Economic Development

Milwaukee-based Hays Companies of Wisconsin has formed a property/casualty insurance unit specifically for the transportation industry.

Bank Mutual has hired Dan Mekemson as senior vice president and director of mortgage lending. He will work out of the corporate headquarters at 4949 W. Brown Deer Road in Milwaukee.

The BMO Harris Bank on Paradise Drive in West Bend is closing, according to the West Bend Daily News.

Madison-based Wisconsin Bank & Trust has added eight mortgage loan originators since September as it works to expand its mortgage operations across the state.

Milwaukee private equity firm Mason Wells has completed its acquisition of Sealed Air Corp.'s rigid medical packaging business.

Associated Bank plans to build a new 3,011-square-foot bank branch building with a drive-through window at 1301 N. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Dr., just north of the Park East corridor in downtown Milwaukee.

Milwaukee private equity firm Generation Growth Capital Inc. has acquired Garden & Associates Inc., a Minneapolis company that provides language outsource services for medical settings.

Truck dealership firm The Kriete Group, which does business as Milwaukee Truck Sales Inc., plans to consolidate the business operations of its stores in Milwaukee, Madison, Green Bay, Fond du Lac and Racine into an historic downtown Milwaukee building.

The U.S. Department of Labor reported that economy added 203,000 jobs in November with strong hiring across the board and the unemployment fell to its lowest rate in five years.

BizTimes Media LLC announced the speaker lineup for the annual Northern Trust Economic Trends Breakfast, to be held on Friday, Jan. 17, at the Italian Community Center in downtown Milwaukee.