The Waukesha County Chamber of Commerce has named its 2007 Top Ten Small Businesses of the Year.
The businesses will be honored at the annual luncheon on Thursday, June 7, at 11:30 a.m. at the Country Springs Hotel, 2810 Golf Road, Waukesha.
The businesses to be honored and their principals are:

• Caliendo Savio Enterprises Inc., New Berlin (Tom Savio, president and CEO).
• Capital Data Inc., Milwaukee (John Steindorf, president).
• Flanner's Home Entertainment, Brookfield (John Flanner, owner).
• Kolb+Co. S.C., Brookfield (Tom Luken, president).
• Lakeland Supply Inc., Waukesha (Larry Schmidt Sr., president).
• M&M Office Interiors Inc., Pewaukee (Wayne Breitbarth, president).
• QPS Companies Inc., Brookfield (Scott Mayer, president and CEO).
• Schroeder Solutions, New Berlin (Scott Gierhahn, president)
• Tailored Label Products Inc., Menomonee Falls (Mike Erwin, president).
• World Class Wire & Cable Inc., Waukesha (James Lindenberg, presdient).

The executives of the winning companies will share some of their best practices for growing their businesses at the luncheon.
The Small Business of the Year will be announced at the luncheon, which is co-presented annually by Small Business Times. Tickets for the awards presentation, winner interviews and luncheon are $40 per person for chamber members and their guests and $50 for non-members. For reservations, visit www.waukesha.org or call (262) 542-4249.
To see video of last year's luncheon and winners, visit www.biztimes.com/site/videos/sbt_w10.

Toyota Motor Corp. has surpassed General Motors Corp. as the world's top automaker. Toyota said Monday it sold 2.35 million vehicles, up 9 percent, in the most recent quarter, surpassing GM's 2.26 million.
Toyota's surge to the top of the automotive world has been led by its advancements in fuel efficiencies and hybrid technologies at a time when Detroit automakers were stacking up inventories of trucks and sport utility vehicles amid skyrocketing gas prices.
Toyota's culture of innovation produces 1 million new ideas every year. A key player in developing that culture was consultant Matthew May, author of a new book, "The Elegant Solution: Toyota's Formula for Mastering Innovation." May will be the keynote speaker at the IQ (Innovation Quotient) Awards Luncheon at the Wisconsin Business & Technology Expo on Wednesday, May 2, at Wisconsin State Fair Park.
May will share his insights about how to develop a corporate culture of innovation. Attendees will receive a copy of his book. After the luncheon, May will sign autographs on the books at the Small Business Times booth at the Expo.
The IQ Awards will honor southeastern Wisconsin's most innovative organizations and businesses, including: Bowers & Associates Inc., Franklin; the IBEW Great Lakes Training program; Lakefront Brewery, Milwaukee; the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra; Northwoods Software Development Inc., Milwaukee; Poblocki Sign Co. LLC, West Allis; Safe Building Solutions, Waukesha; Shorewest Realtors, Brookfield; Simix Reactive Solutions LLC, Kenosha; Wixon Inc., St. Francis.
Tom Still, president of Wisconsin Business & Technology Expo, will speak at the luncheon about the progress in developing the IQ Corridor through Wisconsin between Chicago and Minneapolis.
To register for the IQ Luncheon, visit http://expo.biztimes.com/expo/events-schedule.cfm#iqawards.

As expected, Dennis Kuester, 65, retired as chief executive officer of Marshall & Ilsley Corp. at the company's annual meeting of shareholders today in Milwaukee.
Kuester is succeeded by Mark Furlong, 50, who will serve as CEO of both the company and M&I Marshall & Ilsley Bank. Kuester will continue to serve as chairman of the board.
This transition was announced in December as part of the corporation's succession plan for senior executives.
In other business at the meeting today, David Lubar was elected to company's board of directors. Lubar, 52, is president of Lubar & Co. Inc., a private equity investment firm and family office located in Milwaukee. He serves on the boards of directors for Lubar & Co., Lake Express, Marshall Erdman & Associates, Rockland Industrial Products, Wrightwood Capital, the Milwaukee Brewers Baseball Club, the Wisconsin Policy Research Institute, and the Metropolitan Milwaukee Association of Commerce. In addition, Lubar serves on the advisory board for the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee School of Business.
In addition to Kuester, the following directors were re-elected to the M&I board: Jon Chait, chairman of the board and CEO of Hudson Highland Group Inc.; San Orr Jr., chairman of the board and director of Wausau Paper Corp.; Debra Waller, chairman of the board and CEO of Jockey International Inc.; and George Wardeberg, retired vice chairman of the board, Wisconsin Energy Corp.

Green Bay-based Associated Banc-Corp has received the Small Business Administration (SBA) Large 7(a) Loan Lender of the Year Award.
The parent company of Associated Bank was one of four banks in the nation to receive the SBA lending awards at an annual ceremony Monday at the U.S. State Department in Washington, D.C.
In addition, Paul Beideman, chairman of the board of Associated Bank N.A., accepted the award, which was presented by SBA Administrator Steven Preston.
"One of the biggest challenges small businesses face in their pursuit of success is timely, affordable access to capital," Preston said. "We are proud to honor these financial institutions for the outstanding support they have shown small businesses in their communities. It is only fitting that we present them with this award in recognition of their excellence as we look forward to our continued partnership working on behalf of small business."

AT&T Inc., the largest telecommunications company in the world, said its first quarter income doubled, reflecting its acquisition of BellSouth Corp.
The San Antonio-based company reported earnings of $2.8 billion, or 45 cents a share, up from $1.4 billion, or 37 cents a share, in the same period a year ago.
AT&T's revenue increased 84 percent to $29.0 billion.
"We had an outstanding start to the year," said Edward Whitacre Jr., chairman and chief executive officer of AT&T. "Merger integration is on track, volumes continue to be solid and we expanded margins in both wireless and wireline. I am very pleased to report that in the first full quarter following our acquisition of BellSouth, we kept our focus on customers and grew the business. Wireless service revenues increased at a double-digit pace. In enterprise, we're winning contracts and expanding our capabilities, and revenue trends are on the right path. Regional business continues to deliver solid growth. Our high-speed Internet net adds were strong, and video growth has begun to ramp."

Journal Communications Inc.'s first quarter net earnings soared to $73.3 million, or $1.05 per share, from $12.3 million, or 17 cents per share, in the same period a year ago, reflecting proceeds from the spinoff of the company's Norlight Telecommunications subsidiary.
The company, which owns Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, WTMJ-Channel 4 and WTMJ-AM 620 and many other media outlets, reported quarterly total revenue of $152.8 million, down slightly from $156.4 million a year earlier.
"We were pleased with the performance of our Broadcast Group in the first quarter of 2007, where growth in developmental and interactive revenue enabled us to replace $3.3 million of revenue generated from the 2006 Winter Olympics and to overcome a decline in automotive advertising. We also exceeded last year's quarterly political advertising of $0.5 million through increased political and issue advertising in Wisconsin," said Steven Smith, chairman and chief executive officer of Journal Communications. "In addition, we recorded earnings growth at six of our eight radio market clusters and four television stations despite tough television comparables to first quarter 2006 … We continued to face revenue challenges in a number of key areas at our Publishing group during the first quarter. Most significantly, at the daily newspaper, total automobile advertising declined by 15.7 percent. Interactive revenue, however, increased 47.4 percent to $3.0 million."

Twin Disc Inc. today reported its best quarter in company history. The Racine-based company posted record fiscal third-quarter net earnings of $7.5 million, or $1.27 per share, up from $3.8 million, or 64 cents per share, in the same period a year ago.
The company's sales for the quarter increased to $86.4 million from $64.1 million a year earlier.
Michael Batten, chairman, president and chief executive officer of Twin Disc, said, "We are delighted with our financial results for fiscal 2007 and our outlook for fiscal 2008. With one quarter remaining, fiscal 2007 should produce the highest financial results in the company's history, as our nine-month earnings are higher than they were for all of fiscal 2006. The fiscal 2007 third quarter represents the 13th consecutive quarter of year-over-year quarterly increases in sales and the eighth consecutive quarter of year-over-year quarterly increases in gross margin, as a percentage of sales, and net earnings."
Twin Disc designs, manufactures and sells marine and heavy-duty off-highway power transmission equipment. Products offered include: marine transmissions, surface drives, propellers and boat management systems, as well as power-shift transmissions, hydraulic torque converters, power take-offs, industrial clutches and control systems.

Kenosha-based Snap-on Inc. today announced that Nicholas Pinchuk has been promoted to president and chief operating officer of the company.
Pinchuk most recently was senior vice president and president of Snap-on's Worldwide Commercial and Industrial Group.
Prior to his promotion, the position of president had been held by Jack Michaels, Snap-on's chairman and chief executive officer.
Pinchuk will be appointed to the company's board.
"With the support of our 12,400 associates world-wide, we have made significant progress in improving the financial and operating performance of our company. Today, Snap-on is the clear brand leader in the markets we serve, and our franchisee network is stronger than ever," Michaels said. "Nick's appointment capitalizes on the deep management team we have established and will help sustain our positive momentum well into the future.
Snap-on today reported first quarter net earnings of $39.0 million, or 66 cents per share, up from $22.1 million, or 37 cents per share, in the same period a year ago.
The company's net sales grew 20 percent to $709.7 million.

First Business Capital Corp., an affiliate of Madison-based First Business Financial Services Inc., has opened its first Chicago office at 225 W. Washington St.
The Chicago office will be led by Rick Barfield, vice president of business development for First Business Capital Corp. Barfield has more than 12 years of financial services experience in capital markets, and in large corporate and middle market banking. Prior to joining First Business Capital Corp., he worked as a middle market lender in Chicago with Banco Popular and Fifth Third Bank.
First Business Financial Services is the parent company of the First Business family of companies, including First Business Bank-Madison and First Business Bank-Milwaukee.

An amendment to an Iraq supplemental spending bill introduced by U.S. Sen. Herb Kohl (D-Wis.) would restore federal funding for Wisconsin's SeniorCare prescription drug plan, but President George W. Bush has vowed to veto the bill. Read more in SBT's daily roundup of headlines from newspapers around the state at www.biztimes.com.

Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett, author of today's Milwaukee Biz Blog, is asking businesses in the city to hire youth for his Summer Jobs Program.

The BizTimes Stock Index soared an astounding 7.23 points to close at 185.11 Monday, and local stocks struggled to maintain that high ground in early morning trading today. The largest local advancers this morning were Snap-on Inc. (up $7.36 to $56.15) and Strattec Security Corp. (up $1.17 to $46.47). The largest local decliners this morning were Kohl's Corp. (down $1.73 to $76.19) and Rockwell Automation Inc. (down 93 cents to $58.99). The BizTimes Stock Index was created by Small Business Times and is monitored by North Shore Bank. The index, which measures the stock values of publicly held companies based in southeastern Wisconsin, is updated daily and can be viewed at www.biztimes.com.