Inside track: NWA’s ex-chairman adds to perks

Call it a going away gift from Northwest Airlines to former Chairman Gary Wilson who, along with onetime partner Al Checchi, forever changed the face of the carrier with a 1989 leveraged buyout.

Tucked in the fine print of the company's annual proxy statement filed last week were details of a severance package of sorts for Wilson, including a $200,000 consulting fee to be paid in three installments between June 2007 and Dec. 31, 2008.

The severance package also provides Wilson with a secretary and home office expenses for 10 years. In addition, the airline will make a $2 million contribution to a charity of Wilson's choosing.

Airline executives said last week that perks such as these are not unusual for a board chairman of Wilson's stature. Wilson left as chairman in June 2007, when Northwest emerged from bankruptcy.

Ahoy! What economic troubles?

The world apparently is hankering for yachts. The Carver Boat Corp. division of Irwin Jacob's Genmar Holdings is in the midst of a $27 million plant expansion in Pulaski, Wis., near Green Bay, to build the next generation of its Marquis Yacht line -- a 92-footer.

Apparently folks rich enough to buy a yacht in the first place are not challenged by $3.45-a-gallon gasoline and higher food prices. But the primary driver behind the expansion is the weak dollar against major foreign currencies, allowing foreign buyers to snap up these luxury cruisers at seemingly bargain prices. Minneapolis-based Jacobs told the Green Bay Press Gazette that "we are now competitive in countries we never were before."

Oh, by the way, the price tag on that state-of-the-art 92-foot yacht is $8.5 million per copy.

From U to law firm

Peter Bianco, the former head of University Enterprise Laboratories in St. Paul, has a new job: director of Lifescience Business Development for Halleland Health Consulting, a branch of the Minneapolis-based law firm Halleland Lewis Nilan & Johnson.

Bianco, of St. Paul, was most recently president of Bioscience Business Development, where he helped med-tech-related businesses, as well as early-stage life sciences firms, with strategic planning. Bianco's new job will involve coaching nascent bioscience businesses through the often-difficult start-up phase.

DAVID PHELPS, JANET MOORE