Employment after prison can benefit business

Bill Harrigan invests in people and sells trust.

This is how Harrigan characterizes his work as founder and CEO of Harrigan Solutions, a Grafton firm that assembles teams of workers—including formerly incarcerated people and refugees—in trustworthy teams to provide sanitation in food plants, preventative maintenance on production equipment, and work at construction sites.

While some employers may discard applications from former inmates, Harrigan sees them as a resource able to succeed and thrive.

“We believe that everybody wants to succeed,” Harrigan told 400 people gathered for WEDC’s Wisconsin Economic Summit in Appleton on Oct. 23. “What we’re about is recognizing that they’re dying to contribute, and we create a system where they’re able to do that.”

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