MONROE - Sarah Burgert came to Green County eight years ago with optimism and enthusiasm. She will leave a leader.
She'll also leave with an honor from the Green County Development Corporation (GCDC). On Thursday, Burgert received the Richard B. Schmied Leadership Award during the GCDC's annual meeting at Turner Hall.
Burgert, the UW Extension-Green County's community development director, arrived at a time that smart growth initiatives were just beginning. She took up the active challenge of helping Green County communities plan for their growth. She also has been an instructor with the Green County Leaders program and for the 4-H Entrepreneurship Program, and has helped many county organizations with leadership issues and strategic planning. Burgert helped plan the Future Forward! Green County event last October and is leading the current initiative.
Burgert said the community is what allowed and encouraged her to become the leader she is today.
"Very few people get the opportunity right out of graduate school or their degree program to have their dream job," she said. "A leader needs the right environment, the right community, to make that leadership happen."
Burgert is leaving her position at the end of May to join her husband in Phoenix, Ariz., but she said, "I'm not going to quit until the day I pack and leave."
The Richard B. Schmied Leadership Award is presented by GCDC to acknowledge achievements of someone whose actions characterize their special leadership traits. Past recipients include Richard B. Schmied (2001, posthumously), Art Carter (2002), Robert Hoesly (2003), Audrey Hein (2004), GCL Alumni (2005) and Christine Wellington (2006).
ENTREPRENEURIAL SPIRIT AWARD
Abby McCullough and Jodi McIntyre, owners of Riddles & Rhymes Childcare Center LLC in Brodhead, received the award for outstanding success as a new business in Green County and personal commitment to community economic development.
Not letting any obstacle stand in their way, McCullough and McIntyre built a 3,000-square-foot building in less than five months. Construction was finished in September, in time for the beginning of the 2007-08 school year.
McIntyre gave birth to her own child in July, six weeks before the center opened. Both women work every day at the center, which is able to care for as many as 50 children, from infancy to 12 years of age; children 5-12 are cared for in their after-school program.
"We are so happy that we did it," McCullough said, "We are lucky to have such a great community behind us. We have been nothing but busy since we opened our doors, which is a great problem to have.
"We hope we have many years of business and chaos that comes with child care."
VISIONARY CHAMPIONS SPECIAL AWARD
The Swiss Colony leadership and staff and the R. Kubly Family Foundation was awarded for their unique and insightful support for long-term economic development success. The R. Kubly Family Foundation is taking an active role in recruiting talented workers to Green County through its scholarship program. It also supported the Future Forward! Green County initiative with a $12,000 donation to help bring speaker Rebecca Ryan to Green County.
The Swiss Colony provided the facility, direction and manpower for the Monroe school district's voter contact efforts on the referendum. It provided funds to bring planning consultants to the Monroe Main Street program and is helping the Green County Humane Society with its financial bookkeeping.
OUTSTANDING BUSINESS AWARDS
The following companies were awarded for their outstanding achievements and exemplary commitment to the economic growth of Green County:
• Family Fresh Pack produces and packages a variety of cheeses, and is becoming known industry-wide for its innovative packaging designs. The company began in Belleville in 1995. Operations Manager Todd Kriebs expanded both production and packaging when the company acquired the vacated Monroe Cheese Corporation facility in Monticello in 2006. Family Fresh Pack provides employment for 50 people in Belleville and 15 in Monticello.
• Minhas Craft Brewery brother-sister owners Ravinder and Manjit Minhas purchased the Joseph Huber Brewing Company in 2006, and finished a $4 million addition to the brewery this year. The brewery produced 200,000 barrels of beer in 2007, and increased its product lines to include Lazy Mutt Farmhouse Ale, Kick Axe and Axehead Malt Liquor and energy drinks. Minhas helped Dixie Brewery in the New Orleans area by brewing and packaging their product until the southern brewery could recover from the affects of Hurricane Katrina. Minhas Craft Brewery, the second oldest operating brewery in the country, celebrates its 163rd birthday this year. It currently employs 61 people.
• New Glarus Brewing Company owners Dan and Deb Carey are finishing a $21 million brewery that is designed to look like a farm and blend into the rural setting on the village's south side. The new brewery will double production from 65,000 to 120,000 barrels by next year. The new facility includes a $2 million wastewater treatment plant that uses no chemicals. The company has won, among other awards, 13 gold medals for its Raspberry Tart and Wisconsin Belgian Red Ales. Dan Carey was named Brewer of the Year in 2005 and 2006 at the American Beer Festival in Denver. The New Glarus plant employs 60 people.
She'll also leave with an honor from the Green County Development Corporation (GCDC). On Thursday, Burgert received the Richard B. Schmied Leadership Award during the GCDC's annual meeting at Turner Hall.
Burgert, the UW Extension-Green County's community development director, arrived at a time that smart growth initiatives were just beginning. She took up the active challenge of helping Green County communities plan for their growth. She also has been an instructor with the Green County Leaders program and for the 4-H Entrepreneurship Program, and has helped many county organizations with leadership issues and strategic planning. Burgert helped plan the Future Forward! Green County event last October and is leading the current initiative.
Burgert said the community is what allowed and encouraged her to become the leader she is today.
"Very few people get the opportunity right out of graduate school or their degree program to have their dream job," she said. "A leader needs the right environment, the right community, to make that leadership happen."
Burgert is leaving her position at the end of May to join her husband in Phoenix, Ariz., but she said, "I'm not going to quit until the day I pack and leave."
The Richard B. Schmied Leadership Award is presented by GCDC to acknowledge achievements of someone whose actions characterize their special leadership traits. Past recipients include Richard B. Schmied (2001, posthumously), Art Carter (2002), Robert Hoesly (2003), Audrey Hein (2004), GCL Alumni (2005) and Christine Wellington (2006).
ENTREPRENEURIAL SPIRIT AWARD
Abby McCullough and Jodi McIntyre, owners of Riddles & Rhymes Childcare Center LLC in Brodhead, received the award for outstanding success as a new business in Green County and personal commitment to community economic development.
Not letting any obstacle stand in their way, McCullough and McIntyre built a 3,000-square-foot building in less than five months. Construction was finished in September, in time for the beginning of the 2007-08 school year.
McIntyre gave birth to her own child in July, six weeks before the center opened. Both women work every day at the center, which is able to care for as many as 50 children, from infancy to 12 years of age; children 5-12 are cared for in their after-school program.
"We are so happy that we did it," McCullough said, "We are lucky to have such a great community behind us. We have been nothing but busy since we opened our doors, which is a great problem to have.
"We hope we have many years of business and chaos that comes with child care."
VISIONARY CHAMPIONS SPECIAL AWARD
The Swiss Colony leadership and staff and the R. Kubly Family Foundation was awarded for their unique and insightful support for long-term economic development success. The R. Kubly Family Foundation is taking an active role in recruiting talented workers to Green County through its scholarship program. It also supported the Future Forward! Green County initiative with a $12,000 donation to help bring speaker Rebecca Ryan to Green County.
The Swiss Colony provided the facility, direction and manpower for the Monroe school district's voter contact efforts on the referendum. It provided funds to bring planning consultants to the Monroe Main Street program and is helping the Green County Humane Society with its financial bookkeeping.
OUTSTANDING BUSINESS AWARDS
The following companies were awarded for their outstanding achievements and exemplary commitment to the economic growth of Green County:
• Family Fresh Pack produces and packages a variety of cheeses, and is becoming known industry-wide for its innovative packaging designs. The company began in Belleville in 1995. Operations Manager Todd Kriebs expanded both production and packaging when the company acquired the vacated Monroe Cheese Corporation facility in Monticello in 2006. Family Fresh Pack provides employment for 50 people in Belleville and 15 in Monticello.
• Minhas Craft Brewery brother-sister owners Ravinder and Manjit Minhas purchased the Joseph Huber Brewing Company in 2006, and finished a $4 million addition to the brewery this year. The brewery produced 200,000 barrels of beer in 2007, and increased its product lines to include Lazy Mutt Farmhouse Ale, Kick Axe and Axehead Malt Liquor and energy drinks. Minhas helped Dixie Brewery in the New Orleans area by brewing and packaging their product until the southern brewery could recover from the affects of Hurricane Katrina. Minhas Craft Brewery, the second oldest operating brewery in the country, celebrates its 163rd birthday this year. It currently employs 61 people.
• New Glarus Brewing Company owners Dan and Deb Carey are finishing a $21 million brewery that is designed to look like a farm and blend into the rural setting on the village's south side. The new brewery will double production from 65,000 to 120,000 barrels by next year. The new facility includes a $2 million wastewater treatment plant that uses no chemicals. The company has won, among other awards, 13 gold medals for its Raspberry Tart and Wisconsin Belgian Red Ales. Dan Carey was named Brewer of the Year in 2005 and 2006 at the American Beer Festival in Denver. The New Glarus plant employs 60 people.