Menasha Corporation’s President and CEO, Jim Kotek, was in Milwaukee on October 2, 2012, to receive the Community Distinguished Performer Award as part of the Wisconsin 75 recognition sponsored by Deloitte LLP and the state’s largest newspaper, the Journal Sentinel.

In accepting the award, Kotek said, “I am humbled to accept the award on behalf of Menasha Corporation’s employees and shareholders. Menasha Corporation takes great pride in the roles that we play in the communities where we have operations….and the roles we have been performing for literally generations.

Today’s recognition belongs to the employees and shareholders of Menasha Corporation who have been giving back to the communities where we operate for more than 160 years. The company’s values, inspired by our founder Elisha Smith, still serve today as the foundation for the company and for the company’s 130 fourth through seventh generation shareholders.”

The Wisconsin 75 is Deloitte and the Journal Sentinel’s annual recognition of the 75 largest privately held companies in the state, and they also give Distinguished Performer Awards in the areas of community, entrepreneurship, environment, generations and people. The community award recognizes a company’s efforts or business choices that focus on giving back to the community. Menasha Corporation was also recognized as the 11th largest privately held company in Wisconsin.

In 2011, the company, through its Menasha Corporation Foundation, provided more than $780,000 in grants to non-profit organizations. The reach was far and wide, with organizations benefitting nearby Menasha’s corporate headquarters in Neenah, Wis., to those in Canada and Mexico, and Japanese citizens who were helped by employee and shareholder donations and the company’s match of those funds following the disastrous earthquake in Japan in March 2011. In addition, the company provides donated goods and services and supports its employees’ volunteer efforts in a number of ways.