BizTimes Milwaukee today announced the winners of its 2009 Bravo! Entrepreneur Awards.

The winners include some of the most dynamic and innovative company leaders in southeastern Wisconsin. They were selected based on their accomplishments and their devotion to their workforce, their customers and the community.

Richard Pieper Sr. will receive the prestigious BizTimes Lifetime Achievement Award. Pieper currently serves as the non-executive chairman of the board of Milwaukee-based PPC Partners Inc., which owns a series of 26 electrical service and construction firms throughout the nation.

PPC Partners' holdings include Ideal Plumbing & Heating, Pieper Power, Pieper Line, Carroll Electric and Clear Horizons, all of which do business in Wisconsin.

Pieper jointed Pieper Electric in 1959 and became president in 1960. At that time, the family-owned business had eight employees and was doing about $250,000 in business per year. Today, PPC Partners employs about 1,300 people, has annual sales figures "in the nine-figures" and is one of the largest electrical contacting firms in the United States.

Pieper also is the co-founder of the Suzanne & Richard Pieper Foundation, which has a vision "to encourage and live the philosophy of treating your neighbor as you would like to be treated in all areas of life; including business, family and society.

In addition, Pieper is the chairman of the board of trustees for the Greenleaf Center for Servant Leadership. He has been involved with numerous charitable organizations.

Pieper and his wife, Suzanne, reside in Mequon.

Pieper will be the fifth recipient of the BizTimes Lifetime Achievement Award. Previous recipients were: Harry Quadracci of Quad/Graphics Inc. (posthumous); Joseph Zilber of Towne Realty Inc.; Robert Kern of Generac Power Systems Inc.; and George Dalton of Fiserv Inc. and Novo 1 Inc.

Regional Spirit Award
The winner of the 2009 BizTimes Regional Spirit Award will be Rich Meeusen, chief executive officer of Badger Meter Inc. Meeusen was one of the driving forces behind the creation of Milwaukee 7 Water Council, which is working to brand Milwaukee as the "Fresh Coast" capitol of the world. Meeusen is the chairman of the council. The award goes annually to a company leader who also is working to promote economic growth in the region.

The winners of the 2009 BizTimes Bravo! Entrepreneur Awards will be:

• Jim T. Barry III of Colliers Barry Inc., Milwaukee.
• Ross Bjella of DDN, Menomonee Falls.
• Matthew Buerosse and Jesse Daily, CORE Consulting LLC, Thiensville
• Christopher Carter of CCI, Milwaukee.
• Joe Fazio of Commerce State Bank, West Bend.
• Patrick Finger and David Velcheck of Velcheck & Finger Roof Consulting & Service, Pewaukee.
• John Lauber of LauberCFOs Inc., Milwaukee.
• Cindy Lu of The Novo Group, Milwaukee.
• Eric Resch of Stone Creek Coffee, Milwaukee.
• Stuart Schroeder of The Schroeder Group S.C., Attorneys at Law, Waukesha.

The winners will be honored at the fifth annual BizTech Conference & Expo to be held April 29-30 at Wisconsin State Fair Park. The BizTech Conference & Expo is the largest business-to-business conference in the state. For additional information, visit www.biztimes.com/expo.

Gov. Jim Doyle and Department of Workforce Development Secretary Roberta Gassman announced that nine local Workforce Development Boards have been granted additional funds to expand reemployment and retraining services to workers laid off from several companies across the state.
The grants, totaling $1.8 million in federal dislocated worker funds, are being awarded to in nine regions of the state for workers being laid off at 37 different companies. This funding is in addition to $4.1 million awarded since July 1, which will assist more than 4,000 workers.
"This federal funding will help employees increase their skills and attain new employment sooner," Doyle said. "I am pleased the Department of Workforce Development is able to offer retraining and reemployment services tailored to meet the needs of individual workers."

The grant recipients will include:

• Southeastern Wisconsin Workforce Development Area: $65,137 will be available to assist workers from Hexion, Greatwide, ZF Electronics, Plymouth Tube, JW Peters and Automated Building Components.
• Milwaukee Workforce Development Area: $135,000 for ER Wagner Manufacturing and Midwest Airlines workers.
• Waukesha, Ozaukee, Washington County Workforce Development Area: $263,538 for workers from Cooper Power, Husco, Broan-Nutone, Steel Craft, Serigraph, and EST Company.
• Fox Valley Workforce Development Area: $217,680 to assist workers from Cummins and Circuit City.
• Bay Area Workforce Development Area: $287,466 for Marinette Marine workers.
• North Central Workforce Development Area: $379,366 for Wausau Homes, New Page and Greenheck workers.
• West Central Workforce Development Area: $206,268 to assist workers from Andersen Windows, CEVA, NBI, Sanmina, Lorman Educations, SGI, Minnesota Rubber and Plastic, and Cummins.
• Western Workforce Development Area: $144,979 for Miniature Precision Components, La Crosse Footwear, Reinhart Real Estate Group, Cardinal IG, NCR Consumables, Trane Company and Business Objects workers.
• Southwest Workforce Development Area: $150,000 to assist workers from Rockwell Industries.

Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett will meet with Vice President Joe Biden and testify before the House Subcommittee on Water Resources and Environment when he travels to Washington, D.C., this week.
Barrett will attend a White House Recovery and Reinvestment Act Implementation Conference hosted by Biden today. The conference will address questions from state, county and local government officials on how to effectively oversee the spending of Recovery Act funds. Earl Devaney, chairman of the Recovery Act Transparency and Accountability Board, will give a presentation, along with a number of agency representatives.
"I am committed to spending federal stimulus funds wisely, and I look forward to meeting with Vice President Biden and other members of the Obama administration to determine how to provide the oversight and accountability necessary to ensure funds are used effectively," Barrett said.
On Thursday, Barrett will testify before the House Subcommittee on Water Resources and Environment. He will discuss Milwaukee's efforts to reduce urban stormwater runoff, including green roofs, rain gardens and the stormwater park in the Menomonee River Valley.
"Located on the 'Fresh Coast,' Milwaukee is at the forefront of water technology," Barrett said. "While I know there is more we need to do, I am pleased to present our success stories to the House of Representatives, and I hope that our efforts will convince Congress that federal funding for water cleanup is necessary for the environmental and economic well-being of urban areas across the country."

Butler-based Actuant Corp. today reported second quarter net income of $3.2 million, or 6 cents per share, down from $22.2 million, or 35 cents per share, for the same period a year ago.
Results for the most recent quarter included restructuring charges of $3.1 million.
The company's sales for the quarter declined 25 percent to $300 million from $400 million a year earlier.
Robert Arzbaecher, chairman and chief executive officer of Actuant, said, "During our seasonally weakest second quarter, Actuant experienced increasingly difficult market conditions due to the challenging global economic environment. Our results reflect the impact of weak end market demand, extended customer shutdowns, and our own inventory reduction efforts. While overall core sales declined 27 percent in the quarter, we generated year-over-year core growth in our maintenance driven Energy segment and in some of our smaller businesses. We have and will continue to implement aggressive restructuring and cost reduction actions to help offset the impact of weaker demand. We have reduced headcount, consolidated facilities, eliminated shifts and established short work week schedules to better align our production, inventory and costs with lower customer demand. These actions drove a 10% headcount reduction in our second quarter alone. In keeping with our focus on cash flow, we reduced primary working capital during the quarter and generated free cash flow of $28 million."
Looking ahead, Arzbaecher said he does not expect a rebound in consumer or industrial demand in the second half of the year.
"Accordingly, we will continue to reduce costs and maximize cash flow. Given this backdrop, we expect our third quarter sales and EPS to be in the range of $300-320 million, and $0.12-0.20 per share, respectively. Our current projection for the full year is for sales and EPS to be in the range of approximately $1.3 billion, and $0.85-$1.00 per share, respectively. We remain confident in the fundamental strength of the Actuant businesses, have the right long term growth strategies in place and maintain the confidence and operating experience to manage through this difficult current environment," he said.

Milwaukee Film, the new and independent organization dedicated to presenting Milwaukee's premier film festival, today announced the dates and a call for entries for the 2009 Milwaukee Film Festival.
The festival will return Sept. 24 through Oct. 4, showcasing more than 100 films at venues throughout the city, including the Landmark Theatres Oriental Theatre and the Marcus Theatres North Shore Cinema. The Film Festival will feature films from around the country and the world, providing a unique community platform for films that would otherwise not be screened in Milwaukee.
"We're incredibly excited to be able to announce the Film Festival dates today," said Jonathan Jackson, Milwaukee Film artistic director. "We're confident that the new festival will be the best Milwaukee has seen and that it will be a Milwaukee institution for many years to come."
The early deadline for film submissions is April 6. Entry fees start at $10, but the fees are waived for any film created by a Milwaukee filmmaker. The festival will offer cash and production prize packages, to be announced at a later date.
Tickets to view individual films will be $10, but Milwaukee Film will offer discounts for those purchasing their ticket packages and passes early. Milwaukee Film is planning a series of contests, promotions, incentives, and special events leading up to the film festival.
For more information, visit www.milwaukee-film.org.

The 118-room Staybridge Suites hotel at the southwest corner of Ryan Road and South 27th Street in Franklin recently opened, but the progress of the Staybridge Suites hotel being constructed in downtown Milwaukee is more dicey. Read more in the new edition of the BizTimes Real Estate Weekly bulletin.

General Motors Corp. chairman Rick Wagoner told reporters in Washington, D.C., Tuesday that the Janesville community should not be "overly optimistic" about the city's former GM plant reopening, and retooling the facility is "not what we're looking at." Read more in BizTimes Milwaukee's daily roundup of headlines from newspapers across the state at www.biztimes.com/#news.

The stock market contracted this morning as Congress prepared to hear testimony from American International Group (AIG) Inc. chief executive officer Edward Liddy.
AIG has paid retention bonuses of more than $1 million each to 73 employees – after the company received $170 billion in bailouts from federal taxpayers.
In prepared remarks, Liddy will tell Congress, "We have to continue managing our business as a business - taking account of the cold realities of competition for customers, for revenues and for employees. Because of this, and because of certain legal obligations, AIG has recently made a set of compensation payments, some of which I find distasteful."
Congressional leaders are denouncing AIG's behavior and exploring ways of retrieving the money paid out in retention bonuses, some of which went to people who are no longer with the company.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average was down about 60 points this morning, and local stocks in the BizTimes Stock Index also hit the skids. The largest local decliners this morning were Badger Meter Inc. (down 51 cents to $29.54) and Actuant Corp. (down 51 cents to $7.89). The largest local advancers this morning were Kohl's Corp. (up 30 cents to $40.00) and Marshall & Ilsley Corp. (up 19 cents to $5.19).

Now that the NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament field has been announced, readers of the BizTimes Daily are invited to enter the inaugural BizTimes Media Economic Distraction Plan, a free online pool of NCAA basketball tournament predictions. To register for the contest, visit http://www.biztimes.com/hoops.
The first-place individual winner will receive a prize package valued at $500. Additional prizes will be awarded for second through 10th place. All contestants who finish with higher point totals than the official BizTimes prediction will be entered into a drawing for more than 50 individual prizes.
The contest also will feature competition for companies. All contestants will compete as individuals, but by registering with their company name and encouraging their co-workers to enter, they will automatically be part of the company competition. The top three companies (total cumulative points of all individuals from the same company) will be profiled in a full-page ad in the April 17 issue of BizTimes Milwaukee. The top company also will receive a party for up to 40 people in the Club '71 suite at the game between the Milwaukee Bucks and. Orlando Magic on Monday, April 13, at the Bradley Center, a prize worth more than $2,500.
Contestants will be able to track their results online as the tournament unfolds.
Sponsors who have donated prizes so far for the March Madness pool contest include: the US Bank Championship, Sprecher Brewing, Milwaukee Bucks and 88Nine Radio Milwaukee.

With the recent "demonization" of legitimate business travel and hundreds of thousands of jobs at stake, the nationwide hospitality and tourism industry - an economic juggernaut - is working in a unified lobbying effort to promote business travel in the United States. Read more in today's Milwaukee Biz Blog by Doug Neilson, president of Visit Milwaukee.