconsin! And thank you for making a positive impact on our kids and our community.
Learn more at childrenswi.org
VANESSA FREITAG
DR. ERIN O’TOOL
MELISSA KERSTEN
VICE PRESIDENT OF PHARMACY AND LAB
FAMILY MEDICINE PHYSICIAN
ADVANCED PRACTICE NURSE PRACTITIONER
ASCENSION WISCONSIN
ASCENSION MEDICAL GROUP WISCONSIN
ASCENSION COLUMBIA ST. MARY’S
During the challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic, Vanessa Freitag developed innovative ways to meet the crisis with its constantly emerging needs, according to colleagues. As vice president of pharmacy and lab at Ascension Wisconsin, Freitag began serving as the logistics section chief for the health system’s Incident Command in March 2020. She led pharmacy, testing, EVS, facilities management, clinical engineering and laundry services for 24 hospitals and more than 100 clinics and ambulatory sites, from Racine to Eagle River. Freitag also accepted the additional responsibility of serving as chief pharmacy officer for the region’s 776-bed Alternative Care Facility to support COVID-19 emergency response efforts. She led a team of pharmacists to develop plans for ACF medication distribution services in just eight days. Freitag led the team to establish outpatient infusion services for COVID-positive patients. Ascension’s partnership with the Pharmacy Society of Wisconsin helped keep statewide hospital pharmacy leaders informed. “Vanessa was unflappable and her calm approach to dealing with every curve ball thrown at her was nothing short of remarkable,” said Monica Hilt, Ascension Wisconsin’s chief operating officer.
Ascension Wisconsin physician Dr. Erin O’Tool created Wisconsin’s first post-acute COVID care clinic in October 2020. The Oak Creek clinic’s focus is on patients recovering from COVID-19 who experience symptoms long after their initial diagnosis. O’Tool’s interest in this patient group began before there was a name for the phenomenon now known as long COVID. He conducted research and listened to patients to make sure they knew they were believed, said Patty Golden, clinical vice president of Ascension Medical Group Wisconsin. Because long COVID symptoms vary widely and involve multiple organs and parts of the body, O’Tool launched a multidisciplinary outpatient access point to address a variety of symptoms. Two additional locations have since opened in Milwaukee and Racine. O’Tool has shared his expertise with colleagues across the country and developed a playbook for other Ascension providers to follow, Golden said. “Dr. O’Tool believes the pandemic is a generational defining moment and felt he needed to respond in the most meaningful way he could,” Golden said. “His compassionate and expert care has brought patients to see him not only from Wisconsin but across the Midwest.”
KYLE JANSSON
CARIN SCHULTZ
DIRECTOR
VICE PRESIDENT OF OPERATIONS
UWM PROTOTYPING CENTER During the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, Kyle Jansson and the UWM Prototyping Center team worked around the clock and collaborated with partners in health care, engineering and manufacturing to address the crisis, according to Carrie Wettstein, producer of the Maker Faire Milwaukee. Jansson, who is the director of the center, and his team worked with RoddyMedical and a network of peer engineers to create respirator masks for clinicians to use. The masks were created via two different processes. One mask was an injection-molded mass-produced version. The UWM Prototyping Center led the design process, and Waukesha-based Husco, which led the Milwaukee MaskForce consortium of public and private entities in Milwaukee, mass produced the masks. The other mask was a thermoformable and moldable design, which was conformable to faces and included an off-the-shelf filter that could be made with a 3D printer, a shop vac, and a hair dryer and silicone molding compounds. Jansson, who comes from a family of “makers,” combined his passion and hands-on fabrication skill sets with advanced prototyping machines to meet a critical need, Wettstein said.
40 / BizTimes Milwaukee DECEMBER 13, 2021
FRONTIDA ASSISTED LIVING When Carin Schultz joined Frontida Assisted Living as vice president of operations in 2010, she jumped in with both feet. At that time, Schultz joined a “meager yet enthusiastic team” of a struggling long-term care company in an industry she didn’t have previous experience in, said president and chief executive officer Crystal Miller. “Carin has been successful because of her sincere care for the residents, the caregivers and her coworkers,” Miller said. “Carin offers careful attention to the details that matter in creating a space where the whole person can be cared for. This whole-person care approach was especially valuable during the last 18 months when everyone, both team members and residents, was desperate for emotional connection in addition to essential safety.” Schultz shows care for caregivers, knowing it will empower them to deliver the best care, Miller said. “The most fulfilling thing the Frontida leadership team hears is a caregiver saying that their life has been forever changed because of the personal values they adopted because of what they experienced during their work life,” Miller said. “Carin Schultz is a driving force in this impact that will affect generations of lower-income workers.“
Melissa Kersten, an advanced practice nurse practitioner at Ascension Columbia St. Mary’s Regional Burn Center in Milwaukee, has dedicated nearly two decades of her life to burn care. Kersten pursued burn care after a nursing school rotation at the burn center, where she found the impact that nurses have on patients and their families inspiring, according to Darlene Sargent, manager of the Regional Burn Center and Neuro ICU at Ascension. After obtaining her APNP license in 2012, Kersten was instrumental in developing the center’s outpatient burn clinic, which opened in 2014 to reduce the wait time between an ER visit and follow-up care, Sargent said. In addition to her career as a nurse practitioner, Kersten has volunteered at the Summer Camp for Burn Injured Youth in East Troy since 2004, first as a camp counselor then as the director for the past five years. Hosted by the Professional Firefighters of Wisconsin Charitable Foundation, the free, week-long overnight camp helps children with life-changing burn injuries continue to heal from the emotional trauma of their burns and find a support system.
DR. DAVID GALBIS-REIG MEDICAL DIRECTOR OF ADDICTION MEDICINE
ASCENSION ALL SAINTS HOSPITAL Dr. David Galbis-Reig oversees addiction services at Ascension All Saints Hospital as medical director of addiction medicine for the Racine medical center. During the COVID-19 pandemic, Galbis-Reig began providing outpatient services to his patients via telehealth. State and federal agencies temporarily eased some restrictions for providers to increase access to treatment, allowing Galbis-Reig to provide addiction consultations with patients virtually at hospitals across the state. Over the past year, he and his team saw an additional nearly 1,500 patients at Ascension St. Francis Hospital and Ascension SE Wisconsin Hospital’s Elmbrook, Franklin and St. Joseph campuses. “His skills have never been needed more as alcohol and other substance use disorders are killing Americans at epidemic proportions,” said Kristin McManmon, Ascension Wisconsin regional hospital president. “Dr. Galbis-Reig lost more patients to addiction during the pandemic than he did his previous 15 years practicing addiction medicine. This has been undoubtedly challenging but he chooses to focus on his faith, his patients and the compassionate care he provides them,” McManmon added.
CULINARY TEAM
SOUTH SHORE HEALTH DEPARTMENTS
CLEMENT MANOR
SOUTH MILWAUKEE/ST. FRANCIS, CUDAHY AND OAK CREEK
Clemont Manor’s culinary team plays an essential role at the Greenfield-based continuing care retirement community. The 40-member team prepares meals for up to 200 residents across seven dining rooms. Over the past year, the staff had to change their dining experience model for the senior residents. Adapting to COVID-19 health guidelines, the team prepared meals in individual packaging and delivered them to each resident, while also ensuring all dietary needs were met, said Natalie Strade, Clemon Manor’s marketing and media specialist.
The South Milwaukee/St. Francis, Cudahy and Oak Creek municipal health departments have been working together on COVID-related initiatives since the beginning of the pandemic. Partnerships included a drive-thru testing clinic in South Milwaukee’s downtown, multiple traveling vaccination clinics and a standing vaccination clinic at the former Kmart store in Cudahy. These projects were all executed while simultaneously conducting disease investigation, responding to citizen questions, enforcing local
orders within the respective communities and continuing regular health programming. Staffing included an all-hands-on-deck approach and the hiring of temporary employees to account for additional responsibilities, said Patrick Brever, assistant city administrator for South Milwaukee. “The pandemic response from these departments has required constant communication, collaboration, and long working hours for all involved. The South Shore health departments and their staffs have all demonstrated what it means to be a hero in the health care field. Our communities are privileged to have such a dedicated team,” Brever said.
“The team believes in creating a dining experience that provides a healthy menu designed with input from our residents, meeting all the food group requirements, and understanding all residents’ dietary needs,” Strade said. “We also have a partnership with Clare Gardens in Burlington, an organic gardening project feeding the health needs for seniors in senior living facilities.” Clement Manor’s executive chefs have joined the community’s staff following careers at the likes of Potawatomi Hotel & Casino, the Waldorf Astoria Chicago and Sanford Restaurant.
COR WELLNESS COR Wellness chief executive officer Jerry Curtin has spent his career working to understand the essence of employee performance at GE, Eaton, Standard Process and now COR Wellness. Sussex-based COR provides on-site wellness coaching and diagnostics to employees at their workplace. The COR Wellness model features voluntary participation by employees and generates a return on investment for employers with a proprietary client-specific “Measure-It-To-Manage-It” calculator. COR monitors and tracks key wellness factors and variables in employees, including depression, blood glucose, blood pressure, body weight, tobacco use, physical inactivity, stress, cholesterol, nutrition and eating habits and alcohol consumption. “The results have been incredible,” said Tom Nicholson, operations and finance vice president of Mukwonago-based GS Global Resources, a COR client. “COR Wellness gives us a competitive advantage recruiting and retaining talent. We value company culture. When we brag to a candidate that we offer on-site and virtual wellness coaches, it’s a game-changer. It helps us attract the best.”
DR. LYLE IGNACE
CRYSTAL CEPICAN
CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER
RN CASE MANAGER
GERALD L. IGNACE INDIAN HEALTH CENTER Early in the COVID-19 pandemic, Dr. Lyle Ignace, CEO of the Gerald L. Ignace Indian Health Center in Milwaukee, knew that clinic staff and people in the urban Native American community were being deeply impacted by the health crisis. “It quickly became apparent that Native American people experienced the highest hospitalization and death rates of any ethnic or racial groups, with some tribal communities burying entire generations of elders,” said Melissa Ugland, public health advisor at the center. Ignace began a twice-weekly webinar for staff and a weekly Virtual Tribal Town Hall for people in Native communities in Wisconsin and outside the state, allowing attendees to ask questions in real time. Ignace provided more than 225 staff webinars and more than 75 Town Halls during the first year of the pandemic. In December, Ignace was vaccinated live on Facebook to demonstrate vaccine safety, a video that had more than 16,000 views on Facebook and was shared widely by local television stations. When it became apparent that rates of cases, hospitalization and death were not declining fast enough, the clinic partnered with the Wisconsin Department of Health Services and the Wisconsin National Guard teams to host vaccination events reaching roughly 1,100 Natives and their households.
LAKE AREA FREE CLINIC Crystal Cepican, a bilingual RN case manager at the Lake Area Free Clinic, is known to patients for her compassion and to the medical community for being an advocate of her patients, colleague say. LAFC serves low-income residents of Waukesha County. During the COVID-19 pandemic, when patients weren’t being seen in person, Cepican used virtual visits to make sure no one slipped through the cracks. “She worked long hours on patient files that were literally stacked over her head. She made sure patients’ needs were met, even delivering medication to their homes,” said Megan Welsh, clinic marketing and development director. Just one example, Welsh said, is a man who came to the clinic needing surgery. Cepican took him to the ER and helped him apply for financial hardship for the visit. She also connected him to the Hispanic Health Resource Center for assistance to pay for surgery. After the surgery, LAFC provided his medication and care, and Cepican helped him obtain insurance to transition out and have greater access to the specialist care he needed. “He’s now working and providing for his family,” Welsh said. “He’s positioned to be able to receive a transplant if needed.”
biztimes.com / 41
REGGIE MOORE DIRECTOR OF VIOLENCE PREVENTION POLICY AND ENGAGEMENT
MEDICAL COLLEGE OF WISCONSIN’S COMPREHENSIVE INJURY CENTER Reggie Moore works to find solutions to the growing violence epidemic in Wisconsin. In his role at the Medical College of Wisconsin, Moore serves as a leader in public health, community engagement, equity and social justice. Moore leads MCW’s local and statewide efforts in communities disproportionately burdened by interpersonal violence, ensuring that the voices of those most impacted are centered in the solutions to address violence as a public health disease, colleagues say. Recently, Moore’s Division of Violence Prevention received $6.6 million in federal funding to support its work. Prior to joining MCW in May 2021, Moore served as the director of violence prevention at the City of Milwaukee Health Department. During his tenure with the city, he helped develop Milwaukee’s first community-driven comprehensive violence prevention plan, known as the Blueprint for Peace, while expanding trauma services for youth and families exposed to violence, in partnership with Milwaukee County. He also launched 414 LIFE, a community-based violence interruption approach to reducing gun violence, in partnership with local hospitals and community agencies.
DR. LEONARD EGEDE DIRECTOR, CENTER FOR ADVANCING POPULATION SCIENCE
MEDICAL COLLEGE OF WISCONSIN Dr. Leonard Egede is professor of medicine, chief of the division of General Internal Medicine, director for the Center for Advancing Population Science and the inaugural Milwaukee community chair in health equity research at the Medical College of Wisconsin. Since he arrived at MCW in 2017, Egede has focused on creating change in health care disparities linked to ethnicity and socioeconomic status, according to Gregory Wesley, senior vice president of strategic alliances and business development at MCW. Egede has published more than 390 manuscripts detailing the effect of these disparities on health outcomes, including research illuminating the impact of depression on outcomes for diabetes and other chronic illnesses. “This work has not only contributed to widespread recognition that disparities impact health, but also moved the field forward to address those disparities,” Wesley said. “Dr. Egede’s success led him to expand his health equity operations globally, founding and serving as president of Indigenous Health International. He has led teams to provide direct care, offer community health screenings and work with communities to develop empowerment projects. These efforts improved outcomes for non-communicable diseases in sub-Saharan Africa and Central America.”
42 / BizTimes Milwaukee DECEMBER 13, 2021
DR. JESSE EHRENFELD
CATRINA WILLIAMSPARKER
DIRECTOR, ADVANCING A HEALTHIER WISCONSIN
RESPIRATORY THERAPIST
ADVOCATE AURORA HEALTH
PROFESSOR OF ANESTHESIOLOGY
Respiratory therapist Catrina Williams-Parker has worked in medicine for 21 years, spending most of those at Aurora West Allis Med-
MEDICAL COLLEGE OF WISCONSIN As director of Advancing a Healthier Wisconsin, an endowment set up by the Medical College of Wisconsin, Dr. Jesse Ehrenfeld directed nearly $5 million in emergency grants in 2020 to organizations that supported vulnerable populations statewide during the COVID-19 pandemic. Ehrenfeld is now leading AHW’s efforts to provide $8.5 million in grants to improve health equity across Wisconsin. Ehrenfeld, a professor of anesthesiology and senior associate dean for MCW’s School of Medicine, was named one of “10 Emerging Industry Leaders” by Managed Healthcare Executive Magazine in 2020. In addition to his AHW work, Ehrenfeld has continued his clinical practice as well as research on how information technology can improve patient safety, outcomes and health equity. He also advises the World Health Organization’s Digital Health Technical Advisory Group. Ehrenfeld was elected to the American Medical Association board of trustees in 2014 and is the immediate past president of the board. Ehrenfeld is also an advocate for LGBTQ individuals and in 2018 received the inaugural Sexual and Gender Minority Research Investigator Award from the director of the National Institutes for Health.
ical Center. She’s cared for hundreds of COVID-19 patients and has seen more of them lose their fight against the virus than anything she’s seen before. Each day, she prepares herself to bring a positive attitude to her patients, according to Advocate Aurora Health colleague Ben Hoekstra. Since the start of the pandemic, Williams-Parker has put in breathing tubes for patients in the ICU. Every few hours, she and the rest of the team reposition patients who have been proned to help them breathe, something medical practitioners have learned can give patients a better chance at recovering from the illness. Not all patients have made it. Williams-Parker’s time in the ICU has been heartbreaking, but she focuses on the wins when she has them, Hoekstra said. “COVID has taught me that no matter how life seems today, it might go a different way,” said Williams-Parker. “But as a respiratory therapist in the middle of a pandemic, we have to pray, cry and mentally prepare ourselves for our next workday.”
GEORGE MACKINNON
ALEJANDRO ROLDAN
DEAN, PROFESSOR OF PHARMACY
ADVOCATE AURORA HEALTH
MEDICAL COLLEGE OF WISCONSIN SCHOOL OF PHARMACY When George MacKinnon, founding dean and professor of pharmacy at the Medical College of Wisconsin School of Pharmacy, developed the doctor of pharmacy curriculum in 2015, the school was unable to include immunization training early on in the program due to state statutes for pharmacy practice. Since then, MacKinnon has worked to change the statutes. When it became apparent that a COVID-19 vaccine was likely to become available, he again brought up the topic with the Pharmacy Society of Wisconsin to advocate for a legislative change impacting pharmacy students’ training. MacKinnon suggested that during a pandemic, when all credentialed providers are needed, such distinctions would hinder the full deployment of vaccines. With the Legislature’s bipartisan bill and the governor’s approval, the suggested changes were enacted in late February 2021. Last fall, MacKinnon charged his leadership team to expand influenza clinics and open them to all students, staff and faculty. The intention was that these clinics would serve as the prototype for a COVID-19 immunization clinic at MCW. The clinic administered close to 20,000 vaccines from December 2020 to mid-April 2021.
NURSE PRACTITIONER
Working in several different roles has made Advocate Aurora Health nurse practitioner Alejandro Roldan even better at his current one, according to Advocate Aurora Health colleague Ben Hoekstra. Starting as a certified nursing assistant at Aurora St. Luke’s Medical Center in Milwaukee, Roldan learned from his colleagues as he worked his way through nursing school. He then applied that knowledge as a nurse on the cardiac transplant floor. Three years ago, Roldan finished his master’s degree and became a nurse practitioner in internal medicine at St. Luke’s. During Roldan’s 10 years with the health system, he has served as an example to the people who matter most to him, his kids, said Hoekstra. Roldan builds trusting relationships with patients so they feel comfortable talking with him, particularly Spanish-speaking patients, Hoekstra said. “I do everything for them. I want to teach them to take care of other people, especially when people are most vulnerable,” said Roldan. “It’s important to see people of color in roles like mine.”
NOVIR TEAM Novir’s team of health care workers has been on the front lines since the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic. The company, founded in early 2020 and based in Milwaukee’s Third Ward, has built a team of more than 65 employees to deliver full-service and remotely supported, on-site testing programs and vaccination clinics at more than 250 companies, schools and other organizations. Novir’s efforts have allowed the community to identify COVID cases, preventing outbreaks.
COMMUNITY SMILES DENTAL Amid the uncertainty at the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, many dental offices closed their doors, unsure how to adapt to serve their patients. The team at Community Smiles Dental recognized that, if it closed the doors to its Menomonee Falls and Waukesha clinics, patients needing emergency dental care would turn to an urgent care or emergency room for help, putting an additional burden on its health care partners. “So, we stayed open and learned as much as we could about how we needed to operate safely and we saw hundreds of emergency
appointments from March through June of 2020,” said Elizabeth Sheehan, director of operations at Community Smiles Dental. “Then, as the world prepared to re-open, we pivoted again and prepared to ramp up and get back to seeing our patients for more routine care. Our team has risen to every change, every ask in order to prioritize the needs of our patients.” “I am extremely proud of the dedication and service to others that the team at Community Smiles has provided,” said Renee Ramirez, chief executive officer of Community Smiles. “They are continually focused on providing compassionate, patient-centered care in this pandemic.”
As of late October, the Novir team had administered more than 100,000 tests through its mobile testing clinics, as well as thousands of vaccine doses. Because each setting comes with its own circumstances and potential challenges, Novir frequently adjusts its protocols and best practices for testing. The team has served non-English speakers, underserved communities and those with technology challenges. Novir health professionals also made an unplanned trip to northern Wisconsin to lead a mass testing event at a large manufacturer concerned about an outbreak, keeping the production lines moving.
SHERYL LAIRD
TERRI COHN
MIKE GIFFORD
EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR
EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR OF NURSING
PRESIDENT AND CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER
WOMEN’S CARE CENTER OF MILWAUKEE Sheryl Laird was one of the original employees at the Women’s Care Center of Milwaukee when it opened in 2010. She has served as a counselor, ultrasonographer, parent educator and center manager for WCCM. In 2017, she became the executive director. WCCM medical director Dr. James Linn oversees the health care and federal Clinical Laboratory Improvement Amendments compliance for the center. Linn, who is affiliated with Ascension Columbia St. Mary’s Hospital Milwaukee and the Sixteenth Street Community Clinic, is also an associate clinical professor of OB/GYN at the Medical College of Wisconsin. Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, Laird, Linn and the WCCM’s clinical team pivoted due to the Safer at Home order, holding counseling sessions over the phone, performing ultrasounds for those most in need and providing curbside delivery of essential baby supplies. “The WCCM team served women experiencing unplanned pregnancies every step of the way without compromising their standards of compassionate care,” said Michael Hansen, founding board member of WCCM.
ROGERS BEHAVIORAL HEALTH When Terri Cohn, MSN, RN, interviews potential nursing candidates, she always asks, “Why do you want to work in behavioral health?” “You have a story, I have a story, and each patient has a story,” Cohn said. “I want the people on this team to never judge how a story is created. It’s not our place to judge but to instead help an individual change a chapter in their story.” As executive director of nursing, Cohn oversees nursing services throughout Rogers Behavioral Health’s nine-state system. While her responsibilities involve big-picture needs, she makes it a priority to stay connected with daily nursing operations, according to colleagues. “Terri is very hands-on,” said Brad Riemann, chief clinical officer and chief operating officer. “She frequently rounds in our programs to get a pulse for what’s going on and to address challenging situations with patients.” “Terri’s leadership, effort and skill have been central to the success of our system’s COVID response and our ability to keep giving patients the care that they need in this pandemic,” said Dr. Jerry Halverson, chief medical officer.
VIVENT HEALTH The COVID-19 pandemic came with some particular challenges for Vivent Health president and chief executive officer Mike Gifford. Vivent’s HIV Medical Home model is based on delivering holistic care that addresses clients’ medical, emotional and social needs, but pandemic restrictions meant Gifford’s team needed to switch from a hands-on, high-touch model of care to a remote operation without restricting patient access to services or sacrificing quality of care. Limiting elective services in the short term was not an option; all services provided via the HIV Medical Home are considered essential, according to Bill Keeton, Vivent’s vice president and chief advocacy officer. Gifford’s team transitioned to “radical response mode” and reopened in a new virtual and home-delivery model of care, Keeton said. “Critical to the success of this transition was Mike’s frequent, clear and actionable communication with all internal and external stakeholders,” he said. Vivent continued to deliver services during the pandemic, caring for nearly 11,000 patients. It also completed seven M&A deals, diversified its board and cemented its financial strength, Keeton added.
biztimes.com / 43
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BizTimes Milwaukee presents its inaugural showcase of Notable Food and Beverage Executives, spotlighting leaders who are making significant contributions to the F&B industry throughout southeastern Wisconsin.
METHODOLOGY: The honorees do not pay to be included. Their profiles were drawn from nomination materials. This list features only individuals for whom nominations were submitted and accepted after a review by our editorial team. To qualify for the list, nominees must be based in southeastern Wisconsin and must serve in a leadership role in their organization.
PAUL BARTOLOTTA
RYAN REIGLE
CHEF, CO-FOUNDER AND OWNER
PRESIDENT AND CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER
THE BARTOLOTTA RESTAURANTS
REGAL WARE INC.
Over the past 18 months, chef Paul Bartolotta has led The Bartolotta Restaurants through the COVID-19 pandemic — a challenging time for the industry — by navigating the reopening of more than a dozen restaurant and catering venues, while continually adapting to change. Bartolotta has worked to turn the challenge into an opportunity, welcoming back former team members while adding new roles to help grow the organization. Over the past two years, he and his team have worked to reimagine menus with the reopening of restaurants such as Bacchus – A Bartolotta Restaurant, Lake Park Bistro and Ristorante Bartolotta dal 1993. The Bartolotta organization has also continued to support the Milwaukee community and has partnered with numerous organizations, including the Wisconsin Humane Society and Discovery World, with the goal of supporting the community. Bartolotta serves on the board of directors of the Wisconsin Restaurant Association, the Kitchen Cabinet and the Metropolitan Milwaukee Association of Commerce.
In March, Ryan Reigle stepped into his role as president and chief executive officer of Regal Ware Inc., a family-owned, Kewaskum-based cookware company focused on food and beverage preparation products. Reigle is a fourth-generation descendent of Regal Ware founder J.O. Reigle and succeeded his father Jeffrey Reigle. While his career officially began with Regal Ware in 2007, he was born into the family business. In his previous role as senior vice president of sales at Regal Ware, Reigle grew new business year-over-year while focusing on team growth and development, according to Milissa Rick, executive vice president and chief marketing officer for Regal Ware. “A driven leader with a strong customer-centric focus and extensive background in global sales and operations, he has been instrumental in implementing strategies and delivering exceptional value to customers,” said Rick. “His visionary approach is inspiring to employees and has created a strong bond across the entire organization through fulfilling the company’s mission of enriching life by bringing families together across the world.”
Congratulations Ryan Reigle
for your inclusion in the inaugural BizTimes Notable Food and Beverage Executives list!
? Ryan Reigle President & CEO, Regal Ware, Inc.
From your team members at the Regal Ware brands:
HEIDI CHADA
JULIO HENRIQUEZ
VICE PRESIDENT OF FOOD SERVICES
GENERAL MANAGER
WISCONSIN CENTER DISTRICT
CENTERS FOR INDEPENDENCE Heidi Chada, vice president of food services for the Centers for Independence, has worked with the organization since 2008. Her program is responsible for preparing, packaging and distributing meals to more than 100 schools and early childhood learning centers in Milwaukee.
Since arriving in Milwaukee, Wisconsin Center District general manager Julio Henriquez has shown initiative in creating buzzworthy experiences for guests at WCD venues, according to colleagues.
DAN JACOBS AND DAN VAN RITE CO-OWNERS
JVR CATERING
When the COVID-19 pandemic forced schools to close, Chada revamped her department’s entire process to ensure children and their families would not go hungry.
Milwaukee chef duo Dan Jacobs and Dan Van Rite – referred to as “Dan Dan” – are working to make significant changes within their three restaurants, DanDan, EsterEv and Fool’s Errand.
Her department began creating meal kits to distribute to community centers and other locations throughout the city, providing children with food while they learned remotely or were in quarantine. Chada’s department distributed 2.5 million free meals from the pandemic’s onset to the end of December 2020.
The chefs implemented a 20% service fee throughout their establishments, providing sustainable, higher-paying wages, 401(k) benefits, health insurance and vacation time for each member of their staff.
Schools and others organization that partner with Chada’s department receive complementary education and newsletters on nutrition and its relationship to health. CFI’s food services offers paid training for people of all backgrounds, including those with criminal histories, to enter the food-service industry, which is struggling with a severe labor shortage. Chada also serves on the boards of Industries for the Blind and Visually Impaired and Near West Side Partners.
To raise awareness and money in the community for Kennedy’s Disease Association – an ailment that Jacobs is personally fighting – the pair created “Dim Sum + Give Some,” an annual event that brings the top restaurants in Milwaukee together. Outside of their company, the chefs are active in Milwaukee’s Independent Restaurant Coalition and invest in their local community through their participation in AAPI of Wisconsin and Bloc by Bloc Milwaukee. Jacobs and Van Rite have also been semifinalists for the James Beard Awards on multiple occasions.
Congratulations to Heidi Chada, the vice president of MCFI’s Food Services program, for being selected as one of the 2021 BizTimes Media Notable Food and Beverage Executives!
MCFI’s Food Services program provides fresh and nutritious meals to children in schools, early learning centers and other community partners, as well as employment and training opportunities. MCFI is an affiliate of the Centers for Independence. LEARN MORE AT: www.mcfi.net
OUR MISSION PARTNERING WITH PEOPLE OF ALL ABILITIES TO ADVANCE THEIR
TOTAL HEALTH.
OUR VISION HEALTHY AND HOPEFUL COMMUNITIES
“He successfully navigated safety measures brought on by COVID-19, prioritizing team members’ safety, while still selling events for 2021 and beyond,” said Sarah Maio, vice president of marketing and communications for the Wisconsin Center District. “He lives the WCD mantra to ‘be bold, be proud, be experience obsessed,’ showing genuine care for everyone who enters the WCD venues while delivering premiere service.” Henriquez began his career at Four Seasons Hotels and Resorts in Mexico, Costa Rica and San Francisco. Prior to joining WCD in 2020, he was general manager for Levy Restaurants in Boston. When he was originally approached to make the move from Boston to Milwaukee, he started researching the area and found Milwaukee referred to as “the pearl of the Midwest” and was immediately intrigued by what the city had to offer. “With the Wisconsin Center expansion underway, Henriquez recognizes the potential WCD has to raise the bar for hospitality in Milwaukee, making our city a not-to-be-missed destination,” Maio said.
Congratulations to Heidi Chada, the vice president of MCFI’s Food Services program, for being selected as one of the 2021 BizTimes Media Notable Food and Beverage Executives!
IS YOUR COMPANY CELEBRATING A MILESTONE ANNIVERSARY IN 2022? OUR MISSION
MCFI’s Food Services program PARTNERING WITH provides fresh and nutritious With a little bit of creativity, you can turn your anniversary PEOPLE OF ALL ABILITIES mealsfrom to children in schools, just another date on the calendar into an opportunity to TO ADVANCE THEIR early share learning and other your success your centers story – and celebrate with BizTimes’ TOTAL HEALTH. community as to talk about exclusivepartners, audience. as It’swell a chance why you started employment andintraining your business the first place, where you’ve been, what you opportunities. MCFI an affiliate do, what makes youisdifferent, and what OUR your plans are for VISION future. You can thank your employees and clients who’ve of thethe Centers for Independence. HEALTHY AND HOPEFUL helped you reach this milestone.
COMMUNITIES
LEARN MORE AT: www.mcfi.net Plan now! To reserve a space in this special issue. Publication date March 21, 2022 Space Reservation date March 2, 2022
46 / BizTimes Milwaukee DECEMBER 13, 2021
MARK WAGNER
JUSTIN MCCOY
DIRECTOR OF DINING SERVICES
VICE PRESIDENT OF MARKETING
LAKELAND UNIVERSITY
COUSINS SUBS
When COVID forced classes to switch to virtual instruction in March 2020 and again that fall, Lakeland University director of dining services Mark Wagner and his team implemented a plan to feed the several hundred students who remained in student housing. Three meals a day were packaged and delivered to the students at their residence halls. “Lakeland prides itself on creating a home away from home for students. Mark and his team create food theme nights, which are huge hits,” said David Gallianetti, director of external relations for Lakeland University. “He has an open-door policy, and students often provide feedback about their likes and dislikes. That feedback shapes menu choices and ensures that individual dietary needs are met. He’s also invited employees and students to join them in the kitchen to recreate their favorite dishes from home on a larger scale.” Wagner also impacts the local community. He has donated Italian meals to local nonprofits for use as silent or live auction items at fundraising events.
PAUL BARTOL
OTTA
ER AND OWNER CHEF, CO-FOUND the TA RESTAURANTS Restaurants through THE BARTOLOT has led The Bartolotta
of more chef Paul Bartolotta navigating the reopening Over the past 18 months, for the industry — by to change. — a challenging time COVID-19 pandemic while continually adapting team and catering venues, welcoming back former than a dozen restaurant into an opportunity, to turn the challenge Bartolotta has worked the organization. of new roles to help grow menus with the reopening members while adding worked to reimagine Bartolotta he and his team have Bistro and Ristorante Over the past two years, Restaurant, Lake Park Bacchus – A Bartolotta restaurants such as and has dal 1993. the Milwaukee community support to has also continued Society and Discovery the Wisconsin Humane The Bartolotta organization of directors organizations, including serves on the board partnered with numerous community. Bartolotta of supporting the the Metropolitan Milwaukee goal and the with Cabinet World, Association, the Kitchen of the Wisconsin Restaurant Association of Commerce.
AGEE OD & BEVER N O TA B L E F O
XECUTIVES
M I LWA U K E E | BIZTIMES
: DECEMBER
13, 2021
Justin McCoy joined Cousins Subs in 2006 and was named vice president of marketing in 2012. He played a large role in the creation of the Cousins Subs Make It Better Foundation in 2013 and is now vice president of the foundation board. To date, the foundation has donated more than $650,000 in grants and scholarships to students and nonprofit organizations throughout Wisconsin. In 2016, McCoy led the rebranding campaign that streamlined the look and feel of all Cousins Subs locations with an updated logo, packaging and the brand’s signature “Milwaukee Sub Shop” look and feel. “By taking the time to efficiently evaluate what changes and steps needed to be implemented, McCoy helped strengthen the brand to solidify its future in existing markets and position itself as an appealing investment to multi-unit franchisee prospects,” said Christine Specht, chief executive officer of Cousins. “Due in part to his team’s efforts, Cousins Subs experienced comp sales growth for 24 out of the past 29 quarters from 2013 to 2020. This includes three quarters of comp sales growth in 2020 during the COVID-19 pandemic.”
NICHOLAS FALLUCCA CHIEF PRODUCT AND INNOVATION OFFICER
PALERMO VILLA INC. Nicholas Fallucca is chief product and innovation officer at Milwaukee-based pizza maker Palermo Villa Inc. His family has owned and operated Palermo’s Pizza since his grandparents started the business in 1964 after immigrating to the United States from Italy in 1954. “Nick has an entrepreneurial spirit that makes him a creative leader, which drives innovation in the fast-paced food industry,” said John Leonardo, senior director of marketing for Palermo’s. “Nick wants to win and prides himself on delivering the best possible pizza experience for all of our customers and consumers. Nick is well versed in consumer and food trends and will push the team to be ahead of the curve when looking for the next great pizza.” As a result of Fallucca’s leadership, Palermo’s has experienced unprecedented growth and continues to outpace category sales growth. Brands such as Urban Pie have quickly become one of the largest frozen pizza brands in the natural grocery channel, while Screamin’ Sicilian continues to gain market share nationally, company leaders say. Fallucca also gives back outside of the family business, dedicating his spare time to several nonprofits. He serves on the board of Riverwest Food Pantry and is a member of the executive council for Hunger Task Force.
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Strategies SUPPLY CHAIN
What broke the supply chain? FLEETS OF CONTAINER SHIPS loaded with consumer goods are sitting outside the harbors of Long Beach and Los Angeles. There is a national shortage of truck drivers to deliver these containers. Computer chips from manufacturers in Asia are in short supply, impacting the availability of new cars, toys, computers and other consumer goods. How did we get here? When will it end? Who broke the supply chain? I asked a number of local experts for their insights as to how we got here and the impact on Wisconsin businesses. Pat Cronin, an international business consultant who works with many large Wisconsin manufacturers, feels that what we are experiencing is a result of two factors: the robust global economic recovery and impact of the continued COVID-19 pandemic. He states economic recoveries are rarely neat and tidy, especially when they are global in scope and consequence. Popular opinion is that the current supply chain challenges are emblematic of the downside of globalization. In reality, they are a patch of gravel on a long and hilly road to recovery and growth. The start/stop/re-start of supply chasing demand in the current recovery has knocked the send-and-receive processes of supply chain out of sync. This process will smooth out and port schedules and work rules will be sorted out. Re-shoring of supply chains is the current discussion in the business press. Massive re-shoring is very unlikely; the management rationale for an international or global supply chain hasn’t fundamentally changed. Minimum quality/lowcost production goes to where the costs are lower. Rebalancing of a supply chain may make more management sense, however, especially if manufacturers are caught in an all-eggs-in-one-basket 48 / BizTimes Milwaukee DECEMBER 13, 2021
dilemma during this recent downturn, particularly if that basket was made in China. Global dependence on concentrated sources of key manufacturing inputs (e.g., microchips, lithium, etc.) also has management thinking about a new long-term supply vision. Ed Panelli, the group director for the plant manager and quality peer advisory groups organized by the Paranet Group, provided his insights. His groups are composed of manufacturing companies like Magnatek, Yaskawa Electric, Charter Steel and Regal Ware. His members have been affected, and the increase in demand has exacerbated the supply chain dilemma. They are experiencing: • Order lead times growing five to 10 times the norm. Suppliers are raising prices with the reciprocal pass on to customers. • Some suppliers have even stopped giving lead times on orders. • Another factor complicating shortages is that some customers are placing orders to stockpile parts to fill their own end-user orders. Paranet members have taken various actions to address these disruptions, such as: • Administration personnel are being used to handle calls to vendors to get order status updates. • Engineers are being used to design for out-of-stock parts to help source similar replacement parts in the interim. • John Deere has taken the action of sending teams of 10 people to vendors to help on production lines to make their parts. Steven Powers, the president of Curtis Industries, provided specific examples of the impact of the supply chain disruption on his business. As a manufacturer of electrical components, including terminal blocks, custom moldings, EMI/RFI filters, power supplies and related components, Curtis Industries has experienced a number of hurdles related to the supply chain and transportation of raw materials used with our products. For example, a number of plastic resin manufacturers have issued “force majeure” or allocation letters for several cate-
gories of resins. These notices reference availability of essential raw materials, extreme weather events, plant outages and carrier (shipping) delays. Quoted lead times have grown from four to six weeks to, in some cases, over 30 weeks. Curtis products are safety agency (UL,CSA,CE) approved and, as such, they are not able to use resins other than those previously tested and approved by the regulatory agency. Getting alternative resins approved involves a long process of first identifying a suitable resin that is compatible with the safety requirements as well as existing molding dies. Additionally, these molding samples are submitted to the safety agencies for compliance testing, review and approval. This entire process is expensive and can take over three months to complete. Besides resins, the availability of metals, especially brass, and components like capacitors are also experiencing price increases, extended lead times and transportation delays as many sources for these materials are located in southeast Asia. As you can see, what is happening at the docks in California is impacting businesses in Wisconsin and ultimately the consumer. The disruption is projected to last through the first half of 2022. Cronin feels that over time the supply chain process will smooth out and we will see things return to a new normal. n
CARY SILVERSTEIN Cary Silverstein, MBA, is a speaker, author and consultant, a former executive for Gimbel’s Midwest and JH Collectibles, and a former professor for DeVry University’s Keller Graduate School. He can be reached at csilve1013@aol.com.
Tip Sheet Best practices for reskilling
O
ngoing changes in technology and the way people work call for new strategies to address the need for new workforce skills. A recent McKinsey & Co. survey found that skill building is considered more
effective at closing skill gaps than hiring, contracting or redeploying talent. In fact, 69% of respondents said they have “doubled down on skilling efforts since the pandemic began and are reaping clear benefits.” McKinsey cites the survey in an October article, authored by Aaron De Smet, Angelika Reichwhich and Bill Schaninger. It maps out a reskilling game plan in nine key steps, summarized in three phases: Assessing potential skills gaps Companies can pinpoint gaps by comparing existing skills with the demand for specific skills necessary to “deliver on its strategic ambition, digital agenda and overall business model.” Once you assess demand for future skills and identify the skills you already have, it’s time to come up with a plan.
means deciding “which learning formats to use, how to design and deliver learning journeys to employees, and rolling out the required infrastructure and governance,” according to the article. Reimagining infrastructure for skilling at scale The final phase is executing your upskilling strategy at scale. McKinsey suggests launching a dedicated organizational structure, or “skilling hub.” To ensure their workforce is building new skills, companies should provide on-thejob opportunities to learn from both successes and failures, and leadership should promote and model a culture of learning. There should also be a system for effectively tracking the impact of your strategy. n
Developing a skills strategy Strategizing for a “future-ready” workforce
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BIZ PEOPLE
Advertising Section: New Hires, Promotions, Accolades and Board Appointments
LEGAL SERVICES
The Milwaukee, Wisconsin based trial and litigation law firm of Gimbel, Reilly, Guerin & Brown LLP (GRGB) is pleased to announce the addition of Attorney Danielle N. Rousset to the firm’s probate and fiduciary litigation group.
FINANCIAL SERVICES
Waukesha State Bank has hired D. Rodney Hathaway as Chief Investment Officer. Rodney brings more than 25 years of experience and will be charged with overseeing the organization & investment portfolio.
INTERIOR DESIGN
Creative Business Interiors brings on Morgan Dunkleberger as Accountant. Morgan is a recent graduate from UW-Whitewater and holds a BS in Finance. She is filling the accounts payable role at Creative.
INTERIOR DESIGN
Creative Business Interiors promotes Eric Jenks to Job Cost Accountant. Eric has been with Creative since 2016 and brings over seven years of experience in finance and accounting roles.
BANKING
BANKING
Wintrust Commercial Banking at Town Bank, N.A. is pleased to welcome Chris Habjan as vice president, commercial banking. With more than 10 years of experience, Habjan will focus on relationship management and business development on middle market companies throughout Wisconsin. “Chris comes highly recommended and has demonstrated an ability to build strong relationships with clients and prospective clients,” said Town Bank, N.A. president and CEO Jay Mack. “We look forward to utilizing his client management experience in Wisconsin.” Chris received his MBA at Northern Illinois University as well as his B.S. in Finance.
Shelli Marquardt, President of the Waukesha County Community Foundation, has been elected to the Board of Directors of The Equitable Bank, S.S.B. and its affiliates. Ms. Marquardt brings 30 years of business experience with her to the role with the last 20 years serving in leadership roles in the not-for-profit sector. She has been recognized as a Women of Influence by the Milwaukee Business Journal, recipient of the Healthcare Heroes award by the BizTimes Milwaukee and Family of the Year by Family Services. She serves on the Executive Leadership Council for Community Smiles Dental, The Ability Center and Journey 21.
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BizConnections VOLUME 27, NUMBER 15 | DEC 13, 2021
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Bitker-Gerner fire
— Photo courtesy Historic Photo Collection / Milwaukee Public Library
More work to be done on racial equity LOCAL CHAMBERS of commerce play an important role in promoting a community as a great place to do business, working to help attract other businesses and advocating for pro-business public policy. The Metropolitan Milwaukee Association of Commerce does all of those things. But the MMAC has also done a considerable amount of work to evaluate the region’s strengths and weaknesses, to promote its strengths and to seek solutions to address its weaknesses. MMAC regularly surveys its members, and in its 2018 survey area business leaders identified racial disparities as the region’s biggest problem. It wasn’t the first time Milwaukee’s well-documented problems with segregation and racial inequality had been identified as liabilities by the MMAC’s member surveys, but it was the first time the issue rose to the top of the list. In response, the MMAC launched the “Re52 / BizTimes Milwaukee DECEMBER 13, 2021
CONTENT SOLUTIONS MANAGER Maggie Pinnt maggie.pinnt@biztimes.com ACCOUNT EXECUTIVE Paddy Kieckhefer paddy.kieckhefer@biztimes.com ACCOUNT EXECUTIVE Christie Ubl christie.ubl@biztimes.com ACCOUNT EXECUTIVE Dylan Dobson dylan.dobson@biztimes.com SALES ADMIN Gracie Schneble gracie.schneble@biztimes.com
ADMINISTRATION ADMINISTRATIVE COORDINATOR Sue Herzog sue.herzog@biztimes.com
PRODUCTION & DESIGN
This Dec. 28, 1953, photo shows firemen battling a blaze at the Bitker-Gerner building at what is now 2345 N. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Drive in Milwaukee. Bitker-Gerner was a familyowned women’s and children’s apparel retailer. Today, the site is a parking lot located just north of Pete’s Fruit Market.
COMMENTARY
DIRECTOR OF SALES Linda Crawford linda.crawford@biztimes.com
gion of Choice” initiative, which includes two targets to increase the diversity of southeastern Wisconsin’s workforce by 2025. The first is to increase diverse management among participating organizations by 25%. The second is to increase total employment of African American and Hispanic workers by 15%. At the MMAC’s recent biennial All Member Meeting, the organization provided an update on the Region of Choice initiative. The good news is that update showed significant progress toward the initiative’s goals. However, the bad news is MMAC survey results continue to show an enormous disparity between how white, Black and Hispanic business leaders view the region as a place to live. The MMAC polled more than 2,000 management employees of companies participating in the Region of Choice initiative. Managers were asked whether they would recommend metro Milwaukee as a place to live. The survey asked respondents to score on a scale of 1-10, with 9-10 scores considered enthusiastic supporters, 1-6 scores considered detractors and 7-8 regarded as “passives.” The total score is calculated by setting aside the passives and subtracting the detractors from the promotors. Among all respondents, the rating was 16.
GRAPHIC DESIGNER Alex Schneider alex.schneider@biztimes.com ART DIRECTOR Shelly Tabor shelly.tabor@biztimes.com
Independent & Locally Owned — Founded 1995 —
But for African American managers, the rating was negative 37. That’s compared to Hispanic/ Latino managers’ rating of 6 and white managers’ rating of 23. That disparity, particularly the negative perception of the region held by African American managers, created considerable buzz. “Jaw dropping #s,” Milwaukee Department of City Development commissioner Lafayette Crump, an African American, said on Twitter. “This is awful & must be a clarion call to action.” The Region of Choice initiative is the MMAC’s action on the issue and participating employers are currently on track to achieve the goals of the initiative. That won’t solve the region’s problems with racial inequality, but it’s a big step in the right direction. The MMAC deserves a lot of credit for calling attention to the issue and taking it head-on. n
ANDREW WEILAND EDITOR
P / 414-336-7120 E / andrew.weiland@biztimes.com T / @AndrewWeiland
NONPROFIT COURAGE MKE PLANS TO OPEN HOUSING FOR DISPLACED YOUNG ADULTS Courage MKE, the nonprofit operator of a home on Milwaukee’s south side for displaced LGBTQ+ youth, plans to purchase another property that would provide housing to young adults aging out of the foster care system. Co-founder and executive director Brad Schlaikowski said there is demand for housing for youth ages 17-24 who have little or no support systems in place, including residents aging out of Courage’s current home at 1544 S. Sixth St. Schlaikowski and his husband, Nick – who together foster five children – opened the licensed group home in 2019. It serves youth ages 12-17 and provides counseling, health care, life skills and family reunification. The organization has always planned on opening more homes for children but is now prioritizing the immediate need for young adult housing, said Brad Schlaikowski. Often, children coming out of the system will be placed in an apartment, but they haven’t had the resources to process their trauma, he said. “They have yet to scratch the surface of the trauma they’ve faced that they have to face to become successful adults,” Schlaikowski said. “Then they get scared and give up on independent living, or some want to
take their own life or hurt themselves. That’s really what lit the fire to get this started sooner.” Courage MKE plans to purchase an apartment building with 10 to 15 one-bedroom or studio units, which would provide housing to as many people. Courage would build out office and communal space within the building, and would be available 24 hours a day to help residents who are in crisis or need to talk with someone, Schlaikowski said. Schlaikowski said residents would be expected to work, and they would pay rent “in some shape or form,” likely 20% or less of their weekly income. When residents move out, they would be able to take the furniture in their unit, and the rent they paid would then help cover the cost of furnishing the space for the next resident. Courage MKE is working with realtors to search for the right property; Schlaikowski said the south side would be ideal. The organization is working to raise $500,000 to purchase a building and furnish it. Courage MKE is receiving mentorship from the Ali Forney Center in New York City – the largest LGBT-serving community center in the country – to help with the planning of the new housing program. — Lauren Anderson, staff writer
D O N AT I O N R O U N D U P The Milwaukee Bucks Foundation committed $25,000 to the Vel Phillips Education Fund, which was recently launched by the Boys & Girls Club of Dane County to support educational opportunities for youth in Wisconsin. | As a result of its Catering for a Cure initiative, Cousins Subs raised $50,000 for the Starr Children’s Fund, which raises money for pediatric cancer care and research and is part of the Vince Lombardi Cancer Foundation. | Spectrum awarded the Milwaukee Youth Arts Center $10,000 through the Stand For The Arts Awards. | The Brewers Community Foundation will donate $10 for each car that comes through the inaugural Magic of Lights display (Nov. 24-Jan. 2) at American Family Field to the United for Waukesha Community Fund and will match the donations up to $10,000. | American Family donated $50,000 to the United for Waukesha Community Fund. | Kapco Metal Stamping is donating proceeds from Kids2Kids Christmas Wonderland to provide new toys to children in need and facing adversity.
nonprofit
SPOTLIGHT
P O R T F I S H LT D.
3781 County Road KW, Port Washington 262-284-1970 | portfish.org Facebook: @portfishltd Year founded: 2009
Number of employees: Six part-time
Mission statement: To develop a working aquaponics model that can be replicated to promote and engage communities in local sustainable food production. Our vision is to raise awareness of issues and concerns regarding our current and future food supply, to educate local communities about sustainable and healthy alternatives to food production and supply, to engage communities in actively exploring those alternatives and to serve as an “agitator” for change in food-related systems.
Key donors: Amy Otis-Wilborn and Pat Wilborn, self-funded
Primary focus of your organization: To support local food. PortFish is experimenting with alternative growing systems, including aquaponics and hydroponics, that can produce food for our community year-round. Consumers and retailers can purchase greens directly from our facility through our CSA.
Ways the business community can help your nonprofit: Operate responsibly.
Executive leadership: • Amy Otis-Wilborn, president • Pat Wilborn, executive director Board of directors: • Amy Otis-Wilborn • Pat Wilborn • Dale Stenbroten • Steve Sandlin • Deb Denzer • Jon Bales
Key fundraising initiatives: We rely on CSA and some wholesale for our revenues.
biztimes.com / 53
JAKE HILL PHOTOGRAPHY
BizConnections
5 MINUTES WITH…
NICK GANGESTAD Chief financial officer, Rockwell Automation
SIZING PRICE INCREASES “What’s happening with inflation and prices is broadly seen and understood, so it’s not like we’re in an environment where ‘wait a minute, I don’t even understand what you’re talking about, why would prices have to go up?’ … We want to try to cover our cost increases, but we’re also interested in growing in a number of key markets and regions and want to make sure we have competitive prices lined up with the value we are creating for our customer.”
WHEN NICK GANGESTAD retired as CFO of 3M, he expected to go into teaching or serve on boards, not take another operational role. But he found himself missing the daily challenges of his career and so came up with three criteria for the inevitable recruiter calls. Any company he joined needed to make a positive impact, have a CEO Gangestad would admire and give him a chance to learn something new. Rockwell Automation checked those boxes for him and he started in the role in March. He spoke with BizTimes Milwaukee associate editor Arthur Thomas about joining the Milwaukee-based manufacturer and navigating a chaotic business environment.
APPROACH AS CFO “We think we’re in the early stages of a multi-year growth cycle, and one of the things I’m trying to make sure that our company and the finance team are aligned around is how do we make sure that we’re making the right investments to really help this company accelerate profitable growth? Sometimes there can be a stereotype of finance really being ‘oh, we want to scale things back, we just want to cut costs’ – and sometimes that’s the right strategy – but I think part of the direction I’m bringing in, given where this company is and is poised for the future, is making sure we’re investing in the right place.”
IMPRESSIONS OF MILWAUKEE “I’d call it an easy city to be in. My wife and I have lived different places and some places we’ve lived, you have to plan 30 or 45 minutes to get anywhere. You don’t have to do that here. ... It’s a special place and maybe the people of Milwaukee are a little humble or maybe they just want to keep it a secret from the rest of the world finding out and not letting it get too overrun.“
GOING BEYOND THE NUMBERS “I don’t think a finance leader can divorce themselves or separate themselves from the strategic element. They have to be thinking simultaneously about operational and (the) returns that we’re generating from that but also with an eye toward what’s the bigger long-term strategy. The two go hand in hand. … I think a good CFO and a good finance organization has a balance of both.” n
54 / BizTimes Milwaukee DECEMBER 13, 2021
SPONSORED/DONATED CONTENT
“WOMEN’S CARE CENTER IS AT THE CENTER OF LOVE FOR BABIES. LOVE IS THE SOLE REASON FOR LIFE.” — Michael Hansen, business owner and investor, Co-Founder at Jacsten Holdings LLC and founding board member of WCCM.
“NOT ONLY ARE THEY HELPING MOMS AND BABIES, THEY WALK WITH THEM EVERY STEP OF THE WAY BUILDING FAMILIES.” — Nana Fotsch Sheryl Laird & Dr. Jim Linn
EMPOWERING WOMEN, BUILDING FAMILIES AND CHANGING LIVES By Courtney Wosick, Business & Development Manager WOMEN’S CARE CENTER of Milwaukee (WCCM) is a licensee of the Women’s Care Center (WCC), the largest and most successful pregnancy resource center in American history, with 33 centers in 12 states serving over 17,000 women annually. Oftentimes prochoice really only promotes one choice, abortion, but WCCM’s mission is to offer women real pro-life alternatives. WCCM services are free and comprehensive, and 100% donorfunded: • medical-grade pregnancy tests • state-of-art 3D/4D ultrasounds • strengths-based counseling • adoption referrals & medical referrals • parenting and life-skills classes • encouragement and support finishing education and achieving independence In June of 2010, WCCM opened at 1441 N. Farwell Avenue. Since then, over sixteen thousand children have been born to mothers in Milwaukee County with WCCM’s help: last year, one in eleven live births. Because WCCM counselors show clients compassion and care, 92% choose life after seeing their child’s ultrasound and hearing their heartbeat. This woman-centered approach aims to educate women on the healthiest option for their life. Even if a mom chooses something other than life for her child, WCCM is still there for her; she is always welcome. WCCM is like the family we all crave. As Ebony, a client put it, “I’ve never encountered so much love and support from strangers in my life.” The empowerment mothers receive does not stop at birth. WCCM moms and dads are rewarded for participation in parenting programs with Crib Club coupons which they redeem for brand
new parenting merchandise. Available items range from cribs, car seats, strollers, and baby carriers to diaper bags, onesies, diapers, bottles, and formula. This structure elevates mothers and builds families, providing them both knowledge and material support. WCCM has a Medical Director, Dr. James Linn, who oversees healthcare and federal CLIA compliance. On staff at Ascension Columbia Saint Mary’s Hospital Milwaukee and the 16th Street Community Clinic, Dr. Linn is also an Associate Clinical Professor of OB/GYN at Medical College of Wisconsin. He works closely with Sheryl Laird, the Executive Director. Sheryl Laird began with WCCM in 2010 as the first staff ultrasonographer, and also received training as a WCC counselor. This prepared her to assume the responsibilities of Executive Director in 2017 when the WCCM became an independent licensee of the national organization. Staff roles include ultrasonographers, counselors, parenting instructors, and administrators. All staff is trained through the national organization, and certain staff also have advanced certification, e.g. ARDMS, MSW, BSN. WCCM changes lives. A donation to WCCM is a high-impact pro-woman donation. Every day, WCCM offers women in need A BETTER WAY. To help us change more lives, contact Sheryl Laird at sheryl@wccmil.com, call 414.223.2610, or womenscarecentermilwaukee.com/changelives
For All You Do – Thank You! The COVID-19 pandemic has added tremendous pressure and complexity to the business of healthcare. From managing finite space and resources in the face of surging need for care to addressing the health and safety concerns of the medical professionals risking their lives for others, every decision matters – now more than ever. We thank and salute our Milwaukee healthcare workers and executive partners for their leadership in this extraordinarily difficult time. BairdDifference.com
©2021 Robert W. Baird & Co. Incorporated. Member SIPC. MC-729400.
