Lessons and stories from 60-year hospitality and higher ed career
Following a long business and teaching career, the retiring Jerry Lintz shares invaluable wisdom gained from a lifetime of hospitality and education.
Lessons and stories from 60-year hospitality and higher ed career
After 24 years of teaching at Northeast Wisconsin Technical College, Jerry Lintz is ready to “hang it up.” He retires this month, having shaped hundreds of aspiring entrepreneurs and hospitality professionals.
Over the years, Lintz helped launch over one hundred businesses, shared countless stories, and built friendships with individuals throughout NWTC and beyond.
For Lintz, his role as an NWTC instructor was “an incredible second career.” Before starting at the College, Lintz spent decades in the hotel industry – starting at age fifteen. Lintz enjoyed working for the majority of those years as the managing partner of a firm called Fox Heights Hospitality, Hotels, and Restaurants.
In 2002, he began teaching at NWTC when he was contacted about a part-time position as a hospitality instructor. “It sounded like the perfect second career, and it was my good fortune to be hired,” said Lintz. Later, when the Entrepreneurship program was being developed at the College, Lintz became a full-time instructor.
Each semester, the Entrepreneurship program launches three or four new ventures. “For example, over the past year a few landscape companies, a couple of food trucks, a coffee shop, a bakery, a sports clothing line, a house ‘flipper,’ a car detailer, a teeth whitening service, a mobile pet groomer...the list is diverse and changing as fast as the marketplace,” he said.
The most enduring aspect of being an NWTC instructor for Lintz has been the relationships that start in the classroom.
“There are students who graduated ten or fifteen years ago who contact me with questions about their business and/or about starting a new venture,” he said. “Every week there is the opportunity to share lunch with NWTC graduates who are now business owners.”
One of those graduates, Amanda Miceli, considers Lintz a mentor and a friend. As she started her business, she said Lintz was “always the person I called when I had no idea what to do.” Read more about Miceli’s NWTC journey.
“He’s always the one who helped guide me and support me. He reminded me, 'This is normal. This is business ownership, and you’re not alone,’” she said. Miceli and four other NWTC graduates, including her sister, Alison, meet up regularly with Lintz for group gatherings.
“Next to being at home with the family, my safe haven is the classroom,” Lintz said. “The students are a gift: The curiosity, the passion and the questions will be more than missed. My ‘learning’ happens by chatting with students.”
Stories of experience
Jerry Lintz - now and then. Lintz pictured in the classroom, where he shared stories from his business career, and at a convention in Las Vegas. The lodging industry offered unique opportunities to meet public figures. In 1999, as a national hotel franchisee board member, Lintz shared lunch and conversation with former President George H.W. Bush. (Photos courtesy of Jerry Lintz)
NWTC Entrepreneurship students will confirm, “Jerry tells a bunch of stories.” The stories are cultivated from Lintz’s decades of business experience.
“My business career provided me with hundreds of stories to share,” he said. “Not just my stories, the stories from the business partners from my previous career…stories that span over eight decades.”
As Lintz moves on from NWTC, he inevitably brings with him a collection of stories, including this memorable one: “During a recent class discussion on the current political situation, I quoted Abraham Lincoln: ‘A house divided cannot stand against itself.’ It was one of those proud teaching moments where you showed ‘a touch of brilliance’ linking past history to the present – the gloating was quickly dashed by the following student’s question: ‘Mr. Lintz, did you read that or did Abe tell you?’”
Reflecting on his careers, Lintz feels truly grateful.
“It was my good fortune to spend thirty years with a wonderful organization in the private sector,” he said. “NWTC has been an incredible ‘second career’: The students, the friendships, the laughter and the experiences have been extraordinary….when it comes to careers, I have been blessed twice.”
Before moving on from NWTC, Lintz shared some of the knowledge and expertise gleaned from his careers.
Q&A with Jerry Lintz
If you could give one piece of unfiltered advice to an individual who wants to open their own business in today’s economy, what would it be?
In the words of Mark Cuban: “What are the reasons a business fails?” In true Cuban style: “Lack of brains, lack of effort!” Entrepreneurs need to understand that customers are not waiting for you to open your business; you need to steal competitors’ customers. In order to accomplish that goal, one needs to be smarter, faster, and more resilient than the competition – the competition who, by design, already knows more than you about the industry, the market, etc.
What is the most reliable litmus test to tell if a business idea is a viable opportunity or just a hobby?
“The best way to succeed in business is to be in business.” However, if the only enthusiasm is from family/friends, it is definitely a hobby – save your money!
How have you seen the relationship between the region’s small businesses and the local economy change over the years?
The relationship has been enhanced over the years with organizations such as the Urban/Start Up Hub, NEW North, Women’s Business Initiative Corporation, and area economic development organizations.
What is one unglamorous, operational habit every successful owner must master?
The most important (maybe/maybe not unglamorous) “operational habit” is to have is a “daily routine” that “budgets” the most valuable/limited commodity: time.
How has your perspective on taking risks changed from when you were running your own business to when you were teaching?
The level of risk (personal, financial, etc.) is affected by age. Fifty years ago, there was no thought in borrowing money at any interest rate and/or financing projects on a credit card. As the Entrepreneurship program instructor, it is quandary to answer this question from a student: “Would you start a business on a credit card?” Who should respond to the question – the conservative 75-year-old instructor or the 25-year-old reckless guy that financed everything (when necessary) on a credit card?
What is the key to hiring and retaining talent for businesses of any size?
The co-founder of Fox Heights had the philosophy to “Hire for fit, train for skill.” That reasoning was applied to all positions except sales. For salespeople, the premise was based on empirical experience: “You cannot teach a non-salesperson to sell, you cannot stop a salesperson from selling.”
What was the most important lesson you learned the hard way that you passed on to students?
“Mistakes are the tuition that is paid for wisdom” – another quote from my previous career. Experience is not gained from “doing the same thing.” Experience is gained from taking risks.
Lintz honored for impact
Earlier this year, Lintz was honored as Discover Green Bay’s Tim Quigley Tourism Person of the Year at the annual Champions of Hospitality Awards. This is his second time receiving the award; he was the inaugural recipient in 2001. (Photo credit: Discover Green Bay/LinkedIn)
Lintz is the co‑founder of the Greater Green Bay Lodging Association and serves on over a dozen for‑profit and non‑profit boards across Wisconsin.
At the 2026 Wisconsin State DECA Conference, Lintz was recognized for twenty years of service as NWTC’s Collegiate DECA advisor. He is pictured with Amanda and Alison Miceli at the conference. The sisters are former NWTC students who are now successful entrepreneurs.
What's on deck for Lintz in retirement
“At seventy-five, the concept of retirement has yet to register,” Lintz said. “The concept is as scary as it is exciting. What am I going to do tomorrow? How do you tell a Tuesday from a Saturday?”
Chances are the avid triathlete – who currently participates in a couple dozen triathlons per year (mostly virtual now) will not be slowing down any time soon.
Lintz and his wife are moving to a new home in Franklin, a suburb of Milwaukee, where he plans to be a full-time grandpa to their granddaughter, Lucille. He hopes to be an usher for the Milwaukee Brewers at American Family Field. The rest, “is a “welcome mystery.” (Photos courtesy of Jerry Lintz)
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