Wausau Paper’s CEO is new chair of WMC
The Wisconsin Manufacturers and Commerce board of directors elected Wausau Paper president and chief executive officer Thomas Howatt as the chair of the 3,500-member business trade group.
Todd Teske, president and chief operating officer of Wauwatosa-based Briggs and Stratton Corp., was elected vice chair.
“We are very fortunate to have such a strong board of directors to lead WMC as we advance policies aimed at making Wisconsin the most competitive state in the nation,” said James Haney, WMC president. “In 2010, Wisconsin businesses need to rally to lead the drive to enact policies that will promote jobs for our families."
WMC is actively promoting its Wisconsin Jobs 2010 Agenda, which calls for reforms that will create jobs. Wisconsin Jobs 2010 calls for spending restraint, tax relief, regulation reform and legal reforms.
“We are united and committed to promoting the Wisconsin Jobs 2010 Agenda,” Haney said. “We need common sense reforms to get make our state competitive again and hope there will be a robust dialogue about job growth in the coming months.”
Other officers of the WMC board are: Tod Linstroth of Michael Best and Friedrich LLP, senior partner and past chair and member of the management committee, was re-elected secretary of the WMC; Timothy Christen, CPA, CEO of Baker Tilly Virchow Krause LLP, was re-elected treasurer of WMC; Haney was re-elected president of WMC; and James Buchen and James Morgan were re-elected vice presidents of WMC.
Others elected or re-elected to WMC’s board at the annual membership meeting were: Leo Brideau, president and CEO of Columbia St. Mary’s Inc., Milwaukee.
- John Casper, president and CEO, Oshkosh Chamber of Commerce, Oshkosh.
- Timothy Christen, CEO, Baker Tilly Virchow Krause, LLP, Madison.
- James Friedmann, partner, Quarles and Brady, LLP, Milwaukee.
- Reed Hall, executive director, Marshfield Clinic, Marshfield.
- Robert Kamphuis, chairman of the board, president and CEO, Mayville Engineering Company, Inc., Mayville.
- John Mellowes, chairman and CEO, Charter Manufacturing Company, Inc., Mequon.
- Paul Palmby, executive vice president and COO, Seneca Foods Corporation, Janesville.
- Nicholas Pinchuk, chairman and CEO, Snap-on Inc., Kenosha.
- Diane Postler-Slattery, Ph.D., president and COO, SVP of Quality and Extended Services, Aspirus Wausau Hospital, Wausau.
- Joseph Pregont, president and CEO, Prent Corp., Janesville.
- Larry Rambo, regional CEO, Great Lakes Region, Humana, Inc., Waukesha.
- Michael Salsieder, president and general counsel, Kolbe and Kolbe Millwork Company, Inc., Wausau.
- Edward Schaefer, CEO, Citizens Community Federal, Eau Claire.
- Karl Schmidt, president and CEO, Belmark, Inc., DePere.
- Charles Schrock, president and CEO, Integrys Energy Group, Inc., Green Bay.
- Mary Starmann-Harrison, regional president/CEO, SSM Health Care of Wisconsin, Inc., Madison.
- Todd Wanek, president and CEO, Ashley Furniture Industries Inc., Arcadia.
MPS board hires next superintendent
The Milwaukee Public Schools Board hired Gregory Thornton to lead MPS as the new superintendent of schools. The appointment of Thornton will be effective on July 1, 2010, upon the retirement of the current MPS superintendent William Andrekopoulos. Thornton will come to Milwaukee from his position as superintendent of Chester Upland School District in Chester, Pa. He was appointed to that position almost three years ago by the governor of Pennsylvania.
Thornton’s background includes experience as: the chief academic officer in Philadelphia; deputy superintendent in Montgomery County Public Schools, Maryland; assistant superintendent in Winston-Salem/Forsyth County Public Schools, North Carolina; and the director of secondary schools for the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Public Schools, North Carolina.
MPS board president Michael Bonds said, "I firmly believe that Dr. Thornton’s prior experiences in large urban districts make him the right match for Milwaukee."
