Wisconsin LGBT Chamber of Commerce
Milwaukee-based Foley & Lardner LLP and Milwaukee-based Rockwell Automation are among the honorees of the Wisconsin LGBT Chamber of Commerce’s 2015 Business Awards. The chamber’s annual awards program applauds the work of members who are proactive in creating a more diverse and inclusive business climate in Wisconsin. Foley & Lardner LLP has been named winner of the Corporate Partner of the Year Award, which salutes a corporation that is a chamber member dedicated to diversifying the workplace and expanding Wisconsin’s LGBT and allied business community. Ed Seaberg, vice president of IT service operations at Rockwell Automation, has been deemed Business Leader of the Year. The award recognizes a leader who has taken an active role in cultivating diversity in Wisconsin businesses. Additionally, Belwah Media, of Beloit, has been named LGBT Business of the Year, an accolade given to an LGBT-owned business that is a chamber member and that has demonstrated success in diversifying the workplace. And Le Dame Footwear, based in Verona, has won the Allied Business of the Year Award, an award honoring an allied-owned business that belongs to the chamber and has also succeeded in shaping a more diverse business community in Wisconsin. Award winners were chosen from a set of nominations vetted by a committee of chamber members. Each winner will be recognized during the chamber’s Business Awards & Expo on Tuesday, May 19, at the InterContinental Hotel, 139 E. Kilbourn Ave. in Milwaukee. The event, free and open to the public, will run from 5 to 8 p.m., with the awards ceremony scheduled for 6:30 p.m.
Milwaukee Habitat for Humanity
Milwaukee Habitat for Humanity honored key stakeholders and supporters during its inaugural Blueprint Breakfast, held April 22 at the Wisconsin Conservatory of Music. The breakfast kicked off the 2015 homebuilding season while highlighting individuals, companies and groups that have donated their time, talent and treasure toward the nonprofit’s cause. Milwaukee Habitat honored Patrick Schoen, an attorney at Milwaukee-based Quarles & Brady LLP, as Humanitarian of the Year and Glendale-based Johnson Controls as Corporate Partner of the Year. The organization also distributed its Community Builder of the Year Award to Carpenters for Christ as well as Wauwatosa Avenue United Methodist Church, Christ King Parish, and Emmanuel Community United Methodist Church.
Franklyn Gimbel
Marquette University Law School presented a Lifetime Achievement Award to Franklyn Gimbel last month during the annual Alumni Awards Reception and Conferral held at the school. Gimbel, a 1960 Marquette Law School graduate, founded Milwaukee-based trial and litigation law firm Gimbel, Reilly, Guerin & Brown LLP in 1968 after a five-year run as an assistant United States attorney. Gimbel has grown his practice throughout his career to include civil litigation, which has encompassed complex business cases as well as employment, communications and First Amendment cases. He has represented clients ranging from small businesses to large corporations and individuals from a variety of industries. Gimbel has also served for more than 20 years as the chairman of the Wisconsin Center District board of directors. He has overseen the construction and renovation of Milwaukee’s convention facilities, the Wisconsin Center, the U.S. Cellular Arena and the Milwaukee Theatre.
Bartelt. The Remodeling Resource
Bartelt. The Remodeling Resource, a remodeling firm located in Delafield, has won a 2015 Regional Chrysalis Award for the Whole House Remodel $500,000-$1 Million category. The award recognizes a project in which the firm restored an 1880s farmhouse. The project included updates to the structure’s first floor and the addition of a sunroom. Among the elements incorporated into the renovation were reclaimed barn beams, coffered ceilings, white custom cabinetry, fieldstone and hickory flooring. The Chrysalis Awards program, established 21 years ago, salutes professional residential and commercial remodeling projects nationwide. The awards program features 15 categories and selects winners based on factors such as overall design, creative use of space and materials, and the degree to which projects improve the original structure.
