gBETA Madison: Have a startup, product, or idea? Want free help?

Have a startup, product, or idea? Want free help?

gBETA Madison is accepting applications through September 7.

Program Dates: October 1, 2020 – November 20, 2020

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About gBETA:

gBETA is a program of nationally ranked startup accelerator gener8tor. gBETA is a free, seven-week accelerator for early-stage companies with local roots. Each program is capped at five teams and requires no fees and no equity. The upcoming fall program will be 100% virtual.

Participating Companies Receive:

• Access to a community of entrepreneurs including their fellow cohort members, as well as gener8tor and gBETA alumni.
• A formal relationship with at least 2-3 mentors with relevant expertise.
• Introductions to the gener8tor network of successful entrepreneurs, angel investors, venture capitalists and technologists.
• Individualized coaching and mentorship from the experienced gener8tor team.
• Office space.
• $1M+ in deals and perks from vendors like SoftLayer, Rackspace, Amazon, PayPal, Zendesk and Microsoft.

Want to learn more?

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Want to participate?

| APPLY |

Email Jenni Le (jenni@gener8tor.com) with any questions.

Former City Attorney Michael P. May to Join Madison Firm Boardman Clark

Michael P. May, who retired as Madison City Attorney on June 1, will be joining the Madison law firm of Boardman Clark in October 2020.

May served 16 years as Madison City Attorney, the second-longest tenure in the City’s history.  He joins Boardman Clark as Senior Counsel. May will provide legal services to municipal and local government clients and provide strategic guidance to the Firm in a number of areas.

“We are excited to have a lawyer of Mike May’s caliber and stature join our firm,” said Richard Heinemann, Chair of Boardman Clark’s Executive Committee. “He has a unique range of experience and expertise that will add to our Firm’s depth in several practice areas, including our municipal and litigation teams.”

“I am extremely happy to join Boardman Clark, one of Madison’s preeminent law firms,” May said. “I love the law, and this new relationship allows me to bring my knowledge and experience to the service of the clients of Boardman Clark.”

May is a native of Madison, graduating from Holy Name Seminary High School, The UW-Madison School of Journalism and Mass Communications, and the UW Law School.  May worked for Boardman, Suhr, Curry & Field, the predecessor of Boardman Clark, from 1979-2004.  In 2004, he was appointed Madison City Attorney by Mayor Dave Cieslewicz, and was subsequently reappointed by Mayor Paul Soglin and Mayor Satya Rhodes-Conway.

Boardman & Clark LLP is one of Madison’s largest, longest-standing law firms. The firm currently operates with 67 attorneys and serves individuals, businesses, school districts, and local governments in a wide variety of practice areas, including municipal, litigation, banking, corporate, estate planning, family, franchise and dealership, intellectual property, labor and employment, real estate, school, and taxation.

Foundation for Madison’s Public Schools Joins Network of Partners Working to Deliver 5,000 At Home Supply Kits to Students

As the Madison Metropolitan School District (MMSD) prepares to start the 2020-2021 school year, an urgent need for individual sets of school supplies has emerged. Students need their own sets of supplies at home in order to properly engage in virtual learning. The need will continue once a return to in-person learning in our school buildings becomes possible. In order to adhere to COVID-19 safety protocols, the sharing of classroom supplies will no longer be an option, necessitating a supply kit for each student.

In response to this URGENT need, the Foundation for Madison’s Public Schools and MMSD have partnered with the community to purchase, package, and distribute up to 5,000 individual supply kits to MMSD’s most vulnerable students so they can begin the 2020/2021 school year on the strongest footing possible. The average cost of a supply kit is $50 and an initial round of 2,500 kits will be purchased and assembled. Another 2,500 supply kits will be secured with additional funds from the community. For ongoing updates and to see collaborating organizations, please visit the Foundation’s school supply page. We greatly appreciate the publicity this initiative has already received, including a great article issued by the Wisconsin State Journal.

All donations for school supplies are being processed through the Foundation’s MMSD Community Resource Fund. This effort will help deliver everything from pencils, notebooks, and headphones to those scholars most in need. Volunteers interested in helping assemble kits will be able to sign up at www.volunteeryourtime.org – as we await final details on volunteer arrangement, please contact the Foundation at fmps@fmps.org for more information.

While in-kind donations will be graciously accepted, financial gifts will make the greatest difference by ensuring all students receiving at home supply kits get the same materials. Again, please visit the school supply page for how you can contribute.

M3 Named IIABA Best Practices Agency for 22nd Year

M3 Insurance has been named a Best Practices Agency by Independent Insurance Agents & Brokers of America (IIABA) for 2020.

This marks the 22^nd consecutive year that M3 has been selected as a Best Practices agency, ranking among the top performers in the annual Best Practices Study conducted by the IIABA in partnership with Reagan Consulting.

To be named a Best Practices Agency, an organization must be nominated either by an IIABA affiliated state association or an insurance company. Nominated agencies must then submit detailed financial and operational information which is analyzed, scored, and ranked objectively based on operational excellence, including growth, profitability, productivity and financial stability.

To retain the Best Practices agency status, agencies must submit year-end results for review each year. Every third year, new agency nominations are accepted and we must re-qualify as one of the top performers in our revenue category against new agency participants.

M3 is proud to have retained this title for over two decades. We strive to lead the way in the insurance industry with innovative strategies and solutions. This designation validates that aim and motivates us to continue to provide world class resources and individual attention to our clients.

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About IIABA

Founded in 1896, the Independent Insurance Agents & Brokers of America (the Big “I”) is the nation’s oldest and largest national association of independent insurance agents and brokers, representing more than 25,000 agency locations united under the Trusted Choice brand. Trusted Choice independent agents offer consumers all types of insurance—property, casualty, life, health, employee benefit plans and retirement products—from a variety of insurance companies.

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About Reagan Consulting

Reagan Consulting is a financial and management consulting firm specializing in services to the insurance distribution system. Clients include the leading brokers, agents and bank-insurance programs in the United States. They provide thought leadership to the banking and insurance industries through perennial research, seminars and other industry forums.

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About M3

M3 is a top 50 insurance broker and risk management firm in America. We’re leaders in the products we represent and the industries we serve. M3’s people are an extension of your team, providing world-class resources to help you manage risk, purchase insurance, and provide employee benefits. And our focus on community builds better places to live and work.

Sub-Zero Freezer Company Celebrates 75 Years of Premier American Manufacturing

Third-Generation, Family-Owned Appliance Company Pioneered Industry Innovations and Has Thrived With Strategic Acquisition and Thoughtful Expansion

Madison, Wis. (August 20, 2020) – This month marks the 75^th birthday of one of the most storied brands in American manufacturing. Sub-Zero began as an engineering challenge for Westye F. Bakke – fighting to find a way to store his son’s insulin at a consistent temperature – and involved several years of helping architect Frank Lloyd Wright customize refrigerators to fit his infamous design style. The Sub-Zero Freezer Company was officially formed on August 20, 1945, in Madison, Wisconsin.

Sub-Zero Group, Inc., as it is known today, has trailblazed technological and design innovation across dozens of product lines over the decades – not only within the refrigeration space, but with the development of its Wolf cooking line and the recent launch of its Cove dishwashing brand.

In 1972, Westye Bakke handed the company reins to son Bud Bakke, who spearheaded the creation of a new, lightweight, all-aluminum freezer – an upright model with separate inside doors rather than a top-opening chest freezer. He also led development of the built-in refrigerator unit, which changed the future of kitchen design by fitting within surrounding counter and cabinet space.

Bud’s son, Jim Bakke, was named CEO in 1992. Facing aggressive category growth and competition from full-line manufacturers, he recognized the need for Sub-Zero to expand beyond its mainstay of refrigeration. Jim and his team worked to develop a residential cooking line and bought the brand rights to the Wolf name, a primarily commercial-focused brand known for its recognizable red knobs.  The company introduced 13 new Wolf products from 2001 to 2004 and grew to five times its initial size over the next decade. Jim Bakke also led the development of the dishwashing line Cove, which debuted in 2019, and has entrenched the iconic Sub-Zero brand with considerable enhancements and expanded Wolf’s dominance with next-generation cooking products. Jim still leads the company to this day from its headquarters in Madison.   

“Customers reach out to us all the time. Their Sub-Zero units are 30, sometimes 40 years old and still going strong. We are keenly aware of our heritage and see it as our obligation to be the specialists in not only refrigeration but in cooking and cleaning products for the kitchen – and in whatever we do in the next 75 years,” says CEO Jim Bakke.

The company’s senior vice president of marketing and innovation, Tim McDonough, has this to say about the milestone: “This is a company that is passionate about the role its appliances play in the lives, and kitchens, of homeowners. We’re continually looking for ways to bring new, intelligent approaches to the table, and we manufacture them to last for generations.”

Sub-Zero Group’s impact on the kitchen appliance industry is marked with numerous “firsts,” including:

• 1943: Westye F. Bakke built his first freestanding freezer prototype out of salvaged scrap metal in his basement. Bakke bent the unit’s coils barehanded and improvised any materials that were lacking because supplies were scarce during World War II.
• 1945: Bakke founded Sub-Zero Freezer Company in Madison, Wisconsin. The Sub-Zero name was chosen because its freezers were the first to meet the strict quality standards for below-zero safety in freezing food.
• 1955: Sub-Zero pioneered dual refrigeration – separate, sealed systems for the refrigerator and freezer.
• Late 1950s: Sub-Zero changed the built-in refrigeration category by introducing the first-ever cabinet-flush unit. The company also modified built-in design to allow for recessed fronts. This enabled the complete customization of each unit to match the kitchen’s overall décor. The refrigerator, once considered the least attractive appliance in American kitchens, became an elegant and beautiful workhorse.
• 1990s: Revolutionary integrated designs, another Sub-Zero first, made refrigeration units blend seamlessly into kitchen décor.
• 1993: Sub-Zero kicked off its inaugural Kitchen Design Contest to recognize talented designers who utilize Sub-Zero appliances to rethink what is possible for the kitchen.
• 2000: Sub-Zero expanded its expertise in the kitchen with the acquisition of Wolf, a legend in commercial kitchens. Now the brand offers residential ranges, ovens, cooktops and ventilation with performance power that home cooks have never experienced before.
• 2005: The PRO 48 professional-style refrigeration unit, a monument to food preservation, was unveiled. The PRO 48 keeps food fresher longer with dual refrigeration and is crafted out of stainless steel, inside and out.
• 2006: Wolf revealed its first dual fuel range: gas cooking above, dual convection electric ovens below.
• 2008: Sub-Zero introduced an antimicrobial air purification system based on NASA technology. The technology scrubs the air of ethylene gas as well as mold, viruses and bacteria that cause foods to spoil.
• 2013: Sub-Zero and Wolf introduced a new generation with the biggest new-product rollout in the company’s history. Seventy new appliances. Exclusive technologies. Novel décor possibilities.
• 2018: Sub-Zero and Wolf launched state-of-the-art dishwashers under the brand name Cove, completing the trifecta of kitchen appliances. Cove units are engineered with the same commitment to quality and innovation shared by Sub-Zero and Wolf, and Cove similarly serves as a single-focus kitchen specialist.

About Sub-Zero Group, Inc.

Sub-Zero Group, Inc., headquartered in Madison, Wisconsin, manufactures best-in-class appliance brands Sub-Zero, Wolf, and Cove. Founded in 1945, Sub-Zero, Inc., is the leading American-based manufacturer of refrigeration, freezer and wine storage products. Sub-Zero, the preservation specialist, pioneered the concept of dual refrigeration, ensuring that food stays fresher longer. With the acquisition of Wolf Range Company in 2000, Sub-Zero Group, Inc., added the industry specialist in residential cooking appliances, with products including ranges, cooktops, wall ovens, warming drawers and ventilation equipment. In 2018, Sub-Zero Group, Inc., launched the Cove brand of dishwashers, the specialist in all things clean. Cove joins Sub-Zero and Wolf, establishing the brands as corporate companions and a complete kitchen family. In its third generation of family ownership, the privately held company also operates manufacturing facilities in Fitchburg, Wisconsin, and Goodyear, Arizona. Sub-Zero Group, Inc., is continually recognized for the highest achievements in appliance innovation and customer satisfaction. For more information about Sub-Zero, Wolf, and Cove, visit subzero-wolf.com or follow us at Facebook.com/subzerowolf, on Twitter @subzerowolf or on Instagram @subzeroandwolf. For Sub-Zero, Wolf, and Cove Customer Care, call 800-222-7820.

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