</jcapU/F>ormer Mayor Joe Sensenbrenner, who served from 1983 until losing to Paul Soglin in 1989, has been busily serving on a variety of boards and working as an outside consultant.</p> <p>"I do outside consulting for business and state and local governments in management improvement, the kinds of things we pioneered in Madison when I was mayor," Sensenbrenner, 57, said. "I've done seminars in Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Mexico and many U.S. states."</p> <p>His consulting work is closely related to the mayoral accomplishment of which he is most proud: Sensenbrenner transferred the "quality and productivity" techniques found in the business world to City Hall, so that government was focused on listening to the city's "customers" - its citizens. "The goal was to improve the quality of municipal service while keeping costs down," Sensenbrenner said.</p> <p>"Out of that we founded the Madison Area Quality Improvement Network, which still exists. I have served on the board continuously for almost 20 years."</p> <p>Of course, he and his wife of 30 years, Mary Ellyn, also were busy raising their sons, Joe, now 28, and David, 26.</p> <p>Currently, Sensenbrenner is chairman of the board and chief private investor of GUILD, an Internet and catalog home d cor firm headquartered in Madison, and is board president of the Urban Open Space Foundation, which is spearheading the proposed Central Park on the near East Side.</p> <p>He also is president of the board of Grassroots Leadership College, which has trained about 200 people, and is on the board of the Bartell Community Theatre.</p> <p>Sensenbrenner and his wife have enjoyed travel, he said. "It's an enriching and broadening experience. Tibet, Nepal and Peru are some of our favorite travel places."</p> <p></p> <p></jend>- Brenda Ingersoll

Whatever happened to ... Look for Catching Up on Mondays in the Local section. Send your ideas to: justaskus@madison.com; 608-252-6192; Just Ask Us, P.O. Box 8058, Madison, WI 53708.