Rebecca Ryan jets around the world, advising communities how to keep and attract bright, young workers.

One of the hottest voices for the 20s and 30s generation, Ryan owns Next Generation Consulting, a $3.2 million business with five employees.

She could have lived anywhere, but in 2004 she chose Madison as a place to put down roots.

"I fell in love with someone in Madison," said Ryan, 34, who was born in Green Bay and grew up in West Bend. "A lot of people follow money or love and in my case, it was my heart."

But that's just part of the story. In October, the Gallup Organization made a heart- stopping offer to buy Ryan's business and bring her to Washington, D.C. It was a time to take "inventory of what matters to us" - a community with recreation, good food, smart people. A place where Ryan could make an impact.

"I was eating a walnut burger at the Harmony Bar and it all came to a head for me. The Harmony Bar doesn't have to make walnut burgers, let alone by hand, but they do," she said. "I thought, this bar is a metaphor for why I'm going to continue to live here."

Technology company Clonex Development moved its labs to Madison from Chicago last year. "The biotech environment is better here than it is in Illinois," said Thomas Primiano, founder and chief executive officer, a Joliet, Ill., native. "(And) it's much less expensive to operate here."

Blackhawk Automation, a manufacturer, moved to Madison last year - ironically, leaving Sun Prairie, a more industrial city just past Madison's northeast edge.

Blackhawk, which makes equipment that helps dairy processors package and stack more cheese, joined a sister company, EMS Industrial, which had outgrown its longtime Madison building. The two moved together into a new, 52,000-square-foot building at 4901 Prairie Dock Drive, in the World Dairy Center business park on the Southeast Side.

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