September 19, 2012 at 7:45 p.m.
Burgan named to school board
New member brings business experience to panel
Burgan named to school board
The board voted 7-1 Monday to appoint Ray Burgan to fill a vacancy created when Tim Thorsen resigned in July.
Burgan was chosen over Dan Brunette who also filed papers seeking the position. Two other potential candidates, Geoffrey Edwards and Scott Sedlacek, dropped out of consideration prior to the vote.
The father of two Rhinelander High School graduates, Burgan touted his business experience as his primary qualification for the board position.
Burgan spent 26 years at Appleton Papers, Inc., including stints managing the quality control department, the research and development department and the manufacturing department, where he gained experience managing workers and costs.
"I've had experience managing professionals as well as hourly people," Burgan said. "(When I started managing the manufacturing department) we were in the middle of a big product decline and we had to cut expenses. So I had to manage crew level declines in a union environment and that was probably the toughest five years of my life but I learned how to do it. We had to manage expenses at the time of declining revenue."
After managing the manufacturing department, Burgan moved into the strategic planning and acquisitions department which brought him to Rhinelander after the company acquired American Plastics.
"What I learned from that, and from working in strategic planning, is how to grow revenue, how to look at expenses, how to quickly look at a company and decide where the opportunities were," Burgan said. "I also learned all the skills involved in strategic planning so I'm very familiar with that."
But after 26 years with the company, the company's CEO quit and a new CEO was brought in who promptly fired the entire staff, including Burgan. He points to that experience as helping him realize just what firing someone means.
"I found some empathy for people who have lost their jobs," Burgan said. "I had a 26-year career and ... I look at firing someone as a very serious thing to do because I went through it. It was probably the worst six months of my life."
Burgan decided to stay in Rhinelander and soon after became part owner of Enterprise Wood Products during what he calls "the worst housing market in my life."
"What I learned there was you have to cut expenses but you can't cut expenses that are critical to your mission and your non-negotiables," he said.
In summary, Burgan said, his vast and various business experiences have well equipped him for the board position.
"I've managed a lot of positions, I've worked in a union environment, I did strategic planning, I worked at a small company and a large company, and I've hired a lot of people in my life. I know what kind of education and what employers are looking for," Burgan said.
In that same vein, Burgan said the district's number one priority, along with financial security, should be ensuring that children are graduating with the skills needed to get a job and earn a living wage.
"I think the number one priority is to have people graduate from high school ready to make a living," Burgan said. "When we started hiring people, ... I was amazed at the people who came to me that couldn't do simple math problems. I really felt sorry for them. I wanted to hire them, they were good people, but I couldn't keep them. They didn't have the skills that we needed, just to do some simple math skills. So I think the number one priority is to graduate people who can make a living."
Passions can run high when decisions involving children have to be made but Burgan said the key is to look at both sides of the debate with an objective eye.
"There are two things that can be said about me," Burgan said. "One, is sometimes I have too much passion. The other thing, because of my experience planning and facilitating, I've been taught to see both sides. I've been taught to at least try to come to a consensus."
Both the board and the administration said they are looking forward to working with Burgan.
Marcus Nesemann may be reached at [email protected].
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