Ep. 126: How Aspiro is helping Wisconsinites "live your way"

Ep. 126: How Aspiro is helping Wisconsinites "live your way"

Ryan Ruzziconi is president of Aspiro, a Green Bay-based nonprofit providing life and employment services to individuals of all ages living with disabilities in Northeast Wisconsin, operating with the motto "live your way." On this week's episode, he shares with co-hosts Ann Franz and Kate Bruns what he has learned and appreciated in his first year-and-a-half on the job, both about the reach of the organization and the need for more visibility and awareness of the disability community. Ruzziconi shares more about Aspiro's services, which include early intervention (birth to age 3), adult day services, and Project SEARCH -- an immersive job training and placement program. Aspiro also provides group supported employment services, with its clients often being the muscle behind the scenes of popular entertainment venues like the EPIC Event Center and Kress Event Center for UW-Green Bay basketball. Ruzziconi says Aspiro currently has 100-plus business partners but is always looking for more. Connect with this organization online at aspiroinc.org. This week's episode is sponsored by Stoke RGA. Learn more at stokerga.com.

Ep. 125: Happy 20th, NEWMA!

This Saturday marks the 20-year anniversary of the creation of the Northeast Wisconsin Manufacturing Alliance, and this week's episode of the NEW Manufacturing Insights podcast marks the occasion by having two people in the room who have been in the room from day one: co-host Ann Franz, executive director of NEWMA for 20 years, and Lindquist Machine's Mark Kaiser, who was one of 12 manufacturing leaders to found the organization. Mark joins Ann and Kate in the studio to look back on the organization's impact -- from writing its first four $1,000 scholarship checks and being afraid they would bounce to the more than $60K the President's Cup Scholarship Golf Outing brings in annually today.  Ann tears up a little this week talking about the impact Mark has made on NEWMA: "I just value this person so much," she says. "Our organization is what it is because of his leadership. He can never say no to me. His fingerprints are all over the success of NEWMA." Take a look back at 20 years, and look at what Mark Kaiser sees as the imperatives of NEWMA going forward, by listening to this week's episode. Mark also shares a little bit of his personal story, including the sale of his company, Lindquist Machine, and his best leadership insight. Insight journalist Nikki Kallio wrote about NEWMA's 20th anniversary in the June issue of Insight magazine, out now here: Insight On Business: June 2026 [https://online.fliphtml5.com/apnek/edax/index.html#p=1] Thank you to Stoke RGA for sponsoring the show. Learn more at stokerga.com.

Ep. 124: Brett Chittum talks hacks and cyberattacks

The episode features a discussion on cybersecurity threats in manufacturing with guest Brett Chittum of Sprinter Business Solutions. Brett shares with co-hosts Ann Franz and Kate Bruns some real-world examples of cyberattacks, such as a logistics company compromised through email and Stryker's infamous incident that wiped out 200,000 devices. He emphasizes the importance of identity as the new perimeter, network segmentation, email defense, patch management, backups, and incident response planning, as well as highlights the critical role of human error in cybersecurity breaches and the need for operational thinking in IT budgeting.  Learn more about Sprinter Business at https://sprinterit.com/. Thank you to Stoke RGA for sponsoring this episode! Learn more about how Stoke RGA is helping Midwest manufacturers drive measurable growth at stokerga.com.

Ep. 123: Manufacturing First keynote Phil Gwoke

Registration opened this week for Insight's 16th annual Manufacturing First Expo & Conference [https://www.insightonbusiness.com/manufacturingfirst/], for which BridgeWorks CEO Phil Gwoke, a Wisconsin native, has been announced as keynote speaker. On this week's episode, Kate and Ann chat virtually with Phil about his planned visit to Green Bay Oct. 28 and about his extensive experience studying generational difference, which will be the topic of his keynote address at Resch Expo. Among the topics tackled on this week's episode and keynote preview are information about Phil's background with generational research, what has most surprised him about how generations view one another, how to bridge the knowledge gap, and what employers get wrong when trying to manage "across generations." Listen to the end to hear what Phil considers his best leadership insight. Register for Manufacturing First at the early-bird rate by going online to manufacturingfirst.com. Learn more about Phil Gwoke and his work with BridgeWorks at generations.com. Thank you to this week's podcast sponsor, Stoke RGA. Learn more at stokerga.com.

Ep. 122: Looking forward with WMEP CEO Chris Baichoo

Following a year of federal funding uncertainty, the Wisconsin Manufacturing Extension Partnership (WMEP) led by executive director and CEO Chris Baichoo is ready to move forward. On this week's episode, Chris joins Kate and Ann in the studio to talk more about the past, present and future of WMEP. He says the yearlong period of uncertainty was difficult, but also clarifying in that it helped WMEP right-size its programs, focus on its mission and appreciate its partnerships. One area where WMEP has identified a fairly obvious gap for Wisconsin's small and medium-sized manufacturers is artificial intelligence. Next week on May 13, WMEP will launch its new AI Navigator program, which is a partnership with MKE Tech Hub. (Learn more at wmep.org/ai-in-manufacturing/.) Chris also shares what he learned over the course of a challenging year, what changes have been implemented at WMEP -- including its new coordinating entity, UW-Stout, and of course his best leadership insight. Connect with WMEP online at wmep.org. Thank you to Stoke RGA for sponsoring this and all 2026 episodes of NEW Manufacturing Insights. Learn more at stokerga.com.