BizTimes announced the winners of its 2011 Bravo! Entrepreneur Awards and IQ (Innovation Quotient) Awards.
The Bravo! Entrepreneur Awards honor bold and dynamic company leaders in southeastern Wisconsin. The winners are:
- Ron Baake, CEO, The Sleep Wellness Institute, West Allis.
- Wayne Baumgartner (posthumous), founder and president, Industrial Recyclers Inc., Milwaukee.
- Bill Beckett, president and CEO, Chrysalis Packaging & Assembly Corp. (Chryspac), Milwaukee.
- Fritz Frazier, president, Winter Services Inc., Milwaukee.
- Jim Kacmarcik, president, Kapco Inc., Grafton.
- Russ Klisch, president, Lakefront Brewery Inc., Milwaukee.
- Paul Riedl Jr. and Joe Skotarzak, CEO and president, River Run Computers Inc., Glendale.
- Mary Scheibel, founding principal and chairperson of the board, Scheibel Halaska Inc., Milwaukee.
- Tim Starr, president, The Starr Group, Greenfield.
- Gregg Tushaus, CEO, Tushaus Computer Services, Milwaukee.
Scheibel also will receive the BizTimes Regional Spirit Award. Scheibel, who is the president-elect of the Council of Small Business Executives (COSBE) of the Metropolitan Milwaukee Association of Commerce, also had served on the boards of the MMAC, Centro Legal, Tempo Milwaukee, the Public Relations Society of America Southeast Wisconsin Chapter and the Ozaukee County Advocates for Battered Women. In addition, she was the marketing chair for the Milwaukee Well City initiative.
The Bravo! Entrepreneur Lifetime Achievement Award will go to the Usinger family. Fritz and Debra Usinger will accept the award on behalf of the family.
The winners of the IQ Awards, which celebrate innovations in business, are:
- Bradshaw Medical Inc., Kenosha – Development of orthopedic and spinal surgical instruments.
- Compass Properties LLC, Milwaukee – Redeveloped the City Center at 735 complex in downtown Milwaukee.
- HarQen Inc., Milwaukee – Developed next-generation web telephony Voice Management platform.
- Helios USA, Milwaukee – First manufacturer in Wisconsin to produce solar panels for deployment in industrial, commercial, residential and utility-based solar systems.
- Jockey International Inc., Kenosha – Launched a new line of “Staycool” underwear, featuring “Outlast” technology to keep the wearer comfortable.
- Lightweight Structures LLC, Hartland – Developed the Forteco composite building system for commercial, industrial, institutional and residential structures.
- Meet-Meme Inc., Milwaukee – Created the Meet-Meme social trading cards for businesses.
- Perceptral, Racine – Developed variable speed speech synthesis software.
- Sales Progress, Mequon – Developed a unique sales development and tracking system.
- Spaulding Clinical Research LLC, West Bend – Developed a revolutionary 12-lead electrocardiographic machine.
The winners of the Bravo! Entrepreneur and IQ Awards will be honored at a luncheon to take place at the BizTech Conference and Expo on Thursday, May 12, at Wisconsin State Fair Park. For additional information, visit www.biztimes.com/bravo.
