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MadREP Report: July 12, 2017
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MadREP Shares Progress at Annual Investor Reception
Last month, MadREP hosted a great crowd at our annual Investor Reception, during which we shared the significant progress that has been made with the Advance Now Strategy over the last 4+ years. Take a look online for the full list of recent accomplishments -- here are a few highlights.
- Our attraction efforts have helped bring to the Madison Region at least $75 million in capital investment and over 230 jobs just this past year. We have over 20 opportunities in the pipeline.
- Since taking on the Inspire Program we have on-boarded all of the region's 55 school districts, along with 425 career coaches and 375 companies offering over 2,000 experiential learning activities. We're also leading efforts to deploy Inspire statewide.
- We hosted a record crowd of 550+ people at the Economic Development and Diversity Summit. MadREP also conducted and shared the results of our third annual Workplace Diversity & Inclusion Survey.
- Our international efforts, along with Investing in Manufacturing Communities Partnership (IMCP) designation, has provided our region an advantage when pursuing funding such as the recent $500,000 grant awarded StartingBlock Madison, coauthored by MadREP. We have been involved in over $7 million in other grants through IMCP.
- We verified the region's first Gold Shovel site in Baraboo.
- We won a bid to host LiveXchange next year which will bring 30 site selectors and projects to Madison.
- Our collaboration with the Madison Games Alliance (now Wisconsin Games Alliance) has grown to where Madison will host the state's first game development conference -- M+DEV -- in October.
- We are completing a thorough analysis of our five target industry sectors this year.
We are pleased to have accomplished so much this year, and that the promise of the Advance Now Strategy is being realized. I can proudly say that the region is better positioned because of our efforts, but the real proof is in these words from our partners .
To continue to influence and help propel this vibrant economy we must now move into the second phase of the strategy with Advance Now 2.0. As we embark on this new phase, we look forward to renewed support as well as new investors to join us in sustaining this valuable effort.
Thanks very much for your continued interest and for all that you do for the Madison Region economy.
Paul Jadin
President, MadREP
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Regional Economy:
Report showing disparities in region's workforce evokes mixed reactions
Workplace leadership in the Madison Region skews white and male, according to a survey of on the diversity of south-central Wisconsin's workforce by the Madison Region Economic Partnership. White people comprise about 87 percent of supervisory roles, 96 percent of board of director positions, and 93 percent of "top level leadership" positions, despite comprising 85 percent of the area's workforce.
Men are in 68 percent of top-level leadership roles, and about 64 percent of board of director roles, even though women comprise the majority in the workforce. MadREP VP of Talent & Education Gene Dalhoff said that while they're cautious about drawing conclusions from two years of data, they were happy to see some increases in the proportion of leaders who are people of color and women since last year's survey. Ruben Anthony, the president of the Madison Urban League, said that while there's room for improvement, the numbers spell progress.
Read more.
Capital Connection:
California firms invests in Beloit aviation software maker Comply365
Recent innovations in aviation technology have focused some attention on the pilot's "flight bag" -- a box-like brief case that holds everything a pilot might need. One of the companies that has helped the industry move from the traditional flight bag -- which by one estimate contained an average of 12,000 sheets of paper per pilot and weighed nearly 40 pounds -- to a lightweight electronic version is Comply365. Last week, the Beloit-based startup received a "growth investment" from Luminate Capital Partners, a private equity firm based in San Francisco. CEO Kerry Frank, who co-founded Comply365 in 2007, says her team will use some of the proceeds from the latest financing round to fund product development. The company's software is designed to increase the productivity and efficiency of its customers, which include Florida-based Spirit Airlines and several other popular North American carriers. More than 525,000 people use Comply365's software, including pilots, cabin crews, maintenance technicians, and other aviation industry workers.
Read more.
Company Spotlight:
UW Health and UnityPoint Health-Meriter become partners
UW Health and UnityPoint Health-Meriter, which have long collaborated on some services but became more competitive in recent years, are now partners. The Madison health care organizations have formed a joint operating agreement, giving them a shared financial bottom line, and merged their insurance plans. The moves will free up space at UW Hospital for complex patients, avert the need to add beds there, make better use of Meriter's space, give Meriter continued access to UW's specialty care and prepare both organizations for insurance payments increasingly based on the quality instead of the volume of care, administrators said.
Read more.
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Business Expansion:
Basin Precision Machining expanding
Basin Precision Machining LLC, a precision CNC contract machine shop, is working on an expansion of its City of Jefferson plant that will create six or seven new jobs and add about $9 million of revenue per year. Founded in 1980 by the Anderson family, the business previously was known as Anderson Machining Service, and has a plant in Jefferson and a satellite facility in Whitewater between which it employs 160 people. In 2015, it was purchased by Basin Holdings LLC, an international energy services company based in New York. It is the intent of Basin Holdings that Basin Precision Machining grows to be a $120 million entity by 2022. It currently is worth around $35 million. The first round of growth involves adding about 22,500 square feet to the Jefferson facility and investing $5 million worth of equipment to fill it.
Read more.
Community Highlight:
Latino chamber finds a great fit in Fitchburg
Even though Fitchburg is thought of as a part of the Madison entrepreneurial ecosystem, the civic and business communities there have their own unique approaches to economic development. With a high concentration of Latino businesses in Fitchburg, it makes sense for the chamber's new office to be located there. The organization's new executive director -- the first full time leader in the group's nearly 20 year history, Jessica Cavazos -- says Fitchburg is "thinking ahead in terms of partnerships" with chamber members, offering tools and resources to engage the community with business owners through events and expos. The timing of the move is also right, as the chamber rolls out the county-funded Emerging Business Development Center, or EBDC, as a hub for job creation, community revitalization and infrastructure and capacity building.
Read more.
On the Move:
Exact Sciences eyes ex-Spectrum HQ for a new lab
There is a solid contender that could turn the former Spectrum Brands property in Madison into a major employment site again. Exact Sciences Corp. is considering the location at 601 Rayovac Drive to house its second processing lab and customer service offices, CEO and President Kevin Conroy confirmed Friday. "It's one of two sites we're evaluating. Nothing is final," Conroy said. He said the other location is "suburban." A Fitchburg city official confirmed Friday that a site in that community also is a finalist, but declined to elaborate.Exact already fills two buildings and part of a third at University Research Park. It is expanding its Cologuard processing lab in the town of Madison and recently completed a secondary stock sale to pay for that project and to add a second processing lab for future needs.
Read more.
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FaBcap_scaler Seminar: Scaling Your Food Business
July 19, 1-5pm
MMAC, Milwaukee
You have a food or beverage business and want to grow. What's next? By the end of this program, you should have a good sense of what it's going to take to scale your business and how to tap the resources available to you. This event is geared toward food and beverage manufacturers. Find out more.
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News from the R&D front in 'war on cancer'
July 25, 1:30am-1pm
Sheraton Hotel Madison
Learn how research, clinical trials and product design on the UW-Madison campus is waging the war on cancer by finding new pathways to prevent, detect, diagnose and treat the disease at this upcoming Innovation Network lunch. Register online.
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Ho-Chunk's Bill of Rights for Nature: The Impact of Values-Based Business
July 26, 7:30-9am
149 Waubesa Street, Madison
At Sustain Dane's upcoming quarterly meeting, Ho-Chunk Gaming Madison will share how codifying the Rights of Nature in its tribal constitution has sparked a domino effect of change in their business, the Madison community, and beyond. Learn more.
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WWBIC 30th Anniversary Statewide Reception
August 15, 4-5:30pm
Wisconsin State Capitol
WWBIC celebrates 30 years of impact supporting those who start, strengthen or grow small business in our state. Meet WWBIC's team and enjoy food and beverages from several Wisconsin small business clients. RSVP here.
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The Forward Festival
August 17-24
Various locations, Madison
Join fellow entrepreneurs, nerds, geeks, hackers, foodies, and creatives from the Midwest in an 8-day celebration of innovation and entrepreneurship. In conjunction with Forward Fest, Wisconsin Games Alliance will host its quarterly social on 8/21. View the full calendar of events. Early bird rate ends 7/21.
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Value-Added Feed Ingredients Buyers Misson at the 2017 Dairy Expo
October 2-5
Alliant Energy Center, Madison
Meet with pre-qualified buyers from around the world in pre-arranged, one-on-one meetings right here, generate new sales leads, and build relationships with key industry players in conjunction with the World Dairy Expo. Early
registration deadline ends 7/31.
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