A Letter From the President: April 2015
We look forward to seeing many of our members at our April membership meeting as we hear from Lieutenant Governor Rebecca Kleefisch and hear updates from our Scale Up Milwaukee initiative.
We’ve come a long way from the initial visit that Shel Lubar set up to Babson with UWM leadership to explore how to grow entrepreneurship and scale companies in Milwaukee. Since then, with Shel’s leadership and dedication and strong support from GMC chair and economic development committee co-chair Ted Kellner, we have launched and taken to Phase II our Scale Up Milwaukee initiative. Thank you also to our key partners – the WEDC, American Express OPEN, the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, the City of Milwaukee and WHEDA.
Scale Up Milwaukee recently hosted its finale on March 20th, featuring the graduating class and many supporters. The Scalerator, a six-month program taught by Babson faculty members, is open to select businesses in the Milwaukee region poised for rapid growth. The companies have a total revenue of nearly $38,000,000 and anticipate growth of up to 50% over the next year, and plan to hire more than 150 new employees in 2015!
These are huge numbers, not just for the companies participating in the Scalerator, but for our region as a whole. This shows that Milwaukee is on the cusp of major job and economic growth; Scale Up Milwaukee is just one way of encouraging that growth and supporting companies in their efforts to hire more people and grow their businesses.
The Scalerator Finale featured presentations from three Scalerator companies – Brilliance Business Solutions, Scathain, and Telcom & Data- who, along with nine other Scalerator graduates, will be on hand at the Scalerator Village preceding Monday’s membership meeting from 11:30-noon to share their success stories. Prominent community members, including Mayor Tom Barrett and Park Bank president and Scale Up Milwaukee co-chair David Werner, were also vocal in their support of Scale Up Milwaukee at the finale.
We hope you will join us before the April membership meeting on Monday, April 13th, from 11:30-noon to meet some of the dynamic individuals representing companies that are shaping the growth of our region.
Sincerely,
Julia Taylor President Greater Milwaukee Committee