Smart IS President and COO Javad Ahmad is a career learner. If you want to work in IT, he says, you pretty much have to be.
“IT is one of those disciplines where our jobs change every three to four years. We have to learn and relearn,” says Ahmad, whose Oshkosh-based IT consulting business is the subject of this issue’s cover story. Ahmad is a med school dropout who has gone on to earn an MBA and is toying with the idea of pursuing a doctorate for no other reason than he enjoys learning.
Ahmad is clearly undaunted by the rigors of academia, and this has served him well in his career leading international teams that leverage technology to solve business problems. Turn to page 22 to get a little IT schooling with Smart IS.
Speaking of tech smarts, the Wisconsin Tech Council and the Tech Council Investor Networks recently released the 2022 Wisconsin Portfolio, which tracks entrepreneurial investment and venture capital throughout the state. This year’s report notes an interesting — and exciting — change from the previous year. While overall regional trends remained similar year-to-year (Greater Madison and Southeast Wisconsin still account for the lion’s share of all startup deals), Northeast Wisconsin more than doubled its number of deals raised by early-stage entrepreneurs, from six in 2020 to 14 in 2021.
It looks like the New North has established itself as the region to watch as we continue expanding our entrepreneurial economy. And as Nikki Kallio points out in this month’s Insight Insider, rural Wisconsin is showing the most startup activity in the state. Turn to page 29 to read how rural startups in the New North are building a stronger environment in which to scale up.
The Wisconsin Portfolio posits Northeast Wisconsin’s growth as the beginning of an upward trend for our region, which has deployed numerous resources dedicated to the development of its startup ecosystem. This includes the formation of venture capital funds like Green Bay’s TitletownTech, which formed in 2018 out of a unique partnership between the Green Bay Packers and Microsoft. This month I had the honor of meeting up with Cordero Barkley, a former UWGB student athlete and finance pro who is now a partner at TitletownTech. Turn to page 14 for his take on the region’s venture capital game and why the Midwest is no longer a startup flyover zone.
Of course, it wouldn’t be a September issue without at least a couple nods to back-to-school season. But many school districts are still challenged with pandemic-exacerbated shortages, from food in the cafeterias to teachers in the classrooms. Sharon Verbeten’s New North feature on page 16 and Kate Bruns’ education report on page 34, respectively, highlight these issues and how districts are addressing them this year.
So whether your family’s month involves a return to homework and homeroom, or it’s just business as usual, I hope you encounter plenty of opportunities to learn (and relearn) this season.
