Business Development
Appvion, a Wynnchurch Capital, L.P. portfolio company, added Nekoosa Coated Products, LLC to its platform.
The law firms of Davis|Kuelthau s.c. and Chicago-based SmithAmundsen LLC have combined to form Amundsen Davis LLC.
Embrace Care Management & Managed Home Care is expanding beyond Sheboygan County and adding satellite locations in Ozaukee, Waukesha and Milwaukee counties.
Endries International, Inc. has acquired Alliance Nut & Bolt, LLC of Kansas and Oklahoma.
Fox World Travel’s business travel team and GBM Consulting are partnering to help grow companies with travel management needs.
Honkamp, P.C. acquired Vaassen, Pluemer CPAs, LLC of Platteville.
The Manitowoc Company, Inc. announced that it acquired assets of the crane rental fleet of Honnen Equipment Company of Colorado through its wholly-owned subsidiary, MGX Equipment Services, LLC.
Gordon Flesch Company acquired Oshkosh Office Systems, a privately owned provider of business technology services.
Robinson Heating & Cooling was purchased by longtime employees Mike Taicher and Eric Selissen. The company will continue operating under the Robinson name.
Wings Financial Credit Union of Apple Valley, Minnesota will acquire Settlers Bank. The bank’s locations will be re‐branded as Settlers Best Credit Union, a division of Wings Financial Credit Union.
ThedaCare and Froedtert Health announced a joint venture to create two health campuses that include hospital and outpatient care services in Fond du Lac and Oshkosh. ThedaCare additionally created an obstetrical emergency department (OB-ED) and hospitalist program for expectant mothers and babies in Northeast and Central Wisconsin. ThedaCare also made the Forbes list of Best-in-State Employers 2022 — one of only seven health care providers across Wisconsin included among the 50 top employers. ThedaCare also received two recognitions from Vizient, Inc.: ThedaCare Regional Medical Center-Neenah was named a top performer in the 2022 Bernard A. Birnbaum, M.D., Quality Leadership Ranking, and the health system was recognized as a top performer in the 2022 Supplier Diversity Excellence Ranking.
TitletownTech invested in Stemloop, a Chicago-based biosensor company developing technology for applications across environmental monitoring, biomanufacturing and human health.
Business Comings and Goings
Culver’s is expected to come to Oostburg, planned for the corner of Center Avenue and South Business Drive.
Georgia-Pacific is closing its Oshkosh packaging facility.
Hy-Vee opened its sixth store in Wisconsin, and largest ever, on Oneida Street in Ashwaubenon.
KerberRose added a new location in Eagle River — its 13th office in Northeast and North Central Wisconsin and the Upper Peninsula.
Construction
The Boys & Girls Club of Oshkosh started construction on its $16 million expansion project.
Valley VNA Senior Care is adding 9,835 square feet of new space and remodeling the rest of the building. The entire project should be complete by 2024.
The Gordon Flesch Company opened a building in Appleton.
Bayland Buildings is working on or has completed projects for One Source Technologies in De Pere; Hobart Family Dentistry in Hobart; Pivot Point in Hustisford; Accurate Fire Protection in Larsen; ACMF in Green Bay; RC Mowers in Suamico; KI in Bonduel; Advanced Tooling Specialists in Menasha; and All Energy Management in Two Rivers.
BC Organics opened its new facility in Greenleaf.
Harbor Freight Tools opened its new store in Fond du Lac.
Elisha D. Smith Public Library in Menasha is moving to the next phase of architectural planning for its renovation project, working with community members in an interactive workshop.
Keller, Inc. is working on or has completed projects for Good News Project, Inc. in Wausau; Premier Oral & Maxillofacial Surgery in Janesville; Utility Sales & Service in Appleton; Lifetime Auto Sales & Service in West Bend; Cedar Lake Sales and Service in West Bend; Premier Community Bank in Marion; and a vacant building on Hwy B in Shawano for a new full service veterinary clinic.
Fox Cities Builders is working with Ariens Nordic Center on the construction of its new ski-rental facility.
Education
The University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh ranked No. 2 in Wisconsin and No. 98 nationwide among public schools in Military Times’ 2022 Best for Vets: Colleges Rankings. Additionally, the university’s College of Nursing was again named among the nation’s best schools for men in nursing by the American Association for Men in Nursing. UW-Oshkosh also was awarded $480,000 from the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation to develop an open-source digital toolkit for higher education entrepreneurship at the university’s Center for Customized Research and Services. Furthermore, the UW-Oshkosh Foundation raised $2.9 million for the university in the last fiscal year.
St. Norbert College was awarded a $269,921 Violence Against Women Act grant this year from the U.S. Department of Justice; the university previously received $300,000 in 2019 to reduce sexual and domestic violence on campus. St. Norbert College also has joined the Coalition for College, a diverse group of more than 170 public and private colleges and universities across the U.S. working to improve college access for low-income, under-resourced and first-generation students.
Awards
Acuity earned industry leadership awards from ACORD. Acuity’s Joan Ravanelli Miller, general counsel and vice president – human resources, was honored with the 2022 Women’s Insurance Advancement Award. Acuity also earned the Pinnacle Award from Applied Systems for the insurer’s use of technology in driving digital transformation; Acuity was the only insurer in the nation to receive a Pinnacle Award in 2022. Acuity also was recognized by Forbes as one of America’s Best Insurance Companies 2023.
Bellin Hospital was five-star rated for hip fracture treatment, according to new research released by Healthgrades. Additionally, Bellin Health rolled out autonomous artificial intelligence (AI) technology, IDx-DR, to identify developing retinopathy related to diabetes. Additionally, while Bellin Health and Gundersen Health System are in the process of finalizing a merger for patient care, both health systems’ philanthropic foundations’ operations and fundraising efforts will continue to operate separately.
Boldt was certified as a gold-level Employee Friendly Workplace in the Fox Cities by the Fox Cities Chamber.
The Best Western Premier Bridgewood Resort Hotel & Conference Center in Neenah received the brand’s highest honor, the M.K. Guertin Award, at Best Western Hotels & Resorts’ 2022 Convention in Ohio. Bridgewood was also recognized with the Customer Care Champion Award for scoring in the top 5 precent of the brand on its Quality Assessment score.
Faith Technologies Incorporated (FTI) was recognized by the 2022 Healthiest 100 Workplaces in America. FTI was also one of 20 organizations inducted into the Healthiest Employers Hall of Fame, which recognizes companies that have been named to the Healthiest 100 Workplaces in America more than five times. FTI was also recognized on several regional 2022 Healthiest Employers listings in Atlanta, Kansas City, Tennessee and Wisconsin. Additionally, FTI was awarded a 2022 BUILD Wisconsin Award from the Associated General Contractors of Wisconsin in the Specialty Contractor – Electrical category.
Discover Green Bay named Green Bay Austin Straubel International Airport (GRB) as its Business Partner of the Year for its impact on the Green Bay economy.
Hawkins Ash CPAs ranked No. 181 on the INSIDE Public Accounting national ranking of public accounting firms.
J.F. Ahern received the Professional Fire Fighters of Wisconsin Charitable Foundation’s Corporate Responsibility Award. The company also was ranked as one of Engineering News-Record’s Top 600 Specialty Contractors for 2022, ranking 88th overall. In the subcategory Top 20 Firms in Fire Protection and Sprinklers, J.F. Ahern ranked third. The company ranked 11th in the Top 20 Firms in Sheet Metal, and 39th in the Top 50 Firms in Mechanical.
Lubenow Companies, Inc. won its fourth consecutive Acuity Insurance Safety Award in recognition of outstanding fleet safety performance in 2021.
Wisconsin Manufacturers & Commerce (WMC) and Johnson Financial Group named the Coolest Thing Made in Wisconsin as Pierce Manufacturing’s electric fire truck. Plexus Corp. made the top 4, and Fincantieri Bay Shipbuilding, Krier Foods and Ariens Co. made the top 8. WMC also named its 2022 Wisconsin Business Friend of the Environment Award winners, including Outlook Group, Mercury Marine, Waupaca Foundry, Milk Source LLC and Faith Technologies Incorporated.
The American Association of Cardiovascular and Pulmonary Rehabilitation certified SSM Health Ripon Community Hospital’s cardiac rehab program.
For the fourth consecutive year, Verve, a Credit Union was named to the 2022 list of Best and Brightest Companies to Work For in the nation by the National Association for Business Resources.
Wisconsin Lighting Lab was named Business of the Year at Marian University’s 41st annual Business and Industry Awards.
The Northeast Wisconsin (NEW) Manufacturing Alliance announced its 11th annual Excellence in Manufacturing/K-12 Partnerships Awards winners. Education Award winners include: Brighter Image – Manitowoc Lutheran High School; Career Pathmaker-Administrator – Jason Johnson, N.E.W. School of Innovation/GBAPS; Career Pathmaker-Educator – Kari Mueller, CESA 6; Career Pathmaker-Tech Ed Teacher – Jon Larson, Little Chute School District; Education Innovation – Appleton East – Tesla Charter School; Higher Education Award – Mary Hansen, Fox Valley Technical College; Manufacturing Partnership – Waupaca School District. Manufacturer Award winners include: Brighter Image – SMT Machine & Tool; Educational Partnership – Amcor Cares Foundation; Leadership – CMD Corporation; Manufacturing Innovation – AriensCo; Visionary – Ryan Scherer, Miller Electric Mfg. Co.; Youth Apprenticeship – A to Z Machine Company, Inc. The Community Partnership award winner is Wisconsin Technology Education Association.
Grants
Associated Bank provided an additional $1 million commitment to support nonprofit programs in Northeast Wisconsin, beyond the company’s annual $1 million in regional philanthropic giving focusing on mental health, workforce readiness and small business development.
Cooperative Educational Service Agency (CESA) 6 was one of the recipients of the Bureau of Justice Assistance STOP School Violence Program and received a $1 million grant to prevent violence in a K-12 school setting.
Festival Foods’ Food for Neighbors program gathered more than $30,000 to help local food pantries stock their shelves with items that they most need. Festival Foods also donated over $720,000 worth of various food items to local food pantries across the state.
The Marilynn W. Taylor/Wohlt Cheese Fund within the Community Foundation for the Fox Valley Region will provide $100,000 for a new addition at the Weyauwega Library. The grant for the library is part of $210,000 awarded to support four nonprofit projects serving the people of New London, Fremont, and surrounding areas, including $50,000 to Mosquito Hill, $40,000 to the New London Community Fund, and $20,000 to the Fremont Historic Society. The fund was supported by the sale of the Wohlt Creamery in New London.
The village of Wrightstown received two Transportation Economic Assistance grants to build rail spurs at Alliance Plastics Inc. and Drexel Systems LLC.
Nations Lending awarded $4,500 to the Jackie Nitschke Center from funds raised during a golf outing.
The Women’s Fund of Greater Green Bay awarded more than $81,000 to 11 nonprofit initiatives positively impacting women and girls in our community.
A group of 1,572 Old National Bank team members helped 110 organizations by volunteering 5,311 hours in seven states during the bank’s two-day Better Together Volunteer Days of service.
Carnivore Meat Company staff collected and donated 381 cans of food to Paul’s Pantry in Green Bay.
All the rest
The Fond du Lac Dock Spiders were selected to host the 2023 Northwoods League Winter Meetings Jan. 23-26, 2023 at the Hotel Retlaw.
The Green Bay Packers launched The Owner’s Club, a wine subscription service featuring the team, its history, the city of Green Bay and state of Wisconsin in a series of premium handcrafted wines under the brand name Winning Standard Napa Valley. The subscription club and wine brand were developed in partnership with Fairwinds Estate Winery in Napa Valley in Calistoga, California.
HSHS St. Nicholas Hospital in Sheboygan added the new da Vinci Xi Surgical System robotic surgical system for minimally invasive procedures.
Jewelers Mutual Group created the Jewelry Industry Council.
Northeast Asphalt, a professional asphalt production and construction services division of Walbec Group in Greenville, hosted the Smart Girls Rock! event presented by the Fox Cities Chamber of Commerce for 100 regional high school girls to meet with women who work in local STEM careers.
Sheboygan-area businesses and educators held STEMFest at the UW-Green Bay Sheboygan Campus for more than 1,000 area elementary school students.
Prevea Health is now offering physical therapy services at the Prevea Kewaunee Health Center. Prevea Health’s 3D and digital mobile mammography unit, launched in 2018, has provided more than 5,500 patients with mammograms, including 390 receiving a mammogram for the first time, 438 that required additional imaging for suspected breast cancer, and 27 diagnosed with breast cancer. The mobile unit travels to Prevea Health centers in Grand Chute, Kewaunee, Luxemburg, Manitowoc, Marinette, Oconto, Oconto Falls, Plymouth, Pulaski, Seymour, Shawano, Gillett, Lena and Mountain.
