Co-owner
Michels Corp. | Brownsville
Tim Michels is a co-owner of Michels Corp., a Brownsville-based energy and infrastructure construction firm. It is the largest construction company in Wisconsin, reporting $4.4 billion in revenue and employing more than 8,000 people. Established as a regional gas distribution company in 1959, the company has grown under the leadership of Tim Michels and his brothers to serve new markets, including energy, marine infrastructure, transportation, heavy civil and water and wastewater. Tim Michels has been heavily involved with the development of R1VER, a multi-use campus along the Kinnickinnic River in Milwaukee’s Harbor District that includes an eight-story office building, apartments, restaurant and cafe. Michels ran unsuccessfully as a Republican candidate for governor of Wisconsin in 2022.
Education: Bachelor’s, St. Norbert College; MBA, University of Chicago
Highlights from the past 12 months: “Michels Corporation has taken our highly specialized energy infrastructure services overseas to Europe and Australia.”
First and most recent concert: “My first concert was the Marshall Tucker Band at Summerfest in the late 1970s. My wife, Barbara, and I saw Mt. Joy last month.”
Definition of success: “Barbara and I always taught our children to pursue the three Hs: Heaven, health and happiness.”
2022 Wisconsin 275 Profile
Real Estate and Development | Construction
Co-owner
Michels Corp. | Brownsville
Tim Michels is co-owner of Michels Corp., the largest construction company in Wisconsin. The Brownsville-based heavy civil infrastructure construction firm has more than 8,000 employees and ranked No. 27 this year on Engineering News-Record’s list of the top 400 contractors nationally.
Over the years, the company has branched out and now does about 65% of its business on energy infrastructure projects (pipelines, transmission lines, electric substations, renewable energy projects), about 20% on transportation infrastructure (roads, bridges and tunnels) and additional business in communications infrastructure (including fiber optic lines).
The company is developing a $100 million campus in Milwaukee along the Kinnickinnic River in the city’s Harbor District. The campus includes an 8-story office building, with the upper floors occupied by Michels Corp.’s Milwaukee office, apartments and a restaurant. Future plans for the campus include a hotel and more office space.
Michels worked as vice president of the company before launching his bid for Wisconsin governor. Michels was defeated by incumbent Democratic Gov. Tony Evers in November’s 2022 elections.
Earlier this year, the Michels family and Michels Family Foundation donated $15 million to establish a rare cancers research lab at the Medical College of Wisconsin Cancer Center. Tim Michels’ daughter, Sophie, was diagnosed at a young age with a rare brain cancer; today, she is in college and a cancer survivor.
Education: Bachelor’s, St. Norbert College; MBA, University of Chicago
