— This week’s episode of “WisBusiness: the Podcast” is with Patti Habeck, president and CEO of New North.
Habeck was chosen to lead the northeastern Wisconsin economic development group late last year, taking over for former leader Barb LaMue.
New North represents the 18-county region that includes Door County as well as the Fox Cities area and other communities.
The discussion focuses on Habeck’s top goals for the organization to start the new year, ranging from attracting more residents and businesses to driving more innovation in the local economy.
“This is where I live, this is where my family grew up,” she said. “And so when I look at what I want for the region, it has always been about a healthy, vibrant, growing, exciting group of communities.”
Habeck shares her thoughts on the area’s biggest opportunities, noting the northeastern region is one of the fastest-growing in the state. Along with the local quality of life, she touts the advanced manufacturing sector’s presence there, access to water and nature, transportation infrastructure and more.
“We are in a position to grow, and to be very critical as you look at Wisconsin’s future,” she said.
At the same time, she’s keeping her eye on the area’s talent pipeline, calling it both a challenge and opportunity for regional economic development efforts.
“We have such a great place for people to raise their families, but … once the young people grow up, how do we make sure we’re retaining them in this area and keeping our talent in this area, and how do we attract new talent to this area,” she said.
Habeck says she wants to nurture the region’s entrepreneurial ecosystem and help startups, while supporting key industries such as health care and construction.
“When I look at my transition from where I was to New North and look to 2026, I see it as an extension but just getting broader in that ability to convene and partner and grow, and generate excitement, quite honestly,” she said. “I’m very inspired by this region. I’ve lived all over the country, and New North is home.”
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— Rivermark Medical is making steady progress enrolling participants in an FDA clinical trial of the Milwaukee company’s device for men with prostate issues.
The business is targeting a condition called benign prostatic hyperplasia, or BPH, also known simply as an enlarged prostate. Its FloStent product is meant to address the symptoms of BPH, restoring urinary flow while preserving further treatment options for patients.
That’s according to President and CEO Dr. Adam Kadlec, a urologist who spoke yesterday during a luncheon held by the Wisconsin Technology Council in Milwaukee. He gave an update on the company’s progress since launching in 2021, which includes raising $36 million.
“At the time we concepted of it, there really wasn’t anything on the market,” he said. “We’re getting pretty close. There’s actually a couple other prostatic stents [that] got FDA approved last month … this kind of product space has materialized.”
He stressed the importance of keeping options open for patients with the FloStent device. Many BPH patients are primarily treated with daily medications, but Kadlec said that indefinite treatment regimen can cause side effects and become less effective over time.
“For a long time, there’s been kind of a gap between medication and operation, and there are a number of medical devices that fit into that space,” he said. “When I was in practice, I was doing a lot of them. You’d present this menu of options to the patients, and as that menu got bigger, it became harder for them to decide what was the right thing to do.”
Kadlec says a “fundamental problem” with standard treatment is the irreversibility of surgery.
“I would often tell them, we can take you to surgery and that can be a very good thing, but once I do it, I can’t undo it,” he said. “So this concept of a stent-based technology that could be delivered … using equipment that urologists already have in the office and that they’re familiar using.”
The next big milestone for the business will be completing enrollment of its FDA trial, Kadlec said. Rivermark Medical is about two-thirds finished with that process. The 215-patient study takes about a year to fully enroll participants, and a year to obtain the data, he explained.
“We’ve had a very good run … we’ve come a long way,” he said. “We still have quite a bit to do.”
The company last year announced it had enrolled the first participant in the RAPID III clinical trial, which will evaluate the safety and effectiveness of the company’s product. See more on the study here.
— Wisconsin has been ranked 21st among U.S. states for various measures of health by the United Health Foundation.
The group’s latest state health rankings place Wisconsin relatively high for clinical care and social and economic factors — 12th and 15th, respectively — but its health outcomes score was much lower, ranking 38th in the country.
For the other two categories, health behaviors and the physical environment, Wisconsin was ranked 22nd.
Report authors point to several strengths for the state, including relatively low prevalence of non-medical drug use, and high rates of high school completion and cancer screening.
They also highlight an increase in colon cancer screening in the state, which has risen from 65% of adults aged 45-75 to 74.8% between 2022 and 2024.
Meanwhile, Wisconsin’s top health challenges include widespread excessive drinking as well as high rates of obesity and “frequent mental distress,” the report shows.
It also spotlights rising e-cigarette use, which grew from 6.6% of adults to 8.3% between 2023 and 2024. Wisconsin’s rate of e-cigarette use has largely followed the national trend, rising steadily since at least 2017.
See the data for Wisconsin here.
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