Madwaukee 2050

Event Details

April 16, 2025 | 2:00 – 6:30 PM

The Ingleside Hotel

MADWAUKEE 2050

This signature event focuses on the unique opportunities and challenges facing the counties in the corridor between Milwaukee and Madison (Milwaukee, Waukesha, Jefferson and Dane). We’ll explore avenues for growth throughout the MadWaukee corridor, focusing on economic development, accessibility, training, transportation, and the transformative potential of emerging industries and new technologies.

MadWaukee Corridor 2050

Building Tomorrow’s Economy in Jefferson and Waukesha Counties

The MadWaukee Corridor isn’t just growing—it’s transforming. Stretching along I-94 from Milwaukee to Madison, this economic engine already generates 40% of Wisconsin’s output. Now, it’s about to shift into overdrive with more than $1 billion of manufacturing investments planned in Jefferson County alone.

Be part of the conversation that’s shaping Wisconsin’s economic future. Connect with industry leaders, development experts, and fellow stakeholders to:

Uncover emerging business and investment opportunities
Get ahead of infrastructure and housing challenges
Shape solutions that ensure sustainable growth
Build valuable partnerships across the corridor

Don’t just watch Wisconsin’s next economic chapter unfold—help write it.

Keynote Conversation

Dale Kooyenga, President & CEO, Metropolitan Milwaukee Association of Commerce (MMAC) [1]
Everett Butzine, Interim President & CEO, Madison Region Economic Partnership (MadREP) [2]

Panel Discussion

Mark Crave, Managing Partner, Crave Brothers Farmstead Cheese [3]
Wendy Harris, Regional Innovation Officer, Wisconsin Biohealth Tech Hub [4]
Michael Luckey, County Administrator, Jefferson County, Wisconsin [5]
Matt Moroney, CEO, Wangard Partners [6]

Concurrent Roundtable Sessions

Concurrent Roundtable Sessions:

Three rounds of concurrent breakout sessions on topics such as: Housing-single/multi family, transportation, employee attraction, training and retention, daycare/childcare, schools/education, bio-health, real estate/economic development, local government support, infrastructure.

TABLE #1

Laying the foundation: How Jefferson County positioned itself for over $1 billion in investments

Jefferson County didn’t just get lucky—it planned for success. This session will explore how supportive local leadership and a thoughtful approach to land use, infrastructure development and workforce readiness created a business-friendly environment that captured the attention of site selectors.

Presenter: Deb Reinbold, President/Executive Director, ThriveED/Jefferson County Economic Development Consortium

TABLE #2

Business banking fraud, and ways to prevent it

These days it feels like we need a superhero crime fighter to keep our information safe. This is especially true since fraudulent activity on a business account must be reported no later than the next business day after the fraudulent item clears the account to protect against any loss. Learn about crime-fighting solutions to help stop fraudulent activity before it starts.

Presenter: Morgan Dornfeldt, Senior Cash Management Officer, Bank Five Nine

TABLE #3

Oconomowoc: The heart of Lake Country and a community of choice for continued development activity

Oconomowoc is building on a foundation of success in rebuilding downtown as a destination and successful redevelopment projects. Future retail, entertainment, innovation and incubation opportunities will continue to transform the city as a community of choice for development activity.

Presenter: Bob Duffy, Economic Development Director, City of Oconomowoc

TABLE #4

The secret sauce of workforce housing as a redevelopment project

The Domenica Park Story – A discussion on the redevelopment of a vacant city block in a Waukesha neighborhood – the former site of the century-old Aeroshade factory – into workforce housing for 20 families. This Habitat for Humanity of Waukesha and Jefferson Counties project developed a financing strategy that wove together multiple funding sources including support from the city of Waukesha and the Waukesha County GROW Fund. Learn how the partners identified and overcame potential roadblocks and challenges.

Presenter: Therese Thill, Executive Director, Waukesha County Center for Growth

TABLE #5

The energy transition: What does it mean for my firm and our competitiveness?

Increasingly, business customers have expanded options, more automation/increased “loads,” volatile costs and sustainability aspects of their power and fuel buys. This session will address some of the more recent trends and developments.

Presenter: Tim Baye, Professor of Business Development, State Energy Specialist, UW-Madison Extension

TABLE #6

Possibilities and potholes of policy changes

Every new presidential administration brings change. It can be difficult to keep up with what is speculation, what is being proposed, and what has been implemented. We’ll provide a dispassionate outline of changes that have been implemented and what is being proposed. Most importantly, we will provide the perspective from a well-credentialed team of experts with diverse backgrounds and views about what all this change may mean.

Presenter: Dave Spano, CEO, Annex Wealth Management

TABLE #7

Public/Private partnership efforts to support thriving communities

As our corridor continues to compete for talent, efforts are needed to develop creative solutions to look at complex issues such as housing, childcare and health to allow our communities to thrive. This discussion will focus on public/private partnerships that evolved from strategic initiatives of partners and community engagement to bring various investments to the table. It will highlight the Live, Local Development Fund that provides housing gap financing and utilize the development of the Collective by the Greater Watertown Health Foundation to look at housing, childcare, collaboration space and health space to include mental health and physical health.

Presenter: Benjamin Wehmeier, President and CEO, Greater Watertown Community Health Foundation

TABLE #8
How personalized healthcare technologies can continue to evolve in Wisconsin

Join us to discuss how the WI Biohealth Tech Hub will engage our unique SE WI ecosystem to catalyze the future of personalized medicine. With an ecosystem uniquely anchored in the Milwaukee–Madison corridor and supported by statewide manufacturing and workforce development spokes, Wisconsin is advancing an integrated Invent–Build–Deploy strategy that redefines how innovation is commercialized, scaled, and reinvents the usual narrow focus on innovation-only efforts to create a virtuous cycle of economic growth.

Presenter: Chris Unterberger, PhD, Lead Project Manager, Wisconsin Biohealth Tech Hub

TABLE #9
The opportunities and hurdles for development in Jefferson County

The discussion will center on the opportunities being a neighboring county to Dane County, the fastest growing region in Wisconsin, and the need for Milwaukee businesses to expand further from Milwaukee. How can Jefferson County communities prepare for this opportunity and why housing and general infrastructure will be a critical element to the county’s long-term success.

Presenter: Matt Moroney, JD, CEO, Wangard Partners, Inc.

TABLE #10

Intrapreneurship: Transforming the future.

Intrapreneurship is the act of thinking and acting like an entrepreneur within an organization to drive innovation and growth from the inside out. Intrapreneurs are innovators. Discuss what this means for you, your team, business and the corridor. Bring your questions.

What is intrapreneurship?
How does it impact you/team/business?
How does it impact our corridor?
What if we everyone understand intrapreneurship in your ecosystem? How would it change the flow of business?
What can you do in the next 30 days to move this forward?

Presenter: Elizabeth Thelen, Executive Director Innovation Services and Community Engagement Center, UW Whitewater

Networking Reception

Opportunity to build on existing relationships and start new ones.

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