Londo is on a mission to bring jobs to Wisconsin’s Northwoods
Growing up in Minocqua with traces of Ojibwe blood coursing through his veins, Darold Londo has always known the joys, the pride and the tribulations of the Native American experience.
That experience gave him a good compass as he set out on his life’s educational journey, graduating from the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, earning a master’s degree from the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and a law degree from the University of Wisconsin.
Along the way, Londo played defensive back for the U.S. Army football team. He served as a captain in the U.S. Army during operation Desert Storm. He led the nation’s largest hospitality construction project for Harrah’s Casino and the Cherokee Nation in North Carolina and held various other corporate positions.
And now, he’s back home in Minocqua, serving as chief executive officer of LDF Business Development Corp., the non-gaming economic development arm of the Lac du Flambeau Band of Lake Superior Chippewa Indians.
“It (Minocqua) was always home for me. Up north was always home,” Londo said. “My family is vintage Cheesehead Wisconsin. I traveled around the world. And I had the good fortune to come home. I’ve come full circle, picked up a lot along the way, and I’m blessed to be back.”
LDF has secured federal and state construction certifications, advanced new construction projects and developed and funded plans for a shovelready business park atop a fiber optic network — all part of a strategy to attract companies, diversify revenue and create jobs beyond tribal gaming operations.
With a $3 million grant from the U.S. Department of Commerce Economic Development Administration, LDF plans to develop a state-of-theart Workforce Training and Business Development Center in 2019.
Just a year into his new role, Londo sees momentum building, beyond travel and tourism, for a regional economy that historically lives and dies by visitor spending.
A common lament in northern Wisconsin has long been a dearth of jobs to keep the next generation employed and upwardly mobile.
Londo views the 76-acre development center as a crucial component to attracting new businesses – and jobs – to the area.
“It’s one thing to create hundreds of
millions of dollars of short-term value for a public company that translates into a penny or two per share. It’s another to help create that type of long-term value for a community that translates into new high-quality jobs, new community programs and improved standards of living, the latter being much, much more gratifying, especially in my hometown,” Londo said. “Everything that we’re doing is for the benefit of the tribe.”
For this week’s C-Level listicle, I asked Londo to share his top insights for leading a team to accomplish mutually desired outcomes. Here they are:
1 Identify and understand the mutual mission. “In the military, we follow the ‘commander’s intent.’ This clear, concise expression of operational purpose and desired outcome provides clarity and focus throughout the ranks. Without further orders, teams understand desired results, which allows for flexibility and confidence required to pivot when an operation diverges from Darold Londo
Title: CEO
Company: LDF Business Development Corp., Lac du Flambeau
Expertise: Business leadership/management
Previous experience: Senior vice president, Caesars Entertainment (formerly Harrah’s Entertainment); president, Chorus Networks, Madison; attorney, Axley Brynelson, Madison; and captain, U.S. Army, during operation Desert Storm
Hometown: Minocqua
Residence: Minocqua
Education: Bachelor’s degree, U.S. Military Academy at West Point; master’s degree in business administration, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute; law
the original plan. Leaders and teams benefit from clarity of purpose,” Londo said.
2 Connect individual roles to the mission. “Over the last 20 years, I’ve found connecting individual roles with degree, University of Wisconsin in Madison.
Family: Wife, Anne; daughter, Stephanie; sons, Drew and Austin; cats, Tubs and Windy; and dog, Lexi
Best advice ever received: “Never let your ego get so close to your position that when your position goes, your ego goes with it." – General Colin Powell
Favorite movie: “A tie between ‘Stripes’ and ‘Caddyshack.’ ”
Favorite musical artist: Elton John
Favorite Wisconsin restaurant: Island Café, Minocqua
Extra credit: “All three of my kids went or are going to a service academy, and at least one family member has worn the nation’s uniform and served in the armed forces continuously, including in all conflicts, since World War I.”
purpose is best done with a tool known as a balance scorecard. Most Fortune 500 companies use some version of this tool. The balanced scorecard offers visibility into financial measures, customer knowledge, internal business processes and learning and growth,” Londo said.
3 Execute as a team. “For this point, I draw on my experience playing football for the U.S. Military Academy. Our opponents were always bigger, faster and stronger. For us to win against Notre Dame, Tennessee and Oklahoma, we understood the path to victory. Play to your full potential. Play error-free football. Execute as a team with an abundance of confidence,” Londo said.
4 Continuously improve. “Learning organizations learn before, during and after operations. The military has a defined process, known as the AAR, or After Action Review. This process identifies lessons learned at the completion of each and every mission and then incorporates those lessons immediately into operations and mission planning,” Londo said.
Steve Jagler is the business editor of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. C-Level stands for high-ranking executives, typically those with “chief” in their titles. Send C-Level column ideas to him at steve.jagler@journalsentinel.com.