Legato has near-perfect pitch
President of marketing company that focuses on healthcare has experience in medical industry
By Sean Schultz
sschultz@thebusinessnewsonline.com

No new business gets it just right, but the judges of the Green Bay Area Chamber of Commerce Business of the Year Awards competition found that Legato Marketing & Communications orchestrated its operation successfully enough to merit this year's Entrepreneurial Award
 Just two years old, Legato was cited for "achieving significant growth in overcoming a struggling healthcare industry."
Legato's president Mike Milligan called the award "a milestone for us, recognition for a lot of hard work. It's a nice affirmation to say that we're on the right path."
 Milligan, already well-regarded in Green Bay and the region for his roles as director of public relations at Aurora Health Care and vice president of marketing and business development at Prevea Health, used that recognition and background to offer Legato clients something most marketing firms can't.
"When I'm working with clients, I've been in their shoes. I can predict their needs," he said. "I can tell them, 'You're going to get this reaction.' You've been in their environment and that creates a lot of value."  More 

She's still on the purple team
Appleton title company kept job open for employee on 'Biggest Loser'
By Amanda Lauer
alauer@thebusinessnewsonline.com

Local fans of the NBC hit show The Biggest Loser know who the members of the purple team were back in Season 7. It was none other than the mother/daughter team from the Fox Cities - Cathy Skell and Kristin Steede.
By chance, Skell is still a member of the purple team. However, this team consists of her and seven coworkers at Pinnacle Title Services in Appleton. The company's color is purple and you can find it everywhere from their letterhead to their business cards.
Pinnacle Title owner and president Angie Bodenheimer knew that Skell, who is in charge of sales and marketing for the company, had auditioned to be on The Biggest Loser several times. It turned out that the third time was the charm. When Skell flew to California on Sept. 11, 2008, she had no idea how long she would be away from work. "When we left, we didn't even know we made the show. They told us if you make the show, you stay," Skell said.
"I told Angie of the opportunity and what it involved and how long I may be gone, and she totally understood. After the first week on the show, I had to go home for 30 days. I couldn't go back to work though because I was home 30 days to lose weight. I was eliminated in January and the finale was in May. I tried to come back to work part time, but I was mentally exhausted and mentally not in my job and Angie knew that. She let me completely have off until after the finale."  More 

People who make a difference
Hunt involved in variety of organizations
By Betty Wall
bwall@thebusinessnewsonline.com

Dean Hunt remembers having so much fun as a kid attending the Oshkosh Children's' Parade while growing up that he wanted his 5-year-old daughter, Lola, to have the same experience.
"I wanted to create a parade in Appleton for kids, and so that's what we did,. It was a huge success last year, and this year it was even bigger," said Hunt, who now serves on the board of The Building for Kids Children's Museum, which staged the Appleton Downtown Children's Parade.
Hunt is business development manager for Martenson & Eisele Inc., an engineering and architecture firm in Menasha and Omro.
"Because of my involvement with the parade, they asked me to serve on the board," said Hunt, who points out that much of his volunteering is focused on children. "When I look at the things I'm involved with, they all come to that: a lot of the things I do are centered around helping kids.   
"Raising our daughter and seeing this beautiful creature growing up is driving a lot of my involvement," he said. "Seeing others who are hurting and struggling, I want other kids to have the experiences that my kid is having and see where that takes them.  More 

Growth strategies
As planned, machining business grew rapidly
By Amanda Lauer
alauer@thebusinessnewsonline.com

When John Milanowski and Gregg Bathke opened the doors to Innovative Machining Inc. in 1995, they knew right out of the gate that they wanted to grow their company rapidly.
That vision became a reality - they quickly outgrew their 3,000-square-foot facility and have expanded through the years to the point where they are now preparing to occupy 125,000-square-feet in their Neenah Southpark Industrial Park building.
According to Milanowski, he and Bathke, with whom he had worked at two previous companies, share the same business philosophy. "In the machining world, it's kind of like agriculture," he said. "You have your hobby farm, which is OK if you have another job, and then you've got your mega farms. The little guy in the middle kind of gets squeezed. When Greg and I got into this, we were basically two guys who borrowed the money so we had to start out slow, but we wanted to work ourselves past that middle of the road stage into more full service - where a customer can come to us and say 'I need to have this built. I don't want to have to worry about the incidentals. You take care of (everything).' So, we worked very aggressively to get ourselves into that category. In the perspective of job shops, especially in our particular area, we're one of the bigger ones."   More 


The List
Largest CPA firms in the area  More