More than 200 business leaders gathered for Employment Resource Group’s C-Suite Summit Thursday, Sept. 17, at the Fox Cities Exhibition Center in downtown Appleton, where workforce shortages, artificial intelligence, rising costs and technological change emerged as some of the forces expected to most impact business over the next three to five years.
The invite-only summit celebrated the 25th anniversary of ERG, an executive search firm specializing in industries such as construction, nonprofit and manufacturing, and gave leaders a space to discuss challenges and opportunities facing their businesses and the region.
Morning and afternoon keynote presentations were given by The Hero Effect creator Kevin Brown and U.S. Olympic Women’s Ice Hockey Team Head Coach John Wroblewski. They served as bookends to a day of breakout sessions focused on decision-making, strategy and leadership.
Wisconsin Aluminum Foundry CEO Sachin Shivaram shared AI wins and losses and how the 120-year-old foundry is thinking about the technology moving into the future. RISE Leadership founder Ben Fauske shared lessons on confident leadership strategies and Cornerstone Business Services’ Scott Bushkie dove into the psychology that make or break a business sale.
Insight Publisher Angela O’Kray moderated a panel featuring five regional business leaders representing financial services, construction, healthcare, manufacturing and regional economic development.
Heather Schimmers, president of Emplify Health, said the healthcare industry is facing a perfect storm of complex issues.
“We have a collision happening in healthcare right now. It’s affordability, it’s workforce, it’s regulatory bodies, it’s technology and it’s consumer expectations,” she said. “Healthcare is truly facing one of the most significant periods of disruption that it ever has. I would even venture to say it’s almost more difficult than COVID.”
Panelists also discussed opportunities to rethink how work is performed, how services are delivered and how the region responds to demographic and economic pressures.
Boldt President and CEO Dave Kievet said AI will have a tremendous impact on an increasingly fragmented construction industry.
“I think that through the use of AI that we’ll be able to schedule and plan our [construction] projects at a level that we can’t comprehend,” he said.
The need for greater collaboration, particularly around talent attraction efforts to lessen ongoing worker shortages, emerged as a common theme.
Cathie Tierney, president and CEO of Community First Credit Union, said despite competing as companies, the business community will win or lose together as a region.
“When you really think about it, regional collaboration — what we do here in this region, here in the New North — it’s not philanthropy,” she said. “It’s really an economic imperative for all of us, and it’s one of our greatest competitive advantages.”
