Barbara Bolens has over 35 years of experience running strategy, capital raising and deployment, M&A and investor relations operations at publicly traded global companies with revenues of $600 Million to $20 Billion. She works with companies to create growth strategies, manage capital structure, manage enterprise risk, improve investor relations, and develop relationships with Wall Street. She is a qualified financial expert, is adept at corporate governance, ESG, ERM, manages activist shareholders, attracts new investors, and protects shareholder value. By creating new lines of business, introducing financing programs for customers, and leading mergers and acquisitions, she has consistently grown revenue and profitability. Her strategies to refinance debt, negotiate with bank partners and structure financing, have enabled growth at each company. She has served on several boards and used her strategy, finance, risk management and governance expertise to aid these organizations in their expansion.
Barbara previously led the Nicholas Center for Corporate Finance and Investment Banking at the Wisconsin School of Business. She currently serves as a Trustee on the State of Wisconsin Investment Board and is a member of their Compensation and Audit Committees and previously served on their Governance Committee. Additionally, she is Treasurer and Finance Chair of the Skylight Music Theater and was previously on the Board of Advisors for Milwaukee Women, Inc. She previously served on the advisory board of Alto Shaam, a global manufacturer of professional grade cooking equipment. She has also achieved NACD’s Directorship Certification.
As senior executive for two Fortune 500 companies and three Fortune 1000 companies, Barbara has extensive experience in the manufacturing industry. As Chief Strategy Officer of Enerpac Tool Group (NYSE: EPAC) and as a member of the Executive Committee, she created and deployed a strategy for organic and M&A growth, developed and implemented its ESG strategy and improved ESG scores by 40%, developed the company’s expertise in activism and defense and managed activist shareholders, attracted four new major investors, architected its DE&I strategy, developed its ERM processes and led analyses on company valuation and capital allocation.
As Vice President and Treasurer of Komatsu Ltd, (6301:Tokyo) she was responsible for treasury, capital raising, risk management, and shared services for $10 Billion of this $20 Billion global capital equipment manufacturing company. She structured take-out financing of a $3.3 Billion acquisition with an innovative long-term debt structure and restructured their risk management program, saving the company more than $5 million annually. AtJOY GLOBAL INC. (NYSE: JOY), she directed treasury, capital raising, customer financing and shared services for the $5 Billion global mining equipment company. She created a novel commercial financing solution resulting in a $300 Million increase in revenue. She structured a currency hedging strategy to manage volatility and renegotiated $1.4 Billion credit facility providing a $2 Million annual cost savings. Her work creating a new pension investment strategy saved $20 Million annually in the global $1.5 Billion defined benefit plan. Developing a shared services function, she drove a reduction in staff by 50%. While at Quad Graphics, (NYSE: QUAD), a $3 Billion commercial printing and marketing company, she led the creation of their investor relations function as it went public. As Treasurer and VP at Brady Corporation, (NYSE: BRC) she led Treasury, investor relations, and drove marketing and product development improvements for the $1.3 Billion company.
Barbara has completed the Women’s Director Development Program at Northwestern’s Kellogg University. She holds an MBA in Finance from the University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee and BBA in marketing from the University of Wisconsin, Madison. In 2005, the Milwaukee Business Journal named her a Women of Influence at the Corporate Executive Level. In her free time, she enjoys training for and competing in triathlon events.