UW-Green Bay, Marinette Campus hosts world-renowned speaker Fred Hochberg

Local business leaders and small business owners were privy to a wealth of knowledge at the UW-Green Bay Marinette Campus’ Herbert L. Williams Theatre in November. Seasoned business executive and government leader Fred Hochberg shared his decades-long business insight and advice with attendees.

Marinette is the most northern UW-Green Bay (and UW system) campus access point and serves students in the Marinette-Menominee (MI) community and rural points to the west, north, and into Michigan’s Upper Peninsula. The Marinette community has one dominant employer, Fincantieri, manufacturing Frigates for the US Navy for sale to allied countries of the United States. The economy in the region is fairly rural and the City of Marinette and the City of Menominee, Michigan, both continue to lose population and become more reliant on the one major local industry.

Hochberg shared his experience as Acting Administrator of the SBA in the Clinton administration, where he quadrupled lending to minority- and woman-owned businesses and rapidly improved response times for American small business owners; and prior to that, his wisdom as the long-time president and chief operating officer of the Lillian Vernon Corporation, where he led the transformation of a small, family-owned mail order company into an international, publicly traded direct marketing corporation. Leading the company for 18 years, Hochberg oversaw a nearly 40-fold increase in annual revenue, from $5 million in 1975 to $180 million in 1993.

Through its partnership with the Tommy Thompson Center, the University os Wisconsin – Green Bay seeks to provide expertise from speakers to inspire economic development in rural communities, and inject inspiration and new thinking relating to small business that is needed to diversify the regional economy. It is important that UW-Green Bay bring speakers to campus for open dialogue with students and citizens who are eager to retain pride in their local communities.

The next speaker sponsored by the Tommy G. Thompson Center on Public Leadership is Christopher Bedford, executive editor for Common Sense Society, about Common Sense: Ideas that Transform. He will speaking on Thursday, February 22 at 7 p.m. at The Weidner on the UW-Green Bay, Green Bay Campus. Watch for additional information coming soon.