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INSIDE ARCHIVE


Marketing and
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UW-Green Bay, CL 815
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E-mail: matzken@uwgb.edu

Rev. May 13, 2008

 

High power attorney?
Yes, as a matter of fact, Integrys VP is exactly that

Barth Wolf '79
Vice President, Chief Legal Officer and Secretary
Integrys Energy Group Inc.
Green Bay/Chicago
Hometown: Green Bay
UW-Green Bay Major: Social Change and Development
Law School: University of Wisconsin '84

Barth Wolf’s company keeps the lights on and the machines humming in his hometown and beyond.
      Wolf is chief legal officer, vice president and corporate secretary for Integrys Energy Group Inc. Integrys is a major player in the nation’s energy delivery system.  It is the parent company for six Midwest utilities including Wisconsin Public Service.
      It’s been an interesting professional journey for Wolf, who admits he never gave electricity and natural gas a thought during his days as a UW-Green Bay commuter in the late 1970s.
      “I had plenty of time to think, too,” he says now. “I took the bus in those days and it was a full hour ride from the West Side.”
      He worked his way through college — like many of his classmates — and balanced studies with 30 hours a week at Lieber’s Home Center.
      After law school he worked for a time with Fort Howard Paper Company doing environmental law and employee benefits and after that he worked a short time with the Hanaway Ross law firm, doing “a little bit of everything.”
      He signed on with Wisconsin Public Service Corp. in 1988, initially in the purchasing area, handling contract matters, and then in insurance and risk management.
      In the years to come, promotions brought more experience with the intricate tangle of state and federal regulations governing public utilities and energy. Meanwhile, corporate legal issues also grew in complexity, as consolidation in the industry ushered in an era of mergers, acquisitions, stock deals and complicated Securities and Exchange Commission filings.
      Today, Wolf heads a team of 34 people including seven attorneys and various other professional staff, and he contracts with outside firms as circumstances demand.
      His major areas of responsibility begin with serving as a member of, and advising, the executive team. He also oversees companywide legal matters for Integrys and its employees (say, if a work crew is involved in an accident) and he’s the point person on corporate governance and SEC matters. In addition, he has the title of chief compliance and ethics officer.
      A major accomplishment came this February, when Wolf was at the center of finalizing the merger involving two New York Stock Exchange-traded companies — WPS Resources Corporation and Peoples Energy Corporation of Chicago — that resulted in the birth of Integrys.
      “Completing the merger with Peoples Energy had been two years in the making,”  Wolf says, “ including a two-week period where we worked almost around the clock to negotiate and ‘paper up’ the final agreement.
      “The result is to operate more efficiently, and save our customers money. That’s what we have been working hard on as we integrate the two companies. There’s a great feeling of accomplishment to be part of that.”  
      Memorable instructors:  “I remember Dan Spielmann and Sharon O’Brien teaching law courses. Gary Greif was another. He taught philosophy, very good courses, radical ways of thinking, challenging.”
      Funny twist on an old tradition:  The Homecoming Game cane toss is a UW Law School tradition. The graduating class takes the field at Camp Randall just before kickoff in front of nearly 80,000 fans. Decked out with bowler hats and canes, they sprint to the far end zone to toss their canes through the goalposts in a mad scramble. Catch your cane, the legend says, and win your first case. “I caught my cane,” Wolf recalls, “but then I sort of jumped for joy. I came down wrong and twisted my ankle. My wife, Mary Jo (Brosig ’80) had to take me to the emergency room, but at least I already had a cane.”


Click here to download a PDF file of the entire May 2008 issue of Inside magazine.