Stories from the February 2005 Issue



Notes from 2420 Nicolet …

Three cheers for students, Founders and alumni stars!

Greetings from Green Bay's University of Wisconsin, where we are serious about "Connecting learning to life"...but still find time for fun.

My wife, Cyndie, and I took it as a great compliment when a friend said we must be UW-Green Bay's biggest cheerleaders because we attend so many performances, games and special events. That's why we decided to dress the part with our get-ups (left) for the Frost Fest chili cookoff — a campus tradition in which costumed faculty and staff serve lunch in the Nicolet Room.

My time inside the suit dishing up homemade "Phoenix Phire" chili was five-alarm hot, but a cool way to relate to students. I sensed, once again, that school spirit is on the rise. Friendly people and a lively campus atmosphere are great assets.

Our greatest attraction, however, will always be academic excellence. We have exceptional faculty and staff and a top-tier ranking among Midwest regional universities. Our students achieve tremendous things.

I invite you to sample this for yourself at the annual Academic Excellence Symposium on Tuesday, April 19. Nearly 100 display stations will fill the Phoenix Room as top students share their research and creative work with campus and community. Founders Association members will receive an additional invitation to the Spring Reception to be held in conjunction with the symposium.

Speaking of the Founders, thanks again to all who made our annual fall dinner such a success. I once again acknowledge our guest presenters on educational connections, pictured above, from left, including Verna Fowler of the College of Menominee Nation, Dan Nerad of the Green Bay schools, Bill Hynes of SNC, (myself), Jeff Rafn of NWTC, and Jane Muhl of Bellin College of Nursing.

There is plenty to cheer about. Funding is assured for our new student sports and events center. Also notable is a quiet trend: A rising generation of UW-Green Bay alumni is applying its creative and entrepreneurial skills to keeping our Northeast Wisconsin economies competitive.

Thank you for your support in helping us "Connect learning to life." And, remember, Go Phoenix!




Bruce Shepard
Chancellor

Teacher-turned-CFO aims to school competition

Kabacinski graduated from UW-Green Bay in 1971 with a degree in humanism and cultural change and a certification to teach mathematics to middle and high school students. But a desire for career change motivated her to return to UW-Green Bay for more accounting credits, achieved in 1978, and a CPA license in 1981.

On the recommendation of Karl Zehms of the UW-Green Bay business administration faculty, Kabacinski interviewed and got a job with the Arthur Andersen accounting firm in Milwaukee. She spent the next 10 years progressing toward partner status through the normal ranks to senior manager. She joined her client, Marquette Medical Systems, in 1989 and served as the company's CFO until 1998 when the company was sold to GE Medical Systems. By nature of the business transaction, her position was eliminated.

The timing couldn't have been better. Kabacinski was put in touch with School Specialty, Inc., Greenville, Wis., a company in search of a CFO. She was offered the job, and accepted in August of 1999. With parents in Green Bay, and three brothers in the Fox Valley, Kabacinski called the opportunity to move back to the region a "very, very nice homecoming."

As executive vice president and CFO she is in charge of general accounting, treasury and taxes and investor relations for the publicly traded (NASDAQ: SCHS) company, which is now approaching market capitalization of $1 billion. The company offers and develops more than 80,000 products — from supplies (paper products and furniture) to age-, grade- and subject-specific curricula for both public and private schools, kindergarten through twelfth grades. It also sells branded products such as Elmer's glue and Crayola crayons.

The company mails more than 40 million catalogs annually to its customers and serves them through 2,800 employees focusing on relationships with administrators and procurement specialists. Its growth has been nothing short of phenomenal.

"We have a two-pronged growth strategy," Kabacinski says. "Our internal growth has been about seven percent per year, slightly outpacing the five percent industry growth. Secondly, we like to acquire and integrate companies. Our compounded annual growth rate is in excess of 20 percent. We're now about eight times larger than our nearest competitor."

Kabacinski's day-to-day is by no means mundane, nor repetitive. In fact, she's right where she was meant to be.

"Being a public-company CFO is really an area that I enjoy," she says. "I had hoped I could carry over my investor relations skills and work for a company I liked. In the process of working with Wall Street, I found out something about myself. I really like to sell. I've been able to take my financial background and leverage it 'selling' a company that I know and like and can feel good talking about.

"It's interesting to note that Karl (Zehms) needed convincing to recommend me for the Arthur Andersen job," she says. "He thought that I wouldn't be happy outside Northeast Wisconsin. It turned out that I loved Milwaukee and lived there for 20 years. But Green Bay is a wonderful town, and the region a great place to live and work. It's been interesting how my career has come full circle."

A Phoenix tale:
Grad helps yachtmaker emerge from the ashes

Rick Jelinski, a 1974 UW-Green Bay graduate who majored in managerial systems, has served as the company's general manager during much of its regeneration.

"If you want a story about the Phoenix rising from the ashes, this is it," Jelinski says of the rebirth of Cruisers Yachts.

A slowing economy and a short-lived but sales-killing federal luxury tax had spelled doom for the original company, Jelinski recalls. Venture capitalist K.C. Stock (Stock Lumber) feared the devastation to his hometown economy and foresaw the company's potential. He purchased Cruisers Inc. in 1993.

"First came the end to the luxury tax," Jelinski says. "Then management worked to redefine the company's niche, reinvigorated the dealer network and hired a new engineering staff that worked on revitalization of the product line. Then came the prosperous economic times and baby-boomers entering into retirement years with expendable income."

A little more than a decade later the business is flourishing, especially on the high end. Yachts range in size from 28 to 54 feet and in value from $100,000 to $1.2 million. They are sold throughout the United States, Canada, the Caribbean, Europe and South America. The company also builds sportfishing yachts. The company, Oconto's largest, now has more than 660 employees and has a sister manufacturing facility in Wilmington, N.C.

Jelinski says he joined the company in January 2000 with a charge to "re-instill manufacturing disciplines and accountabilities in quality, and to grow market demand." Today, the company has low worker turnover, high manufacturing efficiencies and vastly improved quality. In fact, the National Marine Manufacturers Association recognized Cruisers Yachts for three consecutive years with a Customer Satisfaction Index Award.

Jelinski has taken on a new position since January 2005, as general manager for KSC Manufacturing Operations in North Carolina and as general manager for Rampage, KSC's sportfishing division. As was the case in Oconto, Jelinski's responsibilities encompass oversight of sales, plant operations, dealer development, human resources and engineering.

The first in his family to earn a college degree, Jelinski is grateful for the opportunity UW-Green Bay presented long ago to a millworker's child in search of a rewarding life.

"I think I probably fit the typical UW-Green Bay graduate back then," says Jelinski. "I was raised with a blue-collar work ethic. We were encouraged from childhood to continue our education past high school. UW-Green Bay was an attractive alternative. Staying local allowed me to work and continue my education."

Contact made in those early part-time jobs landed Jelinski with the fledgling Ace Baking Company of Green Bay. When he started, Ace was worth $1.7 million. By the time he was lured away 17 years later, Ace was worth $50 million and was the largest cone manufacturer in the United States.

Through the years Jelinski has reflected on the importance of his alma mater, both personally and from a business perspective.

"The importance of the University and the business community really goes hand in hand," Jelinski says. "We've fallen back on different studies done by the local University. We've tapped into top-notch leadership training seminars there. The spillover of the public University — and we're really blessed to have three great schools in the area (with SNC and NWTC ) — changed the community mindset to a higher level of experience and expectation.

"My experience was to be the first one of my family to graduate from college. All three of our children will graduate with a college degree — two of them, Jessica ('01 theatre) and Andrea ('02 humanistic studies and French) — earned theirs at UW-Green Bay."

Label him a Lakeshore success story

Twenty years later Dan and his siblings are part of the executive team that oversees 15 plants in 10 states with 1,600 employees and about 90 sales representatives. WS Packaging Group, Inc., has become the second largest pressure sensitive printer in the world and one of the largest printing and label converting operations in North America. Its annual sales are in excess of $250 million, and yet, its world headquarters remain in Algoma, population 3,400-a quaint community known for the von Stiehl Winery (Wisconsin's oldest), fishing, and Lake Michigan vistas.

Fulwiler is the chief business and market development officer, and is currently working to put the company's products and manufacturing facilities on a common software platform, while developing pricing models from a corporate perspective. Dan's brother Terry Fulwiler is chief executive officer.

The privately held company produces pressure sensitive labels ("stickers"), cartons and packaging for food, health and beauty products, security and medical products, and more. Heard the buzz about radio-frequency tags? WS Packaging is on the cutting edge of this new technology, which is designed to boost the efficiency of retail inventory, and promises many other uses beyond what is currently under development.

Meanwhile, Fulwiler looks to his alma mater, UW-Green Bay, to find the trained professionals and technical workers needed to fuel continued growth. A quick look at an employment roster uncovered 10 current employees with UW-Green Bay degrees working in areas such as sales, human resources, accounting, estimating and graphic arts. Among the UW-Green Bay graduates is Fulwiler's daughter Renee, a May '04 graduate who works as an account executive. In addition, WS offers a substantial tuition reimbursement program. At any given time, 20 to 30 employees attend classes at UW-Green Bay.

Dan, who now flies recreationally with his father, Ray, and daughter Renee, traded an aviation career for an investment in his hometown. Northeast Wisconsin has been rewarded with a soaring example of what hard work, creative thinking, innovation and adaptation can accomplish.

Psssst! Rising generation is trend to watch

It's the type of trend you miss if you simply type "next big thing" and start Googling. Those who made a habit of reading Covey or spending days with Morrie will find no hints on the bestseller rack. Even TiVo is unlikely to have captured its arrival.

It is a relatively quiet trend, most noticeable close to home...in Appleton, Oconto, Algoma and communities scattered across Northeast Wisconsin.

It has been gradual in buildup but impressive in impact, especially as the region transitions to a new economy and cultural changes while trying to hold onto traditional strengths.

It involves a rising generation of UW-Green Bay alumni of various ages and academic fields of study. Once relatively few in number, they are making themselves known, stepping up as difference makers. They are CEOs, CFOs, presidents, owners and entrepreneurs in increasingly impressive numbers. If the Green Bay area rates No. 1 in the nation for small business (Inc. magazine), they share the credit.

That's the trend. See this and future Insides for more.

"It is becoming more and more apparent that Green Bay's University of Wisconsin is having a significant influence on our local economy. As mayor, and now with the chamber, I see an ever-increasing number of business owners, business managers, government officials and other 'movers and shakers' who proudly claim UWGB as their alma mater. It's wonderful that they're staying home and finding success."
Paul Jadin
President, Green Bay Area Chamber of Commerce

"I received far more from my UW-Green Bay education than I could have imagined. Foremost was a new kind of critical thinking, an ability to look beneath the surface, to take the conventional apart and then re-assemble the pieces in unusual and useful ways. That's something I now believe is the essence of higher education. It is less job training than it is mind training."

Susan Frost '97
Owner, Susan Frost Advertising Inc., Vice President of UW-Green Bay Founders Association and active with community connections to the Neville Museum, Chamber of Commerce, the symphony and others

"I think there is a great opportunity for UW-Green Bay students and new graduates in this region to make their mark. I was fortunate to work at a place that was already established as a strong retail store and progress from part time, while I was still a student, to full time and eventually purchase the business. This region is strong, the economy fairly stable... For people willing to put in the time and pay their dues, the possibilities are there."
Mike Hendricks '99
Owner, Play It Again Sports, Oshkosh and Green Bay