Derse broke ground Thursday, Aug. 27, on a 300,000-square-foot global headquarters and client experience center in Oak Creek, Wisconsin, advancing the largest single investment in the company’s history.
The facility at 10300 South Oakview Parkway is scheduled to open in November 2027. More than 225 employees will work at the site, which will become Derse’s largest facility worldwide, surpassing its current largest operation in Dallas.
The groundbreaking moves forward a headquarters expansion that Derse first announced in 2025. The project will consolidate the company’s Milwaukee headquarters and division with its Waukegan, Illinois, operation while expanding production, warehousing, client, and employee space.
Derse will continue to operate an Illinois office in Northbrook, near Chicago O’Hare International Airport.
Brett Haney, chief executive officer of Derse, told attendees at the groundbreaking that the search leading to Oak Creek took years and involved numerous potential sites.
Haney credited Jim Paetsch, who is retired from Milwaukee 7, with helping during a search that included sites in nine municipalities across four counties. Haney said the effort stretched across roughly eight years, with the pandemic occurring in the middle of the process.
“It’s been literally eight years, guys, with a pandemic in the middle of it,” Haney said. “We should all be proud that we’ve been able to build the company to get to this point.”
Wisconsin backs project with $1.25 million tax credit program
The Wisconsin Economic Development Corporation (WEDC) is supporting the project with a $1.25 million performance-based state income tax credit program, according to remarks at the groundbreaking.
State and regional economic development officials joined Derse leadership and Oak Creek representatives for the ceremony.
Haney said Oak Creek officials actively pursued the project and recognized the value of the jobs that would come with it.
“When it opens, we’ll have over 225 employees working at this facility,” Haney said. “One of the reasons I think Mayor Dan and Andrew Vickers and all of the staff from Oak Creek rolled the red carpet out for us is we have high-end, family-supporting jobs, and that means a lot to a community.”
Oak Creek Mayor Dan Bukiewicz described the development as part of the city’s evolution from a farming community into a center for industrial and corporate investment. He said city officials had considered other potential developments for the property but waited for a project they believed fit the site.
Derse ultimately selected Oak Creek after considering multiple communities.
The decision also keeps the company’s global headquarters in southeastern Wisconsin, where Derse traces its roots to 1948.
New headquarters built around clients and employees
Beyond its size, the Oak Creek headquarters is intended to change how Derse serves clients and brings its teams together.
Plans include a customer experience center, conference areas, walking paths, a workout room, and other employee amenities. Derse also expects to introduce new capabilities from the facility, although Haney did not disclose details during the ceremony.
“The customer experience center, the employee amenities, the walking paths, the workout room, the conference centers, the new capabilities that we are working on that are going to be launched out of this new facility is going to be industry leading,” Haney said.
The project follows years of company growth that pushed Derse toward the capacity of its existing Milwaukee and Waukegan operations. When Derse first announced the expansion in June 2025, the company said both facilities were nearing capacity and had less than 36 months remaining on their leases.
At the time, Derse outlined plans for expanded production and warehousing capabilities, training areas, collaborative spaces, and a dedicated experience center where clients, vendors, and employees could interact with the company’s work.
The company also said the larger operation would increase its capacity to handle high-volume and complex client programs.
From a garage business to a global operation
The groundbreaking adds another chapter to a company that began far differently from the operation Derse runs today.
James F. Derse founded the business in 1948 as a sign-painting operation in the back of his mother’s garage. Over the following decades, the company expanded into outdoor advertising, interior and exterior signage, and tradeshow exhibit design and construction.
Haney highlighted another turning point during his remarks: the 1989 purchase of the company from Jim Derse by his father, Bill Haney, along with Bill McNamara and Dan VanderSanden.
“It’s been incredible growth,” Haney said, crediting their vision and leadership with helping establish the company Derse has become.
Today, Derse designs, builds, and manages tradeshow exhibits, events, and branded environments for clients through operations in the United States and Europe.
The Oak Creek headquarters will bring part of that history together under one roof while providing additional room for future growth.
Haney also hinted that the headquarters project will not be Derse’s last major announcement in the near term.
“We have some other exciting announcements related to the growth of the company in the next few months,” Haney said. “I don’t like to be cryptic, but I’m going to say just stay tuned.”
Derse is a privately held experiential marketing company that designs, builds, and manages exhibits, events, and branded environments. Founded in Milwaukee in 1948, the company serves clients through a network of offices and production facilities in the United States and Europe. Learn more at derse.com.
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