Greater Madison was well represented at the recent Wisconsin Family Business of the Year Award presentation, with five of the nine companies honored hailing from the area.
Von Rutenberg Ventures of Waunakee received the Grand Award for medium-sized companies, while Cleary Building Corp. of Verona and Dave Jones, Inc., J&K Security Solutions, and Morgan Murphy Media of Madison each received special awards.
“We love presenting the Wisconsin Family Business of the Year Award and having the opportunity to tell [these companies’] stories,” stated Neil Fauerbach, a principal with Smith & Gesteland, the awards program’s founding sponsor. “They really are the forces in their communities that make things happen.”
Also receiving awards were Ron’s Refrigeration & Air Conditioning (Grand Award, small businesses), Wisconsin Rapids; JF Brennan Co., Inc., La Crosse (Grand Award, large businesses); Pioneer Ford Sales Ltd., Platteville (Everybody’s Neighbor Award); and Van’s Lumber & Custom Builders, Inc., Dykesville (Whole Package – Golden Rule Award).
Von Rutenberg Ventures’ story reflects the kind of family values that the Family Business of the Year Award program seeks to exemplify.
The company started in 1961, when Bill and Betty Von Rutenberg bought an eight-stool hamburger joint in downtown Madison called The Nibble Nook. Later, they sold the establishment and bought Burkes Supper Club, which later became Mariner’s Inn. With the help of their sons Bill and Jack, they later added Nau-Ti-Gal and Captain Bill’s to their stable of restaurants and started operating Betty Lou Cruises in 1998.
“What stood out for the judges in the Von Rutenberg nomination were a few things,” said Fauerbach. “Their mother, Betty, instilled in them some very powerful values of hospitality and customer service. But above all, family was always the priority. Perhaps that’s why they consider their team to be a family. Like many businesses, they are very involved in their communities, which is evident from their philanthropic efforts.”
Cleary Building Corp., which won the special Shamrock Pride Award, opened for business in 1978 and has since grown into a national company employing 900 people. The company currently has 80 offices nationwide. Tom and Carol Cleary founded the business, and their three children have all worked there. Their son Sean is now the majority owner and president.
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Dave Jones, Inc., received the Seeing Beyond Tomorrow Award. Jones founded his company in 1977, moving it to Madison in 1992 so it would be closer to his customer base. In 2005, the company moved to a new facility, which the city of Monona named “Building of the Year” in 2006. That same year, the company was named National Plumbing Contractor of the Year. Today, Jones’ son Greg and daughter Holly run the company. The program judges noted the company’s foresight and its ability to execute its plans as reasons for granting the award.
J&K Security Solutions won the Key to Success Award. Jeff and Kim Beckmann started their company in 1987, when both were in their 20s. They had three small children, and “in lieu of babysitters, the second generation grew up at the shop with Mom and Dad.” Innovation has been vital to the success of the company. Seeing beyond the limits of standard locks, J&K eventually invested in the electronic security field, building a 3,000-square-foot demonstration Smart Home fitted with the latest security devices. Jeff’s younger brother, Steve, has been with the company since it started, and the Beckmanns’ son, Jeffrey, came on board in March 2012. The Beckmanns’ daughter Stephanie Topel plans to work at the company some time in the future, and Stephanie’s husband, Bill Topel, has worked there since 2012.
Morgan Murphy Media received the special Connecting Generations to the Community Award. As one of the few remaining family-owned broadcast media companies in the country, Morgan Murphy Media has had a tremendous impact on the Greater Madison area. The business began in 1956 when Morgan Murphy obtained a license to run WISC-TV. Currently, the company owns Madison Magazine as well as TV stations in La Crosse, Lancaster, and Platteville, Wis. and Spokane and Yakima, Wash. When Morgan Murphy passed away in 1971, his wife, Elizabeth, took the reins of the company. Elizabeth’s stepson, Brian Burns, is now its chief operating officer.
Of course, while family cohesion is an important factor in all these companies’ success, according to Fauerbach, allowing family members the freedom to spread their wings appears to be just as important.
“Many of the companies, not just the winners, send their family members outside the family business to work elsewhere,” said Fauerbach. “That is a best practice that we see in our family business clients. In a study we have coming out this summer, we found that this is a common best practice.”
The Family Business of the Year Award winners were selected by an independent panel of judges from nominations submitted by the companies. For the Grand Awards, large companies are defined as those with 100 or more employees, medium companies are those with 50 to 99 employees, and small companies are those with fewer than 50 employees. The judges gave special awards to companies excelling in particular areas.
First Business Bank and Whyte Hirschboeck Dudek co-sponsored the awards program.
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