Contact:
Bill McCoshen
Executive Director
Competitive Wisconsin, Inc.
(608) 258-8411
Supports Paul Jadin as CEO of new corporation
(MADISON) – The creation of the Wisconsin Economic Development Corporation is being hailed by business leaders across the state as a game-changing step in improving Wisconsin’s ability to focus efforts on business attraction, expansion and startup. The Legislative action today has advanced plans to create the state’s newest economic development entity. Leaders of Competitive Wisconsin, Inc. say the Wisconsin Economic Development Corporation will be vital to future economic development in the state.
Paul Jadin, who was recently appointed Commerce Department Secretary by Governor Walker and is the former president of the Green Bay Chamber of Commerce and a former Green Bay mayor, will head up the new corporation. The Wisconsin Economic Development Corporation will take the lead in Governor Walker’s pledge to create 250,000 jobs in Wisconsin during the next four years and is central to the governor’s plan of promoting business growth and retention.
“The Wisconsin Economic Development Corporation is exactly the mechanism Wisconsin needs in order to compete both regionally and nationally,” said Susan Marks, president and CEO of Pinstripe, and president of Competitive Wisconsin. “For too long we’ve fallen behind other states in job growth and business development. With the creation of the Wisconsin Economic Development Corporation and with other tax incentives currently being considered, Wisconsin will be in a favorable position to attract, grow and retain high-paying jobs.”
Scott VanderSanden, president of AT&T Wisconsin and treasurer of Competitive Wisconsin noted the creation of the Wisconsin Economic Development Corporation is in complete alignment with a prosperity strategy released late last year. “Be Bold: The Wisconsin Prosperity Strategy was the result of people, organizations and businesses from all across the state coming together during the 2010 Wisconsin Economic Summit Series to carefully evaluate Wisconsin’s economic challenges and present recommendations. One of those key recommendations was the creation of an entity such as the Wisconsin Economic Development Corporation. Competitive Wisconsin was instrumental in the development of Be Bold: The Wisconsin Prosperity Strategy and heartily endorses the creation and goals of the Wisconsin Economic Development Corporation.”
Competitive Wisconsin, Inc. (CWI) is a nonpolitical consortium of agriculture, business, education and labor leaders in Wisconsin who work together to focus attention on the state’s competitiveness. CWI’s mission is to improve the economic climate of Wisconsin in order to encourage the expansion of existing businesses and enhance the possibility of developing and attracting new business.
