After serving as acting chief executive officer for Milwaukee-based Perlick Corp. since June 2022, Tracy Pearson was officially named the company’s first female president and CEO in March. Pearson, who first joined Perlick in 2021 as chief financial officer, has more than 20 years of executive leadership experience spanning various manufacturing and private equity companies. BizTimes Milwaukee reporter Ashley Smart recently caught up with Pearson to learn more about her transition and plans for the company moving forward.
How have your past roles prepared you to lead Perlick?
“From a family-owned business perspective, this is the third larger, family-owned business that I’ve been involved in on an executive level. I gravitate toward the family feel. Treating employees and customers like family, it just really resonates with me. I am fortunate to have some past experience, and I think that’s probably why Perlick recruited me to begin with. Overall, while I came in as the chief financial officer, I’ve always worked with companies that were going through transition. I spent a lot of time working with private equity and other companies looking to do big transitions that would lead them where they needed to go. This was a good fit for me in that way.”
What big transition was Perlick going through when you were first brought on?
“I was brought on by the former CEO and the family as the prior CFO was going to retire. It was post-COVID so they were looking for somebody to help with a transformation. Looking at what we were going to do differently and how we were going to approach the market differently to remain relevant. They were looking for a CFO who wasn’t just a bookkeeper but somebody who could help with business restructuring.”
What was the transition process like for you? How did the family make sure you were supported?
“I had been in the role (of interim CEO) for almost a year so when our former CEO retired, the board and family came to us and said, ‘We need to do something differently,’ and I agreed. I had been in the interim role, but we were team-leading ourselves through a mini restructuring. We were struggling with the things that everybody was – supply chain issues, labor issues – just trying to regrow our business. I had my feet on the ground a lot. I think the best part is we have a very engaged board. They, too, jumped in and helped and were my advisors as we were going through this journey. The prep all happened before the official announcement came. It was great. They needed to make sure I was the right person they wanted in the role, and I needed to make sure it was right for me, too.”
As Perlick’s first female CEO, how have you worked to support women in manufacturing?
“Before I even became CEO, that was a passion of the (Perlick) family. Really having a true representation of Milwaukee as far as diversity. We’re very proud of the number of women who work here at Perlick, and we’re not light manufacturing. We’re heavy manufacturing. We’re fabricating from raw steel. I’ve never seen so many women in industrial manufacturing like we have on our floor. It’s really cool. Mentoring women in their careers has been something I’ve been passionate about my whole life. I came into my career in the ‘90s, and I went right to manufacturing because I put myself through college working at a factory. We’re involved in Women in Manufacturing here in southeastern Wisconsin and we do try to get out on the (college) campuses, especially campuses that have skilled engineering programs.”
What stage is Perlick at in its previously announced expansion project?
“Like every good project of growth and investment, it has expanded in time and dollars. In the past year, we’ve completed two major sections out of five in the building. The entire second floor has been completely renovated with tons of gathering spaces. It’s all set up to bring people back. We have done a lot on the plant automation side as well. We are in phase three of our almost $5 million investment in laser, storage, sorting and bending cells. We have another piece of automation that should be arriving in the next 30 days for our back bar line. With our growth, we’ve added more people and even more automation than we thought we were going to. It’s still going to be another three years until we get to all of our original wish list. I would say we’ve probably added at least another $5 million into this project. By the end of this year, we’re looking to add at least another 20 associates to the shop floor.”
What plans do you have to support the company’s continued growth?
“We are doing a lot of innovation. With COVID, we put that a bit on hold. A year ago, we were focused more on what we would call residential or home hospitality, including patio bars or in-home bars. That residential side of our business has grown quite a bit, but what we have found over the past year is while we have products that can be specific to residential, those products actually have commercial applications. We’re no longer selling commercial or residential, just Perlick. When we think about what we’re going to be doing differently, it’s about creating more unique and interesting designs and more energy-efficient products. We’ve also been spending a lot of time working on the ergonomics of the bar. We want to keep the bartender right in front of the customer and not having to go far. We’re also being asked to enter markets we never thought about before, such as the pet food market. All the fancy pet foods now require refrigeration or freezing. We’re finding that people are using our drawers and putting their pet food in the pantry or laundry room. People are putting refrigeration in places they’ve never put it before.”
Where’s your favorite place to enjoy Perlick products?
“You can always recognize a Perlick employee because they’re going to stick their head behind the bar to see what equipment you have. I love food, and I love Milwaukee’s very eclectic selection, so I love to go places I’ve never been before. I like to figure out what businesses are using for their bar equipment, and I love to interview the bartenders whether they’re using our equipment or not. I wouldn’t say I have any one particular establishment I love best. For me, it’s getting a chance to go somewhere I’ve never been and see what surprises come out of that visit.”
