BizTimes Milwaukee

Match Day 2013, a one-day online fundraiser, recently collected more than $2.8 million, exceeding its monetary goal of $1.8 million, the total number of dollars brought in during last year's inaugural fundraiser.

Brian Bennett is a partner and founder of STIR Advertising + Integrated Messaging, a national integrated advertising and marketing communications firm based in Milwaukee. Successful, bold businesses have some key characteristics in common, he says.

I continue to be intrigued by the exasperated opinions of baby boomers about their Gen Y employees. This is an emotionally charged situation. It consistently conjures up eye rolling and comments that begin with “When I was their age, I never would have...”

You have an excellent ongoing customer — a steady, high-revenue, profitable and long-time account.

Innovation doesn't happen in a vacuum. Most often, it happens as a result of the collective effort of many people with different areas of expertise who come together to assess market opportunities and determine which ideas could generate the most profitable streams of revenue.

I facilitated a TEC mediation recently between my TEC CEO member "Frank" and his controller "Jim" (names changed to protect me!). They were very frustrated with each other.

Michael Crowley Jr., chief executive officer of Brown Deer-based Bank Mutual Corp., will retire into a non-executive chairman role on July 1, when Bank Mutual president Dave Baumgarten will become CEO. The company's board selected Baumgarten to join the bank as Crowley's successor in 2010. Since then, he has made quite a few changes at the company. Looking forward, Baumgarten says he plans to focus on making acquisitions. BizTimes Milwaukee reporter Molly Newman recently interviewed Baumgarten. The following are excerpts from that interview.

While current retirees have been able to largely rely on a safety net of Social Security, pensions and, in some cases, retiree health insurance, younger workers will have to take a much more proactive approach in planning their retirement income, according to Rebekah Barsch, vice president of market strategy at Northwestern Mutual Life Insurance Co.

With the Dow Jones Industrial Average reaching new record highs in recent weeks, some financial advisors have revised their outlooks to project a rosier view for the stock market for the rest of the year.

The Wisconsin Economic Development Corporation certified four Wisconsin companies for Early Stage Business Investment tax credits in late February. EASENET, a sustainable energy start-up venture co-founded by Navy veteran Jeremy Anderson that bases its operations at Bucketworks in Milwaukee's Walker's Point neighborhood, was one of the four recipients.