The expectations for this full-time position are to develop and implement a comprehensive economic development strategic direction for the city including business retention & expansion, business recruitment, redevelopment, planning, and general administration.

Application and full job description are available by contacting the City Clerk at 920-324-7900, downloading a packet at www.cityofwaupun.org or emailing angie@cityofwaupun.org.  

Application deadline is December 29, 2014.

As published in Madison Magazine
By Paul Jadin

Our deep roots in agriculture have sprouted hundreds of farms, account for annual business sales in the billions and support more than sixty thousand regional jobs. But in this era of the new economy, when our collective attention and admiration seems to land on the information technology sector, how does agriculture align with an emerging vision of the Madison area as a region of the future—one that leads the way in innovation, technology and discovery?

It fits quite well, as it turns out. The Madison Region Economic Partnership, or MadREP, has taken a deep dive into the region’s agriculture, food and beverage industry, exploring its rich density of assets—from research and development to growers and producers to processing, packaging and storage and, finally, to the marketplace, both local and global. In a detailed report on the industry’s entire supply chain, which we produced in partnership with UW–Extension, evidence of the expansiveness of the local food ecosystem in the Madison region and its neighboring Driftless region to the west is profound. Not only can we boast about a breadth of companies that range in size from small startups to billion-dollar giants, our many physical, natural, educational and financial resources have exploded over the last two decades.

And our reach and our scope go well beyond the borders of the state, ranking us among the nation’s top regions for density of these types of businesses. Clearly we are a leader, but what is it in particular about Madison’s food ecosystem that sets us apart? What will allow us to turn a longstanding agriculture legacy into a forward-thinking, ever-rising industry that will propel our leadership even further into the future?

At MadREP, we are leveraging the many assets already in place, and organizing the industry’s organic growth around a formal, comprehensive business model. Future growth hinges on access to water for growing and processing, food safety and security, collaboration, entrepreneurship, the availability of capital throughout the entire supply chain and enhanced and integrated infrastructure and distribution channels. Our analysis (find it at madisonregion.org/ag-analysis) puts legs to this business model, outlining a number of projects that are essential to the growth of our food ecosystem. The Madison Public Market District, for example, will not only provide residents with access to fresh produce, but it will also become the state’s center of excellence for local foods through its capacity to process, package and store products and then move them to other markets and institutions. Business accelerators for food-based entrepreneurs will ensure that these companies are investor-ready if that is the path they choose to take. A regional farm technology competition for high school and college students can showcase innovation by the next generation of agriculture leaders. Continuing to invest in research, development, education and training will allow the Center for Dairy Research, UW–Madison and our technical colleges to have an even greater impact. And concrete efforts to expand the national and global distribution of our food and beverage products will help scale our companies and ensure the sustainability of our local food system.

We are excited to support, nurture and grow the extraordinary agricultural industry on which our region was built. By partnering with the many like-minded companies and organizations in the Madison region who recognize and celebrate that there is just as much innovation occurring in agriculture as there is in information technology, we can seize this moment to rediscover our roots, knowing that they are already planted firmly in the future.

Read the full article.

Excerpted from Janesville Gazette
By Jim Leute

The value of goods and services produced in Rock County in 2013 increased at a rate bettered only by a few other metro areas in the United States, further evidence that the area continues to bounce back from the Great Recession and the loss of its largest industry, local officials said.

Gross domestic product, a term typically applied to the economies of nations, also is tracked closer to home. In Rock County—technically known as the Janesville-Beloit Metropolitan Statistic Area—the gross domestic product jumped 6 percent last year. Of the nation’s 381 metropolitan areas, only 22 had bigger increases than Rock County, according to the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis.

“There’s no question when you look at these numbers, either from a state or national perspective, we’re leading the pack,” said James Otterstein, Rock County’s economic development manager. “Arguably, GDP is one of the strongest economic indicators that economists, observers and others look at to measure the overall health of an economy in a given geographical area.”

ECONOMIC DIVERSITY

The government defines “real GDP” as the value of an area’s economic output adjusted for price changes such as inflation or deflation.

The bureau pegged the value of all goods and services produced in Rock County in 2013 at $5.4 billion.
Overall, real GDP increased in 292 of the nation’s 381 metropolitan areas in 2013.

Otterstein said Rock County’s GDP growth is important for two reasons.

“The first is that it’s incremental, as it should be,” he said, noting the county has posted GDP growth of at least 1.5 percent every year since 2009.

“The second is that it continues to move in the appropriate direction.”

From 2012 to 2013, Rock County experienced double-digit GDP growth in the agriculture, mining, construction and information sectors.

The largest gainer, however, was the local professional and business services sector, which increased a whopping 40 percent in 2013 and was bettered by just one other metro area in the country.

“It’s not just one company driving this train,” said John Beckord, president of Forward Janesville. “The economic diversity that we’ve talked about for years in this community has finally become a reality.”
Similar to many other metro areas, Rock County continues to transition to an economy dominated by services.

In 2004, 61 percent of the county’s private GDP came from service-producing industries.

The remaining 39 percent was generated by goods producers.

The gap between the two was even wider in 2013, when the split was 73 percent to 27 percent in favor of industries that produced services.

Otterstein said the recent GDP numbers complement other local economic indicators to show that Rock County’s economy is continually improving. Specifically, he points to:

• Declining unemployment rates.
• Residential real estate activity that is rising and in some cases matching levels before the Great Recession.
• Significantly lower industrial vacancy rates that have triggered new and speculative construction
• Growing retail sales that indicates disposal income and consumer confidence levels steadily rising.
• Growing consumption of energy, which shows companies are producing more.

Read the full article.

Excerpted from Xconomy Wisconsin
By Jeff Engel

Shine Medical Technologies, the Monona, WI-based startup that aims to be the first domestic producer of medical radioisotopes, said today it has inked an investment deal with New York-based Deerfield Management for up to $125 million.

The investment is a mammoth one for a Wisconsin startup, given that a venture capital deal worth $5 million to $10 million is considered big in these parts. Deerfield’s investment is a combination of equity and debt, with the debt financing being provided in phases based upon Shine hitting certain undisclosed milestones.

Deerfield’s money, along with matching U.S. Department of Energy funds of up to $25 million, will be used to finish the design and construction of Shine’s Janesville, WI, manufacturing plant and to cover costs as the company expands its staff in preparation for commercial production, according to a company press release. The company first must obtain a construction permit from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, which it expects to get in the second half of 2015, Shine vice president of business development Katrina Pitas told Xconomy. Construction of the Janesville facility is expected to begin in 2016, she said.

“This is an important step toward complete financing of our North American plant,” Shine CEO Greg Piefer said in today’s press release.

Shine would make molybdenum-99, a radioisotope that decays into the diagnostic imaging agent technetium?99m, the most commonly used medical isotope. Shine is responding to an expected shortage of medical isotopes because there are currently no domestic producers, and many overseas manufacturing facilities are aging.

“We are pleased to help advance and catalyze a solution to the looming U.S. moly-99 supply shortage through our commitment to Shine,” Deerfield partner Steve Hochberg said in the press release. “We are encouraged with the progress that the Shine team has made to date on its novel approach to produce moly-99 from low-enriched uranium.”

Shine isn’t the only company rushing to solve this problem. NorthStar Medical Radioisotopes, based in nearby Madison, WI, also plans to build a medical isotope production facility in Beloit, WI. NorthStar broke ground on its facility in July.

Read the full article.

Excerpted by Wisconsin State Journal
By Karen Rivedal

Thermal Spray Technologies, a developer of protective spray coatings for some of the world’s top manufacturers, will get up to $750,000 in state tax credits to create 199 jobs — more than doubling its workforce in three years — as part of an $11.5 million expansion in the Sun Prairie Business Park.

Founded in 1992, Thermal Spray currently employs about 125 people at its existing building at 515 Progress Way. The company purchased a nearby 92,000-square-foot building for the expansion, with a renovation underway now and due to finish early next year.

Wages for the new jobs would range from $14 to $29 an hour, with an average starting wage of $20.26, or about $42,000 annually, according to Patrick Drinan, WEDC’s economic development director, on Wednesday.

“It’s an exciting project in which a local company is … making significant investments in new equipment to help them succeed long-term,” Drinan said in an interview.

The new space is needed to meet increased customer demand and will enable the company to install the latest equipment for industrial coating and advanced machining technology, company president Bill Lenling said.

“This expansion is reflective of TST’s largest growth to date,” he said. “We are delighted to partner with WEDC through this exciting stage in our company’s history.”

Thermal Spray manufactures product-specific coatings that are designed to be wear-resistant and protective for components used in the aerospace, electronics, agriculture, medical, oil and gas, automotive, power generation, papermaking, printing, food processing and defense industries, according to the company and WEDC.

With the expansion, Lenling said the company needs to hire for a variety of positions, including engineers, machinists, technicians to run the thermal spray equipment and human resources professionals.

“Everyone’s excited about the opportunity that our customers are providing us,” he said. “And we’re excited that we can keep the work here in Wisconsin, (even though) a lot of our customers are located in Texas and Oklahoma and places like that. But to do it here is working very well because of the very strong manufacturing base and reputation that Wisconsin has.”

Thermal Spray traces its roots to technology advances developed at UW-Madison in the late 1980s.

“The fact that a lot of the technology was developed in conjunction (with UW-Madison) is pretty exciting,” Drinan said. “It helped transform the company into a successful global business that continues to thrive.”

Read the full article.