Economic
Development 		Workforce &
Talent Development		 Strategic
Collaboration		 About Us

Our Focus on Strategic Collaboration

All of our initiatives include important opportunities for educators; academics; business and civic leaders; and policy makers to collaborate on important challenges and opportunities. Over the past 20 years the Wisconsin Education Business Roundtable (WEBR) has focused on informing and strengthening local educator and employer efforts to support and improve education and workforce infrastructures in Wisconsin.

WEBR works closely with all levels of education in Wisconsin (higher education, pK-12 and early care and education) as well businesses, economic development leaders and local government units across to focus on key challenges and identify opportunities for collective impact.

Over the years our work has included

  • Collaboration with the University of Wisconsin System, and Competitive Wisconsin, Inc. as a co-host of the 2010, 2012 and 2015 Wisconsin Economic Summit Series. The Wisconsin Economic Summits are designed to focus business and civic attention on specific opportunities to enhance Wisconsin’s economic performance identified by Competitive Wisconsin, Inc.’s (CWI) BE BOLD research partnerships. The 2010 Summits, for example, were driven by a CWI-Deloitte comparative analysis of Wisconsin’s competitive position and dedicated to the development of a comprehensive economic development strategy for the state. The Summits were convened in Appleton, La Crosse and Milwaukee. The 2012 Summits were driven by a CWI-Manpower Group study of workforce development and focused on ways to enhance workforce and talent development. The Summits were held in Waukesha, Eau Claire and Madison. The 2016 Summits were driven by a CWI-Deloitte analysis of how to turbo-charge already high-performing sectors of the economy.
  • Three statewide “Voices from the Classroom” surveys of Wisconsin teachers and facilitated regional discussions between teachers and business leaders in La Crosse, Eau Claire, Appleton, Madison and Waukesha. The “Voices from the Classroom” research underscores teacher and business leader interest in improved understanding and interaction and provides guidance in terms of what educators and business leaders need and want. Specifically, the research makes clear that teachers and business leaders share three goals, including: 1) Enriching teacher and business representative experience and understanding of the challenges and opportunities with which each sector is grappling; 2) informing, empowering and motivating students; and 3) improving communications and building relationships between education and business.
  • A partnership with the Madison Region Economic Partnership (MadREP), Madison Metropolitan School District, Workforce Development Board of South Central Wisconsin, Career Advancement Network, and Leadership Greater Madison to build upon the academic and career planning (ACP) tools used by many of our region’s school districts by implementing InspireWisconsin in MadREP’s eight-county territory. The ACP tools are an invaluable means of aligning student interests and skill sets with the career pathways available in today’s workforce. Not only do these tools help students better understand their career options and the academic roadmap necessary to prepare for those options; they give students a stake in their futures which is a proven way to enhance academic achievement and workforce readiness.