Training experts take flight in Valley

Post Crescent
02/23/2003

APPLETON - Steve Kuper's journey from the ministry to consulting wasn't ordained, but fell into place because of his communications and training talents.

First, he decided in 1988 after seven years, to change careers. "I left the ministry and ended up with United Airlines as a joke," he said.

On a lark, he applied for and got a flight attendant job, but after a year was bored with that.

In early 1991, the restless steward got a special assignment with United that propelled him into employee training and curriculum design. He did training of all new flight attendants.

"My whole specialty was developing communication skills, customer training and diversity," he said.

The next 8 1/2 years he served as a United trainer, while flying a couple of months a year to keep fresh. That all changed in 1999 when a new supervisor required Kuper and everyone else to "re-apply" for their jobs. She told him and several others they didn't have the necessary skills.

Kuper was rankled. "It was a power play," he said. "It was a weak manager who wanted to surround herself with weak people to make herself look strong."

Not willing to return full time to flying, he formed Kuper & Associates in early 2000 and secured his first employee training contract with the College of Southern Maryland. His second was with Kimberly-Clark Corp., for whom he conducted the Fox Cities Diversity Day training.

A month later, in April, he got a call from Jeff Greenman, a high-level United executive and an acquaintance. "He said, 'Kups, How'd you like another customer?' At first I thought he was joking," Kuper said.

Kuper quit the little flying he was doing and, as a consultant, began training all the supervisors of United On-board Service Division.

Ironically, the supervisor who had fired him as a trainer sought his advice as a consultant in communication and problem-solving skills. She didn't last in the job - something that didn't surprise Kuper.

He was soon working six days a week on United training and, by August 2000 he took on a partner, Mary Beth Kemen, so the firm also could build its non-United client base.

In March 2001, Kemen left as director of the American Heart Association, Northeastern Wisconsin Chapter, and became a partner in Kuper/Kemen. She had previous training experience and had worked at First Assembly when Kuper was there.

In their firm, they shared some United work and during! 2001 began building their business, with United as the base.

The Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks changed everything.

"Mary Beth was at the United offices in Elk Grove Village (Ill.) when the attacks occurred," Kuper said. "By 5 o'clock that night she was escorted off the property" and because of the lack of flights, she had to drive home to Suamico.

United halted all training and, suddenly, Kuper/Kemen lost 99 percent of its business. The two consultants had little to do, but later that fall they got a contract with Com Tec Inc., the Fox Cities high-tech security firm, and last spring, one each with Bassett Mechanical Inc., the Fox refrigeration company, as well as Humana Dental, a De Pere area insurer. None of the three contracts was nearly the size of United's, but duo welcomed them.

"It kept the business going," Kuper said. "I didn't take paychecks. I took no pay for months, living on savings.
Last fall, Kuper's life took another turn he hadn't thought would happen: He decided to relocate to the Fox Cities, a logical move because he and Kemen had clients in the Fox Valley and they knew the communities.

He had vowed never to return when he left 14 years earlier. "I always said I'd never come back to Appleton; I always enjoyed big cities," Kuper said.

They won the Humana and Bassett contracts with "cold calls," client-hunting visits without an invitation.

"It was very apparent that word about us was spreading at a faster rate because of the small business community," Kuper said, noting cold calls rarely work in Milwaukee.

Kemen had been commuting from Suamico while Kuper had been operating out of Milwaukee from his home office. He sold his house last October and headed for the Fox Cities.

Kuper operates out of a small office, perhaps 1,000 square feet, under the escalator in the City Center Plaza in downtown Appleton, and Kemen maintains her office in her Suamico home.

A consultant spends little time in the office, doing most work on-site for clients. Kuper expects to be on the road as they build the business. He doesn't want another twist in his career story, but he's got a "have-training, will-travel" attitude. He's doing work for Save the Children Foundation in Washing, D.C., and considering a joint project in Minnesota with a consultant there.

Looking back, he said, "it's been a journey, (but) when it's your passion, you go to the end of the road before you ever give up."