JSOnline.com News Archives

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel (WI)

The men behind Titletown Executive committee helps shape Packers

DON WALKER Staff Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
Published: September 14, 2006
They are not paid a dime for their time and expertise, though they can attend Green Bay Packers games for free. Once a month, at 7:30 a.m. sharp, the seven members of the team’s executive committee come to Lambeau Field to meet behind closed doors, content in the knowledge that what goes on inside that room stays inside that room.

The meeting is always about the business of Green Bay Packers football. And the first order of business never changes: the football report from the general manager.

Over the past few years under the leadership of Packers chairman Bob Harlan, these men have presided over such knotty topics as the hiring and firing of coaches and general managers, a stock sale, a multimillion-dollar stadium renovation and preparing for two Super Bowls.

Occasionally, Harlan will summon them at a moment’s notice to be briefed about a major decision Harlan wants to make. Harlan will tell them what he wants to do, and there will be debate and, usually, consensus.

"Everything we do we go to the executive committee," Harlan said.

To a man, the committee members know and appreciate the fact they belong to the most exclusive club in the state, and one that is unique in the 32-team National Football League. And no matter how much money or influence you might have, or whether you can define and spot a Cover 2 or a dime defense as well as a NFL coach, there is no such thing as a shoo-in for membership.

"We’re very careful before we add somebody," Harlan said.

With Harlan ready to step down next year into retirement, the executive committee will face many challenges. One is the makeup of the board itself. Historically, there have never been minorities or women on the committee, something Harlan vowed will change in the years ahead.

"Ron Wolf used to say that one of the reasons he thought the Packers were attractive to him was because the team didn’t have an owner getting in the way," said John Underwood, the team’s longtime treasurer who still wields considerable influence on the team and in the NFL.

In the Packers’ organization, the executive committee doesn’t get in the way, but its advice and counsel is considered crucial to the well-being of the organization.

"The executive committee doesn’t get involved in micro-managing," Underwood said. "That’s a recipe for problems."

In interviews with present and former members of the executive committee, all agreed that major decisions come from Harlan and other top team officials. The executive committee sees itself as a sounding board, not unlike the board of directors of a major corporation.

"We have the cleanest model with clear lines of authority," said Larry Weyers, a member of the committee and president and CEO of WPS Resources. "Is the executive committee a rubber stamp? Just the opposite. We have a fiduciary responsibility to the organization. But Bob is the CEO, and he carries weight."

"Yes men?" asked John Bergstrom, a committee member and head of the Bergstrom Automotive Group. "There isn’t anyone at that table who is a yes man. We debate a lot.

"We have to stay competitive on and off the field. And we have to do that because of our size."

Among other things, the committee — a subset of the larger and better known 45-member board of directors — is responsible for monitoring Harlan’s performance as well as the work of John Jones, who will take over as president and CEO next year.

"We hold the CEO responsible for what happens," said Peter Platten III, a retired banker who has been on the executive committee since 1985. "But I can’t think of an instance where we had a strong disagreement over anything of substance."

Harlan recalled one, though it hardly qualifies as earth-shattering.

"When I wanted to hire Ron Wolf in 1991," Harlan recalled, "I wanted to make a move in mid-season. One person on the committee was against it. He wanted to hire a search firm. He finally agreed to go along to make it unanimous."

Before Harlan arrived, the executive committee was mostly known as a good ol’ boys club, where it mattered who you knew. When Harlan came aboard in 1989 as team president, one of his first priorities was to bring more expertise to the board room. More bank presidents, more numbers people, more marketing experts. More people familiar with the bottom line, not the goal line.

"The organization looks for certain skill sets," Underwood said. "Let’s face it. It’s big business."

On this committee, Weyers and Platten are numbers guys, familiar with accounting and financial performance. Bergstrom, an auto dealer, knows marketing. Carl W. Kuehne is a lawyer who heads American Foods Group, a major company in Green Bay. Edward J. Martin, the committee’s newest member, is a well-known businessman whose company provides building services to commercial and industrial customers.

John Fabry, who runs Saranac, a glove and knitwear maker down the street from Lambeau Field, also serves on the marketing committee.

But change comes slowly. From 1993 to 2003, the makeup of the board never changed.

While football is big business, the committee gets the word on the state of the football team before anyone else does. Packers general manager Ted Thompson presents the report these days.

"It can get fairly detailed," Weyers said. "Before the draft, we get a report on where the holes are. We go position by position. Ted tells us what his concerns are. How people are panning out."

Back when Wolf had his eyes on a young Atlanta Falcons quarterback by the name of Brett Favre, it was the executive committee that heard about Wolf’s plan before anyone else did.

Fabry recalled having some trepidation when he learned Wolf wanted Favre. "I said to myself, ‘We can’t afford a screw-up.’ "

The executive committee also gets the inside word on injuries. Can people heal fast enough for next season? Is someone’s career over?

"We get to see the inside details," Weyers said. "We’re free to ask whatever we like. But it’s clear the football operations are run by the football people."

"I tell them: ‘Be very blunt,’ " Harlan said. "We are here because of the football team."

In truth, since the early 1990s and until last season, it wasn’t such a bad thing to be a member of the executive committee. The team was winning, the Packers played in two Super Bowls and the stadium got a much-needed makeover.

Harlan, in particular, credited board members for providing leadership when the organization was trying to figure out what to do with aging Lambeau Field.

"At one point, there were different opinions about what to do," Underwood said. "We started out with a Band-Aid approach for $75 million. We thought we were going in the right direction. But we weren’t doing well with unshared revenues."

For Platten, the decision to go ahead with a more extensive stadium makeover was a matter of survival.

"I don’t think people thought we were heading toward dire straits," he said. "But we were. We had to determine what we could do, and we worked many untold hours on what should be done."

Nowadays, there is an extensive selection process and, according to Harlan and others familiar with the system, there is a lengthy list of candidates to serve on the full board. A board member must first serve on the larger board before being considered for the seven-member executive committee.

"When (Mike) Holmgren was around, everything was hunky-dory for the executive committee," Fabry said of the Super Bowl years. "Maybe 50 guys wanted to be on the board. Now it’s 200." The organization has traditionally drawn its committee members from the Green Bay area. Though it is not written into the team’s bylaws, Harlan said the organization prefers that members live in the area.

That became an issue in July when WPS Resources, which Weyers heads, announced plans to buy Peoples Energy Corp. of Chicago. At the time of the announcement, Weyers said the corporate headquarters of the new company would be in Chicago.

Weyers, however, said he still planned to keep his home in the Green Bay area and had no intention of resigning from the Packers’ executive committee.

It is that local link to the community that helps make the Packers unique.

And in small-town Green Bay, many Packers fans know who sits on the executive committee — which can be both good and bad.

Donald Harden, a former member of the executive committee, recalled the day he joined the executive committee and was met by Hall of Famer Tony Canadeo.

"Tony Canadeo told me, ‘If we lose, everybody knows your name. If we win, nobody knows your name.’ " Harden said.

The members of the executive committee would much rather work in anonymity.

Members of the Packers’ Executive Committee:

Bob Harlan, 70, Packers chairman.

John Bergstrom, 60, head of Bergstrom Automotive Group.

John Fabry, 67, head of Saranac Glove.

Carl Kuehne, 64, head of American Foods Group.

Edward Martin, 50, president, H.J. Martin & Son.

Peter Platten III, 67, retired banker.

Larry Weyers, 61, president and CEO, WPS Resources.