Excerpted from Wisconsin State Journal
By Judy Newman

An official of Parker Hannifin Corp., the big, publicly traded, Cleveland company that purchased Madison biotech SciLog, is giving assurances that SciLog will stay in Madison and grow.

“The home of SciLog will remain in Madison, absolutely,” says Richard Strike, an integration manager for Parker. “We do plan to invest in the R&D (research and development) capability here.”

“It’s a hugely innovative company, as well, which is another reason Parker was interested,” Strike says.

He says CEO Juliette Schick will stay on as business unit manager, while her husband, Karl Schick, who is named in SciLog’s more than 25 patents, will also remain with the company as research and engineering manager.

Founded in 1990, SciLog has about 30 employees and plans to add three more immediately, Strike says. In the meantime, Parker staff members from Cleveland, California and the U.K. have been spending quite a bit of time in Madison since the acquisition in August, for an undisclosed amount.

“We expect that we are going to grow this business significantly in the future,” Strike says.

Read the full article.

Excerpted from Isthmus
By Marc Eisen

Tech entrepreneurs Stephen Anderson and Brad Grzesiak hooked up the old-fashioned way — at a user-group meeting in 2008. Both were featured speakers at the Web 608 gathering. Anderson talked about “Ruby on Rails,” a web-application development framework of growing repute, while Grzesiak lectured on lunar mining.

Huh?

Yup, Grzesiak was the proverbial rocket scientist. He was working for Orbitec, the west-side aeronautics firm that develops technology for space exploration. Grzesiak, who’s now 30, wanted nothing more than to be an astronaut. (NASA politely turned him down, despite his expertise in designing life support systems for space stations.)

That chance meeting gave rise to Bendyworks, a software and web development firm that opened for business in 2009 at Anderson’s kitchen table with a couple hundred dollars in start-up capital. Today, the company has 11 employees, occupies about 3,500 square feet on the second floor above Madison’s bar and restaurant on King Street, and bills about $1 million a year in business.

The company’s web specialties are the visualization of databases and complex scheduling applications for online calendars. Clients range widely, from the Murfie online music market to the UW Pain & Policy Study Group.

Here’s the upshot: Information technology companies like Bendyworks could be the stars of downtown Madison’s 21st-century economy.

“The tech community in Madison is exploding,” says Anderson. “So is Madison’s entrepreneurial community.”

He’s sitting at a table at the Bendyworks office with Grzesiak and their partner, Jim Remsik. All three are convinced the downtown is well situated to ride the wave. They argue that the isthmus has the urban setting, the indie culture, the face-to-face proximity, and the creative talent to prosper in the burgeoning IT world.

“We can compete with the second-tier cities like Portland and Austin,” Remsik, 35, says confidently. “They don’t have anything on Madison. The problem is that people don’t think of Madison and say, ‘Oh, Madison — yeah, that’s a cool start-up place.”

Grzesiak easily has the most ambitious idea of the three partners: Madison should create a formal web district stretching east from the Capitol and south of East Washington Avenue to Schenk’s Corners.

Read the full article.

 

Excerpted from Wisconsin State Journal
By Dennis Punzel

Two Middleton companies have been selected by the Wisconsin Housing and Economic Development Authority to receive venture capital funding from the State Small Business Credit Initiative.

Xolve, which manufactures grapheme, the strongest and most conductive material, has secured $2 million in funding.

Hopster, a media platform that connects packaged goods brands with shoppers, will receive $1.5 million.

This round of financing was led by NEW Capital Fund, Wisconsin Investment Partners and the Wisconsin Economic Development Corp. NEW Capital Fund is one of three Wisconsin-based investment managers chosen by WHEDA to administer job creation funding.

Read the full article.

The Wisconsin 75 is an annual ranking of the largest closely held companies headquartered in Wisconsin. MadREP is pleased to recognize the companies from the Madison Region included on this year’s list.

• ABC Supply Co., Inc. (Beloit)
• The Delong Co., Inc. (Clinton)
• Trek Bicycle Corporation (Waterloo)
• J.P. Cullen & Sons, Inc. (Janesville)
• First Supply LLC (Madison)
• Electronic Theatre Controls, Inc. (Madison)
• Mayville Engineering Company, Inc. (Madison)
• Gordon Flesch Company, Inc. (Madison)
• Standard Process, Inc. (Palmyra)
• Placon Corporation (Fitchburg)

The Wisconsin 75 recognizes more than just revenue – the program recognizes business contributions to the communities in which they are located, the people who build the business, and the overall Wisconsin economy of which they are a part.

See the full list here.

PRESS RELEASE: September 20, 2012

MadREP, the economic development partnership for the eight-county Madison Region, announces Paul Jadin as its new President. Jadin’s past experience and proven track record of success in economic development make him uniquely qualified to lead MadREP and oversee implementation of the Advance Now Strategy.

MadREP recruited Jadin to participate in a nationwide search to fill the President position. He was identified as the best qualified candidate based on his direct experience at the local, regional, and state levels, as well as his proven ability to engage both the public and private sectors in economic development efforts.

“Paul’s professional background positions him well to lead a regional economic development organization like MadREP, where success is dependent on strong relationships and cooperation among municipalities, counties, and the state,” notes Mark Cullen, chairman of the MadREP board of directors. “His approach to economic development engages both the public and private sectors, another critical component to the success of regional economic growth initiatives. I have the utmost confidence in his leadership.”

In Jadin’s current role as the Secretary/CEO of the Wisconsin Economic Development Corporation, he has guided the organization through the creation of a four-year strategic plan and two years of operating plans. He will bring his deep understanding of the state’s economic development goals to his position at MadREP, preparing him to execute the strategies he developed at the state level in the Madison Region. Prior to his position at WEDC, Jadin served as President & CEO of the Green Bay Area Chamber of Commerce for seven years and as Mayor of Green Bay for eight years.

Jadin has a profound understanding of the critical role that regional organizations like MadREP fill in the economic development ecosystem. He played a founding role in the creation of The New North, the regional economic development organization for 18 counties in the northeast portion of the state, and served as a member of The New North Executive Committee. He comes to MadREP with an established understanding of the organization and the goals of Advance Now based on his active involvement as a member of Strategy Committee that oversaw the plan’s development.

“The Advance Now Strategy poises the Madison Region for proactive, aggressive growth, and I look forward to joining MadREP to lead its implementation,” notes Jadin. “I am committed to achieving the goals and benchmarks outlined in the strategy so that we can move this region’s economy forward and become more competitive on the global economic development stage.”

Jadin will begin his post at MadREP in November 2012.

ABOUT PAUL JADIN
Since January 2011, Paul Jadin served as both the Secretary of Commerce and Secretary/CEO of the new Wisconsin Economic Development Corporation. He was charged with transitioning from a state agency that had responsibility for economic development and regulatory activities to a public/private authority that is 100% focused on economic development. That reorganization has brought an expanded emphasis on international activities, with networks being developed in over a dozen countries; it has fostered a significant investment in entrepreneurship and innovation; and it has enabled the state to better understand and support its key industry sectors. The WEDC, under Jadin’s leadership, has also produced a new state brand to be unveiled in September 2012.

From April 2003 until his appointment, he was president and CEO of the Green Bay Area Chamber of Commerce, which has 1,400 members employing 93,000 workers. He directly oversaw economic development, government affairs, member services, and education functions. In partnership with Northeast Wisconsin Technical College, he led the development and growth of a 50,000-sq.-ft. business incubator, which has become a model for collaborative efforts involving small business activities.

From 1995-2003, Jadin served two terms as Mayor of Green Bay. He led economic development efforts that yielded a 50 percent increase in the tax base over his two terms in office. He also represented the city in all private and intergovernmental negotiations, including the Lambeau expansion agreement with the Green Bay Packers and the fee-for-service agreement with the Oneida Nation. In partnership with the Department of Commerce, he established the award-winning On Broadway Main Street Program.

Prior to his terms in office, Jadin spent 14 years in human resources management, first as personnel director for Portage County from 1981-1988 and then as director of personnel and labor relations for the City of Green Bay from 1988-1995.

Jadin was born in Green Bay and raised in Kewaunee, WI. He earned a B.A. in Political Science from Northwestern University in Evanston, IL, and an M.S. in Public Administration from Florida State University in Tallahassee, FL. He and his wife Jane have four children and have been married for 30 years.

Contact: Betsy Lundgren
blundgren@madisonregion.org  |  608.443.1961