Ariens CEO/President enters term as chairman

Brillion, Wis. — Things are looking up for Dan Ariens, president and CEO of Ariens Co., the outdoor power equipment company founded by his great-grandfather.

With a harsh winter blanketing a broad swath of the United States, the firm's snowblower business is going gangbusters.

The Green Bay Packers, on whose seven-member executive committee he sits, are coming off a season in which fans filled an expanded section of seats that rose like a mountain above the south end zone at Lambeau Field.

Now, Ariens is entering a new and challenging phase of his business and public life, embarking on a two-year term as chairman of Wisconsin Manufacturers & Commerce.

He'll be a key player in the 3,500-member state chamber of commerce at a time when pro-business Republicans rule in Madison.

As if that's not enough pressure, Ariens also serves as vice chairman of the board of the Wisconsin Economic Development Corp., the jobs agency striving to rebound from a troubled launch.

During a conversation at his company headquarters, it becomes apparent that Ariens is interested in carving out a path that is neither left nor right, but aims straight down the middle.

That could be a tricky course to follow, especially in a political year when WMC will be all-in for the re-election of Gov. Scott Walker.

"I have no political motivation here, none," Ariens says. "I'd like to think that Wisconsin has this rich history of manufacturing. I'm a manufacturer. I'd like to keep it that way. And as manufacturing is seeing a resurgence in the United States, some of that should come back to Wisconsin."

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