Speaker Bios

Robert Mariano became Chairman and CEO of Roundy’s, Inc. in June 2002. Roundy's is one of the nation's oldest and largest food wholesale and retail companies. Founded in 1872, Roundy's today is a company approaching $4 billion in annual sales, supplying Roundy’s brand products to over 800 independent supermarkets throughout the Midwest. In addition, Roundy's is the leading retail grocer in Wisconsin operating about 100 stores as Pick 'n Save and Copps Food Centers. In Minnesota, Roundy's owns and operates 33 stores under the Rainbow Foods banner. The company employs 20,000 associates throughout its entire network.

Since joining Roundy’s, Mariano has been redefining and elevating customer focus through a back-to-basics approach of “serving customers one at a time,” and building customer-centric employees are critical to Roundy’s expansion success. Within Mariano’s first 18 months as CEO, new store construction and six acquisitions doubled company owned and operated retail sites with the addition of 59 stores. Roundy’s home office was moved from the suburbs, consolidated with two remote office operations and relocated to a state-of-the-art facility in downtown Milwaukee. Mariano established the Roundy’s Foundation, which provides grants to local non-profit groups concerned with hunger relief, community/family development and educational and training opportunities. Also, a 1.1 million square foot distribution center, the Roundy’s Oconomowoc Distribution Center, was built between Milwaukee and Madison, in Oconomowoc. This allowed Roundy’s to move the operations from a facility in Milwaukee County that has been challenged with the demands of recent growth.

Mariano is a seasoned veteran of the food industry, with almost 30 years of experience, the majority of which was with the Chicago-based supermarket chain Dominick’s. Working his way to the top of that company, he most recently served as CEO, President, and COO from 1995-1998, during which he grew the company to a top performing regional supermarket chain with 115 stores. Mariano was also instrumental in bringing Dominick’s public in 1996, and later selling the company in November 1998 to Safeway, the second largest food retailing operation in the United States. While at Dominick’s, Mariano improved EBITDA by 51% through, in part, improvements in labor productivity, improved product procurement practices, and the aggressive pursuit of the “Fresh Store” concept, which was unique to Dominick’s. He has an MBA from University of Chicago and a B.S. in Biology from the University of Illinois, Chicago.

Andy Lewis is a professor at the University of Wisconsin Extension where he serves as a Community Development Specialist in the Center for Community and Economic Development at Madison. Lewis is responsible for developing educational programs and tools that assist communities in developing strategies for improving jobs, income and quality of life. From 1996-2001, Lewis served as the Vice President of Program Development for the Learning Institute for Nonprofit Organizations collaboration where he provided leadership to the development of educational programs focusing on the management and leadership of nonprofit organizations

Bob Herbst, Senior Manager, Virchow Krause & Company
Bob Herbst, Senior Manager in the Public Sector Practice Group, Virchow, Krause & Company, LLP. He specializes in feasibility studies and technology planning for government and utilities. He has extensive experience in telecommunication systems design, team leadership, management, competitive analysis, market planning, market research, and new product development.

Robin Lisowski, Senior Consultant, Virchow Krause & Company
Robin Lisowski, Senior Consultant in the Public Sector Practice Group, has been with Virchow, Krause & Company, LLP since 2002. She specializes in public sector consulting. Robin has experience in functional and policy analyses, operational and organizational reviews, benchmarking, and shared services/consolidation studies.

Bronson Haase, President, Pabst Farms Equity Ventures LLC
Bronson J. Haase, President, Pabst Farms Equity Venture, has been a leader in Wisconsin for the last 15 years. As the former President, and CEO of Wisconsin Gas, President of Ameritech Wisconsin, Wisconsin Bell, and Wisconsin Bell Communications. He has been one of the leaders in the development of Oconomowoc’s Pabst Farms development. He is a Board Member of the Marcus Corporation, and CG Schmidt, Inc.

Tom Coleman, Founder and Chairman, Brilliant Cities
Mr. Coleman has been a founder, director and active investor in early stage companies since 1982. Mr. Coleman began his career with the 3M Company, later was a consultant to numerous health care and technology companies and one of the founders of Deltec Systems, a manufacturer of ambulatory drug infusion pumps which was acquired by Pharmacia. Mr. Coleman has served as a director of a number of early stage companies, advised entrepreneurs on the formation of their companies, and has been an active investor. Mr. Coleman received his B.S. degree from the University of Wisconsin," River Falls in 1972.

Dell Beaver, Administrator, Village of Jackson
Prior to being hired as the Village Administrator/Clerk in Jackson in December of 1989, Del served in local government as a city manager in Colorado (Mancos and Dolores) and Oregon (Cannon Beach), and served as a city planner in Colorado (Grand Junction and Rifle). Prior to working in local government, he worked with the Wisconsin Department of Local Affairs and Development in Community Assistance. Del chaired the selection committee for the State Street Mall/Capitol Concourse Project and served as a facilitator in the State Street Charrette transportation planning segment. Del subsequently was elected to the Madison City Council with the intention of implementing the project. Del is a member of the American Institute of Certified Planners and graduated from the University of Wisconsin – Madison in Landscape Architecture. Graduate work in Public Administration was taken at Portland State University.

Moderator: Bob Herbst, Senior Manager, Virchow Krause & Company (Bio also included in 10:20 am slot)

Deborah C Tomczyk, Attorney, Reinhart Boerner Van Deuren s.c.
Deborah C. Tomczyk is a shareholder in the firm's Real Estate Department. Her practice focuses on government relations, zoning, land use, condemnation and other aspects of real estate development. Ms. Tomczyk represents local, regional and national developers as well as municipalities, businesses, individuals and business improvement districts. Ms. Tomczyk is a frequent speaker on development matters and has spoken at the Municipal Attorneys Institute for the past three years. She is immediate past president of the Wisconsin Commercial Real Estate Women (WCREW) and a national delegate for National CREW Network. She received her undergraduate degree, Phi Beta Kappa and magna cum laude, from Smith College. She received her law degree, magna cum laude, from the University of Wisconsin where she was elected to the Order of the Coif and served as an associate editor of the Wisconsin Law Review.

Gary Gorman, President, Gorman & Company

Representative Mark Gottlieb
Representative Mark Gottlieb was elected to the Wisconsin Assembly in 2002, and reelected in 2004. Representative Gottlieb is the Majority Caucus Vice Chairperson for 2005.With a B.S. from UW-Milwaukee, he received in 1981, he continued his education with a masters in Engineering at UW-Milwaukee in 1984. He started his political career as a City of Port Washington alderman from 1991-97, he was then elected Mayor of Port Washington, where he served from 1997-2003.

Moderator: Peter Thillman, WEDA President

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