Q&A with Mary Burke

Tom Sheehan

Age: 45

Education: Bachelor's degree in business administration, Georgetown University; MBA, Harvard University

Business experience: Worked for Trek Bicycle Corp.,Waterloo, or its holding company, Intrepid Corp., for three stints since 1986. Most recently was director of forecasting and strategic planning for Trek, 1995 to May 2004.

Burke's father, Richard Burke, co-founded Trek in 1976. Mary Burke also worked as an associate or analyst for management and financial consulting firms and, in 1988, co-founded Manhattan Intelligence, an adviser service for visitors to New York City. Burke is no longer involved in Manhattan Intelligence, a business startup.

Boards: Member, Board of Directors, Trek Bicycle; president, Board of Directors, Boys & Girls Club of Dane County; member, Board of Directors, Maple Bluff Country Club; member, Dean's Advisory Board, UW-Madison School of Business.

New Commerce Secretary Mary Burke says she'd like to see the state continue its support of traditional industries and to boost support for technology-based and biotech companies. She also wants to help state businesses find ways to add value to otherwise traditional products and boost export markets.

Burke, who replaced Cory Nettles, talked about her take on the new job.

Q: Boiled down,what's the role of the Department of Commerce?
A: It's to grow Wisconsin and to create good-paying jobs. Part of that also is keeping it a safe place to work because Commerce also is on the regulatory side, and that has to do with safety issues.

Q: What goals do you have for Commerce?
A:Create more good-paying jobs. I think (Gov. Jim Doyle) has been very explicit about the vision he sees for Wisconsin ? that is to have a vibrant economy where there are good-paying jobs accessible for everyone. A lot of progress has been made on that. ...

Q: What was your most recent role with Trek?
A: My most recent role was as director of forecasting and planning, and so I forecasted what models we were going to sell ? how many and what colors and what sizes ? for about a million bikes a year.

We have really long lead times for sourcing these bikes, so you don't want to produce too many. But you don't want to produce too few, either. I also was involved in acquisition, analysis and strategic planning.

There's a lot of challenges that Wisconsin manufacturing firms face in competing in the global economy, and Trek's been very successful at it. I think I really understand those challenges and can apply those to the challenges that many Wisconsin businesses face.

Q: What best prepared you for this job?
A: I think I've done enough different things in my life, and with the exception of snowboarding, I think most of them have prepared me pretty well for this. I think it goes back to business school, through consulting work, and I've worked for Fortune 500 companies. I'm comfortable and knowledgeable about how those companies operate and the challenges they face. From there, I went to starting my own business. So, as the governor promotes entrepreneurship, I can very much relate to the challenges.

My business was not terribly successful. It was filled with a lot of lessons and a great familiarity with the challenges that entrepreneurs face.

Q: What advice do you have for someone who decides they're going to be an entrepreneur?
A: Expect a lot of hard work. It can be a hard endeavor, and there's no doubt it's like pushing a big boulder up a hill. But I admire so much the people who make a success of it. You can reap great rewards, and a lot of people do make successful businesses, but I'd think about it very carefully. You have to make sure you have a great product and you know that there is a market for it because sometimes you can create a great product, but if you can't translate that into a market, be prepared for a very long time.

Q: What was your perception of state government when you were with Trek?
A: The Department of Commerce had been very helpful to Trek early on in building its export business, not necessarily to Europe, but to other parts of the world where Trek didn't have its own offices. I think we found at Trek (that) Wisconsin had become over the last few years a very easy place to attract employees to and a great place to do business because of the quality of the work force.

Q:What unique things do you do to motivate people?
A: When people feel that what they're doing makes a difference, that's the greatest key to motivation.

I'd say the second is buying into a common goal. ... I think the third is showing you care ? not only thinking but expressing it, too. You learn that in the not-forprofit world because a lot of the people you're working with are volunteers and they can basically just leave. They're not doing it for pay, so you can't pay them more just to stay, and you can't hold a stick over their head. It has to be because they just love doing it, and that's just when I've seen so many great things being accomplished in teams where people feel that.

Q: Are you politically active?
A: No, and I can't say why or why not. ... I've always been an independent.

I've always voted for who I thought was the best person for the position. I support Gov.

Doyle's positions entirely. I'm very impressed, and I'm starting to feel very Democratic at this point because I feel he is just doing so much that's right for Wisconsin that creates a better place to live for everyone.

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