Basil Buchko, JD, MBA

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Basil Buchko, JD, MBA

About

Contact

About

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Leadership

As a young Airman, I was placed into leadership. I was assigned leadership duties over a team of civilian employees without any formal training. I had good leaders as role models and I deeply appreciate the opportunity they gave me. Today, my leadership experience and understanding have increased and I see myself employing a dual philosophy of servant and transformational leadership. My core belief as a leader is my responsibility for the development of those I lead. Early in my career, this was accidental. I figured my team's most pressing needs were knowing what their duties were and understanding the rules and processes of their responsibilities. This experience led to my first core belief as a leader: it is my responsibility to ensure that my teams are well-equipped to perform. This is the servant side of my philosophy.

I embrace transformational leadership philosophy as my central leadership philosophy. This philosophy has been heavily researched and written about for decades. Chiefly, it is summarized by “the four ‘I’s.” These are: Inspirational motivation; Idealized influence; Intellectual stimulation; and Individualized consideration. Each I is a challenge to the leader about what the leader is doing for the team members, down to the individual members.I embrace this philosophy because I am people-centric. I care deeply about human beings and the manner in which we honor them.

Experience

M&A

Intellectual Property

Skills

Outcomes

Regulatory Enforcement

AI Governance

Risk Management

Learn more

Corporate Governance

I have organized well over 100 organizations. I have established every type of organization available under U.S. law, both for-profit and non-profit. In addition to organizing corporations, llcs, partnerships, etc., I have helped govern many of those organizations. I have deep experience with organizational record keeping, Robert’s Rules of Order, state and federal filings, and regulatory compliance.

In addition to serving as an attorney for a multitude of organizations, I also serve on the board of several organizations. My expertise in corporate governance was developed from every perspective; reporter, member, organizer, designer, attorney, constituent.

Proven Outcomes

I served on the team that organized goodwillfinds.com. This was a collaborative effort involving seven independent Goodwill organizations. My responsibility was to determine the appropriate jurisdiction for the organization, the type of organization, ensurance of regulatory compliance for the type of organization as it was set up as a non-profit support, and the initial governance by its members. My design survived IRS scrutiny. I also set up comprehensive organizational governance, including the code of conduct and corporate policies.

At Van Horn Automotive Group, I am the impetus and effort behind the consolidation of the five existing dealerships at the time I joined the organization into a functional group. I was solely responsible for the organizational design and governance. Naturally, I worked with stakeholders across the organization to achieve the outcome, but I was the lead. As the organization grew, I was responsible for adding each new company. Moreover, I was solely responsible for all record keeping and regulatory filings, except tax returns. With Van Horn, I organized over twenty organizations.

Real Estate

I like to joke that I love two activities in life: skiing and real estate deals. I have been deeply involved in real estate for twenty-five years. I cannot count the number of transactions I have conducted. I have conducted nearly every type of real estate transaction imaginable. From buying and selling existing developed property to developing raw land into residential or commercial use, I have handled projects of all sorts, from beginning to end. I have enjoyed real estate so much, that I obtained my broker’s license. I am so engaged in real estate, I own two property companies myself, one as a sole member, the other as a partner.

Proven Outcomes

At Goodwill, I was responsible for the Real Estate Committee in the absence of a Director of Facilities. I established a process for the identification, assessment, due diligence, and acquisition of real estate. I worked with senior leaders from Finance, Retail, Facilities, Safety, and Administration on the Committee. Through a collaborative design process we implemented a robust process that brought much-needed uniformity to to the process. In my role here, I purchased, sold, and developed real estate. I was also able to work on tax-exemption for properties, a new experience for me.

At Van Horn the ownership group not only had the vision to be a regional powerhouse in the automotive industry, but they also, upon my entry, decided to invest heavily in real estate. With Van Horn I conducted a multitude of simple and complex real estate transactions. I developed raw land into stores and an apartment complex. My office managed all of the properties as well, ensuring compliance from tenants and our organization. Finally, the Van Horns also acted as investors in others’ projects and I drafted those documents as well.

Litigation

I have extensive experience both in the courtroom and out. Importantly, litigation isn’t just about performance in the courtroom. It is about the strategic vision of what we are trying to accomplish through litigation. Litigation involves weighing the costs versus the outcome. I have litigated in every court: administrative, state, and federal. I have conducted jury trials from beginning to end, obtaining favorable verdicts. I have conducted bench trials, mediations, and arbitrations. It has been several years since I have been in the courtroom, as my role has become more focused on managing litigation counsel. Naturally, my deep experience in litigation informs my ability to manage and control costs effectively.

Proven Outcomes

My litigation skills have had a direct impact on state law. Unfortunately, I don’t believe the impact was beneficial for Wisconsinites. I took on the state regarding Wisconsin’s civil commitment law. I won, proving the state used a subjective standard to civilly commit individuals for potentially life. I obtained the rare feat of having the state’s expert witness admit the same on the stand. That was the strategy that won. The legislature learned of my victory and changed the law, allowing for a looser standard.

I’ve educated judges on the law. This shouldn’t be surprising, Judge’s can’t possibly know everything. What I found interesting though, was the Judge’s astonishment that I was the first attorney to ever bring forward the relief I sought. In his over twenty years on the bench, no attorney had ever attempted a civil warrant. It’s a simple tool to allow judgement creditors to gain access to closed spaces. I seek solutions, no matter how obscure, and I put them to use for my clients. I am relentless in the pursuit of positive outcomes.

Compliance

Compliance is my strong suit. I’ve been a design engineer, builder, leader, and subject matter expert. I brought these skills to Van Horn and Goodwill. Neither organization had an enterprise compliance program when I joined them, which astonished me. However, I was determined to correct the situation. Both jobs were enormous, as both organizations had complex operations that involved serious regulatory implications. My approach is the industry and DOJ standard of risk-based compliance. Thus, my compliance work leads to a deep understanding of the organizations, its business drivers, and operational needs to meet compliance.

Proven Results

At Van Horn, I had to create a compliance program that addressed employee issues and the vast financial, insurance, and vehicle sales transactions that took place daily. I put together a team of stakeholders and set about identifying our enterprise risks, key performance indicators for compliance for each risk, and a process for review and audit. While employment compliance is key for every organization, the reality of conducting over 15,000 sales transactions per year without a process for verifying the myriad regulations covering all aspects of a vehicle sale is what kept me awake at night. Together, we broke down the process, identified every regulation involved in each step, and then created a matrix that weighed and scored each element. Between internal sales processes and external regulation, we had over 50 regulatory points. The system we developed tracked every element of the sales process, introduced in-process checks, identified the KPIs that would inform our compliance, and established a review process that could deliver 95%+ accuracy without reviewing every transaction. The additional complexity at Van Horn was the in-house leasing company as well. I reorganized that company, recognized its serious compliance issues, and worked with state regulators to resolve the issue at a fraction of the exposure.

Mergers & Acquisitions

I have conducted over a dozen, complex, multi-million-dollar acquisitions. I have deep experience in the entire conduct of acquisitions from targeting through close. I have had direct experience in every facet of acquisitions, including all government compliance. I have conducted smaller acquisitions well over eighty times in the same manner.

Proven Results

When I joined Van Horn as General Counsel, I had already conducted a dealership acquisition for ownership. One of my top priorities with the organization was to consolidate the five, independent dealerships into a single group, each owned by the parent company. This transaction was highly complex as it involved a mixture of shareholders of the five dealerships, at varying percentages of ownership, a leasing company, and several reinsurance companies. I designed the reorganization and led the team on the reorganization. The effort involved not only the corporate transactions, but significant involvement with state government due to the licensing. Naturally, the several hundred million dollars in inventory financing was reworked and rewritten through the process. Upon completing the entire process, we set about acquiring 12 more across the region over the next nine years. I conducted each of those transactions and led the acquisition team on more than half. These transactions are also complex as they generally involve several companies under each dealership roof, including real estate.

Upon joining Goodwill, I was asked to lead the Real Estate Committee while the organization searched for a new facilities leader. The organization lacked a comprehensive process for acquisition targeting, due diligence, acquisitional governance, finance, and legal. I established the process to give the committee the guidance it needed in working toward the organizational goal of 1-3 new stores per year. My process brought all stakeholders together into a single dashboard allowing each to see all elements of a transaction in a single place. From identification through closing, each stakeholder knew their responsibility as well as all other stakeholders and at which stage in the process we were in. The process remained in place and in use after the VP of Facilities and Safety was hired and took over the committee.

Employment Law

I have represented employees and employers. The last fifteen years of my career has been advising the organizations I serve on every nature of employment law, including labor law. I designed and established Van Horn’s first human resources department and ran it until a director was hired about 18 months later. Van Horn was a self-funded health insurer when I joined. At the time, the plan was operating at a substantial deficit. I studied the health plan, ensured compliance with ERISA, conducted significant financial analysis and set the plan to operational surplus in two years. I have represented employers successfully in both state and federal courts.

Proven Results

Upon joining Van Horn, a top priority was to bring order to its human resource management. The organization employed 450-550 people and had no human resource department. I designed and established the department. I also introduced compliance training for all employees. I sourced, assessed, selected, and implemented a comprehensive management program. I designed all the training. I established the Investment Committee for the 401(k) program. I sourced, assessed, and selected a new financial adviser and third-party administrator. I increased participation every year. Additionally, I managed the self-funded plan, working with our third-party administrator and leadership in its strategic direction. I also took over the plan with a negative account balance and turned it around into a significant surplus.

Goodwill is a federal contractor through the AbilityOne Program, a federal procurement set-aside for non-profits that employ the blind or significantly disabled. As part of this program, Goodwill ran a commercial laundry as a participant in the program. Unfortunately, Goodwill had a history of struggling to comply with the minimum direct-labor hours of qualified employees under the program. I dug into the problems deeply analyzing our labor, useage, efficiency, and outcomes. My team studied every element of talent acquisition, on boarding, training, development, and turnover. We determined that under the paradigm in use, Goodwill would never achieve compliance and reported the same. We also developed a solution and offered to implement it. We were encouraged do so and shortly thereafter achieved compliance “for the first time in the program.” The only question I couldn’t answer for the CEO is why no one had ever thought of my solution before.

Consumer Finance

Van Horn Automotive Group conducted over 15,000 consumer transactions each year. Over 90% were financed. Automotive sales are heavily reliant on outside financing. However, most customers to not arrive with lending secured. As such, dealerships arrange the lending by first establishing the loan, then selling it to banks. As a lender, the dealership has myriad of compliance issues. Van Horn added to the complexity of also owning a leasing company at the time I joined. Thus, I gained invaluable and deep experience of seller-side and bank-side of consumer finance at the same time.

Proven Results

As I mentioned, Van Horn established a vehicle leasing company prior to my arrival. As I studied the business, I quickly learned that the company had significant compliance issues itself. I raised my concerns and offered my solution: go to the state agency, tell them the current state, and offer our plan to resolve it. This was risky, the exposure to fines and interest was substantial. Leadership agreed with my plan and I executed. I’m a bridge builder. I thrive off of relationships. I contacted the department directly, established appropriate contacts and then told them our story. I worked closely with the state to resolve the compliance issues and rectify past oversights. My solution was to reorganize the existing company into Wiisconsin Consumer Credit, Inc., ensure it was licensed not only for leasing but lending, and use it to not only lend for sales at Van Horn, but sales anywhere in Wisconsin. My solution was met warmly by the state and we amicably resolved all outstanding issues for a fraction of the exposure. Moreover, Wisconsin Consumer Credit flourished. I trained the organizational staff on federal and state lending, leasing, and collection law and regulations. I ensured Wisconsin Consumer Credit was well positioned for growth and sustainability. It remains today, operating within and without the Van Horn ecosphere.

Government Relations

I am well aware of the importance of relationships with government. I have used relationships with federal and state agencies and elected representatives to advance the interests of my clients. My approach is one of cooperation and collaboration, whether we are responding to an issue or bringing forward an idea. To be clear, I have lobbied in the halls of Congress and the state capital and I have worked with government employees and officials from the municipal to federal level to achieve outcomes.

Proven Results

At Van Horn I established relationships across state government to enhance our operational capabilities within a complex regulatory environment. Principally, I focused on the Wisconsin Department of Transportation, Dealer and Agent Section. This was the regulatory agency responsible for all vehicle sales activity in Wisconsin. I established relationships with enforcement agents and administration, including leadership. I cultivated the relationship through transparency in our sales processes, excellent compliance outcomes, and quickly resolved consumer complaints. I enhanced the reputation of Van Horn in the eyes of its regulator. The relationship proved tremendous when an investigator challenged Van Horn’s administrative fees, demanding an accounting and refund to Wisconsin consumers, a demand that amounted to millions of dollars. I asked for a meeting with the Department and invited some colleagues from the industry to join me. I used previous department guidance to dismantle the investigator’s argument. The administrator listened and agreed. Moreover, the administrator reiterated the history of transparency and compliance under my guidance and apologized for the error in judgment.

At Goodwill, I quickly learned that the organization did not have a robust relationship with the AbilityOne Commission, the federal agency that oversees implementation of the Javits-Wagner-O’Day Act. The commission works with non-profit agencies through a central non-profit, Source America. Goodwill’s relationship was underdeveloped with Source America as well. I immediately set about getting to know stakeholders in each organization. Naturally, each knew Goodwill very well as an operation. Goodwill has been a part of the program for over twenty-five years. What I noticed, though, was that there wasn’t much collaboration. While each agency is a regulator, all parties were dedicated to employing the blind and significantly disabled. Thus, I began sharing more activity and project information and having conversations generally. When I needed to re-organize the commercial laundry that would restructure our employee relationships, I started with Source America and had consultations with the general counsel of AbilityOne. The re-organization execution was incredibly smooth, with no objections from either agency.

Contracts

I started writing contracts over twenty-five years ago and have yet to stop. I have experience with employment, separation, asset purchase/sale, real estate purchase/sale, construction, development, asset-related contracts, vendor, SaaS, shareholder, service, service-level, lease, sale, settlement, licensing, non-disclosure, insurance, and just about any other contract conceivable. I have written contracts from a general description of the deal, through well-developed proposals. I have brought contract to life, saw them through their natural conclusion, tracked compliance, and litigated breaches. I know ever element of the contract lifecycle as a subject matter expert.

Proven Results

Not a single contract I have ever wrote or reviewed has ended up in litigation.

eCommerce

I have been a part of eCommerce initiatives for over a decade. I have familiarity with start-up organizational activities, capitalization, subscription agreements, membership agreements, master service agreements, operational issues, and regulatory compliance across multiple jurisdictions.

Proven Results

My eCommerce journey began with Van Horn. What started as drivewaydropoff.com evolved into www.cloudlot.com. I continued providing strategic and tactical legal advice on eCommerce with Goodwill. There, I provided legal guidance on our use of third-party sites and served on the team that established www.goodwillfinds.com, which unfortunately shut down on March 28, 2025.

I am fluent in licensing agreements, member agreements, master service agreements, terms and conditions, SaaS, and much more in the tech area.

Insurance

I have a wide-array of insurance experience. I have managed a self-funded health plan. I have been responsible for all risk management. I have been significantly involved in off-shore non-controlled re-insurance, handling all matters from organization through termination. I have significant experience in retail insurance sales, establishing an agency for property and casualty insurance sales.

Proven Results

While at Van Horn, in collaboration with our third-party administrator, I managed the plan in-house. When I was asked to take over management of the plan, it was operating at a substantial deficit and had been for several years. I had no experience with self-funded health plans when I assumed management responsibility. I had much to learn to be effective. I worked closely with the TPA and our CFO to study and understand the plan. I learned a tremendous amount about actuarial analysis of plans. I determined what the premiums would need to be to help the plan break even or run a surplus. I communicated the plan to leadership, who approved. I then had to communicate the changes to the employee body. While a difficult pill to swallow, the employees largely understood, and we lost very few participants. My work turned the plan around. It remained financially successful the entire time I remained at Van Horn.

Intellectual Property

I have over fifteen years of experience working with intellectual property. My experience is related to creation and registration, protection, licensing and defense of assertions of misuse. I have negotiated, written, reviewed, and managed compliance with licensing agreements.

Proven Results

Part of my work on www.goodwillfinds.com was the research and identification of possible names and domains for the website. I was also deeply involved in the securing of the IP of Goodwill Industries International for use within the domain. Finally, I was part of the analysis of the risk associated with competing licensing agreements and the impact of sub-licensing to members for use of the domain on existing and subsequent contracts. Our team brought together over a dozen Goodwill organizations, including the principal agency, Goodwill Industries International, and successfully navigated the complex arrangements to arrive at agreements that covered the variety of issues with the cross-use of Goodwill’s IP for goodwillfinds.com and its members.

Governance

Goodwill Southeastern Wisconsin was established in 1919. While the organization certainly evolved over its history, it also showed its age. One area was its enterprise policies. Goodwill’s policy paradigm was like many organizations, it included a mixture of personnel policies and organizational policies related to business operations. This is an outdated method of approach to governance. Thus, I made it my goal to change, and redefine, the paradigm.

Foremost, I do not like the concept of “personnel policies.” I don’t like personnel policies because they raise the specter of personal compliance. Personal compliance suggests an authoritarian style of leadership, where compliance becomes the expectation. I am an adherent to Transformational Leadership and hold the firm belief that culture is set at the top. Thus, if the organization is going to have a workforce that is respectful of the humans they work with, then the organization should set the expectation of interpersonal relationships as just that; not policies, but base line expectations as a matter of culture. I brought my philosophy to bear on Goodwill’s governance structure and determined an opportunity was present, but one that could help solidify culture, honor our people, and clarify policy as organizational governance, appropriate for compliance measures.

I first established a policy management structure for all policies. Built into this process were clear roles, such as owner, monitor, and expert. Also included was mandatory review which allowed for an easy transition to my proposed paradigm

My vision was the removal of all personnel policies addressing behavior and standards and moving them to a guide on expectations. Thus, respect, attitude, and aptitude became a matter of baseline expectation, rather than a goal to be met. All governance was moved to policy to establish a clear standard of performance with accountability. In order to achieve my vision I assembled a team from Legal, Human Resources, and Communications and shared by vision with them. From that meeting, we assembled a focus group of stakeholders/leaders from across the organization and presented the proposed paradigm and then used the focus group to test the idea and possible implementation. Once we finished those activities, the core team was able to get to work on the actual policy review to carve out personnel from governance.

The result was a comprehensive employee guide that established interpersonal expectations, provided scenarios, possible outcomes, directions for employee communication using the variety of channels we established and, other, general information useful to employees. Policies became strictly operational regulations. Compliance was able to measure outcomes of both without creating an atmosphere of personal compliance.

Lobbying

I lead with relationship. I believe the most effective method of achieving strategic goals that involve the state or municipalities is to work with government officials and bring them along as stakeholders in our goals. My approach has been immensely effective.

My single greatest outcome was to effectively lobby the state legislature and senate to amend a Wisconsin law that was overly burdensome on free speech in the form of advertising. Through my direct efforts building relationships in the state capital and working with our representatives, I was able to obtain the passage of a law modifying an advertising law for the benefit of Van Horn. My work involved direct lobbying of representatives and participating in committee hearings on the legislation. I also worked with Wisconsin’s legislative bureau to write the legislation. Sadly, the governor vetoed the bill, but it established tremendous relationships with state representatives that continued my entire tenure with Van Horn.

I use the same approach whether it is federal, state or local government. I did the same for Goodwill. As a participant in the AbilityOne program, a federal procurement set-aside for non-profits that employ the blind or significantly disabled. I recognized the need for Goodwill to enhance its relationships with the AbilityOne commission and SourceAmerica, the central agency that oversaw operation of the program. I used these relationships to reorganize and restructure one of our AbilityOne programs for the benefit of Goodwill and the program we were operating. Through relationships, I was able to implement my plan with no resistance from either agency. For that matter, both were tremendously appreciative of the outreach and inclusion.

Risk Management

I build risk management programs. At Van Horn, I had operational oversight and control of all risk management. While Van Horn had certainly managed risk prior to my arrival, it was disjointed and lacked a comprehensive vision. Van Horn had a self-funded health plan that was part of our risk program. Additionally, I had operational oversight and control of safety and safety audits. I worked closely with our dealership operational team on safety, typically conducting audits with members of the team.

I worked with leaders from across Van Horn to identify key risks and ensure the organization mitigated the risk as much as possible, and then was prepared to manage the risk and address situations where the risk is realized. Moreover, I turned the health plan from an operating deficit of one million dollars into a surplus every year I managed it. I also leveraged my compliance program to address and mitigate risk. This was particularly important as Van Horn conducted over 15000 financial transactions per year.

When I joined Goodwill, it’s Risk Management Program was idle. Natrually, Goodwill had addressed and mitigated their broader risks, but it had no enterprise compliance program and the RMP had not been active for several years. I reconstituted the program by drawing together every vice president to have a conversation on risk and mitigation. Together, we identified our high-priority enterprise risk, the persons responsible for mitigation, the key performance indicators of mitigation, and reporting. Additionally, we added disaster preparedness, and my team helped every division or relevant department, such as IT, had a written disaster preparedness plan and had table-top exercises to test the effectiveness of of the plan.

The common thread of both experiences is that I had to build a working program from existing pieces. I’m a builder. I’ve built legal departments, a human resource department, compliance programs, and risk management programs. I see the big picture and am able to see the relevant parts that make the big picture work. I am able to work with people from across organizations to design, develop, and implement programs that meet the specific needs of the organization.

Regulatory Enforcement

My work in heavily regulated industries has provided me the opportunity to work with regulatory agencies on enforcement actions on several occasions. My approach to my work sets the table for the day regulators come calling. Foremost, I get to know my regulators. I work with the investigators, administrators, and leadership. Whether federal, state, or municipal, my relationships, coupled with my compliance and risk management programs creates the conditions for smooth regulatory enforcement.

I am never reluctant or afraid to admit an issue exists or that a violation occurred. Anything counter to that is counter to the human experience. We are assuredly going to make mistakes. Thus, the only question is how well we prepared ourselves for mistakes. With robust relationships and compliance programs, regulators immediately recognize an event as a mistake versus a pattern of activity or malfeasance. Addressing issues immediately is another key element. My proactive approach to resolving issues has proven time and again to be more beneficial than obstinacy.

Perhaps my greatest regulatory enforcement issue was when I first joined Van Horn. Prior to my arrival, Van Horn had established an in-house leasing operation. In Wisconsin, dealers have tremendous latitude in financing deals. However, separate entities must be licensed with the state. Unfortunately, the person who had set it up, had never consulted with an attorney or the state. Naturally, the license status interfered with my vision for the organization. It was also obvious that we couldn’t go any further without addressing the glaring oversight. Thus, I reached out to the state, advised the department of the current state and my plan to change it. The exposure here was drastic. Every single transaction conducted without a license carried a $2,500 fine. There were several hundred transactions. I followed through on every element of my plan with the department and worked closely with their team. My relational approach, transparency, and follow-through resulted in a $21,000 fine versus a fine of over $1.25 million.

I have achieved similar results throughout my career, achieving significant, beneficial outcomes for my clients. I have reduced multi-million dollar demands to simply placing money in an escrow account. I beat a claim from the state that exceeded $20 million, resulting in an apology from the state. My career has been dedicated to protecting and advancing the interests of my clients and I have been remarkably effective in doing it.

AI Governance

I recognized artificial intelligence for the tremendous tool it can be. I also recognized that the use of artificial intelligence was an enormous risk for Goodwill. With over 5500 employees, many of whom are in a position to use AI, I knew that the organization needed to be in front of adaptation versus chasing it.

I established a task force involving information technology, legal, human resources, and leadership from operational divisions such as Retail and Mission Services to effectively conduct an organizational assessment to determine the level of adaptation within the organization. Upon completion of the assessment, the task force verified the use of AI within the organization and the need for governance. Foremost, the task force assessed providers and identified the appropriate system for Goodwill. Together, the task force was able to develop a use-governance model and guidelines for the organization in order to facilitate appropriate use for the benefit of Goodwill.

Part of our work involved hosting an Artificial Intelligence symposium that brought together organizations from the Chicago-land area as well as representatives from Google and Microsoft. The symposium highlighted Goodwill’s proactive approach to AI adaptation and presented on our analysis of providers and governance. A significant takeaway from the symposium for me was the recognition from Microsoft and Google that Goodwill’s approach was a model for others to follow. We recognized the reality of what was happening, and rather than avoid it or pretend we didn’t have to address it, we jumped in and developed governance for use that advanced Goodwill’s goals and made work more efficient.

Education

Doctorate

Juris Doctorate

University of Notre Dame, 1999

Masters

MBA

University of Wisconsin, 2021

Undergraduate

Bachelor of Science, Political Science

Lake Superior State University, 1996