Popular Americana country group Zac Brown Band will play a private concert for about 7,000 Robert W. Baird & Co. Inc. employees, retirees and significant others at Henry Maier Festival Park on Thursday.
The Milwaukee-based global financial services firm is celebrating its 100th anniversary today and tomorrow with the concert, business meetings and networking events.
Tonight, a welcome celebration will be held at the Wisconsin Center, with food, beverages, exhibits about Baird’s history and leadership, and hands-on activities focused on its culture, said Leslie Dixon, chief human resources officer. One of those activities will be packing about 3,000 backpacks of personal care items to give to United Way.
“We’ve got six values that we have held close to and that define our culture, and we’ve tried to bring it to life throughout the room,” she said.
On Thursday, the Annual Meeting for All Associates will be held on the Summerfest grounds, followed by several grounds stage concerts and then the 75-minute Zac Brown Band show at the American Family Insurance Amphitheater. It will be the first concert held at the newly remodeled stage, Dixon said.
Typically, the annual meeting takes place at the UW-Milwaukee Panther Arena or the Miller High Life Theater downtown, and is solely open to Baird’s approximately 3,500 employees. But this year, in celebration of its milestone anniversary, the company has invited each employee to bring a plus-one, and has also included retirees and their guests in the affair, she said. An estimated 2,800 people will fly to Milwaukee for the events, and Baird will put them up in hotel rooms around the region.
“We don’t usually do it outdoors but because this is our 100th year, we’ve been planning for a couple of years for this day and time to celebrate our associates and retirees and all they’ve done for the firm and for clients and communities,” Dixon said. “There’s not a ton of venues in Milwaukee that allows for 7,000 people, so we ultimately decided to have it at Summerfest.”
Networking and activities such as a fun run will also take place throughout the week while the visitors are in town.
“A lot of our businesses are actually taking advantage of everyone coming in to have their various time to meet and network and talk about some business meetings and education,” Dixon said. “We’ve got Discovery World and we’re in several hotels doing those types of programs.”
