Dealmakers Awards Presentation

Lee Anderson perfected the process of making plastic lumber from post consumer dairy bottles. Founded his company in 1989. He fathered the proprietary tooling, designs and methods to produce the products that RPI sells today. Lee always focused on efficiency and delivery to develop the company and successfully sold the company in Feb 2021. He is now happily retired.

Tod is the President of Weather Tight Corporation, now an employee-owned company, which specializes in residential exterior remodeling with a focus on energy efficient products including windows, doors, siding, roofing, and gutters. We focus on offering state-of-the-art products and installation techniques.

Matt Cordio is Partner @ Skills Pipeline & CareDirect and Acquisition Entrepreneur. Skills Pipeline is a recruitment firm specializing in searches for technology and digital marketing talent in the Midwest. CareDirect is a HealthTech firm that has developed an affordable solution for healthcare facilities to secure and track narcotics. Cordio serves on the boards of the Milwaukee Tech Coaliton and the Wisconsin Startup Coalition, an organization he co-founded in 2020.

Andy is the president and partner of the Princeton Clubs which operate large full service health and fitness facilities serving members in select regions of Wisconsin and Illinois.  He is a graduate of the UW Madison School of Business.

As president Andy has led the acquisitions that increased the company's size to 11 locations, over 50,000 members and 450+ employees. The most recent acquisition was completed in December 2021, adding two health clubs in Illinois. Their offerings include indoor and outdoor resort pools, basketball courts, tennis programs, summer camps, world class strength and conditioning facilities along with childcare and more.

The family owned company started over 35 years ago with two commitments, a commitment to excellence and a commitment to the members. They have stayed focused on that by working to build "a better tomorrow"; for the members, the staff and the communities where their clubs are located through the #ForABetterTomorrow initiative.  It's these driving core values and a committed staff that have led to the company's growth and success.

Joe is the CEO of LPi, an almost 50 year old privately-held communication company that provides communication services that build more vibrant faith-based and other non-profit communities. At LPi, Joe is leading LPi’s digital transformation, transforming a half-century old organization, and bringing it into today’s increasingly digital world.

Joe built, grew, and later spun-off LPi’s FinTech and Member Management SaaS solution set. Currently, Joe is preparing LPi and its customers for the upcoming digital decades with LPi’s new SaaS communication solution, ePub Design.

ePub Design is a hybrid print and digital communication solution enabling non-profits to reach their membership wherever they may be.

Kevin Newell serves as Founder and CEO of Royal Capital Group, a leading venture and holding company with a focus on urban development and innovation.

Some of Newell’s notable career achievements include: 

• Real Estate Partner with the NBA Milwaukee Bucks, as Developer/Owner for the new $1Billion Live-Work-Play Entertainment District.
• First African American to build and own a multifamily-commercial development in downtown Milwaukee.
• First African American to build and own a multifamily-commercial development in Madison, WI.
• Recognized by the Business Journal as a 40 under 40 recipient, National Top Real Estate Executive, Business Top 75 Power Broker, and Top 48 Most Influential African Americans in Wisconsin.

Kevin is a proud graduate of Milwaukee Public Schools, UW-Whitewater BBA/MBA, and a Marquette University-ACRE Alum.

Jim joined A. O. Smith Corporation as executive vice president, general counsel and secretary on June 1, 2007. He is responsible for overseeing the corporation’s legal, governance, compliance, securities law and government relations functions, and he spends a significant portion of his time on corporate development and the company’s global water treatment business.

Jim joined the company after 15 years with Foley & Lardner LLP of Milwaukee where he was a partner, providing legal services and advice for a wide range of public and private companies. Prior to joining Foley & Lardner, Jim was an associate with Latham & Watkins LLP of Chicago from 1989 until 1992. He also served as a law clerk under Pasco M. Bowman II, senior judge for the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit in Kansas City, MO.

Paul is the former CEO of 7Summits. He founded the company in 2009 to become a category creating company with the sustaining purpose to unleash people’s potential to create, compete and innovate in entirely new ways. Paul saw the opportunity, earlier than most, to join together collaborative and digital interactions. From it's beginnings in Milwaukee to becoming an award leading National Leader with over 230 employees in 30 States across the country, 7Summits was recently acquired by tech giant IBM after aggressive growth even during this Pandemic.

During my career as a planner, manager and merchant, I realized many companies were struggling with the planning process trying to cut and paste many spreadsheets into one, and then watching their systems lock-up and crash because of the overwhelming data. This results in wasted time and productivity. I also noticed that with most ERP’s, sales analysis, forecasting and planning were often not the priority of the system.

That is why I developed the Sales Analysis & Forecasting Tool©. I realized there was a tremendous need for an accurate, efficient, comprehensive tool. I created a stand-alone software application that can be used with the company’s current system or in conjunction with an ERP. It utilizes a database platform which defines the forecasting process and thus reduces start-up time and cost. Integration to “go-live” is about 6-8 weeks, the low-barrier-to-entry cost is all inclusive with installation, user seats and on-site training.