Joseph Zilber, chairman of Towne Realty Inc. in Milwaukee, is the winner of the 2007 Small Business Times Lifetime Achievement Award.
Zilber, who founded his company in 1949, is now redeveloping the former Pabst brewery in downtown Milwaukee. The Towne Group is a diversified real estate development and asset management company with regional operating offices in Arizona, California, Florida, Hawaii, Nevada and Texas.
In its third year, previous winners of the Lifetime Achievement Award were George Dalton, founder of Fiserv Inc. and NOVO 1 Inc., and Robert Kern, founder of Generac Power Systems Inc.
Zilber leads an impressive field of winners of this year’s SBT Bravo! Entrepreneur Awards. In addition to Zilber, the winners are:
• Gary Zimmermann Jr., president of Creative Business Interiors Inc., West Allis, who also is named the winner of the Regional Spirit Award because of his involvement in the Metropolitan Milwaukee Association of Commerce, the Council of Small Business Executives and the Council of Growing Businesses.
• Mike Erwin, president and co-owner of Tailored Label Products Inc., Menomonee Falls.
• John Goeden, founder and president of Precision Color Graphics Ltd., Franklin.
• Grant Johnson, founder and president of Johnson Direct LLC, Brookfield.
• Greg Kolton, president and CEO of Foundations Bank in Pewaukee.
• Donald Krause, founder and president of National Graphics Inc., Brookfield.
• Joel Lederhause, founder and president of Discount Ramps.com LLC, West Bend.
• Craig Stoehr, founder and chairman of Milwaukee Mile Holdings LLC, West Allis.
• Ursula Twombly, Falamak Nourzad and Robert Barr, principals of Continuum Architects + Planners S.C., Milwaukee.
• Adrian Velasquez, president of Fi-Med Financial Medical Management, Milwaukee.
The Bravo! Entrepreneur Awards celebrate achievements of some of the Milwaukee area’s most innovative company leaders who also are helping the economic growth of the region and making a difference in the community.
The winners will be featured in an upcoming special supplement in Small Business Times. They will receive their awards at a special luncheon on Thursday, May 3, at the Wisconsin Business & Technology Expo.
The keynote speaker at the Bravo! Entrepreneur Luncheon will be Julio Melara, an entrepreneur, author and one of America’s most dynamic speakers. Melara will discuss “Choosing to be Great, Instead of Big.”
