Awards
Fox World Travel has been recognized for its vacation travel services with a 2022 Partner Award for Outstanding Groups Producer from The Travel Corporation Tour Brands. Fox is the only travel management company to receive this honor.
Robinson, a metal manufacturer based in De Pere, received the Futuremaker Partner Award from Northeast Wisconsin Technical College and the Wisconsin Technical College System Board. The award is presented four times a year by the WTCS Board to recognize the unique, long-standing connections between the state’s employers and local technical colleges.
Weidert Group was certified as a gold-level Employee Friendly Workplace by the Fox Cities Chamber. Additionally, ThedaCare was certified as a platinum-level Employee Friendly Workplace, which is the highest level of the award a company can attain.
Lakeside Marina has earned the distinction of being recognized as a Certified Dealer through the Marine Retailers Association of the Americas.
HSHS St. Vincent Hospital received a certificate for excellence from the Wisconsin Department of Health Services’ Coverdell Stroke Program. The Coverdell award recognizes HSHS St. Vincent Hospital for fastest time from patient arrival to getting a crucial CAT scan when a patient is experiencing stroke symptoms.
Honkamp, P.C. was named a 2023 Top 10 Midwest CPA firm in Accounting Today’s annual ranking of CPA firms. Honkamp is a CPA and business advisory group with approximately 260 employees headquartered in Dubuque, Iowa and with additional locations including Oshkosh and Madison.
Menasha Corporation recently received the Leadership Giving award for its employees’ contributions to the 2022 United Way Fox Cities campaign. A Leadership Giver is someone who gives $1,000 or more, and Menasha Corporation had 65 employees giving $1,000+ for a total of $100,000.
Miron Construction Co., Inc. has been named the Community Partner of the Year with the Greater Fox Cities Area Habitat for Humanity, having supported the organization’s initiatives for 10 years. Each year Miron employees donate their time to Habitat’s Rock the Block program to do home repairs. Miron was also a sponsor of the 2022 Women Build, where 25 Miron women volunteered time building a home for a family in need. Miron was also named the Emerging Leader Giving Award winner and Excellence in Partnership Award winner, along with The Boldt Co., by United Way Fox Cities for in-kind work provided for the Kimberly-Clark Diaper Bank construction project. Miron surpassed its United Way combined corporate and employee campaign goal, raising more than $665,000 during the 2022 campaign, an increase of $80,000 from 2021.
There were 22 Wisconsin companies on the second-annual list of America’s Most Trustworthy Companies published by Newsweek. All companies based in the U.S. with more than $500 million in annual revenue were considered by the German research firm Statista. New North firms that made the list are: Oshkosh Corp., Oshkosh; Associated Bank, Green Bay; Kohler Co., Kohler; Schreiber Foods, Green Bay; and Schneider National, Green Bay.
Faith Technologies Incorporated was recently recognized with four national and regional safety awards. FTI was awarded first place in the Specialty Contractors division (over 4 million hours category) by the Associated General Contractors of America at the 2023 Construction Safety Excellence Awards. FTI was selected as both the overall Safety Excellence Grand Award winner as well as the first-place award winner in the subcontractor category (for over 500,000 work hours) by The Builders, A Chapter of the AGC. FTI earned a National Safety Merit Award from Associated Builders and Contractors, which was presented at the 33rd annual Excellence in Construction Awards during the ABC Convention 2023.
Construction
Keller, Inc. is working on or has completed the following projects: a 1,375-square-foot addition and remodel project for Warning Lites; a 6,480-square-foot shop and office building project for McAllister & Sons Transport in Pittsfield; and a 9,600-square-foot office build-out project for Switchgear Power Systems LLC in Winneconne. Keller also was selected as architect and general contractor for F Street Development, a 374,000-square-foot industrial, precast speculative building in Germantown.
OakPark Dental Oshkosh cut the ribbon on the 6,300-square-foot remodel of an existing dental office that added additional exam rooms along with offices and employee break areas.
Genuine Hearts has selected Bayland Buildings as the design/build general contractor for a new 10,000-square-foot corporate headquarters for Adult Family Homes and Community Based Residential Facilities in the community of Green Bay. Additionally, the Village of Hobart has selected Bayland as the general contractor for a new 18,200-square-foot fire department. Bayland is also working on the following projects: Seaway Printing in the town of Lawrence; Woodfield Court Motor Condos in Howard; Culver’s in Oostburg; Club Car Wash in Bellevue; Bay Oral Surgery & Implant Center; Green Bay Endodontics; Antojitos in Appleton; Turn 4 Carwash in Marinette; Midwest Valve in Mosinee; and Christian Hill Dairy in Lomira.
Frontier Builders & Consultants, Inc. was awarded the following projects: a 12,300-square-foot addition to crane building for Rollmeiter Inc. of Neenah, and reroofs for Flour Source of Appleton and Diamond H2O of Greenville.
Business development
The family-owned private equity firm Neenah Ventures has acquired the assets of Valley Scale Service to add to their portfolio of scale companies in the Midwest.
Prevea Health has introduced a new series on its podcast, Plug in to Health, featuring one-on-one interviews with Prevea doctors. The “Great Doctors, Inspiring Stories” series is available free on all major podcasting platforms.
St. John’s Ministries has launched a new nonprofit, The Gateway Collective, which will focus solely on meeting the workforce housing needs of the area with a socially inclusive housing model. The Gateway Collective management team will include Alexia (Lexie) Wood, Christian Jensen and Julie Kozak.
Johnson Financial Group and the Wisconsin Timber Rattlers have reached an agreement on the naming rights for the new Diamond Seats at Neuroscience Group Field at Fox Cities Stadium. The Diamond Seats are a new premium seating area located behind home plate created as part of the current renovation of the stadium.
Sofidel launched its Language Learning Program to help employees improve vocabulary, grammar, pronunciation and reading skills, all based on employees’ personal interests and professional goals.
The next major milestone in the $100 million investment to modernize ThedaCare Regional Medical Center-Neenah has been reached as the new emergency department opened.
Lakeland Care, Inc., announced Care Plus, a private-pay care management option designed to help people access the services they need to live at the highest level of independence possible. Care Plus does not have a financial need requirement, expanding the availability of Lakeland Care’s care management services.
Jewelers Mutual Group recently announced its collaboration with Jewelers’ Security Alliance and UL Solutions to develop the Safety and Security Academy, a free online training program available for all jewelers and pawnbrokers in the U.S. and Canada, as well as their staffs.
Appleton-based JP Graphics has been acquired by BR Printers of San Jose, California. JP Graphics serves the print market with an array of services such as offset, digital, large-format printing and robust packaging capabilities. JP Graphics is a leading manufacturer of custom folding carton packaging and packaging accessories serving clients in food and beverage, health and wellness, and consumer goods markets. BR now maintains two facilities in the Appleton region: National Graphic Solutions and JP Graphics Inc.
Grants
The Fox Cities Convention & Visitors Bureau awarded a $30,000 tourism development grant to the Trout Museum of Art to help fund the development of its newest exhibit, B(ART). The show, which runs through May 28, is an unauthorized and in-depth look at the artwork created for the television show “The Simpsons.”
Board members for Doctors in Recital presented checks to local organizations, including $42,500 to Friends of Brown County Community Gardens. Two music education organizations — Birder Studio for the Performing Arts ($17,000) and East High School Choral Department ($8,000) — also received grants.
The M&M Community Foundation provided a $10,000 grant to establish the Tri-City Event Series, a collaborative effort to create one community-based physical activity per month over the next year. The idea for the series came out of the Marinette County Public Health Community Health Assessment conducted in 2022. Partners include Bellin Health and Marinette County.
Business comings and goings
Midwest Pain Solutions opened a second office in March at 828 N Westhill Blvd. in Appleton. Dr. Jackson Draeger, D.C., along with his father, Dr. Curt Draeger, D.C., have been treating chronic pain at Midwest Pain Solutions, formerly known as Integrated Pain Solutions, in Green Bay for eight years.
Bellin Health has acquired Dr. Robert Gahl’s clinic in Two Rivers and opened its doors to the community as Bellin Health Two Rivers. The clinic remains at 1516 Washington St. on the second floor of the U.S. Bank building. Dr. Gahl will continue to practice and see patients as a Bellin physician.
Education
Random Lake Schools have been named Blue Ribbon Schools of Excellence after evaluation of the Random Lake District in nine categories such as student-centered focus and support, strong school culture, community connections and student achievement and growth.
The Moraine Park Foundation will be able to award 20 students with $500 scholarships thanks to the success of The Ledge Games, which raised $10,000 in 2022. This family-friendly competition is held in Eden each fall and challenges participants in a series of lumberjack activities such as caber toss, hammer toss, archery, keg toss, speed chop and axe throw.
The University of Wisconsin-Green Bay and Green Bay Area Public Schools have launched a program to help educators complete a master’s degree program. The pathway program launched with a cohort of 15 GBAPS employees with bachelor’s degrees who were admitted to the university’s Master of Science applied leadership in teaching and learning degree for elementary teacher certification. The effort will provide critically needed support to fill teacher openings, reduce class sizes and spread equity in education. Program costs, including student tuition and books, are funded by a Fast Forward grant from the State of Wisconsin Department of Workforce Development.
For the 14th consecutive year, Lakeshore Technical College earned the Military Friendly School designation. Schools earning the designation were evaluated using public data sources and responses from a proprietary survey. Only 665 of more than 1,800 schools participating in the 2023-24 survey earned special awards for going above the standard. LTC earned a gold award, which indicates leading practices, outcomes and effective programs for veterans transitioning from military careers to school and satisfying careers as civilians.
All the Rest
Synthetaic, an AI firm that is part of the TitletownTech portfolio, tracked the Chinese balloon shot down in U.S. airspace — demonstrating the power of its technology. That data was subsequently used in a New York Times article that detailed the path of the balloon from its launch to the end of its journey across the U.S.
The Women’s Fund of Greater Green Bay unveiled a new brand campaign. The Women’s Fund has more than 500 annual donors, an endowment of $3.2 million and more than 150 volunteers.
Bergstrom-Mahler Museum of Glass has achieved re-accreditation from the American Alliance of Museums.
J. J. Keller & Associates now manufactures labor law posters with an eco-friendly, polypropylene (poly) material. The new poly posters are 100% recyclable, so there’s a decreased environmental impact when posters change — customers can simply recycle posters when they must be replaced to comply with mandatory federal or state changes.
Modern Woodmen, a leading insurance and financial services company, responded to Jake’s Network of Hope’s Empty Shelf Alert by donating 136 cases of much-needed training pants and diapers.
Wisconsin Department of Financial Institutions launched its new website, dfi.wi.gov. It features a mobile-responsive design and streamlined navigation for faster access to key information, as well as a new look that is cohesive with Wisconsin.gov and other state agency websites.
The Fox Cities Chamber added Miller Electric and RGL Logistics as PULSE Champions of Young Professionals.
Twenty-six entries, including three from the New North Region representing sectors such as health care, cleantech, education, software and innovations in products or services, are competing in the finalist round of the 20th annual Wisconsin Governor’s Business Plan Contest. New North firms in the final round are: Tyler Rezachek’s AntiMussel, Plymouth; Joseph Ulrich’s Gud Medical, Winneconne; and Deanna Herber’s Kids in Combat Boots, Sheboygan.
