THU AM News: M7 putting new focus on biotech manufacturing sector; MMAC survey finds ‘guarded’ optimism about Q3

July 31, 2025

— The Milwaukee 7 Regional Partnership wants to put a greater emphasis on biotech companies and other manufacturers as it develops its next five-year plan.

Rebecca Gries, executive director for M7, shared an update on the group’s efforts during this week’s meeting of the Milwaukee Rotary Club. The organization was founded in 2005 and has spent the last two decades working to attract more business investment in the seven-county region, along with other economic development priorities.

These efforts have been guided by a Deloitte study from 2008 examining southeastern Wisconsin’s key industries, Gries said. To reflect the changes that have happened in the region since then, the group is now using an updated framework, she explained.

Replacing an earlier cluster described as medical technology manufacturing, the group is putting a new focus on biotech and manufacturing to capitalize on the region’s momentum, according to Gries. The region has seen a 37% increase in jobs in this sector over the last 10 years, well above the U.S. average of 17% over that period.

Looking ahead, southeastern Wisconsin’s biotech employment is expected to grow by 21% over the coming years based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data. At the national level, that’s projected to be 12%.

Gries also referenced the federal Biohealth Tech Hub designation for Wisconsin, noting it’s “shining a new light on our region” as funded projects continue.

Along with the biotech sector, M7 is targeting growth in technology and electronics manufacturing as well as energy and component manufacturing. Gries pointed to the rise of data centers as well as “high-energy” industrial production as factors driving this focus.

“We are feeling very bullish about getting more of these investments and becoming a hub for this type of industry in Milwaukee,” she said, adding the region is “becoming known as the home of intelligent manufacturing, where our legacy in hardware craftsmanship and cutting-edge software innovation is really coming together.”

Still, she said uncertainty around tariffs is causing many companies in the area to pause some decisions, noting some projects getting “close to the finish line” have now been put on hold.

Gries also touted the impact of the last five-year plan, noting the region exceeded the goals it set on jobs, capital investments and wage growth. While the 2020-2024 plan targeted 8,800 new jobs, $1 billion in capital investment and a regional average wage around $64,000, it resulted in more than 11,000 new jobs, $5.49 billion capital investment and about $75,000 for the average wage.

“This is the most successful five-year campaign that we’ve had in the Milwaukee 7’s history, and we’re thrilled,” she said.

Watch the video.

— A recent survey of businesses in the Milwaukee area found more than half of respondents expect higher sales and profits in the third quarter of this year.

The Metropolitan Milwaukee Association of Commerce quarterly business outlook survey found 53% of businesses expect real sales increases in the third quarter compared to one year earlier and 55% and predicting higher profits. At the same time, 44% expect to add jobs in the third quarter.

Bret Mayborne, MMAC’s vice president of economic research, says the local economy has been “rather sluggish” in the first half of the year. But the survey results suggest positive momentum is on the way in the third quarter.

“On a quarter-to-quarter basis, sales expectations held firm while profit and employment forecasts improved from second-quarter levels,” he said. “Annual expectations for the year overall remain tepid with one notable exception — capital spending plans improved notably from those expressed at the beginning of 2025.”

The survey found manufacturers are slightly less optimistic about the third quarter than other businesses, with 55% of non-manufacturers expecting third-quarter sales growth compared to 50% of manufacturing companies.

The breakdown is the same for small and large manufacturers, with 55% of small employers with less than 100 workers expecting sales gains in the third quarter and 50% of large employers expecting the same.

The survey was conducted online in early July with 75 Milwaukee-area businesses.

See the full results.

— Dane County’s housing market is seeing signs of “decellerating a bit” even as inventory levels and listings show signs of improving, according to a market overview from Stark Company Realtors CEO David Stark.

His latest newsletter report notes total residential sales in Dane County are only up 1% over the year for the second quarter and 3% for the year, while June home closings were 4.6% lower than June of 2024. Last month was even slower than May, which Stark says is unusual.

But near the end of June, the county had more than 1,000 residential listings on the market for the first time since May 2020. Before the pandemic-induced market reaction, Stark says the area “virtually always” had more than 1,000 listings on the market for most of 2019.

Plus, he said “it was rare to even fall below that in all the years before, going back to well before the recession.”

Under the conventional view that 6 months of inventory represents a balanced market, Dane County would need to have more than 3,000 listings, the report shows.

“We’ve lived for so long under such restricted inventories that it’s hard to remember what a normal market feels like,” Stark wrote. “Clearly, we’re still a long way from 4 months of inventory, let alone 6. But for the first time in five years it feels like we’re finally on our way, and that in and of itself is something to celebrate.”

Meanwhile, the number of residential listings in the county is up 6.1% for the year and up 7% in the second quarter. New listings in June were 14% higher over the year and 4.4% higher than in May, which Stark says is “highly unusual.” New listings typically peak in April or May before falling off in June.

Still, he adds the region still isn’t “where we should be.” Dane County had 5,310 new listings in the first six months of 2019, well above this year’s total so far of 4,277.

“The current trend is up, and slowly accelerating to boot, so that’s progress,” he wrote.

And while prices aren’t expected to decline any time soon, the pace of increase has “notably slowed down” as inventory levels have risen.

Read the report.

— U.S. Sen. Ron Johnson voted against a bill in committee that would ban stock trading by lawmakers, calling it “legislative demagoguery.”

The bill, authored by Missouri GOP Sen. Josh Hawley, passed the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee and would ban all lawmakers, the president and vice president, with exceptions for the current administration, from buying or selling stocks.

The bill passed committee 8-7 with all Democrats voting for it and all Republicans against it, except for Hawley.

Johnson, R-Oshkosh, slammed the bill in the committee hearing yesterday.

“We make it very unattractive for people to step up to the plate and run for office or potentially serve in office,” Johnson said.

Johnson said he was a “strong no” on the bill and argued the bill is “unnecessary” because there are already insider trading laws and financial disclosures for politicians.

He added this would discourage business owners from serving in office.

— It is unclear what the full impact of the “One Big Beautiful Bill” will have on Wisconsin’s Medicaid program, partly because the federal government has yet to detail some of the implementation requirements, according to the Legislative Fiscal Bureau.

The nonpartisan agency also noted this week that the reconciliation bill will likely over time reduce the amount of money Wisconsin sends to hospitals as part of a move in the state budget designed to boost those payments.

LFB this week wrote a memo outlining how the legislation impacts Wisconsin’s Medicaid program, as well as FoodShare.

The agency noted it’s hard to gauge what some of the changes will mean until the federal government provides more guidance.

For example, the state now has 184,000 childless adult enrollees in Medicaid. Starting Jan. 1, 2027, those enrollees will need to meet new work requirements that include a minimum of 80 hours per month of paid work or qualifying activities such as school or an employment training program.

The reconciliation bill allows states to obtain an exemption. Without one, LFB expects the new requirement to reduce enrollment of childless adults beginning in the last six months of the 2025-27 biennium either due to the complexity of the application process or because some who meet the work requirements will see their earnings increase above the threshold to qualify for the program.

“However, since the impacts of these provisions will depend upon federal guidance and administrative rules, the magnitude of the program disenrollment, and associated reduction in MA benefits costs, is uncertain,” the agency wrote.

Meanwhile, the reconciliation bill also could reduce some of the increased payments hospitals are set to receive under a provision in the state budget. That provision increased the state’s assessment on net patient revenues to 6%, up from 1.8%. That money will then be used to attract additional matching federal dollars.

In all, the effort will mean a net increase of $918.8 million a year over the 2025-27 biennium for hospitals.

Still, LFB noted the federal bill also includes new restrictions on what the state can pay hospitals for Medicare services that kick in starting in 2028. For states like Wisconsin that haven’t adopted a full expansion of Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act, the cap is set at 110% of the Medicare rate.

LFB wrote it is likely Wisconsin will exceed that cap of 110% with the implementation of the higher payments to hospitals. The memo didn’t calculate how much Wisconsin may exceed that limit. But if the state has to reduce payments to hospitals starting in 2028, it would mean less federal matching funds. That would reduce the payments to hospitals, as well as the share of that federal money the state is keeping to cover other health care costs.

See more at WisPolitics.

— Leo Cancer Care’s upright particle therapy product has gotten marketing clearance from the FDA, which CEO Steven Towe calls a key milestone for the Middleton company.

The company recently announced it’s received 510(k) clearance from the federal agency, which comes after making a premarket submission to the FDA. This aims to demonstrate the given product is effective and safe to use and is “substantially equivalent” to another legally marketed product.

Leo Cancer Care’s Marie device is a radiotherapy treatment machine that keeps the patient in an upright position while delivering particle therapy. It rotates the patient to deliver precise radiation therapy, rather than rotating a larger machine around a bed. This results in lower infrastructure costs, according to the company.

“We’ve long believed there’s a better, more human way to deliver radiotherapy,” Towe said in a statement. “One that puts the patient at the heart of the treatment experience and embraces smarter, more compassionate design. Marie is the embodiment of that belief.”

See the release.

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