General Electric
GE recently completed a $3.1 million engineering center at its Waukesha gas engines facility. The 22,000 square-foot center stands as GE’s biggest investment in the Waukesha facility since the company acquired the Waukesha gas engines business in February of 2011.
Engines developed at the facility operate in each stage of natural gas production. The engines operate in oil and gas fields, factories and utilities.
GE executives hope the new engineering center, which features state-of-the-art technology such as smart boards, better lighting, conference rooms, a break room and areas specifically designed for collaboration among employees, will help the company recruit and retain talent.
The center took a year to complete from conception through construction.
Marquette University
Marquette University’s Kohler Center for Independence has honored associate professor of political science McGee Young as its first Entrepreneur Faculty Fellow for 2012.
The new fellowship program supports Marquette faculty in efforts toward an entrepreneurial enterprise and allows them to center their research and teaching on entrepreneurship. The program also encourages faculty to share their entrepreneurial experiences with students.
As a faculty fellow, Young will coach students in the development of their own businesses and will teach them how to build a customer base quickly, determine a value proposition and how to construct a successful business model.
In addition to having founded three nonprofit organizations, Young created the for-profit company H2Oscore.com, a website that enables consumers to record their water usage and ultimately save money and resources. He has also devoted his academic research to examining the ways people create organizations to drive social and political change and how small business and environmental organizations are formed.
Foley & Lardner
Foley & Lardner LLP has been recognized by InformationWeek 500 as an innovative user of business technology for the seventh consecutive year. InformationWeek 500 highlights the nation’s leading innovative users of information technology by listing the top 500 each year. The publication also compiles the technology, strategies, investments and administrative policies of successful, well-known companies and emphasizes innovation in driving information technology.
Foley & Lardner made the list largely because of its recently-implemented Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI), a technology that enables users to gain access to all corporate systems no matter their location or the device they’re using. The legal services firm has virtualized nearly 70 percent of its servers to better accommodate client needs.
Godfrey & Kahn S.C.
The National Association of Professional Women (NAPW) has named Godfrey & Kahn shareholder Christine Liu McLaughlin as “Woman of the Year” for her commitment to her career and her continued excellence. She serves in Godfrey & Kahn’s Labor, Employment & Immigration Practice Group at its Milwaukee office and also leads the Women’s Leadership Forum and Diversity Committee at the law firm. Her legal focus includes employment and labor issues, such as interpretation and application of federal and state employment laws and employee transitions in business negotiations.
The NAPW provides a network for professional women to exchange ideas and empower each other in both business and social settings.
As “Woman of the Year,” McLaughlin has been granted NAPW membership.
Wheaton Franciscan Healthcare
Wheaton Franciscan Healthcare – The Terrace at St. Francis in Milwaukee and Lakeshore Manor in Racine received the 2011-12 Excellence in Action award from the National Research Corporation (NRC), a health care research and quality improvement firm. Both nursing homes were honored for achieving exceptional resident satisfaction.
The NRC awards nursing home clients with overall resident satisfaction scores that rank in the top 10 percent of its database.
Lakeshore Manor was also named the top nursing home in Wisconsin by U.S. News and World Report earlier this year.
