A Family Business
Jack Richeson & Co., Inc. got its start on the third floor of an 1890s Victorian house in the Historic Old Third Ward of Appleton, Wisconsin.

My wife let me utilize the living room, one bedroom and part of the kitchen to handle the inventory. When my son Darren graduated from college with his degree in finance, instead of following what could have been a brilliant career in "Big Business", he chose to give it all up to take care of 'ole Dad.

My daughter, Kelly, joined the family in the accounting department and my son, Shawn, came to take over the beginnings of manufacturing and the warehouse after we moved the operation to our current building in Kimberly, Wisconsin. Soon after, my oldest daughter, Colleen, joined to handle sales and marketing and my son Michael came aboard with critical programming and IT skills. Shawn's wife, Kelly, had been involved in key positions in the company and now heads up our paint manufacturing department.

Colleen's daughter, Jackie, also decided to join the family business in 1995, and after short stints in shipping, receiving and customer service, has landed herself in the role of safety and compliance manager.

Art School and Gallery
In November of 2004, we broke ground on a 25,000 square foot addition to our building, allowing us to make room for the Jack Richeson School of Art and Gallery. Our family has a collection of over two hundred paintings that are on display as part of a permanent, not-for-sale, collection. Then, one third of the gallery is reserved for well-known contemporary painters to exhibit their work. The last and most important third is for new and unknown painters. We want them to get exposure.

In the middle of the building is our class room. We are proud to utilize local teachers to teach every variety of art. Once a month we bring in a nationally known painter for a special workshop. We open the Art School for local painters to come in and paint, chat and talk about their work. We also offer the space to be used for meetings and business receptions. And this is only the beginning!