Madison, Wisconsin, United States
Madison Development Corp (MDC) is a non-profit Economic Development Corporation that was established in 1977. We develop, own and finance multi-family affordable workforce housing projects for Low to Moderate Income (LMI) households in the greater Madison area, and we finance local early stage businesses ventures who are seeking capital to create quality jobs in Dane County. Our MDC Team has grown our workforce housing portfolio from 207 units to 400+ units, our revenues from $2.7 million to $6.5 million per year, and our Assets Under Management (AUM -Lending dollars) increased from $7 million to over $30 million. In 2020, we partnered with the Economic Stability Council (ESC), Chaired by Rich Lynch of JH Findorff and inspired by the United Way (Renee Moe), to create the Dane Workforce Housing Fund, LLC. We fully invested Fund I and helped create 747 new units of workforce housing in Dane County. We are now actively investing out of Fund II to help address the lack of affordable workforce housing in the region. As of November 2025, Fund II has now provided $7.3 million to 5 developers who are creating 533 new multi-family units in Dane County. Our Economic Engine is driven by our brilliant volunteers; our 13 member Board of Directors, our Technical Advisors, and our Investors for both our MDC Venture Debt Fund (celebrating 20 years in 2024),our Dane Workforce Housing Funds I and II and our Business Lending Program. Thank you partners (City of Madison, local employers, volunteers) for helping address the need for housing and higher risk loans in Dane County! Together, we helped finance over 60 companies ($21 million) from our Venture Debt Fund since 2004, we provided gap financing loans of over $17 million to 12 developers who are creating over 1,280 new units of affordable workforce housing since in Dane County since 2020, and we provided over $25 million of loans through our Business Lending Program which helped created 3,891 jobs in Madison since 1977.
The Dane Workforce Housing Funds (DWHF) now have $25 Million of Assets under Management. The Fund creation was inspired by the United Way of Dane County and Championed by the Economic Stability Council (ESC) Chaired by Rich Lynch of Findorff. The Funds fill gaps in capital stacks for affordable workforce housing projects in the region. The Fund's investors include the largest employers in our region: UW Health, Exact Sciences, LakeRidge Bank, Summit Credit Union and many more! We provide low interest, fixed term loans to projects that may not have been built without our $. Fund I helped create 747 new units with $11 million, and Fund II has already lent $4 million, which is creating 323 new units in Madison. For a complete list of investors and projects, see www.mdcorp.org.
Madison Development Corporation's mission is to provide quality self-sustaining jobs through loans to businesses and housing developers in Dane County and to provide quality affordable housing for Madison and Dane County residents. Since our inception in 1977 we have been a consistent champion of creating opportunities for financing hard to finance businesses and for people seeking to to live in quality, affordable housing in Madison. Our first President, Roger Ganser, went on to create Venture Investors of WI (VIW) and MDC was VIW's very first fund investor. Our second President, Frank Staniszewski, built our housing portfolio from zero to 207 units and he was the Co-Founder of our MDC Venture Debt Fund. In Lending, our Business Loan Program has provided over $23 million to over 400 Madison based companies in our first 40 years. These include companies like Monty's Blue Plate diner (Food Fight Group), Willy St. Co-Op, Union Cab, Rock River Brewery and TomoTherapy. These companies have in turn created over 3,500 jobs in Madison. In venture financing, our MDC Venture Debt Fund has provided $20 million to 60 companies in Dane County who created over 2,015 jobs since 2004. Because of our institutional investors include MG&E, WHEDA, and a dozen community banks in the Dane County Area and 2 local ED organizations, we have been able to fill the gap of funding between angel investors and Series A investors. The Co's went on to raise over $100 Million after we provided them the gap financing (venture debt loans). Our financing programs have provided key capital to organizations that have become the amazing fabric of Madison, WI. MDC also owns and manages 429 units affordable workforce housing apartments in Madison and MIddleton for low and moderate income residents whose incomes fall within 40 to 80% of the Dane County's Median Income. The Dane Workforce Housing Funds I and II, LLC ("DWHF") were launched in 2020 and 2024, and have financed ~1,000 new units!
Co Founded Wisconsin Angel Network in 2004 with the Tom Still of the Wisconsin Technology Council (k/n/a Tech Council Investor Network). Our goal was to increase the number of deals and dollars invested into Wisconsin start up companies by providing services to Angel Networks (formation, education, deal flow), then measuring our results annually in the Wisconsin Portfolio. We significantly increased the visibility of angel investors in WI and our deal flow and dollars are 5x what they were in 2004. As a result, we were recognized as a Best Practice by the Angel Capital Association and written up in Inc. Magazine while I served as Chair/ Founder of WAN. WAN was renamed to the Tech Council Investor Network and can be found at www.wisconsintechnologycouncil.com.
BrightStar Wisconsin Foundation was set up by a group of 8 Entrepreneurs/ Investors to help accelerate Job Creation in the State of Wisconsin. Our highly experienced team, led by our President/ CEO and Founder Tom Shannon, works with major donors who are passionate about creating jobs. Donations to BrightStar Foundation help us build our permanent source of funds which we will invest into Wisconsin companies along with lead investors. In our first 2 years (2014 & 2015), we invested almost $4 million into 28 early stage companies from New Richmond to Racine - across many industries. These companies currently employ 200+ FTEs and anticipate creating 1,500+ new jobs in the next 3 years. Our 2014 portfolio companies are already on track, with 66 actual jobs created in their first year after BrightStar Funding. Please visit us at www.brightstarwi.org for our Investment Criteria.
WiSys is the Tech Transfer arm of WARF for the UW system schools. Under Arjun Sanga's strong leadership, WiSys empowers entrepreneurs across the UW system by encouraging invention disclosures from students and faculty, and providing the technical support to help them in their development of talent and business ideas. I was honored to serve as the Chair of the Finance, Audit & Administrative (FAA) Committee for over 5 years, which was staffed by WARF's top notch finance and HR teams. I also served on the Investment Committee and Executive Committee, both chaired by David J Ward, PhD, Mayor of Sturgeon Bay and former UW System EVP and past Interim Chancellor for both UW Oshkosh and UW Green Bay. On Wisconsin!