For Al Rolandi, Italy is about business
By David Niles, of SBT
Al Rolandi’s love for things Italian may have a lot to do with his involvement in the new Wisconsin chapter of the Italian-American Chamber of Commerce-Midwest.
But it’s his love for business that’s really driving his efforts. And his hope that connections made through the new chamber chapter will make Wisconsin companies stronger and better able to compete in the new global economy.
Rolandi, who recently joined Jabas Group as director of business development in the benefit company’s Milwaukee office, was named president of the new Wisconsin chapter of the chamber in May. He’s in a new position for a company trying to gain a foothold in the Milwaukee market, but Jabas has embraced his chamber efforts, as well. "I couldn’t do it without their support," he says.
He remains active in WisItalia, an organization primarily focused on promotion of the study of the Italian language.
And while he may have picked up the language himself from his Italian-speaking father and through studies at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, he sees knowledge of the language from much more than an ethnic or cultural standpoint. To him, it’s about business.
"Ask any of the professors of Italian at UW-Milwaukee or UW-Madison, and they’ll tell you that their students don’t get good jobs, they get great jobs," Rolandi says. (UW-Madison has the largest Italian language program in the US.)
"It’s very important that children see career paths through language study," he says. "Yes, Italian is arguably the most culturally important language. But it’s also a very important language of business."
WisItalia, the only Wisconsin organization to receive funding from the Italian government, has fostered an increase in Italian studies in Wisconsin high schools.
Rolandi points to the strong presence of Italian companies in Wisconsin – they own the two biggest paper mills in Green Bay, for example, and 25% of the exports from Green Bay go to Italy. CNH Global in Racine is now Italian-owned. Milwaukee-based Johnson Controls has a major presence in Italy.
"If Wisconsin wants to be an international player, we can’t be ethnocentric; we have to teach other languages," he says.
In Wisconsin, 215 businesses currently export to Italy and another 97 have plans to do so, he adds. Those exports were valued at more than $237 million in 2002, according to the state Department of Commerce.
"We’d like to see more," says Rolandi. And that’s one of the aims of the new Wisconsin chapter of the chamber.
"Italy is in a great international trade position and is a major economic power; we need to take greater advantage of that," he says. "The Italians are so busy doing business that they don’t promote themselves as the industrial superpower that they are."
A recent bulletin of the group promoted the Port of Milwaukee while the group’s June 25 meeting involved a tour of the port and meeting with representatives of the Industrial Park of Cagliari, Sardinia.
"The Italians see the Midwest as a strategic distribution point for the US," Rolandi says. At the same time, Wisconsin firms will find Italy to be centrally located for access to European and Mediterranean markets
The chamber may also work on sister city and sister state relationships that would foster business ties.
Patrick Cronin, of Global Business Strategies in Milwaukee, lauded the efforts of the new chamber.
Noting the increasingly global economy and aggressiveness of foreign countries to court business, Cronin said, "It just makes a lot of sense for the Italian American Chamber of Commerce to be doing these things. It will give local businesses another portal to the larger business community, letting them be part of this new competitiveness of nations."
The new chamber is not alone here. The German American Chamber of Commerce has been active in Wisconsin for many years and has been successful at fostering ties between German and Wisconsin companies. Both groups work closely with organizations such as the Wisconsin World Trade Center.
On the Internet: www.italchambers.net/chicago/
www.wisitalia.org
June 27, 2003 Small Business Times, Milwaukee
