Category Archives: Rotary Club of Madison Guest Speaker

March 20:  Madison Mallards’ Women’s Softball Team 

Posted on March 22, 2024 by | Leave a comment

Submitted by:  Joy Cardin 

Samantha Rubin, the general manager of the Madison Mallards and Madison Softball, shared an enthusiastic update about the new women’s collegiate softball team that will start playing at the Duck Pond in Warner Park in June.  

A new head coach has been hired, players are being signed, renovations are happening on the field to adjust the size of the diamond when the women play – and the organization is about to unveil the new fan-picked name for Madison Softball!   

Will it be – the Night Mares, Lake Muensters, Thunder Chickens, or Swamp Angels?  

We can find out at the name reveal event on April 20 at 5:30pm at the Orpheum Theater.  

If you missed the program, you can watch it here: https://youtu.be/ceYAj8dqv6o.

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Posted in Rotary Club of Madison, Rotary Club of Madison Guest Speaker, Weekly Rotary Guest Speaker

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March 13: Madison’s Startup Climate

Posted on March 15, 2024 by | Leave a comment

Submitted by: Joy Cardin

Why should we care about startups?  The CEO of StartingBlock, Scott Mosley, asked and answered that question in his presentation before the Rotary Club of Madison.  Mosley says startups are the economy’s net job creators, not small businesses as is commonly believed.  He says small businesses tend to stay small, while startups grow. 

That’s been the case with one of the startups that has benefited from the programs, funding, mentorship, office space and other services made available through StartingBlock.  Rehab Path is an online service that matches patients with mental health providers.  CEO Ben Camp says StartingBlock helped his company grow from five employees in 2019 to 60 employees today. 

Mosley also noted that Madison’s startup ecosystem is thriving and is considered the number one potential growth center in the nation.

If you missed this week’s program, you can watch it here:  https://youtu.be/S9TnOZnGyc0.

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Posted in Madison WI, Rotary Club of Madison, Rotary Club of Madison Guest Speaker, Weekly Rotary Guest Speaker

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February 21: RNC Coming to Milwaukee July 2024

Posted on February 22, 2024 by | Leave a comment

–submitted by Larry Larrabee

On February 21, former Downtown Rotary member, Alison Prange, shared with us the role the 2024 Host Committee plays in working with the National Republican Committee to prepare Milwaukee and Wisconsin for the invasion of 50,000 additional visitors including 5,000 delegates attending the National Republican Convention July 15th to the 18th.  She is the COO of the Host Committee, a non-partisan, not-for-profit organization. 

Alison emphasized the role of her organization is to help the RNC have a smooth convention by facilitating 8,000 vendors in their effort to serve the convention and its attendees who will spend $200M as well as promote Milwaukee and Wisconsin to 24 million television viewers.

If you missed this program, you can watch it here: https://youtu.be/hK7MKA_-VxY.

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Posted in Rotary Club of Madison, Rotary Club of Madison Guest Speaker, Rotary Weekly Guest Speaker, Uncategorized

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February 14: The Madison Forward Fund

Posted on February 16, 2024 by | Leave a comment

–submitted by Larry Larrabee

On February 14th, our Rotary Club was privileged to hear a presentation by Blake Roberts  Crall.  She is the Program Manager for the Madison Forward Fund which in 2022 launched the Basic Guaranteed Income Experiment granting individuals $500 per month for one year.  The participants’ income was below the poverty level of $14, 580 per year.  Of the 3000 individuals who qualified, 2000 applied for the program with 150 being selected at random.  Of the participants, 82% were women with 49% being Black and 18% being Latino.  The yearend analysis is not yet complete, but the 8 effectiveness measures included such things as financial stability, mental and physical health, work force participation and housing security.

If you missed this program, you can watch it here: https://youtu.be/w2Lpd1lrTz4.

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Posted in Madison WI, Rotary Club of Madison, Rotary Club of Madison Guest Speaker, Rotary Weekly Guest Speaker

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February 7: Should Wisconsin Legalize Marijuana?

Posted on February 12, 2024 by | Leave a comment

-submitted by Joy Cardin

Ari Brown, senior research associate at the Wisconsin Policy Forum, presented data from two recent studies conducted by the non-partisan organization that examined marijuana laws nationwide.  They found Wisconsin is one of 12 states in the country without a medical marijuana program and one of 26 that doesn’t allow recreational marijuana.  Each state uses a different system for taxes and eligibility requirements. Three of Wisconsin’s neighboring states – Michigan, Illinois, and Minnesota – have legalized recreational marijuana and 50% of Wisconsin residents now live within a 75-minute drive of a legal dispensary.  Michigan reported $2 billion in sales in 2023, Illinois had $1.6 billion, Minnesota’s recreational marijuana dispensaries won’t be set up until 2025.  Brown noted that bills in Wisconsin to legalize marijuana for any purpose have repeatedly stalled and a new bi-partisan bill to legalize medical marijuana is unlikely to pass.  

If you missed this program, you can watch it here:  https://youtu.be/wGl5WMivzoY.

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January 31: Wisconsin as BioHealth Tech Hub

Posted on February 1, 2024 by | Leave a comment

-submitted by Jessika Kasten

Bioforward’s Lisa Johnson and Accuray’s Daniel Biank spoke to the group about Wisconsin’s evolution as a biotech hub. Bioforward is a consortium of private and public partners working to change Wisconsin’s image to attract funding, talent and investment in our biotech industry. As part of their work, Wisconsin has now been designated as a Tech Hub and they are currently applying for Phase II grants to advance Wisconsin’s role on a global scale. Through private partners like Accuray, biotech can assist in developing personalize medicine, building economic assets in our state and addressing workforce challenges in the industry – ultimately improving health outcomes around the world.

If you missed our meeting this week, you can watch it here:  https://youtu.be/FFVx3ukD5w4.

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