John Giegel retiring from Wisconsin Business Development Finance Corp.

By John L. Campbell, for SBT

John Giegel, who built an organization that has become a major player in Wisconsin business financing, is retiring. But don’t expect him to fade away from the scene.
It may just be that now is the time for the 56-year-old founder and president of the Wisconsin Business Development (WBD) Finance Corp. to move on and create some other way to foster business development in Wisconsin.
His impact here has been huge. While others bemoaned the lack of business growth capital in Wisconsin, Giegel did something about it, making WBD the fourth-largest certified development corporation in the United States for SBA financing – a major accomplishment considering the fact that the non-profit entity’s reach is limited to the state.
"I’ve never considered this a job; it’s more like a mission," said Giegel, whose accomplishments beg the question: What’s he planning to do in the future? He doesn’t claim to have any hobbies, other than a desire to travel, and he’s always done that. So, what’s he going to do with his free time?
Giegel started WBD in 1981, between the Carter and Reagan administrations. At that time, the prime rate was 21% and inflation was around 13%. Not a propitious period in which to start a new business. But those conditions didn’t seem to deter Giegel. For years he had been involved in various economic development projects, first with the City of Milwaukee and then at the state level.
During his startup year, he continued working for the Wisconsin Department of Economic Development. At that time, Gov. Lee Dreyfus had a discretionary loan fund for economic development.
"Our cost of money was only 16%," said Giegel, referring to the funds available for the SBA’s 501 program loans in 1981. His first loan was to the Grandview Motel in Sister Bay. "That was in 1982," Giegel explained, "and we could make 25-year loans at that time." Today, the limit is 20 years.
WBD offers Small Business Administration (SBA) loan programs not directly available through private lenders. To reduce the lender’s risk on mortgages, WBD takes a secondary position, providing up to 40% of a project’s cost with an SBA-guaranteed loan. Business owners must provide at least 10% equity. The SBA funds cannot be used for working capital or refinancing. To fill that need, if necessary, WBD seeks out other types of financing from federal, state or local sources. SBA projects, often referred to by their statutory 504 designation, provide fixed rate financing for up to 20 years and a maximum amount of $1.3 million, terms not available from private lenders.
Larger projects, those exceeding SBA limits, may require packaging loans, where WBD draws together more than one lending participant.
Without WBD interceding, a lot of jobs would be lost or never created.
Since 1981, it’s estimated that WBD has helped create more than 30,000 jobs in Wisconsin, participating in more than 2,000 business projects with about $1.5 billion in financing. Those loans are all based on fixed-asset values: land, buildings and equipment.
WBD records show that 25% of its loans have been for start-ups.
"We’ve dealt with virtually every bank in the state from Ashland to Prairie du Chien, from Door County to Milwaukee," said Giegel, explaining that WBD is one of only four certified development corporations in Wisconsin. "We do about 95% of the SBA activity. In 1990 we had 12 employees and today we have five offices throughout the state and 28 employees."
Headquartered in Madison, WBD has offices in Eau Claire, Oshkosh, Stevens Point and Waukesha. Over the past five years all but four counties have benefited from an SBA project. In 2002 Dane, Waukesha and Outagamie counties led with 19, 12 and 11 projects respectively.
Historically SBA 504 projects have been the tools for expansion with new buildings and equipment. Last year, 30% of SBA loans were to purchase existing buildings.
Giegel grew up the son of an Air Force serviceman. His father retired with the rank of colonel, and John lived for long periods in places like Okinawa and Germany.
Accustomed to international travel, Giegel spent nine months in South America on a rural development project after graduate school. "In Venezuela we were trying to take raw land and produce sugar cane, rice and dairy products," Giegel explained.
He majored in geography with a minor in economics at California State-Northridge. Later, he earned his master’s degree at UW-Milwaukee.
In 1972, Giegel took a job with the economic development department for the City of Milwaukee. Later he moved to Madison to work on economic planning for Wisconsin. While working for the state, Giegel conceived the idea of a non-profit-certified development corporation to meet the financial needs of small businesses.
The first employees were John and his spouse, an unpaid employee. During those lean years he tapped into the pool of bright young graduate students at the university for credit analysts and potential loan officers.
Today, the corporation has a quarter-billion-dollar loan portfolio. Its revenue comes from originating fees and a small percentage for servicing loans. For the fourth year in a row it has closed more than 100 new projects totaling over $50 million, financing estimated to have saved and/or created more than 1,000 jobs.
The corporation’s board of directors is made up of people with economic development and banking experience. One of its current functions involves finding a replacement for Giegel, a search that has produced five potential candidates.
"One never really retires from this type of business," said Giegel, vague about his plans for the future, hinting that he’d like to crawl out of the box limiting WBD to SBA projects in which it now participates.
He’d like to see small businesses with access to more creative financing, out-of-state money perhaps, and more small banks participating in the lending process.
Whatever Giegel elects to do, you can be sure he will fill a financial need, scratch an itch not presently being taken care of for small businesses and entrepreneurial projects.

Oct. 17, 2003 Small Business Times, Milwaukee

Employers provide incentives for more healthful lifestyles

By Andrew Weiland, of SBT

Some people let their exercise equipment gather dust in the basement and avoid working out, but many We Energies employees do not.
The company’s corporate headquarters at 231 W. Michigan St. in downtown Milwaukee has an exercise room equipped with weights, treadmills and other exercise machines.
"It’s actually a very busy place during the lunchtime and right after work," said We Energies spokeswoman Margaret Stanfield.
We Energies also provides exercise equipment at many of its power plants and service centers. Employees can use the equipment at no charge. For a $25 fee, they also can take an eight-week exercise class at the company.
In addition, the company allows employees to reduce the deductions from their paychecks for health insurance costs by up to $300 per year to take a health assessment, exercise, eat right or visit their doctor.
"Health care costs are rising, and we believe encouraging our employees to live a healthy lifestyle brings down the company (health care) cost," Stanfield said. "You also have happier, healthier employees."
We Energies saved about $1.50 for every dollar spent on employee wellness in 2001 and saved about $1.60 for every dollar spent on wellness in 2002, Stanfield said. About half of the We Energies employees participate in the wellness program, and about 85% of those employees receive some cash reward.
Some other companies also offer wellness programs for their employees.
Harley-Davidson Inc. offers health risk assessments, free flu shots, a smoking cessation program and on-site fitness centers for employees. The company also pays for half the cost of a weight loss program if employees attend eight of 10 meetings of each 10-week session.
The federal government is recommending more employers follow the examples set by We Energies and Harley-Davidson.
Poor employee health is costing American businesses billions of dollars, according to a recent report from the U.S. Health and Human Services Department. Employers that encourage their employees to have healthier lifestyles save money, the report concludes.
A review of health promotion and disease management programs by businesses found a significant return on investment, ranging from $1.49 to $4.91 in benefits for every dollar spent on the programs, according to the report.
"More businesses need to recognize that poor health means lower productivity and higher health insurance costs," said Health and Human Services Secretary Tommy Thompson, former Wisconsin governor, in a prepared statement. "Smart business leaders increasingly are finding that it is the right decision to promote health education, physical activity and preventive benefits in the workplace."
Employers’ health care costs are expected to rise by 12% nationally next year, according to a survey by Tower Perrin, a benefits-consulting firm. However, health insurance costs for firms in southeastern Wisconsin are expected to rise by about 23% next year, according to a survey by Frank F. Haack & Associates, a Wauwatosa insurance brokerage.
One way employers can reduce their rising health care cost is by encouraging healthier lifestyles by their employees, some experts say.
Companies that encourage better employee health will save money on health care costs because fewer employees will get sick, meaning fewer will file health insurance claims, said Dick Tillmar, chairman and chief executive officer of T.E. Brennan Co.
Tillmar is the co-chairman on the health care team for the Metropolitan Milwaukee Association of Commerce Blueprint for Success and the vice chair of health care for the MMAC’s Council of Small Business Executives.
Companies with healthy employees benefit in other ways, Tillmar said. Healthier employees are in better shape and therefore are more productive on the job. In addition, they take fewer sick days and are less likely to leave their jobs, because they feel good about themselves.
"I believe you’re going to see a lot more companies spend a little dough to encourage their employees to take better care of themselves," Tillmar said. "The return on investment will pay off in spades."
Improving employee lifestyles is important because poor lifestyle choices, such as lack of exercise, poor eating habits and smoking, are the main causes of health problems, said Dr. David Severance, assistant clinical professor for the Medical College of Wisconsin.
"About 70% of all of the medical problems we see in the medical community are preventable and likely are associated with individual lifestyle," he said.
Those poor lifestyle choices lead to a variety of costly health problems that also cost businesses money. For example, obesity-related health problems alone cost US business an estimated $13 billion in 1994, including about $8 billion in health care costs, $2.4 billion for sick leave, $1.8 billion for life insurance and about $1 billion for disability insurance, according to the Health and Human Services report.
Improving lifestyles costs less than treating illnesses. According to the report, a health insurance plan’s annual costs for covering treatments to help people quit smoking ranged from 89 cents to $4.94 per smoker. The annual costs for treating smoking related-illnesses ranged from $6 to $33 per smoker.
Many companies are using a variety of incentives and other techniques to encourage their employees to take better care of themselves.
Some companies offer incentives such as a day off, cash or tickets to sporting events if their employees participate in a wellness program, Tillmar said.
Some businesses organize employee walks during break times. Others provide on-site exercise facilities, flu shots or employee discounts to health clubs. Some offer incentives for employees who smoke to take smoking cession classes.
Employers also can educate their employees about the importance of healthy lifestyles, Tillmar said. Posters, newsletters, seminars and classes can provide information about wellness issues, he said.

Oct. 17, 2003 Small Business Times, Milwaukee

Pitta lays out 3-point plan for city

John Pitta is one of several candidates running for Milwaukee Mayor. Pitta, a Milwauke Public Schools teacher at the Roosevelt Middle School on Walnut Street, responded to questions from Small Business Times. The two winners of the Feb. 17 primary election will square off on the April 6 general election ballot.

SBT: Describe what went into your decision to run for mayor.
Pitta: This is a critical election in terms of the future of Milwaukee. This is a golden opportunity in a very unique election to break the "political machine," based on dollars, major media manipulation and the good-old-boy network of secret deals done behind closed doors. The biggest challenge facing Milwaukee is the national and local perception that we are racist, segregated and conservative. We need a mayor who will be visible and address those issues. We need a mayor who will inspire people to vote and utilize our diversity as our greatest asset. We are the only major urban market in Wisconsin, and we need to promote Milwaukee nationally.

SBT: Where do you see Milwaukee’s current stature among American cities?
Pitta: I believe Milwaukee is a good city that has the potential to be a great city. My slogan is, "Making Milwaukee a World Class City with a 3-Point Plan." I see the current stature as slipping among American cities due to the lack of visionary leadership and visibility in the community. We need to be more competitive with comparable cities. My plan is to improve the national image of Milwaukee. I will fight to locate resources from major financial markets to provide improved economic development opportunities here.

SBT: Milwaukee has lost population over the last several decades. There has been some return to the city due to downtown residential development, but that development is not family-oriented. Tell us your thoughts on why Milwaukee continued to lose population for so many years, and what you would do to restore a higher census count.
Pitta: Jobs, crime, taxes, public education are some of the obvious reasons. The negative media coverage in Milwaukee often compounds the challenges we face. We have some major challenges, but I am an optimist. Demographics and population have changed dramatically over the past 50 years, and that has a huge impact on issues such as crime and educating our youth. According to 2000 data, our population is 37% African-American and 12% Hispanic.
The median age is 30.6 years old. I advocate more involvement of minorities in the decision-making of city business. My plan includes a youth movement that involves improving education and resources for children. We need to market Milwaukee as a great place to live, work, and play.
SBT: A lot of Milwaukee’s population loss can be attributed to schools; Mayor Norquist has often said that Milwaukee will gain families when families decide they want to send their children to Milwaukee’s public schools. There are good Milwaukee public schools. But many children struggle in MPS schools for a variety of reasons. While the school district is a separate political entity, what would you do about the educational system in the city? And how does school choice fit into your picture?
Pitta: The mayor’s job is to fight for resources for children in our community. I would collaborate with the school superintendent and meet on a monthly basis. I am not in favor of the mayor having the authority to hire the superintendent and the school board.
As I mentioned, demographics have changed dramatically. I would support the recruitment program for more minority and male teachers. I promise to visit every single MPS school during my four-year term.
School choice is a complex issue. I want all children to have a good education, and school choice does help some children. I believe we need to add a level of accountability and reporting to the public about school choice performance. Ultimately, MPS serves the majority of our children in Milwaukee and often those with the most severe needs. I would do anything possible to improve MPS and work with the community in doing so.
I am an MPS teacher and I have a master’s degree in administrative leadership and a principal license. I am also in a Ph.D. program at UWM in urban education that includes a superintendent license. I definitely am the most qualified mayoral candidate to help improve education in Milwaukee.

SBT: There has been an incredible amount of investment in the city under the Norquist administration. Downtown has seen much of that, but other areas of the city have benefited, also. But the central city seems to be continually left out of the picture. Yes, there are pockets of reinvestment, but there is still tremendous blight. How would you describe the situation?
Pitta: The central city is the land of opportunity. The recent reports on Stealth Depression from UWM and a separate report on the amount of opportunities available in the central city highlight the fact that we need jobs and businesses to develop in the central city.
We also have a labor force, transportation system and other necessary requirements to establish new businesses and markets in the central city. My strength is in marketing.
I would market the central city as the best place with the most potential to create new jobs. I would fight to retain talented young professionals and reduce the "brain drain" trend by advocating for new technology development and projects. I will advocate for more economic development in those neighborhoods that need it most, such as, Fond du Lac Avenue, Lisbon Avenue, Brown Deer Road, National Avenue, Mitchell Street and Lincoln Avenue.

SBT: While Milwaukee has a strong and ingrained Socialist culture, Mayor Norquist describes himself as a supporter of market forces in business development. What do you see as the role of government in business and economic development? How far should the city go in promoting and financing business development? Aside from financial support, what can the city do to make it easier for market forces to effectively foster development in Milwaukee?
Pitta: I will promote Milwaukee as a world class city. The next mayor needs to be the biggest cheerleader we have ever had. I am the youngest candidate, and I have the most energy and visionary leadership to really revitalize this city and put Milwaukee back on the map. The city should focus on developing neighborhoods that I just mentioned. Downtown and other neighborhoods such as the Third Ward, Brewers Hill and Brady Street are thriving. The central city is the one that needs a boost. The mayor needs to make this city progressive. We are way too conservative for the 21st century. We need a mayor who will provide bold, daring executive leadership. Development opportunities are available in the Park East corridor, the Menomonee Valley and throughout the central city and we need a mayor to fight to locate resources for Milwaukee.

SBT: It looks as though Milwaukee’s budget will be severely impacted by the state’s budget crisis. What are your plans to deal with fewer dollars coming into the city? Would you be willing to forego a political future by making unpopular but necessary budget decisions for the city?
Pitta: The budget and taxes are a huge issue in the race for mayor. Listen for specific ideas from candidates. I haven’t heard many from any other candidate. I have three specific initiatives that could improve the budget crisis. I publicly stated several weeks ago to collect trash every eighth day instead of every seventh day year-round.
Mayor Norquist is using this idea in his 2004 budget for winter months only. As part of this, I would encourage more recycling. I advocate for a city-wide program for rain barrel containers. These would collect rainwater from downspouts and instead of being treated by MMSD, the water from the barrels would be used to water grass or plants. This would reduce cost for MMSD and improve capacity during storms or overflow periods.
The final idea is for private industry that requires a large amount of police services to pay a partial cost to offset costs for regular time or overtime for police services. This would become public information and would require cooperation between City Hall, MPD, and private industry.

SBT: Tell me about the neighborhood you live in and why you live there.
Pitta: I live on 31st and Kilbourn in the Concordia Historic neighborhood. I bought the house in 1993 and have renovated the entire house and garage. It is a beautiful home and, with three floors, there is lots of space.
I love the proximity to downtown, which is a three- to four-minute drive. It is very centrally located in the city.
I currently work at Roosevelt Middle School of the Arts and my daughter, Sky, attends Lloyd Street. Both schools are very close to my home. This area has excellent residents and neighborhood organizations that enhance the area. I was formerly a board member on the West End Development Corp. This is the only house I have ever owned, and it is on a beautiful, quiet dead-end street, and I am committed to remaining here.

SBT: Earlier this year, Small Business Times polled the owners of businesses within the city of Milwaukee, regarding their perceptions of business conditions here as those perceptions relate to the mayoral race. The top three issues they cited for the new mayor to tackle were taxes, transportation and infrastructure, and crime. Your thoughts on those issues?
Pitta: On taxes, I propose to freeze the tax levy during my first year in office. This is responsible government with local control. I will eliminate fees such as water and sewer and snow and ice removal in my second year in office. These services will go back on the tax levy. I am tired of politicians telling citizens they are holding the line on taxes and continually adding new fees or raising existing fees. I want to have honest taxes for citizens. In addition, the fees are set up in a manner that the economically disadvantaged citizens are paying a bigger portion of the fees.
Transportation will provide many opportunities for jobs and contracts for local residents with the rebuilding of the Marquette Interchange and freeway expansion planned. I propose advocating progressive marketing of the county buses. We need to encourage young people to ride the bus. Perhaps provide music or wireless connections to make bus transportation more attractive. I also propose expanding the UWM bike give-away program and marketing the use of more bikes to conserve natural resources and increase physical activity for young people and the community as a whole.
My plan on crime starts with a better relationship with the chief. I propose a 10 p.m. year-round curfew with public service announcements, "Parents, do you know where your children are?" Move toward ticketing parents of children who are repeat curfew offenders. I will advocate for more education and treatment for law offenders. Wisconsin is the No. 1 state in the nation for incarcerating African-Americans and last among all 50 states in educating African-Americans. I propose to reconfigure the police district boundaries to improve safety for all neighborhoods. Demographics, population and crime have changed dramatically over the past 50 years.

Oct. 17, 2003 Small Business Times, Milwaukee

Michael A. Blomquist has been promoted to the position of vice president at McCloud Construction in New Berlin. Blomquist joined the company in 2000 as a senior project manager. He was named director of construction in 2002 to lead the Construction and Project Management teams of McCloud Construction.
Pat Katisch has been hired as marketing director by Susan K. Wehrley & Associates Inc. in Brookfield. Katisch is the founder of the former Women’s Yellow Pages of Greater Milwaukee and was the co-producer of numerous women’s conferences and expos in Milwaukee, St. Louis, Minneapolis and Atlanta. She also served three years as associate dean of the Corporate Outreach and Professional Development division of Marquette University’s College of Professional Studies.
Mark Foote has been appointed president and CEO of Packaging Partners in Franklin, taking over from Grover L. Foote, who has retired after more than 40 years in the business. Charlie Thompson continues as executive vice president of the company.
Mary Brueggeman has joined Wauwatosa Savings Bank as treasury officer, and Krista Vasos has been hired as marketing manager. Brueggeman and Vasos are based at the Corporate Center at 11200 W. Plank Ct. in Wauwatosa.
Paul Vepraskas has joined R.A. Smith & Associates Inc., Brookfield, as a GIS technician in the company’s expanded geographic information system (GIS) services division. He was previously employed with the Milwaukee office of the Bureau of Land Management, U.S. Department of the Interior. Vepraskas holds a bachelor of fine arts degree in geography with an emphasis in urban planning from UW-Milwaukee.
Timothy E. Kronquist, Mark F. Yokom and Charles R. O’Keefe have become shareholders at the Davis & Kuelthau law firm. Kronquist is a member of the Business and Corporate Law Team and works from the Milwaukee office. Yokom is a member of the Labor and Employment and Litigation teams and practices from the Oshkosh office. O’Keefe is a member of the Labor and Employment Team and practices from the Green Bay office.
Monica M. Riederer has joined Michael Best & Friedrich’s Milwaukee office as an associate in the litigation department. Prior to joining the firm, Riederer was an associate at Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher in New York City.
Breadsmith Franchising Inc., based in Whitefish Bay, has hired Michelle Schuerman as director of marketing. Before coming to Breadsmith, she was the director of public relations and marketing for Big Brothers Big Sisters of Metro Milwaukee Inc. and most recently was part of the public relations team at Boelter + Lincoln Marketing Communications.
Kendall Packaging, based in Mequon, named Nathan T. Friedl as director of manufacturing for its Jefferson, Wis., and Pittsburg, Kan., operations. An employee of Kendall since 1987, Friedl began as a press assistant.
Jack White Design Inc. has added David M. Sieren to the design staff. Sieren is a 2002 graduate of the Rhode Island School of Design earning a BFA degree in graphic design.
AQS Inc. in Hartland has added Judy Heller as contract administrator and Cheryl Wallace as quality assurance specialist. AQS has added Christian Rosenstock as vice president of implementation services. Rosenstock spent the past four years with the Bank of New York as vice president of technology solutions. Prior to that, he served at EDS, Financial Services Division and State Farm Insurance in several product, analyst and support functions. Rosenstock is a graduate of Eastern Illinois University with a master’s degree from Illinois State University.
Cornerstone Community Bank in Grafton has promoted assistant cashier Judy Filo to assistant vice president of operations. A 16-year banking veteran, Filo has spent the last six years with Cornerstone at it Grafton and Menomonee Falls locations.
Robert R. Lapointe has joined the management team of Jacobus Wealth Management Inc. (JWM) in Wauwatosa as vice president-investments. Lapointe brings more than 25 years of investment management experience in corporate finance, commercial real estate and private placements in the financial services and private family office marketplace.
Lisa Leister has joined MLG in Brookfield as associate general counsel. Leister brings more than 14 years of legal experience to MLG, much of it in the area of commercial real estate law. She worked most recently for Thrivent Financial in Appleton. MLG has promoted two members of its marketing staff. Melissa Levi has been promoted to marketing projects manager while Krista Streuly has been promoted to marketing design manager. Levi has been with MLG since January of 2000, when she joined the group as a marketing intern. She has a bachelor of business administration degree in marketing and finance from UW-Milwaukee. Streuly joined MLG in October of 2001 as a graphic designer. Prior to joining MLG, she worked for Strong Capital Management and for UW-Whitewater as a graphic artist. Streuly has a bachelor of business administration degree in marketing and graphic design from UW-Whitewater.
Shawn E. Longtine has been appointed vice president and principal of techworks LLC In Wauwatosa. Longtine was promoted from director of business development to vice president in January. His area of responsibility will be the development of geographic expansion of techworks throughout the US and Canada.
Tim Greinert is the new president of Junior Achievement of WI Inc. Greinert has been with JA for 18 years, serving in a variety of roles. He has worked at the national office in Colorado Springs, Colo., as the director of training and development, in addition to serving as president of Junior Achievement of the Upper Midwest in Minneapolis/St. Paul office.
The Milwaukee-based American Society for Quality (ASQ) has hired three managing directors: Debra J. Crawford, Laurel Nelson-Rowe and Steve Wnuk. They join Christopher Bauman and Brian LeHouillier, making up the management committee. Crawford has more than 25 years’ experience in sales, marketing, human resources staffing, and training and development. She has worked for Sears Roebuck and Co., American Hospital Supply, Baxter Healthcare Corp., Alterra Healthcare Corp.,and Thompson Consulting. Before joining ASQ, she held the position of vice president of resident services and training. Crawford earned a bachelor’s degree in business administration and psychology from Notre Dame College in Ohio. Nelson-Rowe has more than 20 years of experience in marketing, publishing, event management and executive management roles. She came to ASQ from the Archdiocese of Milwaukee, where she had served for two years as associate publisher and executive editor of the Milwaukee Catholic Press Apostolate Inc. Prior to that, she worked at CMP Media Inc., Perot Systems Corp. and United Airlines’ Covia Technologies unit. Nelson-Rowe is a journalism graduate of Marquette University. Wnuk has more than 18 years of experience in marketing, brand and distribution management. He came to ASQ from Fortis Inc., where he served as vice president of marketing and product management for specialty insurance products. Prior to Fortis, Wnuk worked for Miller Brewing Co., where he was the vice president of marketing for Leinenkugel’s and the senior group brand manager for Icehouse and other brands. Wnuk earned a bachelor’s degree in finance from Michigan State University and a master’s degree in marketing from Wayne State University in Detroit.
Michael Soens has been appointed senior vice president at Frank F. Haack & Associates, Wauwatosa. Soens has more than 16 years in the insurance industry. Also within the Employee Benefit Group, Kerry Schnier and Sara Hames have been named vice president. Schnier has more than 14 years of experience and Hames has more than 22 years of experience in the insurance industry. Within the Property & Casualty Group Steve James, has been named vice president. James has more than 24 years of experience in the insurance industry.
Gretchen Machmueller has joined Schroeder Solutions in New Berlin as an interior designer and project manager. She has 11 years of experience as a designer in the Milwaukee area and holds a bachelor’s degree in interior design from Northern Iowa University.
Barbara Wenzel has joined Chicago Title Insurance Co. in Waukesha as sales account representative. She had been a sales manager with Paul Ryan Homes. Heidi Gunyon has joined Chicago Title Insurance as a commercial closer. She had been a paralegal at Kohl’s Department Stores.
Alverno College has promoted Stacy Swadish to the position of director of development. She formerly served as Alverno’s director of annual programs and as marketing communications director and assistant director of the development office for the School Sisters of St. Francis in Milwaukee.
Janet Rakowski has joined Hays Companies of Wisconsin in Wauwatosa to service and market property and casualty accounts. Her most recent insurance industry experience was with Acuity Mutual Insurance Co.
Michael Evans has been appointed president of Sales & Marketing Associates, Germantown. Evans is a 1991 graduate of UW-Oshkosh with a major in marketing. He earlier had worked for Kraft Foods and joined Sales & Marketing Associates in 1996.
Chuck Sanger has joined Brady Marketing Group in Menomonee Falls as a senior account manager. He has more than 20 years of experience in marketing, public relations, broadcasting and strategic planning. He most recently was with Charleston/Orwig Marketing Communications in Hartland. He holds a degree in journalism and public relations from the University of St. Thomas in Minneapolis.
Jill Burby has joined Keith Klein & Associates in Sussex as a marketing assistant.
Stelios N. Fakiroglou has joined Weather-Tek Design Center in Brookfield as a sales representative. Most recently, he was a project manager for Lurie Glass for 12 years. He holds a bachelor’s degree in architecture from UW-Milwaukee. Pam Hyps also has joined Weather-Tek as a sales representative. She has more than 23 years of experience in the building industry.
Jeffrey Metz has been named president of Briohn Building in Pewaukee. Metz spent 17 years with MSI General Corp. in Oconomowoc, most recently as executive vice president. Brian Bryne, founder of Briohn Building, will become chairman of the company.
Geoffrey R. Shively has joined the von Briesen & Roper law firm as an associate in the Banking, Bankruptcy and Business Restructuring, and Business Practice groups. He earned his law degree from Vanderbilt University in 2000, and his B.M. with elective studies in business, summa cum laude, from Drake University in 1997. Paul W. Stenzel has joined the Indian Law Section of von Briesen & Roper. He was a staff attorney for eight years with the Stockbridge-Munsee Band of Mohican Indian community in Shawano County and served as the Stockbridge-Munsee tribal prosecutor. Stenzel earned his law degree cum laude from the University of Wisconsin in 1995 and his bachelor’s degree from Northwestern University in 1990.
Celtic Inc. in Brookfield has named Rachel St. George as senior art director. St. George started with Celtic as art director in 2000. She earlier had been with Marx, McClellan, Thrun in Milwaukee. She holds a bachelor’s degree from the Milwaukee Institute of Art & Design.
David M. Link has been named operations manager for Facility Services Group in Pewaukee. Link brings more than 13 years of building maintenance and project management to the company, most recently as facilities maintenance director for Continental Properties. He holds an associate degree from Milwaukee Area Technical College.
Don Gecks has joined Hi-Liter Graphics in Burlington as vice president of operations. He was formerly executive in charge of operations at S. Rosenthal & Co. in Cincinnati, and is a graduate of West Virginia Institute of Technology with a bachelor of science degree in printing management and an associate degree in printing technology.

Oct. 17, 2003 Small Business Times, Milwaukee

On the rebound from 9-11 slowdown, Tax-Airfreight makes a new statement

By David Niles, of SBT

Milwaukee-based Tax-Airfreight Inc. intends to solidify its position in the trucking market via a new marketing campaign that goes beyond its name.
The company, founded 26 years ago this month to handle air freight for Harnischfeger Corp. (now Joy Global Inc.), is adding a new tagline to its trucks and to its marketing materials that states "Not just air-freight – All freight."
"We’re well known in the industry, but we’re seen as an air freight carrier, with the implication that we must be expensive for carrying surface loads," said Gregory Groth, president and CEO of the company, on Howell Avenue near Gen. Billy Mitchell International Airport.
The company expanded from air-freight delivery to include less-than-truckload surface deliveries in the 1980s, but it kept its air-freight-related name, commonly used as Tax-Air.
"Our name recognition and our logo recognition has been very important to our customers," Groth said, noting a study showing the blue and white trucks with an eagle to be one of the most recognized trucks on the highway.
So, instead of changing the business name, Groth decided to add the "not just air freight" tagline. Decals with the wording started to go on Tax-Air trucks at the end of August.
All this is happening as Groth sees continued consolidation in the industry — an industry that suffered tremendously after the Sept. 11 terrorists attacks. Nationwide, more than 7,000 trucking companies with 10 or more vehicles went out of business between 2001 and 2002, according to the American Trucking Association.
Business is better now — Tax-Airfreight posted profits in the first two quarters of this year, with an 11% growth in business over 2002. But it’s still incredibly competitive. "With the way the economy has been, the pie got smaller," Groth said. "But we’re trying to take the positive approach. And we can see confidence out there."
While the company reduced costs when economists starting using the word "recession" early in 2001, Tax-Air also started laying the groundwork for an expanded business operation. It has since created and filled three positions: chief financial officer, Brad Lamers; vice president of operations, Larry Haase; and vice president of sales and marketing, John Muenzer. The duties of those three positions had been handled by other staff members.
The company has about 400 full- and part-time employees and 146 pieces of power equipment — tractors and trucks — and more than 200 trailers "to give us better pick-up and delivery capabilities," Groth said.
Those people and that equipment serve more than 2,000 cities in the upper Midwest from terminals in Milwaukee, Madison, Manitowoc, Neenah, Minneapolis/St. Paul and Chicago. The company is also authorized to retrieve international freight from air and ocean carriers on behalf of a customer and hold it "in-bond" pending clearance by U.S. Customs.
Groth, who grew up in the Bay view neighborhood of Milwaukee but who now lives in Franklin, got his start in the business working on a dock at Novo Air Freight in the 1970s. After becoming a manager he was transferred to Neenah where he opened and operated that area’s first air freight forwarder.
His experiences with Novo helped form what Tax-Air is today.
"Novo had offices throughout the country, but not everywhere," he said. "So they would use agents – companies like today’s Tax-Air — to help with deliveries and pickups. Some of those agents were good, but some were terrible."
As a regional agent, "I want Tax-Air to be one of the good ones," he said. And to Groth, that means being proactive with customers. "When we have a problem, I’m going to call the forwarder before he calls me," Groth said. "And I’m going to be ready to tell him, ‘Here’s what we’re going to do about it.’"
Those kind of calls are made when problems happen. More often, they don’t occur. "Our goal is, if we say we’re going to deliver it the next day, we’ll fight internally to make that happen," Groth said. "We elevate that intensity to the rest of what we do here."
The payoff for customers is that The Gap, for example, had 99% of its deliveries through Tax-Air on time last year and 99.21% on time so far this year.
Groth’s expectations and fostering a can-do culture are complemented with the company’s use of technology to help ensure on-time delivery. The shipping system relies on electronic transmissions of pick-up orders, bills of lading, tracing and invoices; barcoding; real-time status updates on the company’s Web site; imaging technology; two-way radio use; and the impending use of the Global Positioning System.
While Groth is striving to exceed customer expectations, he also has been working to meet government expectations. The 9-11 terrorist attacks didn’t only bring a slowdown in business, they also ushered in a new era of security,
"The Transportation Security Administration came in here, literally breaching our facility and saying, ‘I’m here and I’m not supposed to be.’"
It’s not so easy to get onto the gated and video-monitored property these days. Groth said Tax-Air "spent tens of thousands of dollars upgrading security measures in all areas of operations. From fending in our entire yard, complete with motorized gate, to installing keypads and securing plans for digital security cameras at every door."
And Tax-Air’s safety and compliance manager LuAnn Doyle has taken on the additional task of making sure drivers are trained in security measures.
The threat to the trucking industry is especially strong, Doyle says, because "commercial trucking makes this country run." The American Trucking Association says 68% of freight shipped in the US is handled by the trucking industry.
"There are hundreds of thousands of drivers who have been in this business for years, and now we are asking them to change everything they do about their job," she said.
Haulers of hazardous materials and foodstuffs are particularly vulnerable, she added.
Doyle handles Tax-Air’s hazardous materials training, which employees are reschooled in every two years rather than the federally required every three years. "Our goal is to ensure that everyone involved will be well versed in the correct protocol if a disaster occurs," she said. "These days you can’t be too prepared."
The company has extended its safety training to some of its customers to further ensure a good record. "I never want to have my name in the paper where we didn’t do enough to prevent a situation; that’s a real hot-button issue for me," said Groth.
When he and two others, including current vice president Rick Sabatini, started the company, "I thought we’d be in business a year or two," Groth said. "But here we are."

Oct. 17, 2003 Small Business Times, Milwaukee

Overburdened employees need to take control over their life/work balance

By Daniel Schroeder, for SBT

Question: It seems like it’s getting harder and harder to leave work at work. I come in early and stay late. I take work home with me. I have a laptop computer, cellphone and pager. I feel like I can’t get away from work. What can I, as one employee, do to respond to this disturbing situation?

Answer: For starters, the first thing you can do is take notice and say, "Enough! I will do whatever I can within my sphere of influence to control how and when I work. I will strive to create a life-work balance that allows me to influence the manner in which I pursue work-related activities."
Let’s be clear — we live in an information age in which we can work 24-7 if we want to. Technology has made the workplace more accessible than it ever has been.
Who is policing how much you work? If you’re not, I’m not so sure that anyone else will be. After all, if you are the kind of employee who churns out more and more work as it is handed to you, your employer loves you!
How many bosses or organizations have the objectivity and insight to say, "You are doing the work of three people. We are concerned about the impact this will have on your physical and mental health in the future. Let’s see what we can do to ease your burden."
The more typical response, it seems, is for the employer to say, "We’ve got a ‘live one,’ here. Let’s see how much we can get out of him/her."
Over time, this mindset, of course, only leads to disillusionment, disappointment and disenchantment on the part of the employee.
Confronted with arduous work conditions, employees are inclined to engage in any of a number of coping strategies. Not all of them are healthful, by the way. The U.S. Department of Labor suggests that about 10% of the workforce can be classified as alcoholic. The same percentage of employees has or will use illicit drugs.
Suffice it to say that a host of negative life outcomes attach to feeling stressed-out, over-burdened or out of control with respect to work.
There are a number of alternatives that organizations can pursue to encourage their employees to adopt healthful lifestyles. Those include:
— Allowing employees more control – The idea here is to provide employees more input over their work situations – hours of work, location of work, tools that may be accessed, etc.
— Defining roles – Uncertainty or ambiguity regarding the work to be done, the approach to be used, the outcome that is sought, etc., all add up to a stressful situation. Better to offer concrete expectations and clear-cut statements of the criteria to be used in evaluating performance.
— Providing stimulating work – Too much or too little challenge can lead to feelings of frustration. One way to ensure that people feel challenged is to probe into individual motives and values in order to construct jobs that are personally stimulating and organizationally enriching.
— Social support – Many employees can profit from the opportunity to connect with others who are going through the same experience or confronting the same challenges. Encouraging employees to form formal or informal support groups (e.g., "brown bag" lunch groups) can go a long way to diffusing the feeling of "I’m in this all by myself."
— Employee Assistance Programs (EAPs) – EAPs are counseling and related services for a variety of employee health concerns.
A variety of interventions are possible, ranging from drug and alcohol treatment to stress management, relaxation training, biofeedback training and exercise and nutritional programming.
The goal in all of these programs is to encourage employees to modify their behavior in order to choose life-enhancing rather than life-draining pursuits.

Let me just say that no matter how well intentioned an employer may be with regard to the interventions that I have listed above, the individual ultimately decides if he/she will pursue them. So while I can appreciate the extent to which you are feeling burdened or perhaps even "cornered," my question to you is, "What are you going to do about it?"
Certainly, if you are in a position of managerial authority, I would encourage you to help your organization to explore one or more of the options that I listed above. Managers, especially top managers, influence and shape the corporate culture.
You can go a long way toward helping employees make better choices if all you do is show them how it is done through your own approach. Having some organization-sponsored programs in place makes that easier, of course.
As an individual contributor, you have less power, authority and clout than if you occupy a role higher up in the chain of command. Yet, a simple rule must be called out – "You are the master of your own destiny. You are living inside your own skin. If things aren’t working out, you have to be one the take ownership of the situation. You need to be the one to do something about it."
That means you will want to investigate what, if any, programs your company has in place. If there are none, you will want to explore community-based programs and self-help approaches. There are a host of alternatives to consider ranging from participation in formal programs in biofeedback and relaxation training to books on tape that you can listen to on the way to and from work.
So, in the final analysis, my words to you are, "Take control of your work life. Make better choices. Look inside at your core values and let them lead you."
In doing so, I believe you will find that you have more control than you think you do.
And, over time, I believe you will find that taking more time for you actually leads to more energy, more enthusiasm, and more productivity.

Daniel Schroeder, Ph.D., of Organization Development Consultants Inc. (ODC), in Brookfield, provides "HR Connection." Small Business Times readers who would like to see an issue addressed in an article may reach him at 262-827-1901, via fax at 262-827-8383, via e-mail at schroeder@odcons.com or via the Internet at www.odcons.com.

Oct. 17, 2003 Small Business Times, Milwaukee

The Titus Group to expand into Atlanta, Houston markets

By Andrew Weiland, of SBT

Capitalizing on the growing need for independent auditors, The Titus Group Inc. plans to expand by opening offices in several new markets over the next decade.
Company founders Scott Seefeld and Ron Bocciardi already are interviewing applicants to work in offices the company plans to open in Atlanta and Houston. Those markets are fertile for corporate headquarters of publicly held companies.
The Titus Group, which provides internal audits, accounting, and technology and tax services, plans to open offices in one to two additional markets each year until 2010. That’s remarkable growth for a 3-year-old company that currently employs about 60 people at its Milwaukee headquarters in the Historic Third Ward and that already has offices in Chicago and Indianapolis.
"We don’t want to open offices just to open offices," said Seefeld, president of The Titus Group. "We have to have the right leaders in place. I don’t want to force it. I’ve seen companies force it, and it doesn’t work out."
"Our growth is only limited by our ability to find the best and brightest people," said Bocciardi, vice president of firm.
The consulting company’s new offices will be established in large, growing markets, Seefeld and Bocciardi said.
They plan to focus their expansion in the South and Midwest until the economy improves, before opening offices on the East and West coasts.
"Sooner or later, we are going to expand to the coasts," Seefeld said. "We’re waiting for the coasts to get the wind at their backs in this economy."
The Titus Group’s growth has been spurred in part by the Public Company Accounting Reform and Investor Protection Act, also known as the Sarbanes-Oxley Act.
President George W. Bush signed the act into law last year in an attempt to discourage accounting scandals such as those involving Enron and WorldCom.
The federal law prevents accounting firms from performing consulting work for publicly traded companies they are auditing. The law has created business opportunities for The Titus Group to perform independent audits for publicly traded companies seeking to comply with the new law.
"We provide the added independence to the whole process of executing Sarbanes-Oxley," Bocciardi said.
Helping corporations comply with the new law accounts for about 20% of the work The Titus Group provides for its clients.
The law also mandates certification of financial reports by top executives and increased penalties for executives who commit corporate fraud. A chief executive officer or chief financial officer who certifies false financial reports could be sentenced to 20 years in prison and receive a fine of up to $5 million.
Seefeld and Bocciardi believe another reason their business has grown is because they have an edge over many of their competitors, which are publicly traded companies with higher overhead costs.
As a privately held firm, The Titus Group can move more nimbly than the publicly traded companies it serves, they say.
Seefeld and Bocciardi believe their services are of similar quality, but cost less than those provided by publicly owned firms.
"We don’t have a desire to go public," Bocciardi said. "We have a desire to stay leaner and offer better value to our clients."
Many of The Titus Group’s customers are concerned about the costs of complying with the new federal regulations, Seefeld said.
"Sarbanes-Oxley has been a huge regulatory issue for a lot of large publicly traded companies," he said. "They’re looking for more affordable ways to comply with the act. If they can do that in a quality way in a much more affordable manner, they are very interested in that."
The Titus Group has more than 100 clients, including some of the largest in the three markets it serves. The firm’s client roster includes BP Amoco Corp., Kraft Foods, The Tribune Co., Conseco, Journal Communications, Miller Brewing Co., Rockwell Automation, Marcus Corp. and Wisconsin Energy Corp.
Seefeld, 36, and Bocciardi, 37, have worked together for more than 10 years. They first worked for BDO Seidman. Prior to starting The Titus Group, Seefeld and Bocciardi were executives at Jefferson Wells International (formerly known as AuditForce and now part of Manpower Inc.), which they helped grow from a company with 12 employees to a corporation with 1,400 employees, $175 million in annual revenue and 24 offices across the United States and Canada.
"We took a lot of things we learned from Jefferson Wells, but also we felt we could do other things better," Seefeld said.
They opened their first office for The Titus Group in Indianapolis in September of 2000 and opened the Milwaukee and Chicago offices a year later.
"With the recession starting and Sept. 11, there were some challenging obstacles thrown at us," Seefeld said. "But 15 months after opening, we were profitable, and we have never looked back since. Our profits are very solid — they’re very strong. I’m really proud of our team and our ability to do it and grow in tough economic times. We have no debt. All three of our offices are profitable."
Each of the accountants at The Titus Group has at least seven years of professional experience.
The quality of the employees and the personal relationships they build with their clients are the greatest strengths of the company, Seefeld and Bocciardi said.
"We are very passionate about client relationships," Bocciardi said. "That’s something that gets me out of bed in the morning and really charges me up."
The Titus Group was named to this year’s Future 50 list of fastest-growing young companies by the Metropolitan Milwaukee Association of Commerce and its Council of Small Business Executives.
Although the company plans to open new offices in several larger markets, Seefeld and Bocciardi said the firm’s headquarters likely will remain here.
"I see us staying in Milwaukee," said Seefeld, who grew up in the area. "I have very strong family roots here. I love Milwaukee. It’s a great city."

Private firms also can benefit from independent auditing
Although the Public Company Accounting Reform and Investor Protection Act (also known as the Sarbanes-Oxley Act) applies only to publicly traded companies, the law has some privately held companies reevaluating how their businesses are audited.
Among other things, the law prohibits accounting firms from performing consulting work for companies they are auditing. That provision in the law has provided business opportunities for The Titus Group Inc. to conduct independent audits for publicly traded companies.
However, smaller privately held companies also may benefit from having an independent audit done, according to Ron Bocciardi, vice president of The Titus Group.
"To perform a basic internal control review would be a very wise thing to do," he said.
The owners of small, family-owned businesses often lack the accounting knowledge to prevent internal fraud, he said. For that reason, some of those small-business owners are deciding to have independent audits done, Bocciardi said.
"They see the need to ensure they have the proper controls in place," he said. "Some non-public companies are taking the initiative of implementing portions of (Sarbanes-Oxley) in order to make sure they have a strong control environment."

Public Company Accounting Reform and Investor Protection Act (Sarbanes-Oxley Act), 2002
— Prohibits public accounting firms from performing consulting work for publicly traded companies they are auditing.
— Sets up an independent oversight board to watch over the accounting industry.
— Mandates certification of financial reports by top executives.
— Stiffens penalties against executives who commit corporate fraud.
— Increases financial disclosures, including disclosure of all off-balance sheet transactions.

Oct. 17, 2003 Small Business Times, Milwaukee

Farrow wins Athena award

The Waukesha County Chamber of Commerce will present the 2003 Athena Award to Margaret A. Farrow, former lieutenant governor of Wisconsin and former state senator. The award will be presented to Farrow at the chamber’s W.O.M.E.N. luncheon at noon on Thursday, Nov. 13, at the Milwaukee Marriott West in Waukesha.
The Athena award recognizes a person who has achieved business excellence, serves the community and assists women in reaching their full leadership potential. Farrow was nominated and selected because she serves as a positive role model to many young women in the community, for her hard work and dedication to the state of Wisconsin, and for being able to "break through the glass ceiling." Last year’s inaugural Athena Award winner was Bev Chappie.
Annually, the Athena Award is presented in hundreds of cities throughout the United States and Canada, and takes the form of a hand-cast bronze sculpture symbolizing the strength, courage and wisdom of the recipient.
The Waukesha County Chamber of Commerce is offering this award through their W.O.M.E.N. organization, which stands for Women Owners, Managers, and Executives Networking. The goal of the organization is to provide education and networking opportunities for women in the workplace.
For more information on W.O.M.E.N. or to register for the luncheon, call 262-542-4249.

Marketing firm relocates here from Illinois
Countryside Marketing Inc., a full-service marketing communications agency, has moved to Menomonee Falls. The agency had been in Naperville, Ill.
It specializes in public relations, general marketing communications and association management for agribusinesses and small to medium industrial business-to-business clients.
"Our service tends to be turn-key, from concept to completion," says Carroll Merry, president.
The company is on the Web at www.countryside-marketing.com.

Cousins Subs expanding in Twin Cities
Cousins Subs is planning to increase the number of restaurants it has in the Twin Cities area from 14 to 50 within the next five years.
Menomonee Falls-based Cousins Submarines Inc. currently has about 200 restaurants in 10 states.
Traditionally Cousins has opened about 20 franchises a year. Company officials hope to increase the expansion rate to about 35 to 50 restaurants a year.
Cousins officials are also planning to add more restaurants in the Dallas and Los Angeles areas, said Paul Hazlinger, director of franchise operations for Cousins Subs. Currently, Cousins has three restaurants in the Dallas area and one in the Los Angeles area.
"We don’t want to be a Subway or a Quiznos," Hazlinger said. "We don’t want 12,000 stores. We want to maintain our quality and grow the business in areas where we already exist, and to be a significant player in markets that we’re already in."

Ozaukee County forums slated
Milwaukee Area Technical College will launch a series of community affairs breakfast forums for the Ozaukee County community.
Co-sponsored by the Ozaukee County Board, the First Fridays Forum Series will be held first Fridays, November through May.
They will be held from 7:30 to 9 a.m. in the Lecture Hall of MATC’s North Campus, 5555 W. Highland Rd., Mequon.
The Nov. 7 session will focus on the 2004 Ozaukee County budget, presented by Ozaukee County Administrator Tom Meaux and MATC Vice President Nina Jo Look.
Health care employment in Ozaukee County is the topic of the Dec. 5 session.
Registration deadlines are Nov. 4 for the November forum and Dec. 2 for the December forum. To register, call Shelly Conroy at 262-238-2205 or e-mail her at conroym@matc.edu. A $10 cost covers a continental breakfast.

Budgeting – It’s a lot more than ‘Last year plus (or minus) 10 percent’

By Susan Marshall, for SBT

Into your budgeting process for the new year? You may be finding it more perplexing than in past years, and may be wondering whether budgets set in the third or fourth quarter this year will have any reasonable connection to business activity of 2004.
There was a time when business results were somewhat projectable, leading to a shortcut process that simply took last year’s budget numbers and added a growth factor to determine the following year’s budget allocations. Close enough used to be good enough.
Furthermore, many budgets came with the admonition to spend what was there, lest they be cut next year. Over the past few budgeting seasons, cutbacks have been ordered, sometimes as across-the-board percentages, and sometimes in more targeted ways.
When we talk about creativity and flexibility in business, we’re usually referring to sales and marketing initiatives. Creative budgeting is not something anyone would advocate, especially in grim economic times.
But that’s precisely what’s needed now.
How does your company allocate financial resources? Do you take a holistic look across your operations, determine your priorities and then put money behind these priorities to make sure they get accomplished? If you’re like many executives, you’d like to say "yes," even though you know that’s not how your company goes about it.
In many organizations, budgets are set by forms and a process, usually led by the CFO who determines allocation categories based on history and then distributes them to operating execs. There’s little conversation about how money gets allocated or which initiatives are topmost on the organization’s list of needs. Working with historical data, best guesses about the future shape hard number allocations.
To the extent that it’s all we have to work with, I suppose one could say that’s as good as it gets.
I disagree.
When I ask managers about their budgeting processes, I often get exasperated sighs, slow headshakes and defeatist shrugs. "Our systems lock us into certain ways of thinking." "We don’t have the leeway right now to do some things we know we should. Money is too tight." "Now is not the time to fool with our budgeting process. There are too many other things going on."
It’s hard to listen to remarks like those without feeling agitated about the sorry state of leadership in our organizations. Since when do systems trump business experience and determination? If leaders don’t take "leeway" to do the right things, who will? What other "things" are going on that are independent of budget considerations?
These are poor excuses that bespeak a lack of true leadership in organizations today. Leaders take time to understand the business, set goals, establish priorities and allocate resources to get things done. They don’t do it in competition with functional peers; they do it to drive the company forward.
Leaders are not afraid of making budget decisions that others dispute. When it comes to explaining their choices, they point to clear organizational objectives as the basis for their judgments. It’s not about being numbers-smart — it’s about understanding a company’s competitive opportunities, knowing the assets at hand and lining up resources to move ahead with confidence and strength. That’s a far cry from "last year, plus or minus 10%." It’s also a lot harder.
There are times, for example, when marketing and production may need a boost in funds to drive a new product launch. For other departments or functional areas to demand equal funding on the basis of fairness is to demonstrate a lack of understanding of the business and a juvenile approach to tough business choices.
Another common basis for budgeting is the ROI model. While this can be a healthy approach, it is sometimes too exacting to make sense. Particularly in start-up or early-stage companies or projects, determining ROI is tricky at best.
Still, there are executives who believe that if it can’t be projected, it can’t be done. Do new ideas, equipment or people come to an organization with up-front assurances that any investment in them will be paid back in an acceptable timeframe? Does opportunity describe itself plainly and come with a spreadsheet of profitability attached? Of course not! That’s the challenge, and the sport, of business.
As you begin thinking about your budget for next year, set your forms aside. Reflect on the business. Gather the people who will be directly involved in your operations and listen to them talk about what customers want, how your internal processes work and what they need to work more effectively. Talk about what you want to accomplish together. Then go to your forms and arrange your numbers to support your plans.
When people provide budget numbers, ask where they came from. You don’t have to do this in a nasty way, just be curious.
A client I was working with recently took a SWAG at market potential. When I asked where the number came from, one of his associates leaned over and drew his hand along his backside. After a brief second of shocked surprise, the group broke into laughter. The point was made in a humorous way and set them on a new, more focused path toward business projections.
It you have unproductive budget debates raging in your company, fix them now. You may have the wrong people in leadership roles. It doesn’t matter how long they’ve been with you or how deep their knowledge of the business runs. If they are watching out for a narrow set of interests — namely their own — they are going to create or perpetuate problems.
If your systems lock you into old ways of thinking, prepare for continued hardship.
If, on the other hand, you can take a hard look at where you’ve succeeded in the past, where the opportunities lie ahead and make the sometimes-difficult choices to allocate resources – financial and human – to take an honest run at success, you’ll have a lot more fun and I daresay greater success.
One final point: Budgets are often giant and silent harbingers of culture. If you’re stuck, change your approach. Use your budgeting process to change the content and tone of conversations inside your organization.
Ask questions to probe opportunity: How can you be smarter about your clients? How can you learn more about the competition? How can you meld sales and production into a system that generates results on a sustained and profitable basis? Your answers will likely involve changes to information, people and processes. Don’t be afraid of these changes!
Create lists of ideas and fund the most promising. Stop telling yourself that when the economy improves, everything else will, too. That’s not true. You may find in this year’s budgeting process that some things need to be cut, deleted, removed forever because they no longer serve you. If you are certain that your cuts are necessary, make them with confidence. Be clear in your own mind of what you’re working toward and why.
With this confidence you will speak with greater conviction and you’ll find that others are more interested in hearing where you’re going. Imagine using a budget cycle to start a business transformation. And why not?

Susan Marshall is owner of Executive Advisor in Delafield, www.executive-advisorllc.com She can be reached at 262-677-1215.

Oct. 17, 2003 Small Business Times, Milwaukee

Developer plans ‘beer, bed & breakfast’
Haertl also lines up beer museum for massive Pabst City redevelopment

By Steve Jagler, of SBT

Where else but Milwaukee could an abandoned 19th century brewery site be transformed into a new microbrewery, a beer museum and even a "beer, bed and breakfast?"
That’s precisely the frothy plan of Jim Haertel, president of Brew City Development Group.
Haertel’s company owns a minority stake in the mammoth Pabst City redevelopment project at the former home of Pabst Brewing Co. on the western edge of downtown Milwaukee.
Haertel previously announced he had received a letter of intent from Cincinnati Restaurant Group Inc. to build a Milwaukee version of the Hofbrauhaus, the famous beer homage in Munich, Germany.
Haertel is negotiating for a lease to accommodate the Hofbrauhaus on the first floor of his space at 901-917 W. Juneau Ave.
Haertel also now has a letter of intent from the Milwaukee Museum of Beer & Brewing to build just that — a beer museum — in 5,000 square feet of space on the second floor of his building.
To date, the Museum of Beer & Brewing has existed only as an organization with a cause and a post office box. Haertel is member of the organization’s board of directors.
That will change with actual museum space and actual artifacts from Milwaukee’s brewing heritage.
"Let’s just say they don’t have to pay the full market rate for this space. It’s quite a space for a beer museum, don’t you think?" Haertel said. "I can’t think of a better place for a beer museum."
But wait, there’s more. Haertel and his business partner, Paul Bertling, are talking to prospective operators of a "beer, bed and breakfast" that would be built in 10,000 square feet of space on the third floor of the structure.
"We’ve got a few parties interested. Here, you’d get a free beer before you go to bed at night," Haertel said, adding that the BB&B could accommodate 12 to 15 rooms.
The space, which has 18-foot ceilings, will feature turn-of-the-century style amenities, including hot tubs that resemble brew kettles, he said.
"We think people will visit the museum, eat and drink in the Hofbrauhaus and then spend the night in the beer, bed and breakfast," Haertel said.

Oct. 17, 2003 Small Business Times, Milwaukee

New Heart Hospital of Milwaukee ready for patients

The Glendale-based Heart Hospital of Milwaukee started treating patients Oct. 14. Construction of the 66,000-square foot hospital at 375 W. River Woods Parkway was recently completed.
"We’re excited to have met our construction goals on time," said John Antes, president and chief executive officer of the Heart Hospital of Milwaukee.
The $35 million facility is on 12 acres of land in a corporate park along Port Washington Road between Hampton Avenue and Capitol Drive.
The hospital is owned and operated by local physicians and MedCath Corp, a publicly held company based in Charlotte, N.C.
The building was designed by the Charlotte-based Odell architecture firm and constructed by CG Schmidt Inc. of Milwaukee.
The Heart Hospital includes:
— 32 single-patient intensive-care rooms
— three operating suites
— three catheterization laboratories
— a four-bed emergency room with round-the-clock emergency service
— eight day-patient suites
— a full-service cafeteria
— and services for radiology, pharmacy and other laboratories.
The hospital includes $14 million in medical technology, including GE Medical Systems’ Innova 2000, an all-digital X-ray cardiovascular imaging system.
The hospital has a staff of approximately 195 physicians and other employees.
While the hospital is complete, construction is under way on an adjacent two-story, 45,000-square-foot medical office building that will provide access for Heart Hospital of Milwaukee patients and family members for inpatient and outpatient care.
The Glendale hospital is MedCath’s ninth in the nation, with four more under design or construction.

MEDC OKs loans for business expansion projects

A northside Milwaukee company will expand its building with the help of financing through the Milwaukee Economic Development Corp. (MEDC).
The MEDC loan committee last week approved a $475,000 loan for the company, Precision Metrology Inc., at 7350 N. Teutonia Ave., and the property owner, Shipley Properties LLC.
Both entities are owned by
Carol L. Shipley.
The company will add 9,000 square feet of space to its 13,000-square-foot building, using the new space for climate-controlled laboratory space. The addition will triple the space of the company’s electronic labs.
The company provides calibration, repair and maintenance and certification on physical dimension gauging, electronics, surface plates, hard gauges, geometric references and other testing devices and meters.
It also distributes new gauges and equipment.
Precision Metrology now employs 55 people full-time and six part-time, and expects to add 10 full-timers and one part-timer in the expansion project.
M&I Bank also is participating in financing of the $1.2 million project.
In other action at its Oct. 6 meeting, the MEDC loan committee approved a $410,000 loan for Loomis Development LLC, to be used for Stu’s Flooring Ltd.
Both businesses are owned by Stephen D. and Daniel R. Ulik.
The Uliks plan to build a 16,100-square-foot building on a 2.8-acre parcel at 4800 W. Loomis Rd. in Greenfield. The building would include 6,220 square feet of showroom space, 1,669 square feet of office space and 8,200 square feet of warehouse space.
The new building would consolidate the operation from two buildings into one.
The Uliks expect to add 10 full-time positions to their current base of 19, and add four part-time positions to their current four.
M&I Bank also is participating in financing of the $1.5 million project.

For another building project, the MEDC loan committee approved a $200,000 loan for Perry O. Crawford III and Jeanne M. Crawford for their Crawford Tree & Landscape Service.
The Crawfords have been operating the company since 1969, renting a small office building on a 1.5-acre storage lot at 8700 W. Calumet Rd. in Milwaukee. The small shed and storage lot there no longer meets their needs.
They will use the MEDC funds to help finance the purchase of 2.147 acres of land on adjacent property, 8760 W. Calumet Rd., from their current landlord. They would then build a 3,456-square-foot office and service building on the property.
M&I Bank also is participating in financing of the $500,000 project.

The MEDC loan committee also approved an amended loan for The Soup Market Ltd. of Milwaukee. The committee on May 5 had approved a $49,000 loan for the business, to have a retail location at 2211S. Kinnickinnic Ave. Due to increased costs of the project, the owners, Tim Talsky and Jim Nowlen, returned to seek a $59,000 MEDC loan rather than the $49,000 loan. Park Bank also is participating in the $150,000 project.

A request from Endeavour Group Investments LLC for a $500,000 loan from MEDC was tabled for further consideration. The company is a new development operation of Tim Dixon, Randy Roth and Ed Kileen. They are seeking funds to help finance construction of a 6,920-square-foot office and restaurant building at 1818 N. Hubbard St., overlooking downtown. It would have two stories and an exposed lower level.
The development group would occupy the second floor of the building with the restaurant occupying the two lower levels.

Oct. 17, 2003 Small Business Times, Milwaukee