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Wisconsin Entrepreneurs’ Network (WEN) client Whole Trees Architecture & Structures in Stoddard, Wisconsin has had a good year. In 2011 the company received a Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) grant award of $100,000 from the USDA to work in conjunction with the Forest Product Laboratory to document and verify the strength and structural characteristics of small-diameter branching timbers. Additionally In November this green building systems manufacturer took top prize in its category at the prestigious National Cleantech Open Business Competition.
Since its start in 2007, Whole Trees continues to reach new levels of success, and founders Roald Gundersen and Amelia Baxter are quick to praise the assistance they received from WEN and the UW-La Crosse Small Business Development Center (SBDC).
 The SBDC assisted the Whole Trees team early on to identify funding sources and loan programs and provided business management assistance as the company grew. “The La Crosse SBDC continues to be a support,” says Baxter. “The new Director, Anne Hlavacka, really pinpointed us as an innovative solution with national and international potential, probably before others in our region did.”
Baxter selected WEN Southwest Regional Director Cheryl Vickroy as the company’s mentor throughout the Cleantech Open competition. “I selected Cheryl, because she seemed to have a real ability to comment on the micro details of our plan and presentation, as well as assist us in some macro development ideals and concepts.”
To win the national Cleantech Open, Whole Trees first had to advance through regional semi-finals and finals. Of the national win, Baxter says, “In one sense it means we’ve honed our business plan and the understanding we have about launching a modular product line enough to the point where we are able to engage national ears and national thinkers.”
Baxter adds, “It also means great publicity around our brand name and around the message that we are trying to convey, which is that the forests have an economic value and an economic relationship that we could be fostering, a prosperous relationship with forests rather than one of strip mining or neglect.”
WEN assistance also helped Whole Trees to secure the USDA research grant dollars. “It was Pat Dillon [WEN Northwest Regional Director] who took the time to visit us two years ago to see what we were up to and also recognized that there was innovation going on here and told us to look into that grant program,” says Baxter.
The grant allows Whole Trees to partner with the USDA Forest Products Lab to develop grading and standardized tools and work toward incorporating its building material into international building code.
Whole Trees provides employment for ten people and contracts with more than 20 others. In recent years, it has shifted its focus from primarily residential building to a current focus on the potential this natural building material has for commercial building projects.
While the national recognition it has received this year helps tremendously with its brand development, Baxter says, “It is our ties to the regional forest industry and regional labor pools and regional construction industry that will be the key to our success. We are very dedicated to finding partners in this region and launching our modular product line regionally as we move forward.”
For more information on this successful Wisconsin company, check out its Web site at http://www.wholetreesarchitecture.com .
Shown in Photos: (1) Amelia Swan Baxter: Whole Trees Co-founder and Vice President
(2) Myrick Hixon EcoPark, La Crosse, WI: this iconic black willow tree replaced a steel structural column in the Eco Park's central atrium, sequestering over 10 tons of CO2 in the process.
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