City to host Madison Cooperative Business Conference

The City of Madison, in partnership with the UW Center for Cooperatives and Madison's business cooperative community, will host a Madison Cooperative Business Conference on June 6-7, 2012 at The Pyle Center. The June 6th pre-conference session will focus on small business succession planning and the use of cooperative conversions as a way to maintain thriving businesses under employee ownership upon the retirement of the owners. The primary conference, to be held on June 7th, will include an exploration of Madison's existing cooperative business community, cooperative best practices, and a discussion of what we can do to advance business cooperatives in Madison. Mayor Paul R. Soglin recognizes that the "cooperative ownership model provides not only the benefit of jobs, but the maintenance of assets and wealth within the community." Matthew B. Mikolajewski, the City's Office of Business Resources Manager, notes that "cooperatives are already an integral part of Madison's economy, with a great diversity of businesses using the cooperative model." This conference will be targeted to a wide-array of individuals, ranging from existing cooperative owners, entrepreneurs exploring a cooperative model, business service providers, and planning and economic development professionals. Information about the conference and registration is available at www.cityofmadison.com/business/coopconference. Resources regarding business cooperatives is available at www.uwcc.wisc.edu.

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