Forward Janesville Welcomes George Cullen as New Board Chair

“I take really seriously that I am responsible to carry forward what he has done, because we are going to become a sixth generation business,” he said. “So my job is to be that steward, which I guess is a lot like Forward Janesville, and people such as him (J.P. Cullen) and a lot of others are those founders, or those entrepreneurs. Now it’s my job to be a steward of it.”

Forward Janesville is a combined chamber of commerce and private economic development organization.

The chamber formed in the early 1990s when the Janesville Area Chamber of Commerce merged with the Janesville Economic Development Corporation to become Forward Janesville. The goal of the merger was to cultivate a strong local business environment so existing companies could grow and new companies might be enticed to start up or locate here.

Who is George?

Cullen is a fifth- generation leader at JP Cullen with his sister Jeannie Cullen Schultz. He was born and raised in Janesville and graduated from Craig High School and Georgetown University — then later earned a master’s degree at UW-Madison.

Before joining the family business, Cullen relocated to San Diego, California, where he worked for a mechanical contractor and met his spouse.

Cullen returned to Janesville and JP Cullen in 2015. He’s been a Forward Janesville member since 2020.

As a child, Cullen remembers his family bringing him to commercial ribbon cuttings. He said his grandfather often took him to Cullen construction sites to see tower cranes erected.

Those experiences drew him to a career in his family’s company.

“I was really lucky to get to be exposed to it at a young age,” he said. “What’s so awesome about Cullen is the type of projects we get to build, (they) fill you with a lot of pride—building hospitals, schools, food production facilities, power generating facilities like these are buildings that make a huge impact in the community.”

Cullen said JP Cullen has an employment policy his dad and uncles put in place that requires family members to work someplace else before coming back to Cullen. The idea: For the family members to gain experience and see the world outside the family business.

George said after meeting his spouse, he was unsure he wanted to come back to Janesville. For one, his wife’s family lived on the West Coast. Also, Cullen had risen in the ranks at his job in San Diego.

A return to Cullen meant he’d have to start over as a project manager. Cullen made the move, in part because of a commitment to his family.

“I really felt the call to come back, and it was important to me when my grandpa was still alive to work at the business,” he said. “I wanted to start working here while he was still here, and he and I would get lunch once a week and have that connection together.”

J.P. to George

In the late 1800s early 1900s J.P. was the president of Janesville’s chamber of commerce. He was featured regularly on the pages of the Janesville Gazette during tumultuous times.

In a 1918 Gazette article, J.P. issued a statement supporting the Janesville City Health Officer S.B. Buckmaster’s sweeping recommendations during the 1918 global influenza pandemic.

Buckmaster initially downplayed the infuenza threat, and proclaimed that any public shutdown would be “unpatriotic.” But a few weeks into the pandemic, he saw the illness spreading rapidly. Buckmaster pivoted hard, recommending strict closures of schools, churches and public gatherings.

J.P Cullen backed the health officer in a statement in The Gazette:

“Human life is the dearest thing on earth, and to conserve that we heartily endorse the action of the health officer and will continue to endorse this or any other movement having the interest of the whole community at heart.”

George takes the helm at a time where there are potentially massive economic development prospects in the city, including a hyperscale data center proposed at the former General Motors site.

George’s company is now working on the redevelopment of the First National Bank, a building that his great great great great grandfather helped to usher forward.

Other prospects are the GM/JATCO site that J.P. was in charge of redeveloping into Samson Tractor Co. As the chair of Forward Janesville, George will have a role in helping the community decide what goes onto that site.

Forward Janesville as stewards of community development

Cullen brings history, business planning, governance and also keeping the eye out for where Forward Janesville can make an impact.

“We have to be really nimble and keep an eye out for what’s going on in Janesville. And how can we do things to help move the ball forward,” he said.

Cullen said right now the conversation is pointing heavily to the GM/JATCO site and redevelopment prospects.

“That’s a really charged conversation right now, and there’s people on both sides of it, and I completely understand why people would bring so much energy to that conversation, so much concern.”

Cullen says overarching fears over a GM-site data center have served to eclipse a potential benefit of developer Viridan Partners’ plan — a promise by the company to clean up soil contamination at the site at time that no other end users have emerged.

Cullen believes that local governments could always be more transparent, but he feels that compared to other communities with data center proposals in the pipeline, the city is being more forthright with information.

“In other communities it seemed they kind of woke up, and the next day the data centers happened in the backyard,” he said. “That hasn’t happened here. It’s been way more transparent, but we can always strive to be more transparent.”

Cullen said the sheer number developments in Janesville, including the construction of the Woodman’s Center, landmark learning centers being build at Blackhawk Technical College have been signs of Janesville’s growth in the last few years.

“We have to keep an eye out for the challenges, but we also should take some time to think about the amazing things that are going on, too,” he said.