Small Business Times announces the winners of the 2008 IQ Awards for innovation in business.
The IQ (Innovation Quotient) Awards are given annually to southeastern Wisconsin companies that are creating innovative products, services or processes in business.
"Once again, we received a solid field of nominees for the IQ Awards. These companies are doing some cutting-edge things in their industries, and we're proud to shine light on their innovations," said Dan Meyer, publisher of Small Business Times.
The IQ Award winners and their innovations are:

• Analogix Inc., Burlington.
• Bradley Corp., Menomonee Falls.
• Cardiovascular Surgery Associates S.C., Milwaukee.
• Connecture Inc., Waukesha.
• GemEx Systems Inc., Mequon.
• Kunde Healthcare Services Inc., Oconomowoc.
• Plastic Components Inc., Germantown.
• ReServe Interactive, Delafield.
• Sleep Wellness Institute, West Allis.
• World Class Wire & Cable, Waukesha.

The winning companies and their innovations will be profiled in an upcoming edition of Small Business Times. The winners will receive their awards at the IQ Awards Luncheon on Wednesday, April 30, at the BizTech Expo. The keynote speaker at the IQ Awards Luncheon will be author and consultant Dave Logan.
Pre-registration to attend the BizTech Expo is free at www.biztimes.com/expo.
To pre-register for the IQ Luncheon, go to
http://expo.biztimes.com/expo/events.cfm?id=6.

Online registration is available to attend "The Next Stage" M&A Forum to be presented by Small Business Times on Thursday March 27, at the Pfister Hotel.
The forum is intended to help the owners of privately held companies sort through their options as they plot their exit strategies. The event also will include insight for professionals and consultants who provide advice to company owners.
The forum will provide navigational tools for baby boomer business owners as they prepare for retirement. Do they want to transfer ownership of their firms to a family member, a management team, employees, a competitor, a financial buyer or a strategic buyer?
The keynote speaker for "The Next Stage" M&A Forum will be author and consultant Mark Herndon.
Herndon is president of Dallas-based Parkwood Advisors LLC, a diversified professional services firm focused on M&A, investment banking and private equity financing. Parkwood Advisors LLC and its principals actively consult with a variety of early-stage and mid-market companies to accelerate growth.
Herndon formerly served as U.S. Region Leader for merger and acquisition services with Watson Wyatt Worldwide, a global consulting firm.
Herndon is co-author of "The Complete Guide to Mergers and Acquisitions: Process Tools to Support M&A Integration at Every Level."
The forum also will provide breakout sessions to help business owners sort through their options. The breakout sessions will include:

• Session A - "Three Aspects to Maximizing Value"
  9:15-10:00 a.m. (Presented by Emory & Co.)
• Session B - "Buying and Selling Businesses in Today's Economy"
  9:15-10:00 a.m. (Presented by Reinhart Boerner Van Deuren S.C.)
• Session C - "Financing in a Turbulent M&A Market"
  10:15-11:00 a.m. (Presented by The PrivateBank.)

Pre-registration for the event, which will take place from 7:30 to 11 a.m., is required and is available at http://www.biztimes.com/cal/sbt-events/2008/3/27/m-a-forum-the-next-stage.
For additional information, contact Sarah Wilson at (414) 336-7129.

Green Bay Packers quarterback Brett Favre was scheduled to conduct his retirement press conference at 11:30 a.m. today. Visit www.packers.com to watch the press conference.

Concerns about a slowing economy and fears of a recession have pushed the first quarter Vistage CEO Confidence Index to a five-year low of 72.0.
Of the nearly 2,300 CEOs surveyed across the nation, almost half think the economy has already entered a recession and only 14 percent expect the economy to improve within a year. While chief executives of small- and mid-sized businesses are cutting business investments at a record rate, 83 percent of the CEOs say they will not cut jobs.
Vistage International and its affiliates have more than 14,000 members in 16 countries. Its affiliates include The Executive Committee (TEC) in Wisconsin.
A quarterly measure of economic, market, and industry trends, the national Vistage CEO Confidence Index dropped four points from the fourth quarter 2007 survey and more than 20 points from the Index of 95.4 recorded a year ago.
"For the first time, the economy has replaced staffing as the top concern for business leaders," says Richard Curtin, Ph.D., a consultant for the Vistage CEO Confidence Index and director of consumer surveys at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor. "Only 14 percent of CEOs expect the U.S. economy to improve in the next 12 months."
Firms are reacting to the worsening economy by adding to their cash reserves, reducing costs and mounting new marketing initiatives to expand their target markets, according to the survey.
"There is some comfort in this survey," says Rafael Pastor, Vistage chairman of the board and chief executive officer. "CEOs are not cutting jobs as their first reaction to this economic news. Instead they are looking at other options such as increasing marketing initiatives, doing business internationally and decreasing spending. They see their people as a valuable asset and necessary to weather this economic storm."
As competition for consumer spending increases, nearly 60 percent of CEOs plan to expand marketing initiatives to ensure the viability of their companies. As the most frequently identified adjustment to the current or impending recession, more CEOs are increasing marketing than saving cash, reducing employees, or selling off products or services.
The Q1 2008 Vistage CEO Confidence Index is a compilation of responses from 2,287 CEOs of small- to mid-sized companies, surveyed Feb. 11-20, 2008, with a margin of error of 1.7 percentage points.

The Waukesha Chamber of Commerce (WCCC) is standing against a clause in the the proposed Great Lakes Compact that would allow a single-state veto to prohibit the sharing of water to communities beyond the continental divide.
"The Waukesha County Chamber of Commerce shares the belief that the Great Lakes are a commodity deserving of the regions’ protection in order to guarantee current and future usage," said Patti Wallner, president of the WCCC. "Yet current efforts to protect the Great Lakes further insert politics into the process of garnering water for communities within counties straddling the Great Lakes Basin, many which have very critical water needs."
Last year, the WCCC was an early advocate against the provision contained in the Great Lakes-St. Lawrence River Basin Water Resources Compact allowing the commonly described single-state veto.
The single-state veto would allow any one of the eight states bordering the great lakes to veto a water diversion request from a community in a straddling county.
Neighboring states such as Michigan, which is almost entirely within the basin and would not ever require a diversion, and Illinois, which has near-limitless diversion ability via the Chicago River, would control the fate of straddling communities in Wisconsin, such as the City of Waukesha, Stevens Point and Burlington.
“Supporters of the compact as drafted believe faith in the process and fear of the agreement falling apart if it is amended present a compelling cause enough for advancement as is," Wallner said. "The chamber believes a compact void of politics should provide hope for communities like Waukesha with real water needs by providing them a real opportunity to apply for a water diversion utilizing a science-based process for approval. Not only does Waukesha compete regionally for jobs, but it also competes for jobs across state lines. A compact that empowers another state to veto a diversion request may in-turn hurt our ability to grow economically by placing us at an economic disadvantage."
The WCCC believes the overall framework of the compact best-serves not only the region, but also the community of Waukesha. However, the single-veto provision presents a flaw that unnecessarily taints the intent of the proposed agreement, Wallner said.
Instead, the WCCC is in favor of a provision that would require a simple majority of states to approve a diversion.

The number of passengers served by Milwaukee's General Mitchell International Airport in January rose to 596,732, a new record for the month.
The January passenger total was up 6.85 percent over the same month a year earlier.
Milwaukee County Executive Scott Walker cited an 11-percent increase in seats offered by Mitchell's airlines this January over last as a significant factor in the passenger growth.
"And those seats were offered at a competitive price," Walker said.
Airfare statistics for the third quarter of 2007 showed that Mitchell’s average fare was $5 lower than O’Hare's, according to U.S. Department of Transportation statistics.
Mitchell Airport director Barry Bateman said, "We are embarking upon a new year of improvements and renovations to Mitchell that will better serve our passengers. We will begin construction on new food & beverage facilities, expanded and renovated restrooms and new carpeting in the concession mall."
General Mitchell International Airport is owned by Milwaukee County and operated by the Department of Transportation & Public Works, Airport Division, under the policy direction of the Milwaukee County Executive and the County Board of Supervisors. The airport is entirely funded by user fees. No property tax dollars are used for the airport’s capital improvements or for its day-to-day operation.

Kohl's Corp. today reported that its March comparable store sales dropped 3.8 percent from the same month a year ago.
The Menomonee Falls-based retailer's monthly total store sales grew to $971.6 million from $929.3 million a year earlier, as the company opened 112 more stores in the past year.
On Thursday, March 13, Kohl's will celebrate the grand opening of 14 new stores. In April, the company plans to open an additional fourteen stores. The balance of its planned 70 to 75 new stores for 2008 are expected to open in the third fiscal quarter, including its initial entry into the Miami-Ft. Lauderdale market.
Larry Montgomery, Kohl's chairman and chief executive officer, will present at the Bank of America 2008 Consumer Conference on Wednesday, March 12, at 8 a.m. at the New York Palace.

Joy Global Inc. today reported fiscal first-quarter net income of $71 million, or 66 cents per share, up from $60 million, or 52 cents per share, in the same period a year ago.
The Milwaukee-based mining equipment manufacturer's quarterly sales grew 14 percent to $640 million.
"New orders of $870 million were our second highest ever, and reflect the continued strength in our markets," said Mike Sutherlin, president and chief executive officer of Joy Global. "The current orders take our order bookings for the last four quarters to $3.2 billion and support our view that the industry's growth will stay stronger for longer. We are gratified by the continued strong bookings of shovels in our P&H surface equipment business, even with lead times running into 2010. This quarter's order rate was an all time record in our Joy underground equipment business, and combines the strength of its international markets with the improved outlook in U.S. coal. The events of the past few months have clearly demonstrated that the mining industry's production capacity has fallen behind the growth in commodity demand, and this has resulted in supply shortages and dramatic increases in commodity prices. These price increases underlie the expectation that it will take several years and significant investment for capacity to catch up to demand. The expansion investments we completed and the operating improvements we made during fiscal 2007 allowed P&H to increase its surface mining sales by 24 percent, and we expect further improvements as we bring on additional capacity in 2008 and 2009."
Mark Readinger, president of Joy's P&H Mining division, will be one of the featured CEO panelists at the Small Business Times Manufacturing Summit at the BizTech Expo.

Green Bay-based Corporate Apparel Unlimited Inc. has been sold to Wolfe Diversified of Anderson, Ind.
Wolfe Diversified acquired the company from Phil Sr. and Charla Beukema and Phil Jr. and Brandi Beukema of Luxemburg, Wis. The transaction was handled by Jason Muenster of Cornerstone Business Services Inc. in Green Bay.
Corporate Apparel Unlimited was founded eight years ago as an internet wholesaling and retailing company, providing a range of corporate, casual and work apparel, as well as promotional products to customers around the country.
Wolfe Diversified plans to roll Corporate Apparel Unlimited into ESC Promotions, an online fundraising solutions provider that utilizes several different products, including corporate apparel.
Financial terms of the transaction were not disclosed.

The percentage of U.S. mortgages that were in foreclosure hit a record high in the fourth quarter, while mortgage delinquencies climbed to a 23-year high, the Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) reported today.
A record 2.04 of U.S. mortgages were somewhere in the foreclosure process at the end of the year, while a record-high 0.83 percent of loans entered foreclosure in the fourth quarter, the organization reported.
More homeowners fell behind on payments as well, with 5.82 percent of loans past due in the quarter - the highest delinquency rate since 1983.
"Declining home prices are clearly the driving factor behind foreclosures, but the reasons and magnitude of the declines differ from state to state," said Doug Duncan, the MBA's chief economist and senior vice president of research and business development.

The public is invited to attend a forum for candidates for Milwaukee County Executive and Milwaukee City Attorney on Monday, March 10, at noon.
The Milwaukee Bar Association (MBA) will present the forum, where candidates will discuss issues related to Milwaukee's courts and justice system.
"This forum is important to our members and every resident of Milwaukee County.  It provides the opportunity to learn more about the issues affecting our court system and the people who will apply the law before the election," said James Temmer, executive director of the MBA.
The candidates will include Milwaukee County Executive Scott Walker and challenger state Sen. Lena Taylor, as well as City Attorney Grant Langley and challenger state Rep. Pedro Colon.
The forum will take place at the Milwaukee Bar Association headquarters, 424 E. Wells St.

Smithfield Foods announced that it has sold Green Bay-based Smithfield Beef Group to Brazil-based JBS S.A. for $565 million. Read more in SBT's daily roundup of headlines from newspapers across the state at www.biztimes.com.

Is the Video Competition Act that was recently signed into law in Wisconsin good public policy that will generate true competition for cable television in the state, resulting in lower prices for consumers? Or was the bill pushed through the state government to accommodate AT&T Inc., and will it become a burden for the state's consumers? Read more in Small Business Times executive editor Steve Jagler's weekly Milwaukee Biz Blog at OnMilwaukee.com, a media partner of SBT.

The BizTimes Stock Index gained .92 points to close at 150.54 Wednesday, but the stock market plunged back into the red in early morning trading today. The largest local decliners this morning were Snap-on Inc. (down $1.43 to $48.02), Kohl's Corp. (down $1.38 to $43.30) and Fiserv Inc. (down $1.13 to $51.92). Milwaukee's mining equipment companies, Joy Global Inc. (up $4.11 to $69.91) and Bucyrus International Inc. (up $2.83 to $110.36), resisted the fall. 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.