EJ pulled out of the gas station and into a parking lot across the street, parked at the end of the lot, and opened his iPad. He noticed that the lot was to the side of a very attractive building, and his further view confirmed that it was the town library and museum. He could just make out the name O'Rourke on the cornerstone at the base of the end of the building closest to the parking lot. "Yeah. That's a surprise", he said sarcastically to himself. He knew that he was short on time so he went to Google Search and typed in "Tomah Wisconsin" and double-clicked the first item.
With his time-envelope shrinking, EJ then entered "O'Rourke Family Charitable Foundation" into the Google search window and was rewarded with numerous hits from a variety of sources. The Wisconsin State Journal had run an article on the O'Rourke family in 2005 which detailed the key points in the wealth formation of one of the state's best success stories.
Maddie's Daddy, Dillin Padraig O'Rourke, had immigrated to the USA from Ireland with his parents in 1925 when he would have been just 5 years old. After a couple of years in New York, the family followed another family from County Clare, the Flynn's, to Wisconsin. The families combined resources and opened a small foundry in Tomah to support machinery shops with connections to the dairy and farm equipment industries.
The business survived the Depression, and the O'Rourke-Flynn Foundry actually acquired two machine shops that were unable to handle the financial stress of the times. By the late 1930's, the plant had expanded several times and had developed relationships not only with the growing automobile manufacturing sector, but also with the US Army. The Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941 signaled the start of a 20 year period of explosive growth for O'Rourke-Flynn.
Dillin was always at his father's side at the plant. He had done well in school, particularly with math and science, and it was obvious to the families that Dillin was the long-term future for the business. He was in the middle of his sophomore year in the Engineering College at Iowa State when the Pearl Harbor news came across to the public. He enlisted in the Army Air Corps the day after Christmas, spent nine months in flight school in San Antonio, and then the next four years flying C-47 Gooney Birds in Europe and in the Pacific. After the war, it was back to Ames to finish his degree, which he did in 1948. Following his college graduation, he returned to the family business, making Tomah his life-long home. By 1960, Dillin was elevated by the families to the position of Chief Executive Officer.
The Flynn's lone child, daughter Mary Madeline, was born in Tomah in 1930. She had a rambunctious spirit from her earliest days, and showed talent in all variety of the arts, eventually settling on the piano as her expression of choice. Julliard in New York gave her early-admission after her junior year of high school in Tomah, and following her formal training there, it was a five-year stint with the New York Philharmonic Orchestra. She finally returned to Tomah in 1958 to tend to her cancer-stricken Mother.
It came as no surprise to the townspeople, and was extremely welcome news to the families, when Dillion and Mary began dating in 1960, were subsequently engaged, and then married on July 20, 1961. Madeline Marie O'Rourke was born July 28, 1962.
Over the next twenty-five years, Dillin O'Rourke became a legend in Wisconsin business circles. He developed relationships with major US manufacturers like Caterpillar, Illinois Tool Works and John Deere to supply "on-time" delivery of parts inventories. O'Rourke-Flynn went International, supplying high-spec parts to customers in Brazil and South Africa. Investors flocked to participate in joint ventures with anything carrying the O'Rourke name. New York investment bankers welcomed the opportunity to distribute the financial instruments to fund any new expansion proposed from the O'Rourke brain-trust in Tomah. Success followed success.
Finally, in the early part of 1987, Dillin O'Rourke made the choice to accept a Goldman Sachs offer to take O'Rourke-Flynn public in a new offering on Wall Street. In addition to securing and sheltering the O'Rourke's legacy wealth in the transaction through a series of trusts, Dillin's tax advisors had him take other steps to address his philanthropic goals for a large portion of the IPO proceeds, and thus was born the O'Rourke Family Charitable Foundation.
One of Dillin O'Rourke's other concerns in the transaction was the protection of the jobs of the company's local employees. To this end, the Tomah plant was spun off as a separate company and excluded from the IPO. As part of that spin-off, the land that the plant sat upon was deeded to the O'Rourke Family Charitable Foundation, and a favorable (but not cheap) 99-year land-lease would be inherited by the new owner. The selected buyer of the Tomah facility was also to be provided with a number of long-term sales contracts that virtually guaranteed profits for years to come.
After reviewing the bona fides of several purchase proposals for the Tomah operation, Dillin O'Rourke eventually accepted the offer presented by Mandel Inc. from Brainard, Minnesota.
After the dust had settled from the IPO and the sale of the Tomah plant, Dillin and Mary spent much of their time at their Summer home, high on the bluffs above the Mississippi River, just North of McGregor, Iowa, looking eastward across the river toward Prarie du Chien. They doted on their daughter and granddaughter. When Winter started to roll in, they would head South and enjoy the warmth of their condos in either Scottsdale or San Diego.
By the terms of the original documents, they held all of the voting shares of the O'Rourke Family Charitable Foundation and were active Directors in setting the strategic plan for the foundation. In addition to the many grants made to the City of Tomah for civic projects, the Foundation was a major benefactor of the arts throughout Wisconsin. Dillin O'Rourke passed away in 1999 at which time all of the voting rights in the O'Rourke Family Charitable Foundation passed to Madeline Marie O'Rourke.
"Wow", EJ said to himself when he had completed reading the Journal's article (as well as a couple of other's saying much the same things). "Miss Maddie O'Rourke must have enjoyed her "just-visiting-Mother" shtick with me this morning." Not only did EJ feel "played" by Maddie about her relationship with Tomah, he had that uncomfortable feeling in the back of his mind that his impending meeting at Badger Ag was going to be about more than just the design of a commercial loan package to fund a plant expansion project. If he were a betting man, he'd be taking the Over that the O'Rourke name would be part of the discussion.
EJ checked the time at the top of the screen on his iPad and saw that it was 3:50. Time to go. He backed out of his parking spot at the library and reentered Superior Avenue, then took the first left-hand turn onto Clifton Street and headed East. In three blocks, Clifton Street became Badger Avenue, and housing gave way to warehouses, rolling stock and storage containers behind chain-link fencing on either side of the street. The street ended with a sizable round-a-bout, nicely landscaped, with an entry-point to the plant offices directly behind the circle.
He took one of the "Visitor" spots marked at the entrance to offices located at the front of a larger building. The facility looked similar to others from EJ's experience, with modern offices added to an older building which looked like it too had been expanded upon over the years as well. It was a common growth pattern for successful, growing companies.
Inside was a modern reception area with several upholstered side chairs. a couple of small coffee tables with magazines, and a glassed display case along one wall holding on its shelves dozens of machined parts. The room was empty except for himself and the attractive 30-ish woman with the name-plate "Jennifer" sitting behind the desk of an "L" shaped secretarial station. "Good afternoon," she said. "May I help you?" EJ wasn't exactly sure of his best response since he had never talked to nor met Karl Mandel. As a compromise he said, "I'm EJ McKay. I'm here for a 4 o'clock meeting with Mr. Mandel. I spoke earlier with his assistant, Ms. Reynolds."
"Oh yes, Mr. McKay. They're waiting for you in the conference room. Let me take you there."
Jennifer stood and led EJ through a door next to her work station and down a hallway with nondescript, windowless offices on either side of the hall. She reached what looked to be the final doorway in the hall, made a graceful 90-degree turn to face EJ while opening her right arm toward the room to show him that they had reached his destination.
"Rhonda," she said, "Here is Mr. McKay."
EJ stepped into the conference room and was immediately met by a tall, middle-aged woman with short, salt-and-pepper hair, dressed in a dark business suit and a white blouse. The woman wore little make-up, small black onyx earrings and a complimentary strand of onyx pearls around her neck.
"Hello, Mr. McKay. Welcome to Badger Ag. I'm Rhonda Reynolds." She extended her hand and made a firm shake while continuing, "I know that Mr. Mandel is very happy that you adjusted you schedule to come to Tomah today. He just got in from Chicago a few minutes ago, and should be down here from his office shortly. Let me introduce you to the other gentlemen here."
Rhonda released EJ's hand, stepped back and motioned for EJ to follow her over to an open area at the far end of the conference room where three other men were standing. "Gentlemen, we have our last participant with us now. This is EJ McKay from Cedar Rapids." EJ was just a step behind Rhonda and made eye-contact and an acknowledging nod to each of the other men. Handshakes and short greetings followed each introduction.
Roger Simmons looked to be 40-something with a receding hairline and was maybe developing some middle-age girth around his midsection. He was the internal controller for Badger, meaning that he might be the head bean-counter with the company, but Karl Mandel had not elected to promote him to CFO when his veteran financial assistant had retired. He would be the guy responsible for all of the data used for management and financial accounting within the business.
Dan Carpenter might have been 35, had on a well-tailored Brooks Brothers gray suit with a magenta-colored tie, and flashed overly white teeth with a politician's smile. He introduced himself as the regional representative from the Wisconsin Economic Development Office. "Bingo," EJ said to himself. "Politician."
The last hand shake was with Michael Stinnis, from Woodbury Figge & Stinnis, CPA's. Michael was in the standard CPA uniform, dark suit with an unremarkable tie. He let EJ know that his firm had done the audit and tax returns for Badger Ag for the last six years. EJ could tell that the 50-year-old Stinnis took some care with his fitness and wondered to himself, "Marathon man? Maybe. I'm betting a cyclist though from the tale-tell tan lines above his wrists. Biker gloves." Unlike Carpenter, Stinnis came across as a low-key type who might have preferred to have been back at his own office where he could control his own productivity.
Sounds came from the entry door to the conference room and the four men turned to see Rhonda Reynolds lead her boss into the room. Karl Mandel was a dark-complected, stocky man measuring an inch or two below six feet. His dark, short-cropped black hair carried just a few flecks of gray. He had the look of a Mafia soldier. The open-collared,dark-blue dress shirt, gold neck chain and gold rings, cuff links and Rolex added to the effect. EJ wondered if Mandel's Mother was Italian rather than German.
Mandel strode over to the group of men and greeted all, "Gentlemen. And EJ, especially, thanks for making the trip. Eddie said you were the man. I hope you have your thinking-cap with you. We're going to need it. Anyone need coffee? A soda?" And then turning to his assistant, " Rhonda, have them save one of the side rooms at the club for a 7 o'clock dinner. We'll work here until 6 or so and then head out there to continue our chat if we need to. And I think we'll need to."
"Yes, sir," she said. "I'll stick around until you break for dinner, just in case you need something. I'll be at my desk. Just ring me if I can help with anything."
Mandel then turned to the men and motioned them to the long conference room table. "Let's sit down and get started. Maybe Roger can give us a little summary of the lay of the land, and then we'll give a listen to Dan's idea about financing that new facility in the industrial park. You have the floor, Roger."
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