Welcome to the Eau Claire Chamber Blog

Wisconsin Farm Broadcaster Bob Bosold was inducted into the National Association of Farm Broadcasting (NAFB) Hall of Fame during the 73rd NAFB Convention held recently in Kansas City, MO. Bosold is known state-wide for his ongoing commitment to 4-H and FFA students throughout the state of Wisconsin, supporting the future leaders of the agriculture industry.  The NAFB Hall of Fame is the highest honor awarded by the organization. Each year since 1986 NAFB recognizes members who have made significant contributions to the farm broadcasting industry. Bosold is 39-year farm broadcasting veteran with no plans to stop. He joined WEAU-TV/WAXX-AM/WEAU-FM in 1977 after graduating from UW-Madison in agriculture journalism in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences. In 1983, he was named farm director at WAXX/WAYY, and continues this position today.

Attorneys Tanya M. Bruder and Brian M. Nodolf of Nodolf Flory, LLP have been named Rising Stars by Law and Politics and Milwaukee Magazine. The publications ask Wisconsin lawyers to identify an elite group of lawyers, either under the age of 40 or in practice less than 10 years, who demonstrate the highest standards of excellence in their field. Bruder’s practice focuses on business and general litigation. Nodolf’s practice focuses on commercial and industrial development, business and energy law. 

After more than two decades with Ayres Associates, Eric Sorensen, PE, has been named vice president of Midwest transportation operations at the firm. Sorensen will oversee transportation and traffic engineering and construction services in Ayres’ Waukesha, Madison, Green Bay and Eau Claire offices. Since joining Ayres Associates’ transportation engineering staff in 1995, Sorensen has steadily advanced his career from his work as a design engineer to his current role as a transportation supervisor. Sorensen, based in Eau Claire, will assume his new duties on January 1, 2017.

The EO Johnson service team earned nationwide recognition for 2017 from Ricoh, a global industry leader with the prestigious RFG Circle of Excellence Certified Dealership award. The RFG Circle of Excellence program recognizes dealers who provide outstanding service and support. To be eligible for this certification, all Ricoh technicians needed to pass a series of difficult tests to assess their hardware, software and network connectivity competency. Ricoh then performed an in-depth operations assessment to ensure all business processes met the highest of standards. This extensive preparation continues the tradition of high quality machine service EO Johnson technicians are known to deliver.

Bremer Financial Corporation (BFC) recently announced that its board of directors has unanimously chosen Jeanne Crain as the organization's next chief executive officer. Crain will assume responsibilities immediately and succeeds Pat Donovan, who in July announced his plan to retire at the end of the year. Donovan will continue his service to Bremer through the end of the year as advisor to the CEO. Crain has been part of Bremer's senior leadership team for four years, most recently serving as region CEO of Bremer Bank Twin Cities, as well as group president for BFC overseeing the company's financial services business, including Bremer Trust, Bremer Investment Services, Bremer Insurance and the two banking regions in North Dakota.

HSHS St. Joseph’s Hospital was named a 2016 Guardian of Excellence Award® winner for inpatient satisfaction by Press Ganey. St. Joseph’s Hospital’s inpatient satisfaction scores achieved 95th percentile every month between May 2015 and April 2016. Colleagues throughout St. Joseph’s Hospital have been dedicated ensuring that all patients have good experiences. Projects to achieve improvements in patient satisfaction include working on improved communication and engaging patients in their care.
​
Three HSHS Sacred Heart & St. Joseph’s colleagues recently earned advanced certification in their respective fields. Valerie Rislove, risk management director for both HSHS Sacred Heart and St. Joseph’s hospitals, recently earned her accreditation as a certified professional in healthcare risk management from the American Hospital Association. This is considered the healthcare industry’s premier certification for the risk management profession. Jenny Sabelko, a house supervisor and registered nurse in Sacred Heart Hospital’s critical care services department, recently earned her critical care registered nurse certification. This certification is among the highest professional credentials that can be achieved by a critical care nurse. Tina Voss, a registered nurse in Sacred Heart Hospital’s post anesthesia care department, recently earned her certified post anesthesia nurse accreditation. This national professional certification is designed for registered nurses caring for patients who have experienced sedation, analgesia and anesthesia in a hospital or ambulatory care facility. 

The Chamber has office space still available.  We will look at potential offices for entrepreneurs, with a sponsorship, or continue to market to non profits.

The Board was updated on the selection process for a new President.  Dowell Management will release the opening on December 1.  Interviews will begin in February with a new person selected by mid April with expectations that they will begin June 5.

The Chamber health insurance premium increased 14.5%.  The Chamber will change to Group Health Cooperative thus saving the employees and the Chamber money.

The nominating committee, past Board Chairs, will meet to select six members to serve three year terms beginning April 1, 2017.  Tim Benedict, Benedict Refrigeration and Laura Talley, BMO Harris Bank, are completing their first three year terms and they will need to be re-elected as they will be serving in leadership positions.  The ballot will be emailed to the main contact of each member business.

The Chamber has tracked the Storm Water Utility fee since it’s inception in 1996. The cost began at $25 per ERU (Equivalent Run Off Unit).  Each home is one ERU and there are approximately 42,000 ERU’s in Eau Claire.  The original plan was to have the rate be $100 by the year 2000. The Chamber worked with the City, DNR and local legislators to evaluate what was paid for in the rate.  As a result the rate for 2017 will be the same as 2016 at $90 per ERU.  This is paid quarterly on your water/sewer bills.

The Chamber monitors the ½% sales tax collected by the County. In 2000 the County needed $1 million to balance their budget and wanted to add the ½% tax.  The Chamber had always opposed this tax but agreed to not oppose it if at least 75% of the tax goes to property tax relief.  In 2000 that amounted to approximately $5 million dollars.  It has stayed between 78% and 92% over the years for property tax relief.  For 2017 the County is budgeting $9.6 million due to the growth of retails sales, which now are just over $2 Billion.  The County will apply 83% of that to property tax relief, which amounts to $172 on a $134,000 valued home.  The Chamber will continue to work with the County and monitor this tax.  The Chamber appreciates the County’s efforts towards property tax relief.

The Chamber will be impacted, along with every non-profit and thousands of small businesses in the US, by the FLSA (Fair Labor Standards Act) which will require overtime pay to anyone making $47, 474 or less a year, $913 a week.  The Chamber has made adjustments with Chamber staff to compensate for the new law.

The Chamber Board will conduct their Strategic Planning session on December 20 to build the Business Plan for April 1, 2017 under the leadership of Tim Benedict, Benedict Refrigeration.

Fifty-one people participated in the Chamber trip to China in late October.

The Chippewa Chamber Alliance will meet to develop the issues for the Chippewa Valley Rally which will be January 25, 2017.  All three Chamber Boards will approve the issues at the December meetings.

The Board received reports on: Small Business Saturday, which is November 26. The Young Professionals group will also be working on a state wide initiative for a YP week in late April. The Business EXPO had over 2000 people attending and the Real Life Academy will host 330 students.

La Crosse-based Logistics Health Incorporated (LHI) is adding an operations center in Eau Claire to meet the growing demand for its services. The expansion will bring 120 jobs to the area initially, with the possibility of more in the future. The new office in Eau Claire, located in the Hutchinson Technology Building, will enable LHI to coordinate the logistics of health care services for its growing customer base, while also mining the extraordinary health care talent base for which the region is known. Available positions are already posted and LHI expects to fill the roles by February 1, 2017. LHI currently employs more than 1,200 people in both full- and part-time roles, most of whom are based at its La Crosse location.

Feather Communications, a Colfax-based business, has been named one of the Top 100 Career Websites and Blogs by Feedspot. Dr. Heather Rothbauer-Wanish, founder of Feather Communications, is a certified professional resume writer and provides resume-writing services to clients throughout the United States. As part of her website, she features a regular blog offering implementable tips that range from formatting resumes to how to write a cover letter. Tips from Feather Communications have been featured on CareerSidekick, MSN, Monster, Recruiter, MFG Jobs and the Management Resource Association websites.
​
Royal Credit Union (Royal) announced that its acquisition of Deerwood Bank in Apple Valley, Minnesota is complete. The transition took place November 5-6 and beginning November 7, 2016 Deerwood Bank, Apple Valley customers became members of Royal Credit Union. This acquisition offered Royal the opportunity to enhance office accessibility to its current Minnesota membership, as well as serve additional members in Minnesota. The office, located at 14295 Cedar Avenue in Apple Valley, was Deerwood Bank’s only facility included in the agreement.

Royal Credit Union (Royal) has received a second $2 million grant award from the U.S. Treasury’s Community Development Financial Institution Fund (CDFI). Of the 288 CDFI-certified credit unions, only 23 received an award this year. The CDFI program includes both certification and grant options. In 2015, Royal became a certified CDFI, one of only six certified credit unions in Wisconsin and Minnesota. Royal received this certification due to its significant history of serving the needs of low-income people in our communities, through both lending and financial education.

Strong support from the restaurant industry has led the Chippewa Valley Technical College (CVTC) District Board to recently approve a culinary program, which will begin in fall 2018 with initial enrollment for 24 students. CVTC’s market research showed that there are about 220 culinary job openings a year in the area, with six percent growth anticipated. CVTC formerly had a Hotel and Restaurant Management program, which was discontinued in 2010. However, in 2011 discussions were already underway to revive the program at the encouragement of industry leaders. The full two-year program will be 60 credits, leading to an associate degree in culinary and operations management. The program includes a 30-credit, one-year embedded technical diploma in professional cooking and a 15-credit, one-semester embedded technical diploma in food and beverage safety.
 
 

Thank you to the sponsors, volunteers and committee members who made the spring Real Life Academy a success. We had 330 students from Altoona, Fall Creek, Memorial, North and Regis high schools participate in the event on Wednesday, November 16 and experienced a day of "real life." 

Committee Members: 
Andie Auna, Mary Kay Brevig, Chris Brooke, Kristin Craker, Theresa Curtis, Tarese Dubiel, Susan Fanning, Eve Fischer, Kelly Hebert, Jackie Leavesseur, Lynette Livingston, Monte Lokken, Marsha Mohnsen, Kelly Ostrander, Kim Shult, Adam Sommers,  Phil Swiler,  Julie Thoney,  Melissa Wait, Greg Weaver,  Nicole Wilson

Major Sponsor:

Other Sponsors:
Baker Tilly Virchow Krause
CCFBank
Chippewa Valley Technical College
Courtesy Corporation-McDonald's
Eau Claire Chamber of Commerce
Eau Claire Area School District
Eau Claire Auto Group
Eau Claire Energy Cooperative
Eau Claire Police Department
Global Finishing Solutions
Globe University
Gordy's Market
Hand in Hand: A Place For All Children
Live in Eau Claire
Loffler Companies
Marshfield Clinic
Mega! CO-OP
Oakwood Hills Animal Hospital 
Old National Bank
Peoples Bank Midwest 
Principal Financial 
Radial
River Prairie Wealth Partners
Royal Credit Union
United Bank
University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire
Walmart - Eau Claire
Weld Riley, S.C.
WESTconsin Credit Union 
Wisconsin National Guard
​Xcel Energy
YMCA

EO Johnson Business Technologies named Dave Greene as its new president and chief operating officer. Greene brings 33 years of experience into this role. This announcement follows the retirement of current President and Chief Operating Officer Roger King, who has over 40 years of experience with the company. King will continue work with EO Johnson after completing his role as president. Moving forward, EO Johnson will be organized into three business divisions: Division of Imaging (including multifunction devices, managed print services and production print), Division of IT and Solutions, and Division of Finance and Shared Services. Dave Johnson will be promoted to the position of division president – imaging, and Jim Geary will be promoted to director – imaging operations. Peter Kujawa will be division president - IT and solutions, and Duke Schlagenhaft, chief financial officer, will lead the finance and shared services division.

Edina Realty/Chippewa Valley is excited to announce the addition of three new agents to its office. Travis Gaetz, Lisa Baltuff and Sarah Wendt all recently joined the company.

Rixmann Companies is proud to announce a new member of its leadership team. Adam Dukek joined the leadership team at Pawn America’s Eau Claire store for the balance of the 2016 holiday season as part of his training to be the company’s WI district manager in 2017. Dukek has a strong retail management background.  He served as both an assistant store manager and store manager at Kohl’s.  Before joining Pawn America, Dukek served as a human resource director at Target.  He is a graduate of Mid-Continent University in 2009. 
​
Physical therapist Valerie Plantinga recently joined the Rehabilitation Services Department at Mayo Clinic Health System in Eau Claire. Plantinga earned her bachelor degrees in exercise science and psychology at Dordt College, Sioux Center, Iowa, and a master of physical therapy degree from Mayo Clinic College of Medicine in Rochester, Minnesota. 

This week, the Eau Claire Community Foundation will join more than 700 community foundations across America celebrating Community Foundation Week. For 25 years, the effort has raised awareness about their role in fostering local collaboration and innovation to address persistent civic and economic challenges.  Community foundations are independent, public entities that allow donors to create funds that support grants to nonprofit organizations. The Eau Claire Community Foundation currently holds over 170 family and organizational endowment funds and has distributed over $1 million in grants so far in 2016. Since its establishment in 1997, it’s distributed over $5 million in grants. 

​Paul Swartos has joined CCFBank as its new vice president of commercial banking and Chippewa Valley market manager. Swartos comes to CCFBank with more than 15 years of experience in business banking. Previously, Swartos served as vice president, senior business banker for a regional financial services company serving the Midwest. His role with CCFBank will be based out of the Fairfax Street office in Eau Claire.

Mega! CO-OP has entered into a definitive agreement to purchase five “Travel Stop” locations from Dan and Phyllis Acker. The five stores are located in Stanley, Abbotsford, Elk Mound, Durand and New Lisbon. The Cooperative will operate the stores as “Mega! CO-OP Travel Stop” and will keep the branded fuel they offer, currently Shell and BP. Mega! CO-OP is now focused solely on the convenience store business and, as such, has spent a great deal of resources this last year remodeling, rebranding and stabilizing its new business model. The Cooperative now has 38 convenient options for fuel and food in 11 counties covering 20 cities and employs more than 300 team members that work hard to serve our cooperative member’s needs.” The Consumers Cooperative Association of Eau Claire was founded in 1935 and operates 38 convenience stores in West Central Wisconsin. It employs approximately 300 team members serving over 70,000 Cooperative members.

24-7 and West Wisconsin Telcom Cooperative, Inc., and the communities they serve, were recognized as “Smart Rural Communities” by NTCA–The Rural Broadband Association. NTCA is a national association representing more than 800 independent, community-based broadband companies. 24-7 and West Wisconsin Telcom is one of only 12 companies nationally to receive this designation in 2016. Fundamentally, a smart rural community uses fiber optic networks to enable applications the community can leverage for innovative economic development, blue-ribbon education, first-rate health care, cutting-edge government services, robust security and more efficient energy distribution and use.

Able Energy recently installed the largest solar installation on a business in the Chippewa Valley. A 100 kW solar system consisting of 377 panels will offset approximately 30 percent of the electricity needs for Huebsch Services, the Eau Claire-based uniform, floor matting and facility services company. Huebsch’s install is just one of the many recent solar installations occurring in the Chippewa Valley. Incentives like the 30 percent Solar Investment Tax Credit from the federal government, and recent Public Service Commission approval of $7.7 million  toward Renewable Energy Rebates will help further the growth and affordability of solar throughout Wisconsin.

Chippewa Valley Technical College will start a new Entrepreneurship program in January.  The program is designed to help students gain the knowledge and skills they need to start and succeed in their own businesses. The start of that program, approved by the Wisconsin State Technical College System board in July, is the centerpiece of a larger effort by CVTC to become more entrepreneurial in its focus throughout its program areas. On Tuesday, Oct. 25, CVTC President Bruce Barker signed the National Association of Community College Entrepreneurship pledge committing CVTC to advance entrepreneurship in the community and an entrepreneurship culture on campus. Heading the Entrepreneurship program is instructor Ben Zugay, a seasoned entrepreneur who started his first business at age 14, who has had at least two successful start-ups among several business launches. As part of the overall efforts, CVTC is building a directory of alumni who are entrepreneurs and small business owners to serve as mentors and advisors in Entrepreneurship and other programs. And a new Entrepreneurship Learning Team will form recommendations for curricular and co-curricular activities to encourage and support entrepreneurship among students and create an entrepreneurship culture at CVTC.

Joan Coffman, president and CEO of HSHS St. Joseph’s Hospital, was appointed by Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker last week to serve as the Wisconsin Hospital Association (WHA) representative to the Governor’s task force on opioid abuse. Through its L.E. Phillips-Libertas Treatment Center, St. Joseph’s Hospital is a major provider of treatment for alcoholism and drug abuse having 46 of the 86 dedicated AODA inpatient treatment beds in Wisconsin. Coffman also serves on WHA’s Board of Directors and has been an active and key resource to WHA, providing valuable insight and information on regulatory, insurance, and other factors that can be a barrier to patient access to opioid and other drug and alcohol addiction treatments in Wisconsin.

Achieve Wellness opened its newest health and wellness clinic in western Minnesota. The near-site clinic is dedicated for the use of all employees and families of Alexandria Industries, a Minnesota-based manufacturer. At no cost to employees, the clinic, staffed by a family nurse practitioner and LPN, provides routine care, treatment of minor injuries and illnesses, prescriptions, vaccinations, and management of chronic health problems.

Royal Credit Union (Royal) has named four team members to manager positions: Kim Green, Ben Priem, Linda Torres and Amy Schaefer. As the consumer lending manager, Green will manage the operation and performance of consumer lending in the Member Loans department. As technical services manager, Priem will manage the technical service specialists and business systems coordinators to provide comprehensive and efficient technical services for Royal. Torres will be responsible, as the consumer lending operations manager, for managing the overall operation and performance of Royal’s Indirect Lending program, including dealer relationships, business development, and loan funding. As the audit services manager, Schaefer will ensure proper execution of the Audit Service’s department vision, strategy and plan.

Chippewa Valley Technical College will initiate new programs and credentials in agriculture-related fields beginning in August 2017. The programs won approval from the Wisconsin Technical College System Board in September and the CVTC board on October 20. The offerings include two new associate degree programs and four new technical diplomas as expansions of CVTC’s existing Agriscience Technician program.  The agriculture additions essentially divide CVTC’s existing Agriscience Technician program, which includes components in agronomy and animal sciences, into two associate degree programs in precision agronomy management and animal science management. In addition, CVTC will be offering a new one-year farm operation technical diploma program, meant for farm workers who want to stay engaged in farming while going to school at a time convenient to the cropping season.