Entrepreneur, executive and philanthropist Michael J. Cudahy will be the recipient of the 2013 BizTimes Bravo! Entrepreneur Lifetime Achievement Award.
Cudahy will join an illustrious list of past recipients of the award, including: Sheldon Lubar, founder and chairman of Lubar & Co. in Milwaukee; Fritz and Debra Usinger of the Usinger family; Stephen Marcus of The Marcus Corp.; George Dalton of Fiserv Inc.; Robert Kern of Generac; Joe Zilber of Towne Realty; and Harry Quadracci of Quad/Graphics Inc.
Cudahy founded Marquette Medical Systems Inc. in 1965 with only $15,000 in capital. The company established the nation’s first central electrocardiographic system at Northwestern University Medical School.
Marquette Medical grew to become a $350 million company before Cudahy sold the firm to GE Healthcare in 1998..
Cudahy continues to serve in several capacities. He is a member of the boards of directors for Cyclics Corp. in Schenectady, N.Y.; Access Genetics LLC in Minneapolis, Minn.; and Granite Microsystems in Grafton, Wis.
Cudahy founded Discovery World at Pier Wisconsin and is co-owner of the Lakefront Harbor House restaurant along Milwaukee’s lakefront.
Cudahy also remains active in the Milwaukee community, as he is a regent at the Milwaukee School of Engineering, chairman of the Pabst Theater and a member of the boards of the trustees for the YMCA of Metropolitan Milwaukee and Milwaukee Art Museum.
He is the son of John Cudahy, who served as the U.S. ambassador to Ireland, Poland and Belgium. He is the grandson of Patrick Cudahy, founder of the meat plant in Cudahy.
Cudahy will receive the Lifetime Achievement Award at the 2013 BizExpo to be presented by BizTimes Media LLC on Thursday, May 16, at the Potawatomi Bingo Casino Expo Center in Milwaukee. To register to attend or to nominate a company or corporate leader for a BizTimes Bravo! Entrepreneur Award of IQ (Innovation Quotient) Award, visit www.biztimes.com/bizexpo.
