Bugher’s legacy is University Research Park expansion

For nearly 15 years, Mark Bugher has been in charge of University Research Park on Madison’s west side. During his tenure, the number of companies at the 255-acre site increased significantly to 126, with 3,600 employees earning an average of $64,000 annually.

As the non-profit research park expanded, it also grew in status. It’s now a regular stop for national and international visitors and discussed along with North Carolina’s Research Triangle and California’s Silicon Valley.

But Bugher, a former Tommy Thompson administration cabinet member, wasn’t content with this success. For nearly half his tenure, he has been working to expand the research park to a nearly 400-acre site at the corner of Mineral Point and Junction Roads on the far west side of Madison.

Now that he’s put all the pieces in place and smoothed out the planning details with the city, he’s calling it quits. His last day will be Halloween, Oct. 31.

Bugher, 64, said there were several factors that prompted him to announce his pending retirement, which he calls a “career change.”

“One of them, of course, is the new chancellor arriving on campus,” he said of Becky Blank, who assumed her post in July. “I report to the chancellor, so I thought it would be a convenient time for me to leave and allow the chancellor to establish a relationship with a new director.

“Secondly, we had completed all the work on the second research park. It’s all been approved by the city and ready to be developed, so we’re excited and happy about that.”

Added Bugher: “The first building will be developed in 2014 and so given that timeline, I thought this was the appropriate moment in my career to step aside and let someone else take over.”

And while Bugher – who has a vacation home in Bayfield – said he plans to ski, bike, golf, boat and spend more time with his family, he’ll be staying involved in state and local issues.

“I’m looking forward to having a little elbow room to do some of the things I haven’t been able to do over the past 30 years because I’ve been too busy,” he said.

“But I’ll continue to serve on several boards,” he said. “One is for Madison Gas & Electric and the other for First Business Financial Services. Those are both boards that I find very interesting and frankly are a lot of work.”

In addition, Bugher also chairs the Marshfield Clinic Health System Board, which he said is making a transition from a physician-operated clinic to a more corporate-style board.

“That requires a lot of work and attention as well,” he mused.

When asked if he plans to run for office, Bugher quickly responded with a “no.” Then he chuckled.

Bugher said he’ll help in the search for his successor, but only if the chancellor asks for his advice.

“I’ll probably stay out of it,” said Bugher, adding Blank may announce his replacement in October. “I think it is best when someone retires to really retire and not meddle in the potential success and the operations of my successor.”

He also said he doesn’t have any thoughts about whether the new hire should come from inside or outside the university.

“They just need to find the best person for the job,” he said. “It is kind of a unique skill set, but it’s really up to the chancellor. She will appoint a search committee to find the best person in the country.”

Bugher said the first University Research Park stemmed from the vision of former UW-Madison Chancellor Irv Shain and others in the 1980s who wanted to create a place for faculty to commercialize their intellectual property.

He said North Carolina’s Research Triangle and the Silicon Valley were the general models.

But he said Madison’s research park is “much more of a facility that responds directly to the needs of university faculty, staff and students. And is very directly connected to the university, much more than any other facility across the country.”

Bugher said the “essence” of the project was the university’s commitment to economic development and job creation through the technology transfer process. He said he’s especially proud that wages at the park are significantly higher than the state average.

Moreover, he said many of the employees are graduates from Wisconsin universities and technical college programs.

“So this is an ideal example of trying to do our best to keep our highly educated, young, bright graduates here in the state as opposed to having them leave and go elsewhere.”

If all goes well with the new research park, it could eventually employee between 6,000 and 8,000 people working for as many as 200 companies. The project covers 371 acres and stretches from Mineral Point Road all the way to the Hawks Landing golf course and over Valley View Road to the south.

“It will be a huge economic driver and a major benefit for Madison and the Dane County area in the future,” he said.

Though the current park has a few spots that can be developed or expanded, Bugher said “we felt we needed to make the commitment to continue to work aggressively toward economic development and job creation using the assets of the university. So several years ago, we made the decision to move aggressively toward expansion with the acquisition of this property.”

Unlike the University Research Park’s open design, Bugher said the new facility will be developed with more of an urban feel.

“The current park was developed in the 1980s in a residential neighborhood,” he said. “Many of the folks living around the park didn’t want a dense, urban-style project. They wanted to be able to continue to walk on trails in a park-like setting. So the new park employs more modern planning procedures and urban density kind of techniques.”

He said the new project will have smaller lots, structured parking and with buildings close to streets. But there will also be lots of biking and walking trails, he added.

“We are responding to the more modern kinds of approaches that Madison and larger cities favor,” he said. “We will also have workforce housing on site where folks can live and walk to work, hopefully. There will also be retail facilities, restaurants, coffee shops, dry cleaners and things like that.”

Bugher said he often hosts visitors – some from abroad – who want to learn about the research park.

“They want to understand the unique system that UW-Madison has to work with WARF and Office of Corporate Relations,” he said. “The park has grown in stature to an internationally acclaimed facility – which I’m quite proud of – and I think it will continue that way. So we are always glad to welcome visitors who have an interest in this kind of activity.”

Looking back, the Eau Claire native said he’s proud of his long public-service career.

“I enjoyed my tenure in state government (heading) two large, state agencies (Revenue and Department of Administration). That was exciting and interesting. I look at myself as a kind of a public policy wonk, so I enjoyed the rough and tumble of the public policy debate.

“But if you asked me more recently, the highlight would have to be assembling all of this land and preparing for the development of the second research park. That was a five-year project that required a considerable amount of work to assemble all of the property and then seek the approvals from the city of Madison. So this will be a huge benefit for the city of Madison for job creation and economic development into the future. … Hopefully we’re leaving a legacy for the future of this region. And that job creation and economic development will be the hallmarks of what the research park will stand for in the future.”