In today's Milwaukee Biz Blog, Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett responds to comments made by a panel of five local chief executive officers during a Public Policy Forum event last week.

Small Business Times has launched its 2008 Fittest Execs competition, which challenges local CEO's, owners, partners and other top executives to compete for the title of Fittest Exec in a variety of categories.
The highly successful Fittest CEO's competition from 2007 has been renamed this year to encourage broader participation by the executive leadership teams of southeastern Wisconsin companies.
The focus of the campaign continues to promote both personal fitness and corporate wellness through friendly competition.
Categories of the competition include: Male under 50; Male over 50; Female under 50; and Female over 50
Participants will each take part in a confidential health risk appraisal and fitness assessment, resulting in a comprehensive, 15-point health and fitness score.  They will receive complimentary consultation from the expert staff of both Wisconsin Athletic Club and Medical Associates Health Centers.
All 80 participants from last year are encouraged to register again this year and are automatically eligible for a new award honoring the greatest improvement in fitness from last year.
A new feature in this year's program is the Corporate Wellness award. Any organization demonstrating a commitment to the health and wellness of its workforce is encouraged to submit a nomination.
Participants will be profiled on biztimes.com, finalists will be announced in a special health and wellness section of Small Business Times on April 18, and the winners will be announced and honored at the fourth annual BizTech Expo at Wisconsin State Fair Park, April 30-May 1.
To nominate an executive or a company for the 2008 Fittest Execs competition, visit www.biztimes.com/fit. To view profiles of last year's participants and learn more about their fitness routines, visit http://www.biztimes.com/news/2007/4/13/fittest-ceo-table-of-contents.

Brunswick Bowling & Billiards announced it closed its bowling pin production plant in Antigo today, eliminating 70 jobs.
The company, which is a unit of Lake Forest, Ill.-based Brunswick Corp., will shift its bowling pin production from to a contract manufacturer.
"The marketplace has evolved, and the industry has more capacity to provide pins than it can support," said Warren Hardie, president of Brunswick Bowling & Billiards. "By utilizing contract manufacturing, Brunswick will be able to better focus its efforts on serving customers in the global bowling products market."
Brunswick has chosen QubicaAMF to make Brunswick's full line of bowling pins in Lowville, N.Y.
Brunswick will continue to offer both its Brunswick and Vulcan brands to the worldwide bowling center market. The firm also will continue to offer a full line of equipment for bowling center construction and upgrades, as well as full lines of consumer and aftermarket products for the bowling industry.
The company said its Antigo employees were informed of the closure today and will receive severance and other benefits. The company will be meeting with local union bargaining agents to determine those benefits for union members. Brunswick said it will continue to pay employees for the next 60 days, even though the plant will be immediately closed, allowing employees to focus their energies on finding their next jobs.
Closing the Antigo plant is expected to result in charges of approximately $4.5 million in 2008.

CheckFreePay, now part of Brookfield-based Fiserv Inc., a leading provider of information technology services to the financial industry, today announced an agreement with Ready Credit Corp. to implement the CheckFreePay walk-in bill payment service at all ReadyStation kiosks in the United States.
The service enables people to pay their bills directly at kiosks, without the need for checking accounts at banks.
"Cash-reliant consumers - those who do not have traditional bank accounts or credit cards, can now benefit from having a completely self-service bill payment option at their fingertips every time they visit a ReadyStation at select retail and grocery outlets," said Michelle Schuleman, vice president of marketing at Ready Credit Corp. "The self-service functionality enabled by the ReadyStation also provides retailers an opportunity to offer additional services to their customers without added personnel hires."
The bill payment service is expected to be available at the kiosks that utilize the NCR EasyPoint Xpress kiosk platform, in early spring 2008. The service is being unveiled at the 2008 National Retail Federation Annual Convention & Expo in New York this week.
The ReadyStation is currently deployed at 55 retail, convenience and grocery store locations in six states, allows consumers to purchase a fully functional ReadyCard Prepaid MasterCard. With the integration of the CheckFreePay walk-in bill payment service, which securely transmits payment information directly to billing companies, consumers also will be able to pay bills with cash at any ReadyStation.
According to Aite Group, a financial services industry analyst firm, Americans make hundreds of millions of walk-in payments each year. Consumers pay common household bills such as utility, credit card, wireless and other bills in person.
"Retailers that offer walk-in bill payments give consumers multiple reasons to visit their store on a regular basis," said Paul Harrison, senior vice president and general manager of CheckFreePay. "Walk-in payment services have the potential to increase foot traffic and customer loyalty, particularly when available alongside other frequently used products in kiosks such as the ReadyStation."
Stores already featuring ReadyStation kiosks include Save-A-Lot in Milwaukee, Dollar Tree in Atlanta and Houston, selected stores in the Supervalu network, and convenience stores in Minneapolis/St. Paul and El Paso, Texas.

Franklin-based ChromeTech of Wisconsin announced today the hiring of Mike Diggins as its new president.
Diggins brings 12 years of leadership experience to ChromeTech. He served 10 years with GE Healthcare in Waukesha, where most recently was the company's Americas asset manager.
He graduated from Marquette University in 1997 with a bachelor of science degree in industrial engineering. Upon graduation, he joined GE Healthcare's Technical Leadership Program, with four rotational assignments in manufacturing and sourcing. In 2002, Diggins received his master's degree in business administration from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, while leading a service productivity team at GE that delivered more than $50 million of savings during his term of leadership. 
Diggins is a resident of Burlington.

The State of Wisconsin has launched its 2008 Governor's Business Plan Contest to encourage entrepreneurs in the creation, start-up and early-growth stages of high-tech businesses.
Participants have the chance to win seed capital, services that will help them launch their businesses and a grand prize worth $50,000.
Since its inception in 2004, more than 1,000 entries have been received and nearly $650,000 in cash and in-kind prizes has been awarded.
Produced by the Wisconsin Technology Council and a growing list of partners, the Governor's Business Plan Contest engages contestants in a six-month process that includes mentoring and comments from judges on selected plans. It will also lead to valuable public and media exposure for the best business plans submitted by contestants and spur economic growth in Wisconsin.
In addition, past finalists have raised a reported $11 million in private equity, such as angel and venture capital.
The statewide contest is an opportunity to compete for cash and in-kind prizes, but it's also a chance to get constructive feedback on your business plan and to help move it from a virtual business to a reality.
For additional information, visit www.govsbizplancontest.com.

Members of seven local chambers of commerce will come together Tuesday, Jan. 22, for the first time to participate in Active Business Leads Exchange (ABLE) South, a new business networking venture.
ABLE South is a monthly meeting and luncheon dedicated to networking and relationship-building between the members of the Greenfield, Greendale, Muskego, South Milwaukee, South Suburban, West Allis/West Milwaukee and West Suburban Chambers of Commerce.
The meetings will take place on the fourth Tuesday of each month at the Knights of Columbus in Greenfield 3200 S 103rd St. from 11:30 a.m. to 1pm. Meetings will include registration and roundtable networking, a buffet style lunch, welcome and introduction of guests, introductions for each business in attendance, one extended presentation for a selected business, sharing of success stories and then an opportunity to talk with other members for the remainder of the meeting.
ABLE South attendees must be members of the participating chambers of commerce to participate. For more information, contact a participating chamber or call Bob Ruger at (414) 282-4995.

Wisconsin Gov. Jim Doyle announced today that $4.1 million will be used to purchase Lake Michigan coastal land in Door County to protect endangered plant and animal species and provide public recreational opportunities.
A combination of state and federal funds will be used for land purchases. Wisconsin will receive two grants of $1 million each from the U.S. Department of the Interior. Wisconsin will match the federal grants with $2.1 million from the Stewardship Fund.  "Caring for our lakes and lakeshores is an important part of maintaining our quality of life in Wisconsin, and I am pleased that these funds will help so many valuable projects that are working to preserve our heritage," Doyle said. "The Stewardship Fund is one more tool we have at our disposal that will help us to leverage federal and partner funds to help us protect our state’s coastal wetland system from residential development."
An additional $165,000 will come from partner contributions, donations, or in-kind services from various organizations.
The Department of Natural Resources and the Door County Land Trust will partner in negotiations with willing land sellers.

Milwaukee's first Adventure Boot Camp is recruiting women to participate in its first session this February, according to A-List Fitness Inc. owner Catherine Andersen.
The boot camp is a comprehensive program of fitness instruction, nutrition counseling and motivational training for women of all fitness levels. Adventure Boot Camp is growing in popularity nationally and is now being introduced in Milwaukee.
The program will include weight training, cardio games and drills, hiking and kickboxing, core training with elements of yoga and Pilates, and other cardio and muscle strengthening programs. Each class will be different and will have the flexibility to meet all levels of fitness while encouraging campers to step beyond their current exercise regimes.
Campers will receive pre- and post-camp evaluations to track their progress as well as consultation about the nutritional needs that will help propel their weight loss.
The first winter camp, a three-week session, will run Feb. 4-22 and will cost is $249. The second winter session will run March 10-April 4, for a cost of $299. Each winter session goes from 5:45 to 6:45 a.m., Monday through Friday.
During winter, classes will take place at Nicolet High School, 6701 N. Jean Nicolet Road, Glendale.
"Adventure Boot Camp is designed to help women firm and tone their bodies while reducing body fat and increasing stamina through various types of core strengthening, functional training, resistance exercises and cardio circuits," Andersen said.
For more information, visit www.milwaukeebootcamp.com.

When the New York Giants beat the Dallas Cowboys in Sunday's NFL playoff game, Packer fans started booking hotel rooms and buying tickets to the NFC Championship game, which will be played Sunday, Jan. 20, in Green Bay. The game will provide an estimated $4 million economic boost to Green Bay. Read more in SBT's daily roundup of headlines from newspapers across the state at www.biztimes.com.

The stock market finally stemmed some of its New Year losses by posting gains in early morning trading today. The largest local advancers this morning were Bucyrus International Inc. (up $4.66 to $90.10) and Rockwell Automation Inc. (up $1.67 to $60.85). The largest local decliners this morning were Johnson Outdoors Inc. (down 72 cents to $19.76) and Marshall & Ilsley Corp. (down 51 cents to $24.81). 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.