See Inside Fiserv’s New Headquarters

Fiserv global headquarters. Photos by Jeramey Jannene.

More than 12,000 transactions are processed every second of every day by financial services technology firm Fiserv.

But on Monday morning, there was only one transaction on the mind of company and city officials.

CEO Frank Bisignano and Mayor Cavalier Johnson cut the ribbon on the company’s new global headquarters and welcomed more than 600 employees to its new downtown office.

“Brookfield to Milwaukee,” said Bisignano. “I have to say, I am sorry we were late, but we are here forever now.”

The company has more than 40,000 employees across the globe, including even larger locations in New Jersey, Georgia, Nebraska and Florida and an executive office near Wall Street. But a complicated subsidy agreement will ensure that Fiserv, founded in Brookfield in 1984, refers to Milwaukee as its global headquarters for decades to come.

“This location is superbly strategic for us,” said the New York-based CEO. “Our ability now, from this location, to entertain clients will be unparalleled with anything we ever did in Wisconsin before,” said the CEO. That includes a short stroll north to Fiserv Forum, the arena for which the company holds the naming rights, or a ride down to the elevator to 3rd Street Market Hall. “Hopefully it serves each and every one of you well… It’s an investment for the long haul.”

The company leased three floors, approximately 168,000 square feet, of the HUB640 building at W. Wisconsin and N. Vel R. Phillips avenues and invested at least $37 million in building out what was formerly the Boston Store and offices for its corporate parent BonTon.

Some of that investment includes converting portions of the basketball court the Milwaukee Bucks won the 2021 NBA championship on into art and tables. (As naming rights sponsor of the Bucks arena, Fiserv had the inside track on getting a portion of the court.) But much of the conversion involved renovating the space, formed by a series of buildings built more than 100 years ago, into a modern, open-concept office with exposed Cream City brick, a dizzying array of technology and more than 90 conference rooms, “huddle spaces” and other gathering spaces.

“Milwaukee is painted orange today, and it will be painted orange forever,” said Bisignano. “It’s our town. It’s where our headquarters are.”

The CEO said the company was happy to be located on a street named for Vel Phillips, the late civil rights trailblazer. “Not every person on the management committee knew exactly what that meant, but one of the management committee’s greatest skills is Googling,” said Bisgnano to laughter. “But it became very obvious the historic nature and the meaning of this for us.” A new plaza across the street from the headquarters, with a sculpture and informational kiosk funded by increased tax revenue from Fiserv’s offices, will help thousands more learn about her.

“Welcome to Milwaukee. We have been waiting for you Fiserv,” said the mayor.

“We couldn’t be more excited to welcome Fiserv to Westown,” said Westown Association executive director Stacie Callies. She said the company is already making an impact with its title sponsorship of the Milwaukee Night Market, located just outside its door. It’s also a major marker in the complete transformation of the west side of Downtown.

The move has been several years in the making. In 2017 the Fortune 500 company confirmed it was considering multiple sites in Milwaukee, but never moved. In 2019 it acquired First Data Corporation for $22 billion and set about restructuring or closing several dozen of its offices spread across the country.

The HUB640 move was announced in October 2022. The city, using increased property tax revenue, will eventually rebate $7 million to the company if it has up to 780 employees based out of the facility and fulfills other terms, including calling Milwaukee its global headquarters. The Wisconsin Economic Development Corporation will also provide a $7 million income tax credit subsidy if the company reaches 980 employees in Wisconsin.

The company is leasing the third, fourth and fifth floors. It is also opening a private entrance at W. Michigan Street. Other tenants of the building, owned by North Wells Capital, will enter on N. Vel R. Phillips Avenue. Tenants of the apartments on the eight-story building’s top floors, known as the Boston Lofts, also have their own Vel R. Phillips Avenue entrance. Kohl’s operates a retail store on the northern half of the first floor.

The top-ranking executive based out of the Milwaukee office is chief financial officer Bob Hau. “It’s a proud day for Milwaukee and a proud day for Fiserv,” said Hau, who was credited with guiding the move to Downtown. The CFO’s hands-on role in the move was made evident with Bisignano noting he was spotted working in the building over the weekend, and by Hau’s remarks. Among an array of facts and figures, Hau told the crowd there are 12 full-size refrigerators in the space and that it pained him, as a Marquette University alum, that a large staircase marked one of the floors with a badger and another with a robin, the state bird, and not with a Golden Eagle.

Hau and hundreds of his coworkers were treated to music by a high-energy DJ Monday as they filed in and out of the third-floor dining area, which includes a breakfast-and-lunch restaurant, The Point, and a coffee bar, the Clover Cafe, that serves Colectivo Coffee. Employees are expected to be in any of Fiserv’s offices four days a week, with Bisignano noting that providing high-quality food was a key expectation of the new space.

Fiserv, listed on the New York Stock Exchange, had a market capitalization in excess of $88.5 billion at the time of publication. It reported revenue of $19.09 billion in 2023, with net income of $3.1 billion.

The company’s relocation to Downtown follows a trend for the Milwaukee area, with companies universally saying it’s part of a strategy to attract and retain workers who favor an urban environment and its amenities. Two weeks ago, Enerpac announced it was moving its headquarters from Menomonee Falls to the ASQ Center, last year Milwaukee Tool opened a major downtown office just southwest of Fiserv’s new headquarters,  Northwestern Mutual is overhauling one of its office towers as part of a move to close its Franklin campus and bring workers Downtown, Twin Disc relocated its corporate suite from Racine to the Historic Third Ward, Church Mutual Insurance Company established a lakefront office at 833 East while formally keeping its headquarters in Merrill in northern Wisconsin and Regal Rexnord announced it was changing its headquarters address from Beloit to 111 W. Michigan St., the building located just south of the ASQ Center.

Tour

123►

Press Event