Kay Plantes, an MIT-trained economist, business strategy consultant, columnist and author, will be the keynote speaker at this year’s CEO Strategies Breakfast to be held at the BizTech Expo on Wednesday, April 28.
BizTimes Media LLC presents the BizTech Expo, which is held annually at the Wisconsin State Fair Park Exposition Center. The BizTech Expo is the largest business-to-business trade show and conference in the state. Last year, more than 4,500 people attended the BizTech Expo.
For more information, including instructions for how to reserve a booth for your company at the Expo, visit www.biztimes.com/expo.
Plantes, who will kick off the Expo as the keynote speaker, earned her Ph.D. from MIT and is a trained economist and owner of Madison-based The Plantes Company. She has co-authored the book Beyond Price, Differentiate your Company in Ways That Really Matter and is also a frequent columnist and commentator on business and economics for publications and cable news programs across the nation. She is a frequent guest on CNBC’s The Call.
Plantes’ background includes a wide range of experience and expertise including expertise on the economy and business consulting providing executive management strategies for public and private companies and for non-profit organizations. She also has state government, federal government and university experience.
Beyond Price provides leadership teams with a step-by-step guide to building a sustainable advantage in the marketplace, and fans say her unusual blend of visionary and business model innovation expertise has helped leaders see their markets through a new lens and has allowed them to make better strategy and execution decisions.
Business model innovation, strategic leadership and smart economic policies are her professional passions.
“Every industry has a Wal-Mart, the lowest cost competitor. If you can’t be your industry’s Wal-Mart, avoid becoming its Sears. Differentiate your company around hard-to-copy benefits that really matter,” Plantes said.
Plantes divides her time between Madison and Oslo, Norway. For more information about her, visit www.plantescompany.com.

After a rough 15 months, Good Harvest Market is closing its health food store in Milwaukee’s Historic Third Ward.
The company said its sales were negatively affected over the past year by the poor economy as well as nearby sewer repairs in mid-2009, which often “obliterated” its storefront from view.
Good Harvest will be offering all remaining food and health and beauty products at 20- to 40-percent off, starting Wednesday, Feb. 10, and will close its by Saturday, Feb. 20.
“We have deep regret in announcing this closing, both from the core group of great customers we have, to our wonderful employees, some of whom will be losing their jobs and will be very missed.” said Joe Nolan, store owner.  “While our pre-opening research pointed to a successful location, it’s apparent that the Third Ward area can’t sustain a natural food store, at least at this time.  With the increasing number of condos and apartments in the area, we hope that someone will consider our location for a food store, which would give residents a local option for their grocery dollars, rather than having to drive several miles away.”
Good Harvest’s Waukesha County location remains open in Pewaukee.  In addition to more than 2000 gluten-free options and thousands of organic items, Good Harvest Market offers locally grown foods, sustainably harvested foods and fairly traded products.

Grede Holdings LLC today announced that the company entered into a new revolving credit and security agreement with Bank of America as a lender and as agent for the lenders.
Wells Fargo Capital Finance, part of Wells Fargo & Company, is a co-lender on the transaction.
The new Revolving Credit Agreement provides up to $60 million to support the company’s working capital needs and other general corporate purposes. It is secured by accounts receivables and inventory of the company and has a term of three years, expiring in February 2013.
“Given the restrictive credit markets of today, the new financing agreement validates Grede’s actions as further evidence of the Company’s future vitality,” said Lou Lavorata, chief financial officer (CFO) of Grede. “Through our rigorous turnaround activities, we have brought together two well-positioned companies that have outstanding synergies, a strong balance sheet, low debt, and excellent support from our bank partners.”
Grede Holdings LLC was formed recently through the combination of the assets of the former Milwaukee-based Grede Foundries Inc. with Citation Corp. Grede Foundries had filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy reorganization.
The transactions included the closing of the purchase of substantially all the assets of Grede Foundries by Grede LLC, an entity controlled by a private investment fund managed by Wayzata Investment Partners LLC. The transactions also were facilitated by additional equity investment from Wayzata and Citation’s largest shareholder, GSC Group. The new company is controlled by Wayzata and led by Doug Grimm, who is chairman, president and chief executive officer.
The new Grede is headquartered in Novi, Mich.
“The combination of Citation and Grede creates, what we believe is, the most diversified foundry company in North America with one of the strongest balance sheets in the industry,” Grimm said. “We expect revenue to reach $600 million in 2010 through our combined business in the automotive, industrial and heavy truck markets. The significant equity investment from Wayzata and GSC has reduced total funded debt of the two companies by 80 percent, or $110 million. This gives us a best-in-class financial profile, allows us to invest appropriately and weather economic cyclicality moving forward.”
The new Grede has 2,700 employees, 14 foundries and two machining facilities with nearly 600,000 tons of iron casting capacity.

Green Bay-based Schneider National Inc. announced plans to grow its regional driving fleet and hire 2,500 additional semi-truck drivers this year, offering experienced drivers across the country an opportunity to enjoy the stability of a large carrier with weekly time at home or better.
“Work-life balance is more important than ever to today’s professional truck driver,” said Mike Hinz, vice president of Schneider National. “Schneider’s regional driving opportunities are a perfect fit for those drivers who want to make a good living with a company that will be here tomorrow, and at the same time, enjoy more time at home with their families.”
Schneider offers regional driving opportunities across the United States, with operations offices in the West, Southwest, Midwest, Southeast and Northeast regions. Strong reception of the service by customers and drivers, alike, has accelerated Schneider’s regional expansion plans. Hiring will continue throughout the year, and all 2,500 drivers will be in place by December.
According to Hinz, Schneider’s rapid expansion is due to a growing freight base within each of its five regions. “The customer demand for our regional service has exceeded our expectations and created enough freight density to get drivers home weekly.”

Facing a difficult U.S. economy that took its toll on beer sales in the fourth quarter, SABMiller plc and Molson Coors Brewing Company /quotes/comstock/13*!tap/quotes/nls/tap nonetheless today reported double-digit underlying earnings growth for MillerCoors in its first full year of operations ended Dec. 31.
MillerCoors full-year underlying net income increased by $138.7 million or 18.4 percent, while fourth quarter underlying net income decreased 21.6 percent to $106.1 million vs. the prior year.
Softening industry volumes and resulting cost deleverage were partly offset by pricing, synergies delivery, and reductions in marketing, general and administrative costs in the fourth quarter, the company said.
"It's tough out there, and we saw the effect of ongoing economic pressure and unemployment on beer sales, especially in the fourth quarter," said MillerCoors chief executive officer Leo Kiely. "But we stayed focused on our strategy and invested to grow four out of our six national focus brands in 2009. Our people made it happen, delivering strong profit growth and exceeding our synergy commitments in the midst of a recession."
In the fourth quarter, MillerCoors domestic sales-to-retailers (STRs) declined 3.6 percent primarily due to poor industry and economic conditions. For the full-year, STRs were down 1.7 percent.

Burton Robertson, an entrepreneur operating Mega Music DJ Services, ImagiMarketing, Send Out Cards and The Cash Coupon in Waterford, is the recipient of the 2009 Outstanding Business of the Year Award by the Wind Lake Chamber of Commerce.
Robertson, a retired firefighter, is a serial entrepreneur who manages four successful business entities while strengthening and building the WLCC.
Robertson’s passion for marketing has been instrumental in reinventing a 35-year WLCC tradition, a family event recently re-coined the FestiBazaar.
He is the current vice president of the WLCC, chair of the FestiBazaar committee, WLCC webmaster and handles most of the administrative tasks of the chamber.
“I get a lot of help and support from my wife, Holly Robertson, who is the owner of these businesses and provides quite a bit of input,” Robertson said.

Many business owners did not pull the trigger on selling their companies at the peak of the market, when their firms held the maximum value in early 2008. Then the Great Recession hit, causing multiples to nosedive and diminishing the value of their companies. As the economy rebounds, another window of opportunity will open up for business owners seeking to grow through a strategic acquisition or to plot an exit strategy to sell their companies. BizTimes Media will present its “M&A Forum: Buy? Sell? Hold?” on Thursday, March 11, from 7:30 to 11:30 a.m. at The Pfister Hotel, 424 E. Wisconsin Ave., Milwaukee. The event is designed to help business owners identify ways to build their business through acquisition or to help them prepare for an eventual sale. For more information, read the new edition of the BizTimes Money bulletin.

The stock market bounced back strongly today after a tepid Monday. The Dow Jones Industrial Average climbed by more than 219 points.
Local stocks in the BizTimes Stock Index also participated in today’s revival. The largest local gainers this morning were Bucyrus International Inc. (up $1.87 to $53.67) and Joy Global Inc. (up 97 cents to $45.40). The largest local decliners this morning were Strattec Security Corp. (down 50 cents to $19.01) and Badger Meter Inc. (down 42 cents to $34.92).
Read more about the near-term forecasts for the stock market here.

The Wisconsin State Legislature may have power to derail the proposed federal high-speed rail project that would connect Milwaukee to Madison. Read more in today’s Milwaukee Biz Blog by Mike Ivey. Also, after 350 votes, the BizTimes Poll question about high-speed rail is tied. Vote now at www.biztimes.com