Bill Budzien

Work hard, do the right thing, take care of the client, and everything else will take care of itself.”

Frank F. Haack, Jr.

 

Bill is passionate about and takes pride in overcoming obstacles to get results and for changing an organization’s culture to be more customer focused and market driven to achieve profitable growth. He is equally passionate about physical fitness, including winning the Fittest Exec competition sponsored by the Milwaukee BizTimes newspaper and competing in triathlons.

Expertise

With more than 30 years of executive-level leadership in finance and operations, Bill’s experience spans the manufacturing and service industries in both private and publicly traded companies. Obtaining his CPA with Arthur Andersen & Co. in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, his expertise includes strategic planning and all aspects of financial planning and reporting, revenue forecasting, performance measurements, benchmarking, working capital management, and facilities management. He has been responsible for bottom-line results and providing leadership and direction to achieve maximum growth, profit, and return on assets, and he has designed and implemented pay-for-performance programs for managers and hourly associates.

Bill’s operational experience was as a general manager and executive VP and included responsibility for plant operations in multiple states with several hundred employees. In this role he had accountability for sales and marketing, design engineering, operations, customer service, IT, and human resources.

In addition to being an executive coach, Bill also facilitates several CEO and CFO Roundtables at MRA. He also provides financial oversight and supervision of the executive director for another large nonprofit association that MRA manages and participates in all Executive Committee and Board meetings for this association.

Key Accomplishments

• Increased net sales by 30 percent and achieved record levels of operating income for a newly acquired manufacturing company with multi-state plants
• Introduced strategic planning processes to define market opportunities, competitors, and customer profitability, and to evaluate strategies for growth, acquisition, and divestiture
• Created "financial dashboards" to heighten management feedback and provide operational metrics to compare against industry standards and best practices
• Coordinated due diligence process for acquisitions and held primary responsibility for mergers and various office integrations and relocations

Education

Bill earned an MBA degree in finance/marketing from the University of Chicago. He graduated summa cum laude with a double major bachelor’s degree in accounting and mathematics from St. John’s University in Collegeville, Minnesota.

Professional and Community Activities

Bill is an active volunteer in his church and in the community. He is a former executive committee member and board member for the Wauwatosa (WI) Chamber of Commerce. Bill currently serves as treasurer on the executive committee and as a board member for Street Angels MKE, whose mission is to help the homeless population in Milwaukee. He also serves on the Pastoral Council for his church and is actively involved in their Communion Ministry to the homebound.