Get to know: Jen Bauer
Senior vice president of marketing & culture, Miron Construction Co., Inc.
Jen Bauer fell in love with marketing during an internship at EUA (formerly Performa) and decided to dedicate her entire career to the field. “I don’t know where I’d be today without that internship,” the Kaukauna native says.
A year after graduating from St. Norbert College with a degree in English and communications, Bauer accepted a job as marketing coordinator for Miron Construction Co., Inc. in 2003.
Bauer was promoted in 2018 to the role of vice president of marketing, overseeing marketing strategy, corporate messaging, branding, creative development, public and client relations, and event planning and execution. Her role today looks similar, but in 2020 Bauer added the key responsibility of culture development.
“The first [culture] project I undertook that was critical to our growth was reevaluating the company drivers created 10 to 15 years ago,” Bauer says. “Over time, some of them felt authentic to Miron and some didn’t anymore.”
Through a series of listening sessions with more than 120 Miron employees, Bauer and her team established five core values that now guide the company.
Bauer says Miron is currently investing more resources into its DEI efforts, such as establishing Allyship at Work volunteer training and an IDEA (Inclusion Diversity Equity and Allyship) Council to create a company culture that is welcoming to all.
Creating culture is also about upgrading physical spaces — and who understands this better than a construction company on track to hit $1.8 billion in revenue this year? Miron is currently remodeling its Neenah headquarters to include more casual work and entertaining spaces like a cafe and outdoor “quarry” space.
And while swanky digs are a nice perk, it’s the people Bauer works with who have kept her with the company for two decades. Today Bauer leads a team of 11 full-time employees and two interns.
“I get to go to work every day with people who inspire me and motivate me — people who I consider my friends — and we get to do great things together,” she says. “I feel blessed to work with such creative individuals. They blow my mind every time they come to me with new ideas and things they want to try.”
— Amelia Compton Wolff
State of safety
Wisconsin companies will pay 8.4% less in workers’ compensation insurance rates starting Oct. 1, according to the Wisconsin Department of Workforce Development. The latest reduction in premiums is expected to save Wisconsin employers some $148 million on policies starting on or after Oct. 1. The 2023 rate decrease, approved by the Wisconsin Office of the Commissioner of Insurance, marks the eighth year in a row workers’ compensation insurance premiums have declined in Wisconsin. The Workers Compensation Research Institute ranks Wisconsin (tied with Iowa) as the lowest of 18 states studied for the time employees spend away from work after an injury.
Supporting local journalism
In June, the Greater Green Bay Community Foundation released its final report for Season Three of the NEW (Northeast Wisconsin) News Lab, a three-year pilot initiative to preserve and protect journalism and newsrooms throughout the region. It’s the fifth local news pilot selected by Microsoft, which invested $600,000 in the Northeast Wisconsin Journalism Fund established at the Greater Green Bay Community Foundation in partnership with the Community Foundation for the Fox Valley Region. The fund provides technology support, capacity building and additional funding to six Wisconsin news organizations that partnered to advance local reporting on topics including racism as a public health crisis, affordable housing and funding of local schools. Mary Snapp, corporate vice president of Microsoft Philanthropies, will speak about the pilot’s impact at the Community Foundation’s annual Celebration of Giving event in early October.
Reporting for duty
The future Freedom-variant littoral combat ship USS Marinette (LCS 25) will join the active fleet Sept. 16 with a commissioning ceremony in Menominee, Michigan. LCS 25 will be the newest littoral combat ship to join the Surface Force. It is the first naval warship named after Marinette, Wisconsin, and the third naval vessel named for the community in which it was built. The naming recognizes the contribution of its namesake town and the shipbuilders who bring these ships to life, ensuring they are ready to accomplish mission tasking in support of the nation’s maritime strategy.
