Packers Mentor-Protégé Program helps Milwaukee trucking business

By Mallory Anderson

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    MEQUON, Wisconsin (WISN) — The Green Bay Packers are helping a Milwaukee woman take her small trucking business to the next level.

When you combine the words “truck” and “football,” it usually means a solid hit on the field. But for Tiffany Rooker of Out & About Transportation in Milwaukee, it means valuable advice for her growing trucking business through the Green Bay Packers Mentor-Protégé Program.

“As I got in the program and I met with a lot of different professionals, they all had so much insight on how things could shift in our business,” Rooker said. “I mean, people come from different backgrounds. We have attorneys, we have accountants, we have professors — you name it.”

The Packers started the program in Brown County in 2010 as a way to help disadvantaged businesses in that area. After a few years, they extended the program statewide.

The Packers fund the program and work to pair established business executives with small businesses looking for help and advice.

Craig Hulce is one of Rooker’s mentors. He is a finance professor at the University of Wisconsin – Green Bay and the expert in residence for the program.

“Tiffany is a tough-as-nails woman in a tough business. She is looking for ideas, and she’s willing to take the advice,” Hulce said. “We meet with the selected groups every week except for the summer, and the groups present their issues or their business within 10 minutes. Then we, as the mentors and the expert in residence, we quickly go through a SWOT analysis of strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats.”

Rooker and her husband Jeremy started Out & About as a passenger transportation company in 2016. They pivoted to cargo trucking in 2021 and have been delivering products for businesses around the Midwest ever since.

While the two have gotten by on their own, their newfound mentors came at an important time.

“The biggest challenge that we’re just coming out of is the accident my husband was involved in,” Rooker said. “One of our trucks was out for about four months. So that was a big challenge financially, and then the fact that he was injured as well. So we’re still dealing with that. There was valuable information that Craig and a lot of the other mentors gave us, as far as trying to sustain during this time, along with legal and financial advice and just strategies on trying to keep the business going during this time.”

Rooker’s goals for the program had to be adjusted due to the crash, but Hulce said she is now back on track.

“She has kind of a unique situation where they lost a truck, and it’s kind of a start-up again,” Hulce said. “So we’re just kind of revisiting a lot of the marketing things that she has to go through and kind of tough it out. She’ll get through it.”

With her second truck back up and running, Rooker can now pick up more contracts. Her anticipated expansion is already in development.

“You know enough to survive, but if you want to get to the next level, you definitely need a mentor to guide you along the way,” Rooker said.

The Packers accept mentors and proteges from businesses around the state. If you are interested in applying for either role, click here.

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