SAVE THE DATE: BIZEXPO 2026 | THURSDAY, MAY 21, 2026 | Brookfield Conference Center
Tuesday, May 13, 2025 | Brookfield Conference Center | 9:30 AM - 4:45 PM | Show floor opens at 10:30 AM
BizTimes’ 19th annual BizExpo brought together more than 700 business professionals and executives on May 13, 2025, for a full day of networking, education, and strategic insight at the Brookfield Conference Center.
The event kicked off with the Elevate Your Leadership keynote presentation, setting the tone for a day focused on growth strategies, leadership development, and the latest trends in technology. Throughout the day, attendees took part in business seminars packed with actionable takeaways, explored a vibrant exhibit floor featuring over 70 local companies, and made valuable face-to-face connections with decision-makers and community leaders.
Designed to connect businesspeople with the resources they need to grow, BizExpo 2025 delivered on its promise of providing solutions, sparking new relationships, and creating game-changing opportunities.
BUSINESS STRATEGY SEMINARS
11:00 AM – 12:00 PM
SEMINAR ROOM A
The Blueprint to Growth: The Product Management Toolbox
- Lisa Franklin, Assistant Professor, Marketing & Management, Carthage College
Product Managers have two critical responsibilities: short-term execution and future growth. This session provides key frameworks, strategies, and tactics for sustaining profitability, driving continuous improvement, and successfully introducing innovations. Attendees will leave with tools to make smart decisions to meet today’s demands and tomorrow’s opportunities.
SEMINAR ROOM B
Developing a Marketing Strategy: A Framework for Success
- Nathan Gerred, VP of Marketing, Saturn Lounge
This session will give you a clear, actionable framework for developing a marketing strategy that aligns with your business goals, resonates with your ideal customers, and delivers results. Whether you’re launching a campaign or looking to refocus your efforts, this presentation will help you build a smarter, more sustainable approach to growth.
SEMINAR ROOM C
AI-Enhanced Business Technology Leadership: Navigating the Future of Productivity & Security Decision-Making
- Paul Riedl, CEO, River Run
Business technology is advancing faster than ever. We have moved from a defensive and reactive cybersecurity posture to a proactive, AI-based, zero-trust environment. While being ever-vigilant to keep the bad guys out, the best companies are now using their technology stack and tools to bring the most revenue in through workforce productivity improvements, process improvement, and automation with generative AI to outpace growing competition. Join the “Cybersecurity Evangelist”, Paul Reidl, and members of the River Run Team to find out the latest in how you and your team can be finding more time to increase productivity, move forward with AI implementation, and get more done while keeping your and your client’s data safe and secure.
1:15 PM – 2:15 PM
SEMINAR ROOM A
Scaling Your Business with Experts
- Scott Rasmussen, President, Lauber Business Partners, Inc.
- Mark Wiesman, Owner/CEO, Lauber Business Partners, Inc.
- Tom Reminga, CTO/Principal, Risetech
- Steve Ryan, Founder & CEO, Rytech
Scaling a small or mid-sized business for growth can be challenging. It is crucial that management focus its efforts on high-impact business initiatives that truly grow the firm, but they are often strapped for resources and time. One way to address this challenge is to form strategic partnerships designed to leverage the strength of outside experts. Join us for “Scaling Your Business with Experts,” an engaging seminar designed for ambitious business leaders seeking to accelerate their growth by leveraging outsourced expertise.
Our panel features three seasoned business executives, specializing in critical areas of business infrastructure:
- Finance, HR, and Recruiting Services: Discover how fractional, interim, and project-based support in Finance/Accounting, Human Resources, Leadership Development and Talent Acquisition can provide the flexibility and expertise you need to thrive.
- Technology Services: Learn how outsourced IT solutions can enhance your operational efficiency, cybersecurity, and scalability in an increasingly digital world.
- Marketing Services: Learn how partnering with marketing experts can enhance brand awareness, foster customer engagement, and drive revenue growth through customized, outsourced marketing strategies.
Moderated by an experienced business owner / leader, this panel discussion will explore how to identify the right partnerships, measure impact, and integrate external expertise effectively. Don’t miss this opportunity to gain practical insights and actionable strategies for scaling your business with confidence.
SEMINAR ROOM B
Empowering People with AI: Unlock Higher Productivity Through Human-Centric Innovation
- Norrie Daroga, President & Founder, CodeBaby
Businesses today face both economic opportunity and uncertainty. From a shortage of skilled workers to the acceleration of automation and digital transformation, the most successful organizations are finding ways to use AI not to replace people but to empower them.
CodeBaby founder and former BizTimes Entrepreneur of the Year Norrie Daroga will share how Human-Centric AI can unlock higher productivity, enhance decision-making, and free teams from repetitive tasks to focus on what they do best: thinking creatively, solving problems, and driving growth.
You’ll learn that Conversational AI and intelligent automation are being used across industries to streamline workflows, scale customer service, and support internal teams without compromising the human experience. We’ll discuss real-world examples and practical strategies demonstrating how AI can enhance employee capacity, improve customer satisfaction, and contribute to measurable business outcomes.
Whether you’re leading operations, IT, HR, or customer experience, this session will provide actionable insights into adopting AI to align with your company’s values, maximize impact, and ensure your people remain at the center of innovation.
SEMINAR ROOM C
New Technological Initiatives to Support Manufacturing in Southeast Wisconsin
- Tim Sullivan, Dean of the Sullivan School of Business and Technology, Carroll University
Mr. Sullivan, Dean of the Sullivan School of Business and Technology at Carroll University, previously served as President and CEO of the REV Group and Chairman & CEO of Gardner Denver. With a distinguished career spanning leadership roles at Bucyrus International and other major organizations, he has also chaired numerous boards and nonprofits. A Carroll University alumnus, he was inducted into the Wisconsin Business Hall of Fame in 2021 and has received numerous leadership awards.
2:30 PM – 3:30 PM
SEMINAR ROOM A
AI’s Role in Shaping the Future of Business Growth: Turning Innovation into Action
- Ben Kerford, President, 7Rivers Inc.
Discover how AI is transforming business growth by turning innovation into action. This seminar explores how companies can leverage AI-driven insights, automation, and intelligent data strategies—including agentic workflows—to enhance decision-making, streamline operations, and unlock new opportunities. Join us to learn practical steps for integrating AI into your business and driving real impact with autonomous, AI-powered processes.
SEMINAR ROOM B
Cybersecurity – Cover your SaaS (Software as a Service)
- Daryl Wessel, NotableTek, LLC
Cybersecurity is essential to protect sensitive data, systems and networks from unauthorized access, attacks, and damage.
As digital threats continue to evolve, strong cybersecurity measures are crucial for maintaining privacy, trust, and the stability of modern society.
3:45 PM – 4:45 PM
SEMINAR ROOM A
Future-Proofing Your Workforce Amidst Uncertainty
- Ryan Festerling, President and CEO, QPS Employment Group
The manufacturing industry is at a crossroads. With an aging workforce and an insufficient pipeline of skilled workers to fill the gap, companies are facing a looming labor crisis. As Baby Boomers retire, a significant number of skilled tradespeople are leaving the workforce, and the younger generations are not stepping in fast enough to replace them.
So, how can manufacturers plan ahead to meet their organizational goals and remain competitive in an ever-evolving market?
One key solution lies in strategic workforce planning—and more specifically, implementing the “Six B’s” approach to building and managing your workforce. In this session, we’ll explore how you can build, buy, borrow, bind, bounce and boost to ensure that your workforce has the talent needed.
SEMINAR ROOM B
GenAI for Innovators: Tools and Strategies for Effective Development
- Gene Wright, Assistant Professor, Milwaukee School of Engineering
Everyone should use Gen AI, especially innovators. Some professionals fear losing their jobs to artificial intelligence (AI.) In reality, jobs will be lost to people using “AI.” However, “innovation professionals” will find Gen AI (ChatGPT, CoPilot, Gemini, etc.) to be highly effective tools to enable what many people classify as “brainstorming” at the “fuzzy front end” of innovation. This seminar will discuss and demonstrate specific examples of how to use AI to augment/support the work of innovators. Bring your questions and examples of your experience with AI.
SEMINAR ROOM C
Case Study: How One Company Transformed its Financial Performance by Shedding Its Traditional Sales Mindset
- Jerry Stapleton, Founder, Stapleton 2.0
If your company’s results depend on how your customer-facing people engage with customers, you’ll want to see how one such business became its parent company’s top performer by fundamentally rethinking how its own customer-facing people engage with their customers. Or, expressed in the terms they now use, how they successfully “Shed their Traditional Sales Mindset.”
Presented By
EVENT PARTNERS
MEDIA PARTNER
LOUNGE SPONSOR
CONNECTIVITY SPONSOR
COFFEE SPONSOR
SEMINAR SPONSORS
Interested in sponsoring an event? To reap the benefits of the ultimate in-person marketing opportunity contact Linda Crawford, Director of Sales, to discuss opportunities. Event sponsorships are limited.
