The early success of the division she leads, especially given uncertainty in the health care industry, and her role as the face of JP Cullen in the Madison market have helped Jeannie Cullen Schultz become, at the age of 32, an accomplished executive.
These early accomplishments are a primary reason Cullen Schultz, who serves as JP Cullen’s healthcare construction director, was selected as the In Business “Young Executive of the Year.” She and other EOY winners were chosen for this honor by a panel of judges that includes Deb Archer, president and CEO of the Greater Madison Chamber of Commerce, retired UW–Madison Director of Athletics Pat Richter, and Mark Bakken, founder of Nordic LLC and HealthX Ventures.
“That’s an impressive group of judges,” Cullen Schultz notes. “It’s obviously a huge honor for me. I’m very happy to represent JP Cullen, our health care team, and our Madison office team. It’s been an exciting year for us, and this honor is humbling.”
Face of JP Cullen
In her position, Cullen Schultz is a leader in a company strategic initiative to expand its geographic market and Dane County presence. Ron Becher, president of JP Cullen, credits her for doing an outstanding job of being the face of JP Cullen with health care clients and in the Madison area in general. Her competitive nature might explain why she’s made such a strong splash in a short period of time.
Cullen Schultz is accustomed to accomplishment, having earned 10 letters in basketball, softball, and tennis at Janesville Craig High School, being inducted into the Janesville Sports Hall of Fame, and playing in two Division I NCAA basketball tournaments as a standout shooting guard at Dartmouth, where she racked up 1,481 career points, fifth best in the Ivy League college’s history.
Her previous project management experience came with North American Mechanical, where company president Steve Ross served as a leadership mentor and taught her the importance of giving individuals opportunities to be responsible for profit and loss.
Her competitive drive has taken her to the family business, JP Cullen, a construction management firm with offices in Janesville and Madison. Cullen Schultz has been with the firm for three years, including the past 18 months as director of healthcare construction. Over the past year, her main focus has been on cultivating new relationships with health care clients, primarily in Dane County.
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Prior to Cullen Schultz becoming director of healthcare construction, much of the company’s health care work was concentrated in Milwaukee, but her Madison team is now currently working for six different health care clients throughout Dane and Rock counties. During the past two years, the company has completed more than 100 projects ranging in size from $10,000 to $13 million.
This growth comes amid uncertainty in the health care space, especially with the wave of consolidation involving health systems. On the surface, these mergers and partnerships would appear to create more of a need for facility modernization, whether it’s renovation or new construction, but decisions once made here are now being made elsewhere. That means that even if you’ve cultivated local relationships, you might have to go elsewhere to find decision-makers.
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Jeannie Cullen Schultz |
“Some of it involves a new process or business model for getting the funding approved,” notes Cullen Schultz, “but there could be pent-up demand in a couple of years.”
In addition to growing a new division, Cullen Schultz has more fully developed the firm’s contractor services program, and led the charge on opening a new office on the Capitol Square in downtown Madison. A lot of effort has gone into it, but some nice perks are part of the deal, too. “I love coming to work downtown every day,” she says. “I’m sitting in our conference room and looking out at the Capitol building. It’s a pretty cool space to be in.”
Cullen Schultz sees parallels between leading a business team and her athletic experiences. Similar teamwork is required in the construction process with its interviews and bids and proposals and the many different players involved — from architects to project managers.
“There are a lot more [similarities] than I would have thought a few years ago,” she says. “The construction industry and competitive athletics and just what it takes to be successful — you have to be willing and ready to compete every day with the external competition. Madison, Dane County, and Wisconsin have great construction management firms.”
Full plate
JP Cullen has put more than local business operations on her plate. Cullen Schultz also leads the company’s United Way campaign, its largest internal fundraising effort. Community involvement is part of the company’s strategic initiative and Cullen Schultz has taken it to a new level. Volunteerism and employee participation on Dane County boards and committees has grown under her direction, and JP Cullen increased its Dane County philanthropic giving by 80% in 2015.
As an expectant mother the second time around, Cullen Schultz is about to add another person to the family team and the title of mom adds to her multitasking. Asked if she would have preferred more time to build the health care division before other professional expectations surfaced, she notes that it comes with the turf. Her time as a student-athlete helped her learn to multitask, and she’s grateful for the support of husband Kris, an equally supportive office staff, and a “rock star” nanny who occasionally brings her son to Madison during the lunch hour, where they can visit the Madison Children’s Museum and otherwise spend quality time if an evening commitment pulls her away from home.
Cullen Schultz also is thankful to forge a career at a time when work-life balance is now an expectation, not a fond wish, but even though the better companies now meet the need for such balance, it’s still a difficult thing to achieve. “From my experience as a college athlete, with academics and athletics practices and events, I’m accustomed to jugging a lot of tasks,” she notes. “I like to have my plate full. I’m careful not to stretch myself too thin, and I have great help at home and work.”
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