Past work experiences prove to be valuable business lessons

Published Sept. 17, 2007

By JERRY GEISEL

WAUKESHA, Wis.--One of the most valuable business lessons Linda M. Kuklinski says she ever learned happened a decade ago when she was the treasurer at Stokely USA Inc., a canned and frozen food processor in Oconomowoc, Wis.

In 1997, food giant Chiquita Brands International Inc. reached an agreement with Stokely to acquire the company. Ms. Kuklinski recalls the stress that Stokely employees felt between the time the buyout was announced and the deal was completed.

"It was a difficult time for employees. Lots of executives left,'' said Ms. Kuklinski, now employee benefits and risk manager at Generac Power Systems Inc.

That put a lot more pressure on remaining employees, making the transition even more difficult. Ms. Kuklinski said the experience reinforced to her the importance of "communicating openly and honestly to employees.''

Employees also needed reinforcement that they were part of a successful organization, she said.

"You had to keep up morale or there could have been a mass exodus,'' Ms. Kuklinski recalled.

Learning experience

In all, Ms. Kuklinski said, her more than 10 years with Stokely were a great business experience. When she joined the company in 1986, she started as an executive assistant, working with top-level corporate executives on a wide array of financial issues that included cash management.

While at Stokely, she received accreditation as a certified treasury professional, a course of study she said her bosses encouraged her to pursue.

Ms. Kuklinski's interest in financial issues, though, long preceded her joining Stokely. In fact, she majored in finance when she attended the University of Wisconsin at Waukesha.

"I always did well with numbers,'' she said.

But Ms. Kuklinski said she always has been more than a numbers person, enjoying the give and take in dealing with others and having numerous outside interests.

"Numbers are black and white. People are not,'' she said.

Professionally, her entry into employee benefits and insurance came in 1978 when she joined Marsh & McLennan Cos. Inc. and its Mercer consulting unit in Milwaukee. She stayed two years and then left for a small Wisconsin benefits consultant, working largely with smaller employers on their life and disability plans, and stayed six years.

Building relationships

Looking back at those years, Ms. Kuklinski said the contacts she made were invaluable. "I established a lot of great relationships, individuals who I still deal with.''

Ms. Kuklinski joined Generac in 1998 when the generator manufacturer had an opening in its treasury department. Initially, she was in charge of cash management and the company's property/casualty insurance programs, and later became more and more directly involved in running and designing Generac's health benefits programs.