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RCEDC honors Kenosha banker for work on commuter rail
RDEC honors Kenosha banker for work on promoting commuter rail
Johnson-Leipold speaks of innovation in keynote address
BY MICHAEL BURKE
Journal Times
During its annual meeting at the Racine Marriott, the Racine County Economic Development Corp. honored Karl Ostby for his role as chairman of the Southeastern Wisconsin Regional Transit Authority. Ostby, president of Kenosha's Southport Bank, was given this year's Sam Johnson Volunteer of the Year Award for his work with the RTA.
This spring the RTA decided to fund the KRM extension of Chicago's Metra rail service with a $13 surcharge on each car rental in the three counties. That fee, which would apply once for each time a vehicle is rented, would bring the total RTA fee to $15 to fund its operations and build KRM.
In acknowledging the award, Ostby said he is involved in the RTA as a banker but added, "I firmly believe that great cities have great transit systems."
The reason KRM can work, he said, is because the proposed 33-mile rail corridor would not require a "huge" expense to build. The proposed vehicle rental fee is projected to both build the system and fill the operating gap.
Ostby cited some projected effects of KRM, such as creating 71,000 jobs and boosting property values by $7.8 billion over 20 years. "Even if it's a third of those numbers, I think it's a tremendous impact on this region," he said.
Other RCEDC awards were given to former Union Grove Village President Edna Lowe for public sector service and Rex Runzheimer, chairman and chief executive officer of Waterford-based Runzheimer International, in the private sector.
Family innovation
The meeting's keynote speaker was Helen Johnson-Leipold, chairman and CEO of Johnson Outdoors and chairman of Johnson Financial Group. She talked about how important innovation is in the Johnson family businesses including her outdoor recreation products company.
Innovation, Johnson-Leipold said, drives growth and builds markets, but it must be meaningful - not just another color, or another size, or an additional service,
but a relevant, clear step ahead.
"It's not a fast-growth industry," she said, "but it doesn't matter, because we are creating our own growth."
Johnson-Leipold credited her father, the late Sam Johnson, for creating the plastic boat market which now comprises an important part of her company's product portfolio.
A current, highly successful example of innovation at Johnson Outdoors, she said, is the Humminbird Fishfinder with side-imaging technology. The device, introduced last year, allows a fisherman to see through a body of water sideways so fish actually look like fish - "something anglers have wanted for a long time," she said.
"It's also the most expensive fishfinder on the market “ and we can't make them fast enough."
The company put out an infomercial featuring the fishfinder and had to pull it off the air, Johnson-Leipold said, because it could not keep up with the demand.
She also featured in her presentation an innovation that allowed Johnson Outdoors - the No. 1 producer of tents in the world - to provide the military with tents that reduced set-up time from about six hours to six minutes.
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