Excerpted from Jefferson Daily Union
By Ryan Whisner 

Trek Bicycle Corp. plans to move its global distribution center from Oconomowoc to a new 250,000-square-foot facility in the Village of Johnson Creek.

The $7-million building, to be located on 17.7 acres at 425 Resort Drive behind the Comfort Suites in Johnson Creek, is expected to be open by the end of 2015.

“We’re excited about the expanded capabilities this new facility offers us,” said Trek Vice President of Supply Chain Roger Gierhart. “We have always been committed to Wisconsin and this new center is going to help us become more efficient, streamline our warehousing and delivery processes, and gives us space to continue our growth.”

Waterloo-based Trek has 60 employees at the Oconomowoc facility, and all of them will be offered the opportunity to move over to the Johnson Creek center, which will have about 80 employees.

Trek has been manufacturing bicycles in Waterloo, since 1976, and currently has nearly 1,000 employees in Wisconsin.

Read the full article.

Excerpted from Business Xpansion Journal
By Mark Kleszczewski 

Home to a host of health care IT companies like Epic, a medical software developer with annual revenue estimated at $1.5 billion, Madison, Wis., is quickly becoming one of the leading medical clusters in the nation. According to the 2014 Battelle/BIO report, when it comes to specialized employment concentration in bioscience, Madison ranks in the top 9 out of the 381 metro areas in the United States, and fourth in the nation in job concentration in the drug and pharmaceuticals subsector. It also ranked eighth nationwide in job concentration in medical devices and equipment, employing close to 2,000 people in the region.

Epic alone employs more than 6,800 people in the Madison area and has spawned many health IT startups led by company veterans. One major factor behind the success of Madison’s medical cluster is the resources available through the University of Wisconsin-Madison — one of the top research-based universities in the nation. 

Read the full article.

PRESS RELEASE: November 18, 2014

San Francisco, CA (November 18, 2014) – NerdWallet, a personal finance website, recently conducted a study to find the best cities for young entrepreneurs in the nation – and Madison made the top 10.

To determine the best cities for young entrepreneurs, NerdWallet analyzed eight critical factors:

• Commercial and industrial loans per capita
• Number of businesses per 100 people
• Percent of population 25-34
• Percentage of 25+ population with a bachelor’s degree or higher
• Per capita income
• Unemployment rate
• Cost of Living Index

NerdWallet ranked Madison as the second best city for young entrepreneurs in the nation. Young entrepreneurs in Madison benefit from one of the highest per capita rates of small business loans — $799 per loan — in any major city. Living in Madison is also relatively affordable compared to other large cities, and the metro area’s unemployment rate of 3.4% is a strong sign of economic health. Early-stage entrepreneurs can find support at local resources such as gener8tor, an accelerator for startups.

Other great cities for young entrepreneurs include Raleigh, Austin, and Denver. Read the full study online.

For more information about NerdWallet, visit www.nerdwallet.com.

About NerdWallet
NerdWallet is a consumer-friendly financial literacy website that helps consumers make better financial decisions and save money on CD rates, checking accounts, credit cards and more. NerdWallet has been featured in The New York Times, Wall Street Journal and Reuters.

Excerpted from Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
By Kathleen Gallagher

Mark Bakken, co-founder and chief executive of Nordic Consulting, one of the state’s fastest-growing start-ups, said Wednesday he is stepping aside to start an early-stage venture capital fund.

The fund will focus on health care information technology start-ups in Madison, a growing cluster for that city.

“Every week, I’m approached by bright, young entrepreneurs here who have great business ideas to help the health care industry deliver better care more cost-effectively,” Bakken said.

Both he and Nordic have committed money to the new fund, and Bakken said he will work with other local and national investors to attract additional partners. Bakken will also join the advisory board of Health Enterprise Partners LP, a New York-based growth equity firm focused on health care services and IT companies, he said. The firm is an investor in Nordic.

“Madison is gaining a national reputation as the place to start and build a high impact health care technology company and no one is more capable or better positioned to invest in those kind of companies than Mark Bakken,” said Joe Kirgues, co-founder of gener8tor, which runs start-up training programs in Milwaukee and Madison.

Nordic, which was founded in 2010, has 475 employees. The company works with more than 110 clients in 40 states. It is among the hundreds of consulting firms paying average salaries well into six figures that have sprung up across the nation to help hospitals and other health care providers install and operate Verona-based Epic Systems Corp.’s electronic medical records systems.

Read the full article.

The Madison Region Economic Partnership (MadREP) is committed to telling the region’s story in new and powerful ways that continue to grow current business relationships while also attracting new businesses. That’s why we have partnered again this year with Journal Communications, an award-winning custom publisher that specializes in economic development and reaches a critical niche audience around the globe, to implement a marketing initiative that shines a spotlight on our region.

The centerpiece of this marketing strategy is the Madison Region Economic Development Guide, a high-quality print publication distributed to talent prospects, site selectors, and key economic development and government partners. The print publication is accompanied by a companion website and digital version of the magazine viewable online and on mobile devices. This provides magazine advertisers with year-round exposure on multiple media platforms.

• Magazine: Promote the region’s strengths through the print magazine, which features stunning photography and engaging editorial content.
• Website: Browsers searching our area can find expanded content of the magazine, including photos and more, on businessclimate.com/madison-region.
• Digital Magazine: View our magazine online anytime, expanding the target reach for potential newcomers and businesses.
• Tablet/Mobile: Reach a growing segment of your target audience with content optimized for Apple and Android devices.

We expect to launch the second issue of this annual publication in Spring 2015.

We invite businesses, organizations, and municipalities in the Madison Region to join us in this important effort to tell the region’s story by taking this opportunity to expand your reach and reinforce your brand to more potential customers through this annual promotional program.

Matt McWhorter of Journal Communications will be in the area for the next several weeks to talk about advertising options in the next magazine. To request a meeting and learn more about advertising opportunities, please email mmcwhorter@jnlcom.com or call 800.333.8842 ext. 272.

Thank you for your continued support in this joint effort to promote the Madison Region.