Small Business Times announces the finalists of the 2008 Fittest Execs competition.
In the contest's second year, more than 100 southeastern Wisconsin business executives participated in the competition. Participants underwent a series of physical tests at the Wisconsin Athletic Club, measuring resting heart rate, a three-minute step test, a sit-and-reach test to measure flexibility, a bench press to measure strength, a grip test and a body fat analysis.
Each participant also was weighed, measured and had their blood analyzed for cholesterol and blood sugars at Medical Associates Health Centers.
The participants were then ranked, based upon their fitness test scores.
The goals of the program are to promote wellness and reduce regional health care costs.
The winners of each of the divisions of the Fittest Execs competition will be announced at the BizTech Expo on Thursday, May 1. To register to attend the Fittest Execs event or view profiles of the Fittest Execs participants, including information about their workout routines, visit www.biztimes.com/fit.

The finalists are:

Female Over 50
Kathleen Pritchard, Planning Council for Health and Human Services/ Village of Whitefish Bay; and Mary Strupp, Bardes Plastics Inc.
 
Female Under 50
Brigette Breitenbach, Breitenbach Weiss Inc.; Bridget Clementi, Children's Health Education Center; Lynda Kohler, Midwest Airlines; Kalpana (Rose) Kumar, M.D.
The Ommani Center for Integrative Medicine; Laurie O'Loughlin, InPro Corp.; Karen Shay-Kubiak, KSK Design Inc.; Marjorie Spencer, Medical College of Wisconsin; and Maureen Stoudt, Core Business Solutions.

Male Over 50
Bill Budzien, Frank F. Haack & Associates, an HRH Company; Gerald Coon, St. Francis Children's Center; Peter Gottsacker, Wixon Inc.; Paul Muzzey, Capital Investment Services of America Inc.; Chris Olson, T-Lon Products Inc.; Mike Palm, Serigraph Inc.; Peter Skanavis, Homeowners Concept Inc.; Tim Thiele, Lutheran Homes of Oconomowoc; John Yentz, The Schroeder Group S.C. Attorneys at Law; and John Zinzow, Benefit Concepts Inc.

Male Under 50
Todd Barden, Great Lakes Retirement Advisors LLC; Daniel Dettlaff, Dettlaff & Company Inc.; Tony Enea, Ruvin Bros. Artisans & Trades Inc.; David Heller, US Bank; Jayson Kayzar, MC2 Inc.; Jay Koenitzer, Helwig Carbon Products Inc.; Andrew Nunemaker, EMSystem; John Psuik, Developer One Mobile Software; Stephen Ring, Unum; and David Velcheck, Velchek & Finger Roof Consulting and Service.

Most Improved from 2007
Patrick Finger, Velcheck & Finger Roof Consulting and Service; Dan Meyer, Small Business Times; Chris Olson, T-Lon Products Inc.; David Velcheck, Velcheck & Finger Roof Consulting and Service; and John Yentz, The Schroeder Group S.C. Attorneys at Law.

Corporate Wellness Awards
A.N. Ansay & Associates; Boevo LLC; Children's Hospital and Health System; C.J. & Associates Inc.; Forrer Business Interiors; Frett/Barrington Ltd.; Gonzalez, Saggio & Harlan LLP; InPro Corp.; Miller Electric Manufacturing Co.; OutSource Inc.; QPS Companies Inc.; Schoeneck Containers Inc.; Village of Grafton; and World Class Wire & Cable Inc.

After years of losing business to Chinese competition, some venerable manufacturers are seeing a "boomerang effect" of work coming back to southeastern Wisconsin. Local manufacturers are using advantages such as robotics, automation, flexibility, quality control and speed to win back work they had lost overseas. Read more in the cover story of the print edition of this week's Small Business Times.

National City Corp.'s stock dipped more than 25 percent today after the Cleveland, Ohio-based banking company announced a desperate plan to attempt to raise $7 billion of additional equity capital.
With the deal, National City would raise $985 million of private equity capital from Corsair Capital, a private equity firm that invests in the financial services field, and from one other private equity investor. The balance, or just over $6 billion, of equity capital would be purchased by other investors, including several of National City's largest current institutional stockholders.
National City plans to issue 126.2 million shares of common stock at a purchase price of $5 a share and a total of 63,690 shares of Contingent Convertible Perpetual Non-cumulative Preferred Stock, Series G, at a purchase price and liquidation preference of $100,000 per share, according to Crain's Cleveland Business.
The amount of stock that National City ultimately could issue under the plan would total 1.4 billion shares of common stock. National City currently has about 633 million shares of common stock outstanding.
National City reported a first-quarter net loss of $171 million, or 27 cents per share. The company has been staggering because of its massive investments in the subprime mortgage market.
National City entered the Milwaukee market last year, when it acquired MAF Bancorp Inc., the parent company of MidAmerica Bank that had acquired St. Francis Capital Corp., the former parent company of St. Francis Bank, in 2003. MidAmerica Bank operated 24 branches with $1.3 billion in deposits in the Milwaukee area.
"This strategic raising of equity capital provides National City with the financial flexibility to continue investing in and growing our core businesses, which are delivering solid results, while addressing the asset quality challenges posed by the disruptions in the credit and housing markets," said National City chairman, president and chief executive officer Peter Raskind. "In addition, while we fully recognize that the dividend is an important element of return for our stockholders, the dividend reduction is consistent."

Green Bay-based Schneider National Inc. announced today it plans to expand its hub in Gary, Ind., by hiring 350 more truck drivers.
Gary Mayor Rudy Clay will host a job recruitment fair at the Genesis Convention Center, located at One Genesis Center Plaza in Gary, on Wednesday, April 30.
"We at Schneider National are proud to be expanding our driver network in Gary," said Grailing Jones, Schneider's national strategic sourcing director and a Gary native. "We're looking to fill a wide variety of driving positions, and we welcome experienced drivers who already hold their commercial drivers' license, as well those who are brand new to the profession."
Jones and other Schneider National recruiters will be on-site at the event to help attendees explore the truck driving profession. Trucks from the Schneider fleet will be parked outside the Genesis Convention Center for job seekers to check out.
Schneider offers both a company-provided training program for inexperienced drivers looking to enter the industry and a range of employment options for experienced drivers. Drivers can expect to earn an average of $40,000 to $61,000 per year, depending on experience and other factors.
"I am gratified by the collaboration with Schneider National primarily because of the potential career opportunities this presents for the citizens of our city," said Clay. "This event is representative of the great works happening in Gary and is only the beginning of more job creation and employment opportunities for our community."

More than one third of American small-business owners report plans to hire full or part/time staff over the next six months, but optimism is at the lowest point in the six-year history of the Open from American Express Small Business Monitor, a semi-annual survey of business owners.
Despite an uncertain economy, seven in 10 business owners plan to grow their business over the next six months. Half of all entrepreneurs are willing to take a financial risk to do so.
Business owners find themselves challenged in a number of ways in the current uncertain economic environment. Cash flow concerns including growing accounts receivable and the rising costs of doing business, especially rising energy costs, are impacting the bottom line.
The economy is cited by more than four in 10 small business owners (44 percent) as the issue that will most sway their decision on the next President of the United States, followed at a distance by homeland security (cited by 16 percent).
"Like most Americans, SBOs are concerned about the uncertain economy," said Susan Sobbott, president of Open from American Express. "However, true to their resilient, entrepreneurial spirit, they tell us that they remain focused on opportunities for the future and growing their business."
Optimism among entrepreneurs about business prospects over the next six months has fallen. This spring, 45 percent of business owners report a positive outlook. That is down from 67 percent in spring 2007, 68 percent in spring 2006, 85 percent in spring 2005, 72 percent in spring 2004, 56 percent in spring 2003 and 64 percent in fall 2002.
The number of entrepreneurs that see the economy improving over the next six months and expanding opportunities for their business has dropped sharply to 9 percent, the lowest level in the survey's history.
Business owners in the retail industry have the most negative outlook on the economy, as nearly half expect the economic climate to negatively affect their business prospects (46 percent vs. 37 percent of business owners overall).
One in five businesses in the North Central states, including Wisconsin, report that their company risks going out of business because of the economy.

Senators Herb Kohl (D-Wis.), Susan Collins (R-Maine) and Blanche Lincoln (D-Ariz.) today unveiled bipartisan legislation to protect financially distressed homeowners from unscrupulous financial predators.
The Foreclosure Rescue Fraud Act of 2008 would help end the dramatic increase of mortgage schemes that have risen nationally by 800 percent in the last five years, with an estimated 60,000 cases expected this year.
"More and more Americans already facing the financial trauma of foreclosure are also falling victim to scam artists who trick them with a false message of hope," Kohl said.  "The time is now for Congress to attack this growing problem, which is a direct consequence of the mortgage crisis plaguing this country. I urge my colleagues in the Senate to support our bipartisan legislation that would end these cruel acts of fraud against struggling homeowners."
Foreclosure rescue scams prey on homeowners in the process of foreclosing their homes and especially vulnerable to deceptive practices that seem to offer hope. Instead, the scams often leave the victims facing a far worse financial predicament, sometimes ruining their credit rating entirely and stripping away their equity, making it almost impossible for them to recover financially.
The Foreclosure Rescue Fraud Act would create strict requirements for a person or entity offering foreclosure rescue services. The legislation would prohibit a foreclosure consultant from collecting any fee or compensation before completing contracted services.

The leadership team of Plymouth-based Orion Energy Systems Inc., which designs, manufactures and deploys energy management systems, will ring the opening bell at the NASDAQ Stock Exchange on Tuesday (Earth Day) at 8:30 a.m. CST.
"We are proud that our energy management systems are making a positive impact on the
environment by helping companies decrease their energy consumption and contribution to carbon emissions," said Neal Verfuerth, president and chief executive officer of Orion. "Participating in NASDAQ's opening bell ceremony on Earth Day is an honor. As a company, we have found success in dedicating ourselves to bringing a new level of energy efficiency into facilities around the country, and that success helps the environment, the economy and the competitiveness of our customers."
Orion's stock began trading publicly under the ticker symbol OESX on Dec. 19 and recently became a member of two clean energy indexes.
Last week, Orion announced that it has retained the law firm of Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP as its defense counsel in purported securities class action lawsuits filed against the company.
The lawsuits were filed in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York. The lawsuits allege, among other things, that Orion, certain of its officers and members of its board of directors made misstatements and failed to disclose material information in the registration statement and prospectus for Orion's recently completed initial public offering.
Klafter & Olsen LLP, a law firm with offices in Washington, D.C., and New York, has filed a securities class action complaint against Orion on behalf of investors who purchased Orion's common stock between Dec. 18, 2007, through Feb. 6, 2008.

Sensient Technologies Corp. today reported record first quarter revenues of $307.4 million, or $285.3 million, fueled by favorable currency translation caused by the weak American dollar.
The Milwaukee-based manufacturer and marketer of colors, flavors and fragrances reported quarterly net earnings of $20.7 million, or 43 cents per share, up from $17.3 million, or 37 cents per share, in the same period a year ago.
"For the first quarter, we reported record revenue and our ninth consecutive quarter of strong earnings growth," said Kenneth Manning, chairman and chief executive officer of Sensient. "We see favorable pricing and growth in several key product lines, and we expect our strong performance to continue throughout the year."

Northshore Power Systems LLC, a startup Milwaukee company formed last July, is manufacturing a new line of backup power generators for Honeywell International Inc. Read more in the latest edition of the BizTimes Manufacturing Weekly bulletin.
 

While transit ridership is declining in Milwaukee County, it is rising in Kenosha County. Read more in SBT's daily roundup of headlines from newspapers across the state at www.biztimes.com/#news.

The Urban Ecology Center in Milwaukee is looking for support from local businesses. Learn how you can help in this week's BizTimes Nonprofit Spotlight. For a complete directory of southeastern Wisconsin charities, visit the BizTimes Nonprofit Directory.

Wisconsin businesses should support Junior Achievement program's economics and financial literacy education efforts, according to Mark Furlong, chief executive officer of Marshall & Ilsley Corp. and author of today's Milwaukee Biz Blog.

The stocks in the BizTimes Stock Index dipped with the broader market in early morning trading today. The largest local decliners this morning were Bucyrus International Inc. (down $3.13 to $121.38) and Sensient Technologies Corp. (down $1.66 to $31.16). The largest local advancers this morning were Koss Corp. (up 96 cents to $17.17) and Strattec Security Corp. (up 77 cents to $38.41). 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.

According to numerous media reports the Milwaukee Bucks will announce, at a 4 p.m. press conference, that they have hired Scott Skiles as their new head coach.
Bucks vice president of business operations John Steinmiller confirmed that the team will hold a press conference at 4 p.m., but he declined to say what will be announced.
However, numerous media outlets, including the Associated Press, are reporting the Skiles hiring.
Skiles was drafted by the Bucks and played in the NBA from 1986-96. He spent only one season with the Bucks playing in only 13 games.
Skiles spent parts of eight seasons coaching the Chicago Bulls and the Phoenix Suns. He led his team to the playoffs five times and compiled a 281-251 record. He was fired as the Bulls coach this season after the team got off to a 9-16 start.
Skiles will replace Larry Krystkowiak as the Bucks head coach. The Bucks fired Krystkowiak on Thursday, one day after the team finished 26-56 in his one full season as coach.