M-7 tallies wins, losses

Organization still searching for an industrial trophy
By JOHN SCHMIDjschmid@journalsentinel.com
Posted: Aug. 30, 2008

It was 18 months ago that Jeffrey Joerres, chief executive of Milwaukee-based Manpower Inc., argued that the Milwaukee 7 — an organization formed to attract, retain and expand business in southeastern Wisconsin — must “get a real win out of this within the next 12 to 18 months.”

“The Milwaukee 7 will not work if we don’t have a breakthrough soon,” Joerres said at the time.

The verdict, 18 months later?

“There is no big win,” said Tim Sheehy, one of the M-7’s leading collaborators and president of the Metropolitan Milwaukee Association of Commerce. “And if that’s a surprise to you, then there is no Easter Bunny.”

But the M-7 notes it has had its share of victories — biggest among them the retention and expansion of Direct Supply Inc., which means hundreds of added technology jobs.

And there have been losses, including the high-profile decision to locate the headquarters of the MillerCoors LLC joint venture in Chicago. And lots of opportunities are still pending.

“Have we accomplished a bunch of wins that add up to a big win? Yes,” Sheehy said.

Yet in its fourth year, the M-7 is still scrambling for an industrial trophy that will add momentum to its efforts and possibly compel outsiders to rethink their views of the Wisconsin economy.

In an ideal world, the big win would be akin to the blockbuster 2001 announcement that Boeing Co. would move its headquarters to Chicago, a coup that World Business Chicago, that city’s economic development agency, pulled off 18 months after its inception in 1999. More here.