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Rede leader:Jennifer Alexander's new job requires a wider perspectiveInterviewed by Nathan Leaf
Age: 56 Family: Husband, Jim, two stepchildren Born and raised: In Algoma, on the shore of Lake Michigan, a few miles south of Door County Education: Bachelor of science degree from UW-Oshkosh; masters of administration from UW-Oshkosh Experience: Began career as a teacher in Gary, Ind., and Delaware, Ohio; special education director in Kaukauna School District; assistant principal at Kaukauna High School; principal of Plymouth High School; division administrator for Wisconsin Division of Technology; secretary of Department of Workforce Development; founded Alexander Wegner and Associates; named president of Greater Madison Chamber of Commerce in 2004; named president of the Regional Economic Development and Stewardship Entity in February Q. You spent a significant part of your career working in special education. Why did you choose that field? A. I went from education to government to small business to chamber work. And it seems like an odd kind of trail. But there are things in common across all of them. The criterion that I had was that I needed to be able to learn something new, it had to be a challenge, and I needed to feel like I could make a difference. Special education was an interest because I felt like I could make a difference. It was interesting. I did some volunteer work in my early years in a special education classroom and just got interested in it. Q. Why did you leave education? A. I was a high school principal at the time and Gov. (Tommy) Thompson was coming out with his TEACH (Technology for Educational Achievement) program that was designed to bring technology into schools. Which seems very old now, but at that time it was a very interesting thing. I thought that was fascinating and the right thing to do ... so I told (then Administration Secretary Mark Bugher) that I was the right person (to lead the program) and could he arrange a meeting for me with Gov. Thompson. He did and I explained to Gov. Thompson that I was the right person and he said, "No you're not. Doris Hanson is." And she was. But in the meantime I got to know Secretary Bugher and he hired me as a division administrator for the Division of Technology Management. Q. What are some of the challenges you've encountered at the chamber? A. When I started three years ago, I took time to meet with each member of the board of directors. And then I had a focus group to bounce (those) ideas off. A number of themes came through but the three priorities were economic development, public policy and membership services. They wanted the Greater Madi-son Chamber to be more proactive, more relevant and more inclusive. The voice of the small business owner is an important voice to be at the table when decisions are made in the community. And we've worked very hard to have that voice heard and get small-business people involved. Q. Why was getting small businesses more involved seen as such a priority? A. Our small businesses are really a part of the very fabric of this region. If you walk down Monroe Street or State Street or Willy Street, it's the eclectic small- business people who are invested in the community and are working hard to make the community what it is. I think that voice really needs to be at the table. Q. How will REDE differ from the chamber? A. The chamber focuses on membership services and public policy. The Regional Economic Development Entity has three key objectives. To grow the economy by a sector-based approach, to focus on one or two quality of life issues, and then focus on that regional (approach to economic development). If there is a public policy issue that comes out of (REDE), it will be handed off to the chamber to do the lobbying with the Legislature. Q. Why is the sector-based approach a priority? A. What it focuses on is folks who would be natural competitors coming together. If it's health care, for example, those industry leaders would come to the table and say "What can we do together? What are our unique opportunities or what are the things that are getting in our way that we can deal with to make our sector in this region sector competitive?" So natural competitors come together to look at how working together they can create a competitive advantage for this region. What REDE does is bring those leaders together, help identify what those opportunities or barriers are, and then go after getting at those (solutions). Q. How do you get natural competitors to work together? A. They're all strong professionals who are smart and will see the advantage to doing so. It won't be a matter of them not being willing to. There are lots of good ideas and lots of good activities going on, what REDE can do is help bring focus to them. Q. Have you identified any of the sectors that REDE will focus on? A. The decision hasn't been made by REDE yet, but (the initial sectors are) healthcare, biotech and agriculture. The report of (REDE's assets and opportunities committee) suggests that where the unique opportunities might lie are the convergence of those sectors. Q. Why do you think it's necessary to approach economic development from a regional perspective? A. We want businesses to be located in the region. We used to focus our attention on Middleton competing with Madison competing with Verona. Now this regional approach is to make sure that the businesses grow here and come to this region and that we compete against the Austins and Boulders and Beijing. ... What we learned when we went to Denver, and they have had three generations of leaders who have worked regionally, is that they find a code of behavior where they agree that they will make sure that the interest is in having the businesses stay or grow in their region. And that is what is most important. It's the region deciding that we benefit from a business staying whether it's on this side of the municipal boundary or that side. A perfect example is Epic. That business being in this region benefits the entire region. They shop in one community. They live in another community. And they work in another community. It doesn't just help Verona's community. Q. What has been the catalyst for this shift toward regional thinking? A. There was a time when a particular sector, whether it's education or business or government, could take a problem and solve it themselves. The issues that we are faced with today are of the complex nature that most can't be solved within a particular sector doing it by themselves. Nor can you generally do it within a municipal boundary. How do you work on air or water quality without crossing municipal boundaries? If you're doing things in a very piecemeal way, you're not going to get at the heart of the issue. I think the stars are aligned because we have a number of leaders in this region who understand that. nleaf@madison.com madison.com ©2009 Capital Newspapers. All rights reserved. |
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