Alliant Energy named to Newsweek’s America’s Most Responsible Companies 2021 List

Media Contact:
Cindy Tomlinson, Manager of External Relations
cindytomlinson@alliantenergy.com
(608) 458-3869

Alliant Energy named to Newsweek’s America’s Most Responsible Companies 2021 List

MADISON, Wis. (January 8, 2021) – Alliant Energy has been named to Newsweek’s 2021 list of America’s Most Responsible Companies. This prestigious list is presented by Newsweek and Statista Inc., the world-leading statistics portal and industry ranking provider. The list, which spans 14 industries, recognizes the top 400 most responsible companies in the United States.

“We are pleased to be recognized as one of America’s Most Responsible Companies,” said John Larsen, Chairman, President and CEO of Alliant Energy. “Guided by our purpose-driven strategy to serve customers and build stronger communities, we are generating cleaner energy while ensuring it’s affordable, safe and reliable. We act today for a better tomorrow.”

To successfully create a better tomorrow, Alliant Energy follows the roadmap outlined in their Clean Energy Blueprint. It’s coupled with their sustainable energy plan, aspirational net-zero emissions goals for the energy they generate and actions to help build equitable, respectful and resilient communities – key elements featured in the company’s Corporate Responsibility Report.

It’s these publicly available key performance indicators, derived from CSR Reports, Sustainability Reports and Corporate Citizenship Reports as well as an independent survey that were the basis of Newsweek’s America’s Most Responsible Companies List. The detailed analysis covered three areas of Corporate Responsibility – environmental, social and corporate governance – while the independent survey asked U.S. citizens about their perception of company activities related to corporate social responsibility. To view the complete list, visit newsweek.com/americas-most-responsible-companies-2021.

American Provenance Chosen By Nation’s 1st Consumer Products Accelerator for 9th Austin Cohort

Founder of egg giant Vital Farms will kick off the 12-week program

AUSTIN (Jan. 6, 2021) – SKU, the nation’s first accelerator for consumer packaged goods (CPGs), has selected the seven companies that will participate in the ninth track of the Austin program. The companies represent a wide range of categories, including allergy-free ice cream sandwiches, Ayurvedic hair care and better-for-you agua fresca. They each were selected based on the innovation of their products, their traction in the market and the passion of their founders.

The Track 9 companies are Agua Bonita,  American Provenance, Bee Free, Green Girl Bakeshop, Macro Snacks, Shaz & Kiks and Waka Coffee.

“We had one of the most competitive applicant pools ever with brands from around the country, and these seven companies and their founders really stood out,” says SKU Managing Director Kirstin Ross. “It continues to amaze me the level of creativity and commitment these founders have. They draw on their own personal experiences to create products that bring something really new and special to the market.”

SKU Track 9 kicks off Jan. 29 and runs through mid-May. Over the course of 12 weeks, the founders will participate in a proven program that combines best-in-class CPG curriculum with mentoring. The program culminates in a showcase virtual pitch event on May 18, which provides founders with a chance to present their brands to a national audience of CPG leaders and investors.

SKU’s blue chip mentors are at the core of the program. The mentor community includes CPG founders, industry executives and investors from some of the nation’s most successful consumer-product companies, including Deep Eddy Vodka, Amplify Snack Brands (Skinny Pop, Pirate’s Booty) and Vital Farms. The SKU founders are guided through the intense program by a hand-picked team of mentors, all focused on helping them scale their businesses.

Vital Farms founder and longtime SKU mentor Matt O’Hayer will kick off Track 9, sharing his own entrepreneurial journey and tips for success. He started the egg company in 2007 with a quest to prove it is possible to produce high-quality food in an environmentally responsible manner. With his wife, Catherine, and 20 Rhode Island Red hens on 27 acres in Austin, O’Hayer built Vital Farms into the #1 pasture-raised egg and butter brand in the United States and the #2 egg brand in retail dollar sales with products in 13,000 stores. Vital Farms went public in summer 2020. “The SKU Consumer Products Accelerator is an invaluable resource to founders of emerging CPG brands,” says O’Hayer. “The program is thorough and comprehensive, guiding emerging business leaders on the many aspects of building and scaling a CPG company through a dynamic mentorship network.”                                                           

MSCR Winter Program Guide – Enjoy a variety of fun programs for all ages

January 7, 2021

For Immediate Release

Contact: Nicole Graper at ngraper@madison.k12.wi.us

MSCR Winter 2021 Program Guide
Enjoy a variety of recreation opportunities for all ages held Indoor, Outdoor and Online.

The Madison School & Community Recreation (MSCR) Winter 2021 Program Guide is available at mscr.org.

The guide is filled with a variety of recreation activities for all ages including arts & enrichment, fitness, 50+ fitness, skiing, sports, family events and more. Programs are adapted to be held safely indoor, outdoor and online. Indoor programs begin the week of January 25, following these Health & Safety Policies.

Registration is open for residents and registration opens on January 19 at 8 am for non-residents. Fee assistance is available for those who qualify.

Winter Program Guide Highlights:

• New Special Events – Join MSCR for fun programs like Parking Lot Bingo, Winter Fun in the Park and Screen Free Boredom Busters.
• Outdoors Pursuits – Explore and learn about local, natural beauty in programs like Sunset Snowshoe Hike and Orienteering at the School Forest and Winter Survival Skills.
• Adult Arts & Enrichment – express your creative side in these engaging classes: ArtChats, SoulCollage ©, Painting with the Impressionists and Textile Jewelry.
• Youth Arts & Enrichment – Plenty of ways to keep children busy with indoor and virtual dance classes, Polymer Clay Creations and virtual guitar.
• Fitness – Start the new year on the right foot with exciting virtual fitness classes like HIIT, Hatha Yoga, Mindfulness Meditation and more. Virtual fitness begins this week and a wide range of indoor fitness classes begin January 25.
• Outdoor Sports – Adults can enjoy Ice Skating and Kubb. Shuffleboard Mini-Golf (SHOLF), a fun new program, is open to all ages.

A Spanish edition of the program guide is available at mscr.org or please email mcanicoba@madison.k12.wi.us for assistance.

Register at mscr.org.  Please call 608-204-3000 for more information.

MSCR is a department of the Madison School district and offers many recreation programs for all ages at affordable prices.

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Naviant President and CEO Michael Carr Named Executive of the Year by In Business Magazine

VERONA, WI, MIDDLEBURG HEIGHTS, OH, & OREM, UT – Michael Carr, the President and CEO of Naviant, was recently recognized by In Business Magazine as the Medium Company Executive of the Year for 2021. Just over a year after his promotion from CFO to President and CEO of Naviant, Carr was selected for his outstanding dedication to pushing Naviant to focus on its strategic growth markets, as well as his open communication style that has kept the company focused and engaged.

Guided by an 80-20 focus, Carr has played a critical role in developing and driving profitable initiatives that have helped Naviant achieve its vision of doubling the size of its revenue every six years. One of his first significant achievements as President and CEO of Naviant was selling Naviant’s Physical Records Division to Iron Mountain Inc, which allowed Naviant to focus on its strategic growth markets, Software, Business Process Consulting and Implementation Services. He then also facilitated the acquisition of Doxtek, a similar value-added reseller based in Utah. As a result, Naviant expanded its headcount by 25%, expanded its product offerings to include new emerging technologies, and improve revenues through an increased customer base with a larger national and international presence. Carr also moved Naviant’s technology to the cloud, a move which proved invaluable when COVID-19 arrived shortly after.

Carr’s leadership also extends to his proactive dedication to investing in his community and Naviant’s diversity and inclusion efforts. Naviant recently launched a partnership with the Boys and Girls Clubs of Dane County to involve young people of color in the local community to in-demand technology jobs. Carr committed to this mission through supporting internships, a virtual mentorship program, and other learning experiences to prepare students for the workforce. Tricia Shields, Director of Human Resources at Naviant, says, “He recognizes the importance of having a diverse team with differing ideas that can work cohesively together to benefit the company as a whole. He encourages an environment of accountability and support of every individual.”

In addition to his strategic initiatives, Carr has received high praise from Naviant employees for his open communication style and for prioritizing his individual employees’ input. Ema Roloff, Senior Sales Executive at Naviant, says,“Mike is genuinely interested in new ideas and different opinions. Throughout my time at Naviant, I have seen him actively seek out different ways of thinking to help ensure that we stay true to our culture, communicating freely, and constantly striving to exceed expectations.”

Early on in COVID-19, Carr began sending biweekly emails to all Naviant employees sharing company updates, team achievement shout-outs, and personal stories about how he and his wife were facing the pandemic. The email update series became a valuable tool for employee engagement, spreading comfort and support through uncertain times, and fostering Naviant’s culture of growth and change. Employees later asked Carr to continue his updates long-term. Carr also found a way to remain connected to customers amid the pandemic by inviting them to regular “Coffee with Carr” meetings.

Michael Carr was featured in the January 2021 issue of In Business Magazine. Additionally, videos of Carr and the other distinguished recipients of In Business’ Executive of the Year Award will be posted online at IBMadison.com.

About Naviant

Business processes and solutions that empower better and faster decisions are what we do best. As a nationally-recognized intelligent automation solutions integrator and business process consulting organization with over 30 years of experience headquartered in Verona WI, our clients do more with less by streamlining processes and gaining visibility into the information they need to make better decisions. As a long-standing key partner of Hyland, Naviant helps organizations operate more efficiently using OnBase software platform and Brainware intelligent capture platform, both of which are Hyland products, as well as the ABBYY and Kryon Robotic Process Automation platforms. Naviant’s “process-first” approach brings focus to the importance of process improvement prior to implementing best-in-class ECM solutions and technology. Naviant is a top-tier partner for Hyland’s OnBase, a single enterprise information platform for managing content, processes, and cases, that combines ECM, case management, business process management (BPM), records management, compliance, and capture functionality on a single platform. In addition, Naviant also partners with Kryon Systems for Robotics Process Automation (RPA) technology to enable organizations to drive business agility and efficiency by offloading repetitive high-volume work to a digital workforce (aka software robots).  To learn more about Naviant, please visit naviant.com. Process focus. Excellence.

Amy Gile-Enge Promoted to Capitol Bank SVP of Mortgage Lending

Madison, WI: Ken Thompson, President and CEO of Capitol Bank, is pleased to announce the promotion of Amy Gile-Enge to Senior Vice President of Mortgage Lending. Amy has over 25 years of mortgage lending experience in Dane County, which includes leadership of Capitol Bank’s mortgage team for the past 11 years.

“Amy’s ability to lead through our busiest year on record for mortgage originations was critical to our success in 2020,” said Thompson.

Amy’s leadership extends into the community through volunteerism with organizations including the American Heart Association and Second Harvest Foodbank. She has garnered the attention of industry peers, as evidenced by serving as President of the Wisconsin Mortgage Bankers Association (WMBA) 2019-2020. In addition, Amy was the WMBA Mortgage Banker of the Year in 2019 and received the WMBA Distinguished Service Award in 2015.

About Capitol Bank: Capitol Bank, locally-owned and operated since 1995, is committed to serving the communities in which we live, work and do business. We are proud of the partnerships we have established with organizations, businesses and individuals in the Dane County area. Our philosophy of community support is demonstrated at the corporate level, as well as in the time and energy our employees devote to our community each year. Capitol Bank is Member FDIC and an Equal Housing Lender. Amy Gile-Enge NMLS #586017.

Amy Gile-Enge, SVP / Mortgage Lending
608.836.1616

Contact: Natalie Gregerson
Director of Marketing/Officer
Capitol Bank
710 N. High Point Road
Madison, WI 53717
608.836.1616