Posted 11:59 a.m. Monday, Oct. 4, 2010
[caption id="attachment_1325" align="alignleft" width="131" caption="Retired UW-L?SBDC Director Jan Gallagher gets top state honor."]
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Retired UW-L Small Business Development Center (SBDC) Director Jan Gallagher has been recognized as a 2010 Innovation Champion. She was honored at the 2010 Ideas to Profits Conference in Wisconsin Dells Oct. 1.
As director of the center serving seven counties for 17 years, Gallagher provided counseling and research for business owners and managers, along with teaching classes for new entrepreneurs. She worked with hundreds of entrepreneurs, guiding them in starting or expanding a business, strategic planning, acquiring financing and many other management issues. One of her counseling specialties was new product development.
In 2001, UW-L initiated formation of an angel investment group, with Gallagher assuming the management role. The group has invested over a $1 million in a dozen technology businesses since. The angel group was the key in linking western Wisconsin to the statewide network of Madison and Milwaukee innovation and research resources.
Gallagher has led entrepreneurship from several perspectives. Before directing the SBDC, Gallagher was a co-founder of the La Crosse area business magazine “Commerce Now” and served as interim director of the Coulee Region Business Center, the La Crosse area small business incubator. Most recently she was a leader in establishing the regional economic group 7 Rivers Alliance.
Ronald “Bud” Gayhart, director of the Center for Innovation and Business Development, says Gallagher had a significant role in fostering entrepreneurship in the 7 Rivers Region. “The impact Jan has had in the La Crosse area will go on for many generations,” he notes.
In receiving the award, Gallagher acknowledged the unique challenges and importance individuals with ideas have in driving entrepreneurial growth. “Let there be no doubt, innovation is the underpinning of our economy,” she says.
To find out more about the 2010 Ideas to Profits Conference, visit http://wisc.uww.edu/ideas-conference.html.
To find out more about SBDC, go to http://www.uwlax.edu/sbdc/.
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Retired UW-L Small Business Development Center (SBDC) Director Jan Gallagher has been recognized as a 2010 Innovation Champion. She was honored at the 2010 Ideas to Profits Conference in Wisconsin Dells Oct. 1.
As director of the center serving seven counties for 17 years, Gallagher provided counseling and research for business owners and managers, along with teaching classes for new entrepreneurs. She worked with hundreds of entrepreneurs, guiding them in starting or expanding a business, strategic planning, acquiring financing and many other management issues. One of her counseling specialties was new product development.
In 2001, UW-L initiated formation of an angel investment group, with Gallagher assuming the management role. The group has invested over a $1 million in a dozen technology businesses since. The angel group was the key in linking western Wisconsin to the statewide network of Madison and Milwaukee innovation and research resources.
Gallagher has led entrepreneurship from several perspectives. Before directing the SBDC, Gallagher was a co-founder of the La Crosse area business magazine “Commerce Now” and served as interim director of the Coulee Region Business Center, the La Crosse area small business incubator. Most recently she was a leader in establishing the regional economic group 7 Rivers Alliance.
Ronald “Bud” Gayhart, director of the Center for Innovation and Business Development, says Gallagher had a significant role in fostering entrepreneurship in the 7 Rivers Region. “The impact Jan has had in the La Crosse area will go on for many generations,” he notes.
In receiving the award, Gallagher acknowledged the unique challenges and importance individuals with ideas have in driving entrepreneurial growth. “Let there be no doubt, innovation is the underpinning of our economy,” she says.
To find out more about the 2010 Ideas to Profits Conference, visit http://wisc.uww.edu/ideas-conference.html.
To find out more about SBDC, go to http://www.uwlax.edu/sbdc/.