Nearly 150 government and business leaders, members of the media and economic development professionals joined MadREP at The Edgewater on Thursday, May 16 for our State of the Madison Region Economy address. The presentation featured new rankings, never-before-seen economic data, and a strategic vision to continue growing our eight-county region through the next five years.

After a welcome by Wisconsin Secretary of Workforce Development Caleb Frostman, William Fruth, President at POLICOM Corporation, revealed how our Region’s metropolitan and micropolitan statistical areas stack up against the rest of the nation for economic strength.

Subsequently, MadREP President Paul Jadin presented Advance Now 2.0, the Madison Region’s next five-year comprehensive economic development strategy. This report follows the first Advance Now plan, originally presented in 2012, and contains recommendations for advancing the Region’s economy over the next five years. According to Jadin, “we need to get serious about implementation. We have to assess opportunities to improve broadband connectivity, continue developing sector-specific centers of excellence and build consensus for the creation of a multi-county regional planning commission.”

Following Jadin, MadREP and UW Extension staff unveiled new data and analysis on the Madison Region’s target sectors: agriculture, food and beverage, advanced manufacturing, healthcare, information communications technology, and bioscience. The industry-specific data in these reports allows MadREP to attract companies in these sectors by demonstrating we have the labor force to support their needs.

After the presentation, the “standing room only” crowd gathered in The Nolen Gallery for refreshments and networking.yh6

A record crowd of approximately 600 business and community leaders joined MadREP and the Urban League of Greater Madison (ULGM) on Friday, May 17 at the sixth annual Madison Region Economic Development and Diversity Summit. The day-long event was packed with important conversations about equitable development and embracing diversity as the Region continues to grow. 

Attendees enjoyed remarks from elected officials and economists, as well as business and thought leaders from our Region and beyond. Keynote addresses from former Google executive Paulita David and former NFL player Wade Davis both inspired and challenged the crowd to think about how we define “mainstream” and how we understand intersectionality and corporate responsibility.

For the first time, the conference welcomed a Wisconsin Governor to the stage. Evers affirmed his administration’s commitment to diversity, declaring, “I can tell you that if this state doesn’t actively and proactively and with great vigor embrace diversity and inclusivity, economic development will grind to a halt.”

Madison’s newly elected mayor and MadREP board member, Satya Rhodes-Conway, also took to the stage to introduce thought leader Wade Davis. She too affirmed her administration’s commitment, stating, “we have to focus on diversity and inclusion to ensure we effectively develop and retain talent before it leaves our state, as well as recruit new talent from across the country.”

This unique collaboration between the Urban League the Madison Region serves as a national model for economic growth and economic inclusion. We would like to extend a special thank you to the many sponsors who made the event possible.

Feedback from the varied offerings of plenary and breakouts speakers was very positive the day of the event, as ideas, strategies, and tools were discussed to help organizations move their diversity and inclusion efforts forward. Attendees are encouraged to respond to the follow-up survey sent out earlier, as feedback received on that form will help to drive the agenda for the 2020 Summit.

In addition, at the Summit, MadREP unveiled our 2019 State of the Madison Region Report, the sixth issue of the Madison Region Economic Development Guide, and the results of the 2019 Workplace Diversity and Inclusion (D&I) survey.

If you missed it, check out the conversation on twitter at #madsummit as well as photos from the day. We are grateful to everyone who helped make this continued collaboration a success.

City officials participated in the ceremonial groundbreaking ceremony at MacDon’s new research and development facility in the Sun Prairie Business Park on March 27th. Mayor Paul Esser and Council President Bill Connors were joined by Michael Gay, Senior Vice-President of Economic Development for the Madison Region Economic Partnership, and Melissa Hunt, Regional Economic Development Director for the Wisconsin Economic Development Corporation (WEDC).

The project includes an approximately 15,000 s.f. research and development facility related to the manufacturing of high-performance agricultural harvesting equipment that will open in fall of 2019. MacDon’s growth plans for the next five years could result in 20 highly skilled, competitive wage jobs in the Madison Region.

“MacDon’s investment in Sun Prairie is both logical and critical for this region of the state,” said Senior Vice President of Economic Development for the Madison Region Economic Partnership (MadREP) Michael Gay, who led the site search. “What the company will do at this new state of the art facility in Sun Prairie is anchored in both the Agriculture, Food and Beverage and Advance Manufacturing Industry Sectors…two sectors where this region excels. Secondly, this new facility is Research and Development based and will hire more high-skilled labor with engineering and technology related degrees. Lastly, this is a foreign direct investment (FDI) project from company based in Canada. This is another successful effort by the City to attract global capital to the region.”

For 70 years MacDon, a subsidiary of Linamar, has been a world leader in technology, innovation, and manufacturing of high-performance harvesting equipment. MacDon products are distributed and supported worldwide from offices in Canada, the United States, Australia, Russia, Brazil, and Germany. For 70 years MacDon has been a world leader in technology, innovation, and manufacturing of high-performance harvesting equipment. Their harvesting history is rooted deep in the rich prairie heritage of Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. MacDon products are distributed and supported worldwide from offices in Canada, the United States, Australia, Russia, Brazil, and Germany. MacDon’s relentless pursuit of improvement is driven by their desire to make harvesting easier and more productive for farmers. Working directly with producers and custom harvesters in the toughest real-world conditions; this relationship guides MacDon to pioneer industry-leading innovations like the FlexDraper®. MacDon has a worldwide reputation for excellence as The Harvesting Specialists and is proud to make equipment that help producers harvest the crops that feed the world.

The Madison Region Economic Partnership (MadREP) and the Urban League of Greater Madison (ULGM) are pleased to announce former NFL Player Wade Davis will speak at the 6th Annual Summit on Friday, May 17 at Monona Terrace. 

Wade Davis is a thought leader, public speaker, and consultant on gender, race, and orientation equality. Wade is the NFL’s first LGBT inclusion consultant and currently consults for numerous professional sports leagues on issues at the intersection sexism, racism and homophobia. He creates league-wide inclusive leadership strategies, leads inclusion-training sessions for coaches and players, and builds and launches national engagement initiatives. In addition to his work in sports, Wade currently consults for Google, Netflix, MTV/VH1, 21st Century Fox, AppNexus and others to co-create transformative solutions to build inclusive corporate cultures. Additionally, Wade coaches senior leaders to adapt and flex their leadership styles to meet the needs and develop their entire employee population.

The 2019 Summit will build on our previous joint events in a collective commitment to advancing talent, opportunity and growth for all the region’s citizens. A topic of continued relevance and importance, the convergence of diversity and economic development is a critical component of efforts to mold this region into a model for economic inclusion. We know that diversity spurs economic growth, while homogeneity slows it down. As workforce demographics continue to shift, we recognize that the businesses and communities that embody, embrace, and encourage diversity in all its forms will experience the most gains. It is incumbent upon all of us living and working in the Madison Region to understand the integral relationship between economic growth and diversity, and to act upon the opportunities before us.

The day-long Summit will engage, educate, and empower attendees around issues related to economic, workforce, and community development. Held at the Monona Terrace, the event will feature keynote speakers, break-out sessions, and ample networking opportunities. Participants will represent the entire eight-county Madison Region, with an anticipated audience of 600 business executives, community leaders, economic development professionals, educators, elected officials, entrepreneurs, and emerging leaders.

The Madison Region Economic Partnership (MadREP) and the Urban League of Greater Madison (ULGM) are pleased to announce Paulita David, Director of Multicultural Strategies at McPherson, Former Head of Multicultural at Google will speak at the 6th Annual Summit on Friday, May 17 at Monona Terrace.

As director of multicultural strategy at McPherson Strategies, Paulita David brings deep expertise with multicultural consumers, including what motivates them, what matters most to them, and how they live in America today. Paulita joined McPherson following a decade at Google, most recently as Head of US Multicultural. She has worked with today’s most prominent brands, helping them make impactful connections with today’s multicultural consumers. In turn, she also led Google’s efforts to inspire and educate multicultural consumers and connect them more closely with the brands they love. Paulita put “multicultural” on the map for Google and for the Industry, dramatically changing how Google approached the multicultural consumer. Under her leadership, she founded the Multicultural team, which focused on helping companies cater to the African American, Asian American and LGBTQ communities. Paulita speaks internationally on the topics of Multicultural Marketing, New Audiences in America, Women in Leadership and Being a Latina Executive.

The 2019 Summit will build on our previous joint events in a collective commitment to advancing talent, opportunity and growth for all the region’s citizens. A topic of continued relevance and importance, the convergence of diversity and economic development is a critical component of efforts to mold this region into a model for economic inclusion. We know that diversity spurs economic growth, while homogeneity slows it down. As workforce demographics continue to shift, we recognize that the businesses and communities that embody, embrace, and encourage diversity in all its forms will experience the most gains. It is incumbent upon all of us living and working in the Madison Region to understand the integral relationship between economic growth and diversity, and to act upon the opportunities before us.

The day-long Summit will engage, educate, and empower attendees around issues related to economic, workforce, and community development. Held at the Monona Terrace, the event will feature keynote speakers, break-out sessions, and ample networking opportunities. Participants will represent the entire eight-county Madison Region, with an anticipated audience of 600 business executives, community leaders, economic development professionals, educators, elected officials, entrepreneurs, and emerging leaders.