Press Releases

Governor's Summit on Capital to Feature Wisconsin Success Stories

(Madison) The Governor's Summit on Capital 2002, scheduled for March 19 and 20th, will feature case studies of Wisconsin companies that achieved success, in part, because of their ability to obtain development capital. The stories, prepared expressly for the conference, will be presented in a session called Wisconsin Success Stories. They will provide insights into the funding history, products and services, management style, and corporate personality.

The featured companies share a common thread of funding success but come from dissimilar industries and different regions of the state. They include:
• Orion Lightning and Energy Services-Plymouth Wisconsin, a manufacturing company that raised capital through a little-used program administered by the Wisconsin Department of Financial Institutions Division of Securities. Its success spurred recent legislative action to raise the program's funding limit from $1 million to $5 million. Its products and services offer such massive and quantifiable energy efficiencies that they have caught the eye of the Wisconsin Public Service Commission, and could even mean one less new state power plant on the drawing board. A CEO who says, "My business is simple, I eat what I kill," leads its management team."
• Alfalight, Inc.-Madison, Wisconsin, a high-technology firm that develops innovative products for the telecommunications industry might have gotten the fastest funding commitment on record-15 seconds into its meeting. The company develops high-powered lasers with exceptional reliability that can be found at the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean helping to transmit digital signals from North America to Europe. Its management team is a self-described group of "all Wisconsin flag-wavers."
• Appleton Papers-Appleton, Wisconsin, a paper products company whose employees purchased the company last year from its foreign owner for $810 million using hard-earned retirement savings as a down payment, an unlikely scenario in today's post-Enron environment. This story also details the close working relationship between Appleton Papers and the BCI Group a neighbor literally down the street specializing in employee stock ownership plans.

"Wisconsin people have grown many exceptional companies through the use of development
capital here in the state," said Governor Scott McCallum. "Showcasing some of them at the Summit is a fine way to recognize them for the vision they have shown and for their outstanding accomplishments. They also provide a source of inspiration that I feel will motivate others to follow in their footsteps."

The Summit will be held March 19-20, 2002 at the Midwest Express Center in Milwaukee. Registration fee is $175 and includes admission to all sessions, a luncheon, and two receptions. A registration form and additional Summit information are available at: www.wdfi.org.