Encyclopedia Dubuque
"Encyclopedia Dubuque is the online authority for all things Dubuque, written by the people who know the city best.”
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Affiliated with the Local History Network of the State Historical Society of Iowa, and the Iowa Museum Association.
PRATT, Michael W.
PRATT, Michael W. (Wadena, MN, Sept. 22, 1938--Roseville, WI, June 16, 2021). Administrator, The Harbour. Pratt served on the Dubuque City Council in 1980 and 1981. He was again elected to a four-year term in November 1987. Pratt served on the board of directors for DUBUQUE IN-FUTURO beginning in 1981, GREATER DUBUQUE DEVELOPMENT CORPORATION and DUBUQUE MAIN STREET, LTD. beginning in 1988 and eight years including three as the chairperson of Operation New View. He served on the nominating committee and Convention and Tourism committees of the DUBUQUE AREA CHAMBER OF COMMERCE and held the position of chairperson of Tri-State Crimes Stoppers, an organization that promoted and rewarded citizens who supplied confidential tips on crimes in the Tri-state area. He was the Rotary International and past district chairperson of the Polio Plus Foundation. In 1991 Pratt became a member of the Economic Development Steering Committee of the National League of Cities.
Pratt came to Dubuque in 1969 and worked for Midland Laboratories as a sale development manager. From 1971 through 1978 he was sales manager and major account manager for KDUB-TV and KDTH RADIO stations in Dubuque. In this capacity, he designed and sold advertising to sponsors in the Tri-state region.
From 1978 to 1981 Pratt owned and operated Time and Again, a gift manufacturing business that sold wooden products to gift and specialty stores in Iowa, Wisconsin, and Illinois. He served as a division manager of Executone East Iowa from 1981 through 1983.
Beginning in 1983, Pratt held the position of branch manager of MCI Telecommunications. During his tenure, branch revenues rose from $40,000 to $1,010,000 per month and personnel increased from three employees in 1983 to twelve in 1991. Pratt and his sales team built and maintained the highest non-AT&T long distance traffic percentage of any city in the United States. His efforts were rewarded with memberships to the President's Club, Crown Club, and 100%+ awards. He successfully managed the transition of the branch through the merger of Telecom USA with MCI, and began service with The Harbour in June 1991.
In 2004 Pratt was one of many members of the Rotary to help thousands of African children get polio vaccinations. Pratt and a team of 70 Rotary members from the United States and Canada worked for ten days to vaccinate youngsters. One day, in one school, Pratt's team vaccinated 760 children.
