Integrity Retirement Plan Services LLC
Advanced Metal Treating Inc. Butler, and Advantage Research Inc., Germantown, both selected Integrity Retirement Plan Services LLC, Waukesha, as a third-party administrator for their retirement plans.
DeWitt Ross & Stevens S.C.
Jon Axelrod, a litigator and partner at DeWitt Ross & Stevens S.C., Madison, was named a fellow by the board of trustees of the Fellows of the Wisconsin Law Foundation, the charitable arm of the State Bar of Wisconsin. Fellows membership is limited to 2.5 percent of the membership of the State Bar of Wisconsin. The designation honors members of the state bar who have achieved significant accomplishments in their career and contributed leadership and service to their communities and to the legal profession. Axelrod focuses his law practice on civil litigation. From 1995 to 2000, Axelrod was appointed by the Supreme Court of Wisconsin as a member of the Board of Attorneys Professional Responsibility, the disciplinary board that regulated the practice of law in Wisconsin.
Henke & Associates Inc.
Great Lakes Distillery LLC, Milwaukee, selected Henke & Associates Inc., Cedarburg, as its marketing communications agency of record. Henke & Associates will focus on marketing the distillery’s recent launch of Rehorst Premium Milwaukee Vodka. The wheat-based vodka will be made in small batches in a copper still that Guy Rehorst, owner of Great Lakes Distillery, imported from Germany. The distillery has the capabilities to produce about 1,600 bottles of vodka per month. Rehorst is also considering producing premium rum, gin and flavored vodkas made with fruits grown in the Midwest.
Liturgical Publications Inc.
Liturgical Publications Inc. (LPi), New Berlin, entered an exclusive partnership with Harcourt Religion Publishers, Orlando, in which Harcourt Religion Publishers will distribute the Catholic Faith Sharing materials created by LPi in the last two years. LPi specializes in publishing church bulletins. Harcourt Religion Publishers specializes in Catholic religion publishing. The Catholic Faith Sharing materials from LPi are designed for parishes that are looking for a more expansive approach to adult faith-sharing groups. The partnership with Harcourt Religion offers LPi an expanded market for its Catholic Faith Sharing materials. LPi’s Catholic Faith Sharing materials, along with the 2008 version of Growing with the Gospel, a children’s bulletin service, will appear in the 2007 Harcourt Religion catalog.
Marquette University
Donald A. Neumann, professor of physical therapy at Marquette University, was named the Wisconsin Professor of the Year as part of the U.S. Professors of the Year program. The U.S. Professors of the Year is sponsored by The Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching, Stanford, Calif., and administered by the Council for Advancement and Support of Education (CASE), Washington, D.C. The awards recognize professors for their influence on teaching and their commitment to teaching undergraduate students. Neumann has been a professor in the physical therapy program in the College of Health Sciences at Marquette for 20 years. He is the first Marquette professor to win this award and the only physical therapy professor to be honored by CASE since its inception in 1981. Neumann specializes in kinesiology and the rehabilitation of persons following spinal cord injury. He was awarded a Fulbright Scholarship in the fall of 2002 to teach kinesiology to physical therapy students at Kaunas Medical School, Kaunas, Lithuania. In 2005 Neumann received the Fulbright Senior Specialist Award to teach kinesiology in the physical therapy program at Semmelweis University, Budapest, Hungary.
Helen Bader Foundation Inc.
Discovery World at Pier Wisconsin, Milwaukee, received an additional $750,000 gift from the Helen Bader Foundation Inc., Milwaukee, to support the Helen Bader Great Lakes Future exhibit. The contribution will total $1million toward the new exhibit, which is in its final stages of completion. The exhibit is composed of an interactive, scale model of the Great Lakes watershed, interactive learning grottos and a dedicated curriculum. Occupying 5,070 feet of space, Great Lakes Future will be a premiere exhibit on the first floor of Discovery World’s Aquatarium building.
Morris Midwest
Morris Midwest, a division of Morris Group Inc., Milwaukee, was named the exclusive representative for Tsugami Corp., Chuo-Ku, Tokyo, Japan, products in Wisconsin and Upper Michigan. Morris Midwest provides service, parts and application engineering support in Wisconsin, Upper Michigan and Northern Illinois for machine tool manufacturers. Rem Sales Inc., East Granby, Conn., is the North American importer of Tsugami Swiss-type lathes, machining centers and mill-turn machines.
KSK Design Inc.
KSK Design Inc., Milwaukee, received one gold and two silver 2006 Davey Awards from the International Academy of the Visual Arts. The agency received a gold award for creating the annual report for Betty Brinn Children’s Museum, Milwaukee; a silver award for a high-end ratchet brochure it did for Snap-on Inc., Kenosha, and a silver award for a membership brochure it created for Horseshoe Bay Farms Golf Club, Egg Harbor. The Davey Awards are given to smaller ad agencies, interactive agencies, production firms, in-house creative professionals, graphic designers, design firms and public relations firms internationally. Other Wisconsin winners included Ascedia Inc., Milwaukee; Hankscraft Inc., Reedsburg, and Netconcepts Inc., Madison. The three firms received silver awards.
Condo builders say sprinkler mandate would add costs
The Wisconsin Department of Commerce is proposing a new building code change that would require sprinklers in all new multi-family buildings constructed in the state.
The new mandate would add significant costs to residential real estate development, according to the Wisconsin Builders Association (WBA), which is rallying opposition to the proposed code change. Those additional costs would be passed along to higher rental fees and condo costs for consumers, the WBA says.
The proposed rule would require builders of small apartment buildings and condominiums (three to 20 units) to install fire sprinkler systems, even in areas where no public water systems are available.
The costs of the sprinkler systems would range from $3,000 to $10,000 per housing unit, but would be even more costly in areas served by private wells, according to the WBA. The new rule, if approved, would take effect July 1, 2007.
A public hearing has been scheduled for Thursday, Dec. 21, at 9:30 a.m. at the Tommy Thompson Building in Madison. Public comments will be accepted at the hearing, and afterward in writing, until Jan. 5.
In addition to the WBA, the Commercial Association of Realtors Wisconsin is seeking feedback from its members about the proposed rule change.
County supervisors vow to fend off ‘hostile takeover’ of airport
The future of General Mitchell International Airport continues to be a political football that is being punted back and forth between Milwaukee County and some state legislators.
The Milwaukee County Board’s Transportation, Public Works, and Transit committee recently voted 7-0 to lay over a report studying alternative structures for operating the airport. The report could be revisited in the future at the request of committee chairman James White.
White said he and the rest of the committee have yet to receive a presentation from any person or organization in favor of a governance change at the airport, although some state legislators in Madison, including Rep. Jeff Stone (R-Greendale), have called for the exploration of creating a regional authority to oversee the airport.
“It’s one of the most effective, efficient, and well-managed airports in the country,” Supervisor Richard Nyklewicz Jr. said. “Proponents of a hostile takeover have still not appeared before the board. The silence continues, and it’s appalling.”
According to White, the No. 1 consideration for business travelers is an airport’s ability to provide non-stop service.
“Despite ranking 50th in size, Mitchell International ranks fifth in terms of efficiency and effectiveness,” White said, citing a recent survey from Condé Nast Traveler magazine. “Under the county’s leadership, Mitchell is easy to use and offers lots of point-to-point destinations.”
White, Stone and Peter Beitzel, vice president of the Metropolitan Milwaukee Association of Commerce, will participate in a panel discussion at the Milwaukee Press Club’s next Newsmaker Luncheon, titled “The Future of Milwaukee’s Airport.” The luncheon will take place Wednesday, Dec. 13, with registration beginning at 11:30 a.m. at the Newsroom Pub in downtown Milwaukee, 137 E. Wells St.
The Newsmaker panelists will be interviewed by a panel of professional journalists assembled by the Milwaukee Press Club. The public is invited to attend the event. For additional information, visit www.milwaukeepressclub.org.
