In the midst of everything 2020, Buttonwood Partners quietly turned 30 back on July 1st. As the “elder statesman” of the team, I was nominated as the official historian and asked to share my version of our origin story. Andrea asked for “something brief,” but there is a lot of good stuff to share after 30 years! I’ll do my best to stick to the highlights…
When I started at the Milwaukee Company in 1983, 2 of the newest brokers in the Madison office were Al Jacobsen and Phil Dybdahl, who had both recently moved over from E.F. Hutton. As Hutton dug itself into deeper and deeper trouble (look at Wikipedia, it’s fascinating!), Bob Anderson and Jerry Gunnelson also left Hutton to join the firm. Then came Monday, October 19, 1987, perhaps better known as “Black Monday,” which caused The Milwaukee Company to have money troubles of its own. Within a year (1988), we arranged to be purchased by Dain Bosworth of Minneapolis, which had a “similar culture” to ours. They flew us to the Twin Cities, introduced us to the major players, and served us coffee and cookies at each meeting.
I was very excited. “Resources!” I said to the older guys. “No,” said Jerry Gunnelson. “Not resources, Vice Presidents. We’ve seen all this at Hutton.” I don’t think the merger had been completed before “The Norwegians” – Anderson, Gunnelson, Jacobsen and Dybdahl – had begun plans to start their own firm. On Sunday, July 1, 1990 those 4, along with Bruce Krueger, a colleague they had all worked with at Hutton, formed Buttonwood Partners. They adopted the name from The Buttonwood Agreement, signed under the Buttonwood Tree at the corner of Wall Street and Broad Street just after the Revolutionary War. From the get-go the founders recognized the importance of a strong team and recruited another Hutton employee to join them - Shelby Mulcahy. Today, she and Bruce are the only 2 “original founders” that remain active with the firm.
Bruce was the youngster in the group, but the Norwegians were all about 50 when they started the journey. By 1996 they realized that if something happened to any one of them, they might need help paying the rent. So Al contacted me. I was (and remain to this day) terribly flattered. Al said they wanted someone who would pay his bills, would stay out of trouble, and was easy to get along with. Sounds like me. And, through an incredible stroke of luck, I had recently hired a 20-year-old UW sophomore from the Green Bay area named Greg. He and I (along with Don and Mary) walked in the door and were greeted by Shelby and the others on Monday, July 7, 1997.
Over time, the original founders have moved on, leaving Bruce and me as the old guys. Bruce heads his own team, while I couldn’t be prouder of my group. Greg and Jodie keep an eye on the day-to-day with an incredible crew taking care of the behind the scenes action. As hard as it is to start stepping away, knowing how capable the team is makes it easier.
We learned our history lessons well and are vigilant not to repeat the mistakes of Hutton and The Milwaukee Company. We’ve enjoyed periods of smooth seas as well as our share of rough waters, but have successfully navigated through 2000-02, 2008-09 and now 2020. And I fully expect Greg to be the MC of a BIG party in the parking lot on our 50th Anniversary. I sure hope to be there - and to see many of you as well. Thank you for sharing the journey!