GE Healthcare didn`t contact Wisconsin economic development officials before Chicago move

Economic development officials in Wisconsin said GE Healthcare did not contact them in the company’s search for a new international corporate headquarters that’s set for Chicago.

GE Healthcare representatives did not reach out to the Milwaukee 7 economic development group, president Patrick O’Brien said Tuesday.

“We didn’t know about the move,” O’Brien told the Milwaukee Business Journal.

The Milwaukee 7’s staff works to retain and recruit employers for a region consisting of Milwaukee, Waukesha, Racine, Kenosha, Washington, Ozaukee and Walworth counties.

The story was the same for the state’s economic development agency, Wisconsin Economic Development Corp. (WEDC), a spokesman said....

   ...more

Ken Notes: We need to be far more proactive in Wisconsin. We should reach out to every employer on a regular basis and ask how we can help. We seem to think that as long as things are going OK we can sit back and wait.

I have often suggested that WEDC enlist the help of local ED professionals. These individuals are in touch with their business leaders and can often pick up on issues far before the state or even regional EDC`s are in the loop. If the local professional is not a part of a larger team he or she may find it difficult to make the assurances necessary to encourage a business to stay, grow, or make changes necessary to benefit Wisconsin. With TIF the only tool in their bag, if a company is not building in a TID they can only at best suggest that others may be able to help. When I had to deal with this I could not offer a timeline, a given plan for assistance, or even a ballpark of what might be on the table. I called my WEDC guy, pitched the issue, and hoped we could put something together. Not the best scenario for state assistance. If local ED professionals were partners with or partial employees of WEDC they could be educated regularly of what they could safely offer and would have an immediate resource and feedback.

With GE could we have expanded the pitch to include: Madison, The UW, a new jobs incentive package, land for a major campus, -- we will never know. And for the record we never asked. We need to in the next 12 months shake every CEO`s hand in Wisconsin and let them know that we are in business to help them....