Madison College: A Century of Innovation – Statement from President Jack Daniels

With more than a century of success to draw upon, Madison Area Technical College (Madison College) is ready to fuel revitalization of our businesses and industries in Madison, Dane County and the 11 counties and numerous cities and towns we serve.

We are strategically positioned to enhance current partnerships with local businesses as well as to establish new opportunities. Madison College has always supported employers within our 12-county district—through good economic times and bad—to come back stronger, meet workforce goals and subsequently the goals of your particular business or industry.

In our 109-year history, Madison College has successfully guided and educated residents of our district. Our students are hired by numerous employers in a vast number of areas. Many of our alumni serve our communities as leaders in their fields. Fifty-five years ago, Madison College began to offer programs to allow students to transfer to the University of Wisconsin-Madison, and since has become UW-Madison’s largest transfer institution. This practice has grown to include a large number of colleges and universities, public and private, that accept our students into their institutions – many at the junior level.

Madison College is an innovator. Our program graduates in biotechnology, renewable energy, paralegal, health, business and human services programs are shaping our future. Further, programs in construction, automobile technologies, advanced manufacturing, hospitality, robotics, and information technology are training thousands of students to obtain jobs that have family-sustaining wages. We offer more than 150 programs that provide opportunities for individuals to see and map out their career aspirations.

We are primed and positioned well to meet the economic and industry needs of our communities and businesses. Our job placement rate for students receiving a certificate or degree from us is consistently in the mid-to-upper 90 percentile. This is why we are so very important to our district’s residents. We talk success and walk it daily with our excellent faculty and staff.

This past year has been very difficult and stressful. Yet, we have arisen to the challenges brought on by the pandemic and issues of race that affect us all. We have continued to safely fulfill our mission to serve students and made substantial progress toward improving racial equity within our college through plans based in evidence, assessment and documented action. We are engaged with community leaders and partners—ranging from business to residential, to community-based organizations and our educational partners—in K-12 as well as our university colleagues. Collaboration is the key, and as we build partnerships we extend our resources to improve economic and community development.

Madison College is here to train our workforce, not just for today, but for years to come. Our Vision 2030 planning will ensure we are prepared to provide our district’s employers with a qualified workforce. We do and will continue to provide substantial training for current employees to be upskilled and retained in their employment. We will continue to take individuals where they are and provide the education and training opportunities that propel them to meet their goals.

Prepared from our successes, engaged with our students, committed to our business and residential  communities, and evidenced by efforts to sustain what we do, we look forward to serving the broader community well beyond the effects of the pandemic and racial inequities.

Dr. Jack E. Daniels, III
Madison College President

WPS Health Solutions wins new TRICARE military contract

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact:
DeAnne Boegli
Vice President of Communications
608-977-7343
deanne.boegli@wpsic.com

WPS Health Solutions wins new TRICARE military contract

MADISON, Wis.—May 4, 2021—The Department of Defense, Defense Health Agency, which administers the Military Health System (MHS), has awarded Wisconsin Physicians Service Insurance Corporation (WPS Health Solutions) the new TRICARE Medicare Eligible Program (TMEP) contract.

The TMEP contract is the successor to the TRICARE Dual Eligible Fiscal Intermediary Contract (TDEFIC), both of which implement the TRICARE For Life (TFL) program serving military members, retirees, and dependents eligible for both TRICARE and Medicare benefits. As the TMEP contractor, WPS will provide claims processing and associated customer support services for claims submitted by, and on behalf of, TFL beneficiaries for services received in the U.S., Puerto Rico, Guam, the U.S. Virgin Islands, America Samoa, and the Northern Mariana Islands. The contract includes a 12-month transition-in period that overlaps the final year of TDEFIC. There are six one-year option periods continuing through April 30, 2028. Total estimated value of the federal military contract, including the base year and six one-year option periods, is $383,248,709.

WPS currently supports more than 2 million beneficiaries within the TRICARE For Life program, including the annual processing of more than 54 million beneficiary claims and provider payments totaling more than $3.5 billion. WPS has been the prime contractor for this work since 2004.

“We are honored to be awarded this important work by the Defense Health Agency and will continue to deliver outstanding service to our military service members, retirees, and their families,” says WPS Chief Business Officer Dave Marshall.

About WPS Health Solutions

Wisconsin Physicians Service Insurance Corporation is a nationally regarded benefits administrator for a variety of U.S. government programs and a leading not-for-profit health insurer in Wisconsin. Wisconsin Physicians Service Insurance Corporation utilizes “WPS Health Solutions” to refer to our entire enterprise. Within our enterprise, there are three divisions, including Government Health Administrators, Military and Veterans Health, and WPS Health Insurance/WPS Health Plan/EPIC Specialty Benefits. WPS Government Health Administrators manages Medicare Part A and Part B benefits for millions of seniors in multiple states, and WPS Military and Veterans Health serves millions of members of the U.S. military and their families through TRICARE and Veterans Affairs programs. Wisconsin Physicians Service Insurance Corporation has been based in Madison, Wis., for 75 years. For more information, please visit wpshealthsolutions.com.

Ruekert & Mielke, Inc.: Celebrating 75 Years of Wisconsin Infrastructure Improvements

LOCAL FIRM CELEBRATES 75 YEARS OF WISCONSIN INFRASTRUCTURE DEVELOPMENT
Ruekert & Mielke, Inc. is celebrating its 75^th anniversary this month.

[WAUKESHA, KENOSHA, MADISON] – Ruekert & Mielke, Inc. (R/M), a local leader in the development of Wisconsin’s municipal infrastructure, is celebrating its 75^th year of service to municipalities and organizations throughout Wisconsin and the Midwest.

R/M’s roots in Southeastern Wisconsin run deep. You may not know R/M by name, but if you’ve ever looked up at the smiley face water tower in Eagle, visited Thiensville’s new Village Park boat launch, walked along the now-restored Wildcat Creek in Greenfield, or enjoyed the newly paved section of the Ice Age Trail in Slinger, then you know their work.

In fact, it would be hard to go very many places in Southeastern Wisconsin without finding yourself close to one of R/M’s projects, even though many of them exist underground.

The firm was established in 1946 by John Mielke and Frank Ruekert, Sr., who met after John returned from his service in the Army Corps and was hired to work alongside Frank as an engineer for the City of Waukesha.

Driven from the post WWII housing market boom, John and Frank began their early partnership moonlighting as subdivision designers, working from their kitchen tables after their full-time jobs late into the evenings. Not long after, John and Frank’s first big break arrived when the City of Pewaukee enlisted R/M to design the City’s first sewage treatment plant.

The firm grew rapidly from that point on, as R/M secured the water, wastewater, roads, and other infrastructure projects necessary to meet the increasing demands brought on by the rapid suburbanization of Waukesha County.

R/M designed much of the first-generation infrastructure for many communities in Southeastern Wisconsin, including the Village of Menomonee Falls, the City of Pewaukee, the City of Brookfield, the Village of Elm Grove, the Village of Sussex, the Village of Hartland, the City of New Berlin, and the City of Muskego. They also designed some of the area’s first business parks, subdivisions, and municipal swimming pools, including those in Hartford, Evansville, Waukesha, and Sun Prairie.

The company is now on its third generation of ownership. In 1995, R/M transferred 30 percent of the company’s stock to the employees, and in 2015 the firm became 100% employee-owned. The benefits of employee ownership have paid off, and R/M has been named one of Wisconsin’s Top Workplaces for four consecutive years and counting.

R/M President Stan Sudgen said, “As a 100% employee-owned firm, our staff is the core of our company. We know that the success and happiness of our clients is directly linked to the success and happiness of our team. Our ability to celebrate 75 years of service to Wisconsin communities and organizations is owed to the dedication and tenacity of R/M’s employee-owners.”

While the firm is excited to honor 75 years of accomplishments, R/M remains focused on the future. Their engineers, environmental specialists, and support staff are dedicated to helping Wisconsin’s municipalities build a more sustainable future through economic development, environmental services, and resilient infrastructure.

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About Ruekert & Mielke, Inc.

Ruekert & Mielke, Inc. is a 100% employee-owned civil engineering firm celebrating its 75th year of service to Wisconsin communities and organizations. R/M’s engineers, environmental specialists, and technology experts work together with their clients to provide unparalleled planning, design, and construction management services while focusing on building a more sustainable future. Their areas of expertise include water, wastewater, storm water, roads, environmental services, SCADA, construction review, drone services, pavement management, municipal finance, land development, GIS, and more.

Stoughton Trailers Reclaims Chassis Production Following Federal Trade Decisions

Company Hiring Hundreds of Employees as Hefty Tariffs Are Applied to Unfairly Traded Chinese Imports

STOUGHTON, Wis. (Thursday, April 29, 2021) — Stoughton Trailers, LLC, is hiring hundreds of assemblers, welders and supervisors at its Evansville plant — which, once successful, is expected to bring the company’s employee total to an all-time high — as it ramps up the manufacturing of chassis products used to transport intermodal containers.

In a major reshoring win on April 13, the U.S. International Trade Commission made an affirmative final determination in the countervailing duty investigation on chassis and subassemblies from China with a 5-0 decision. The commission found that U.S. producers have been materially injured by unfairly traded imports of Chinese chassis, paving the way for the imposition of trade remedy orders. 

Stoughton Trailers and four other chassis manufacturers came together under the Coalition of American Chassis Manufacturers and worked with the legal team of Wiley Rein LLP to prove that unfairly dumped and subsidized imports of Chinese chassis were injuring the U.S. chassis industry. 

The U.S. government issued a 44.32 percent countervailing tariff, which imposed duties on Chinese chassis and subassemblies for a minimum of five years. Additionally, in a concurrent antidumping duty investigation, the U.S. Department of Commerce preliminarily determined that Chinese producers were dumping chassis and subassemblies into the United States. Commerce is expected to issue its final antidumping duty determination on May 11, and this decision is expected to drive the total tariff to more than 232 percent on Chinese chassis and subassemblies for a minimum of five years. 

“This is an enormous victory for Stoughton Trailers, the Evansville community, and other U.S. chassis manufacturers,” said Stoughton Trailers President & CEO Bob Wahlin.  

“Stoughton Trailers was producing thousands of chassis annually at its Evansville plant until 2005, when Chinese manufacturers intensified the dumping chassis and single-handedly took the market.” 

The Chinese were selling the entire chassis to U.S. companies for less than the cost of the steel in the frame alone, which devastated Stoughton’s chassis production and forced the company to close its Evansville facility for several years until it began to build other products at the facility, he said.

When it became evident last year that rulings in favor of U.S. manufacturers were likely, customers who previously bought Chinese chassis quickly became interested in Stoughton’s line, Wahlin said.

“When we received a very large order from a customer at the end of 2020, we geared up to make improvements to our production process and began recruiting workers,” he said. “We are hiring assemblers, welders, machine operators and supervisors. We’re also making all the subcomponents at our Stoughton Plant 5 to feed the Evansville assembly line. We’re investing in automation and other improvements to both plants, knowing that we will be in a competitive position to sell chassis for years to come.”

The company is currently hiring employees to staff the day shift but expects to add a second shift once it onboards enough new workers. Candidates may visit stojobs.com for a complete list of employment opportunities. 

Broihahn Management & Consulting Celebrates 20 Years of Building Communities One Person at a Time

Madison, WI- Broihahn Management & Consulting, LLC (BMC) announced its 20th Anniversary providing excellence in property management and practical consulting services to property owners. Founded in 2002, with twenty years of property management experience under her belt, Sue Broihahn was determined to provide fair and equitable housing to people, regardless of income, age, race, ethnicity, religion, sex, marital status or sexual orientation deserves a safe and well-maintained place to call home.

BMC’s portfolio has grown exponentially from managing a few residential properties to now caring for several residential homes, 9 condominium communities and 16 apartment locations throughout southern Wisconsin and has a staff of 23 full and part-time employees.

“The pandemic has made it difficult for our residents and owners. We manage a wide variety of properties from seniors and disabled, to individuals, families and owner occupied. As we learn of community resources and assistance programs, our staff shares that information with our residents. The last thing we want is to have anyone experience hardship or homelessness during this time.” says, Sue B., owner of BMC.

With over 40 years of experience, their recipe for success is knowing when people from all walks of life live amongst one another and a sense of community is nurtured, people find commonalities, develop healthy relationships and the community thrives. This is more important than ever today, with the difficulties we see regularly on the local, state, and national news.

Our celebration will continue throughout the year with generous referral bonuses, contests, social distancing events, and expanding our partnerships with area businesses.

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If you would like more information, please contact:
Cyndi Wood, Communications Director at (608) 220-7092 or cyndi@bmcmadison.com.
www.bmcmadison.com