Oldenburg Group founder Wayne Oldenburg will receive the Lifetime Achievement Award at the BizTimes Media Innovation + Entrepreneurship Forum on Dec. 8 at the Italian Community Center in Milwaukee. Click here to register.
Oldenburg founded Oldenburg Group Inc. in 1981. The company was a manufacturer of mining equipment, commercial lighting and military products. In 2006, Oldenburg sold its coal mining equipment business to Joy Global Corp. (now Komatsu Mining) for $140 million, but kept its division that made machines used in hard-rock underground mining. In 2016, it sold its underground mining equipment and defense businesses to a New York-based private equity firm.
Oldenburg kept its commercial lighting equipment division, Glendale-based Visa Lighting. He continues to serve as chief executive officer of the company, which supplies performance engineered products that are used in the architectural lighting industry.
Oldenburg is also past-president of ABCD: After Breast Cancer Diagnosis, a nonprofit organization that provides support of people affected by breast cancer; the organization was founded by his late wife, Melodie Wilson. For years, Oldenburg has provided rent-free space in Visa Lighting Inc.’s Glendale office building to three nonprofits: ABCD, Girls on the Run and SHARP Literacy.
The Innovation + Entrepreneurship Forum honors top entrepreneurs and innovators in southeastern Wisconsin.
Theresa Nemetz will receive the Regional Spirit Award, which recognizes a business leader that goes above and beyond to promote the Milwaukee area as a great place to live, work and play. Nemetz is the founder and president of Great Lakes Shore Excursions and Milwaukee Food & City Tours.
Other entrepreneurs and innovators who will be recognized at the Innovation + Entrepreneurship Forum include:
Innovation winners:
Entrepreneurship winners:
The Innovation + Entrepreneurship Forum is sponsored by Johnson Financial Group and Meissner Tierney Fisher & Nichols S.C. In addition, Vistage is a supporting sponsor for the event.
Click here to register for the event.
