Cullen maintains family company’s dedication to training, workforce development

Laura Cullen –
JP Cullen

A fifth-generation owner of JP Cullen, Laura Cullen oversees its 500-plus employees’ training and development, recruitment and performance training.

Cullen has tripled the size of her team over the past year and doubled the number of internal courses offered and taken, increasing internal participation in Cullen College and its graduate pool.

She also has enlisted external experts to teach courses to tradespeople and management staff. Cullen is also executive-in-charge of the company’s internship program, which employs 30 or more interns each summer.

“Laura has worked tirelessly to revamp our hiring and interview process to ensure we are able to achieve our mission statement – to identify, hire, train and retain the best people to serve our customers,” said Co-President Jeannie Cullen Schultz.

In 2018, Cullen proposed having a young professional’s organization. Her vision, along with the hard work of a group of youth professional leaders, support from Forward Janesville and donations from area businesses, helped establish the JOIN Janesville Young Professionals.

“There are so many great things happening in downtown Janesville and I believe my generation can play a huge role in continuing to build the momentum toward revitalizing downtown,” she said.

“At the time, Janesville did not have a network for people who are newer in their careers to get together. I was attending similar events in Madison and knew I had co-workers at JP Cullen who lived in Janesville who might want to attend events like these. I think it is important to build connections with your co-workers and community.”

JOIN’s mission is to advance and empower young professionals through connection to volunteer opportunities. Members meet monthly at events concerning individual development, outreach and engagement, social networking and new opportunities. It held its first event in September 2018 and now has more than 80 members.