Roger Ganser: nothing ventured, nothing gained
Alumni & Friends, Summer/Fall 2004
Think of the hotbeds of America’s high-tech New Economy, and a few places immediately spring to mind: Silicon Valley in northern California; the Northeast Corridor from Boston to New York; the Research Triangle of North Carolina.
Roger Ganser is working to put Madison, Wis., on that list of innovative places. As home to one of the world’s best research universities, Ganser says the only missing ingredients to a new-economy revolution in southern Wisconsin are attitudes and capital.
On the latter issue, Ganser is qualified to make an impact. He is managing partner of Venture Investors LLC, a firm that helps secure early-stage investment capital for people working to turn intellectual property into products, jobs and profits. The 1967 graduate of UW-Whitewater is a passionate believer in Madison and Wisconsin’s growth potential.
“The whole Midwest is not on the map yet, and it’s a frustrating situation,” says Ganser. “UWMadison is alternately the second or third largest research university in the country, with more than $600 million a year in research. There’s no question the opportunity is here.”
Ganser’s firm is located in University Research Park on Madison’s west side, a shining jewel that serves as visual proof of the kind of progress Ganser is striving for. Located on 250 acres that was farm property only two decades ago, the park now is home to more than 120 companies that are capitalizing on technology transfer from UW-Madison.
Ganser’s specialty is the earliest stages of entrepreneurship, the grooming and development of business plans into a viable company. Venture Investors is general partner in four funds worth more than $70 million in capital under management. His company is also an investor in some of Madison’s biggest recent success stories, including Promega, Third Wave Technologies and Tomotherapy.
These are not only successful home-grown companies, Ganser says, but they are the kinds of companies that will enhance quality of life in Wisconsin. As the manufacturing economy continues to lose jobs, companies like these represent vibrant and lucrative alternatives that offer well-paying jobs and plenty of upside for future growth. Looking back on the Venture Investors portfolio, the average salary offered in those companies is $65,000, Ganser says. That compares to an average statewide salary of $25,300.
“I have told university administrators that nothing would be better than seeing a bunch of Mercedes, Porsches and BMWs in the faculty parking lots,” says Ganser. “We’re pretty conservative around here, but there’s nothing wrong with making money honestly.”
Ganser graduated from UW-Whitewater with a bachelor’s degree in secondary education, but with a strong interest in urban planning and design. His career gradually moved in that direction when hired as an economic development planner for Fond du Lac County and later a similar position in upstate New York. While there he earned his master’s degree in urban development from the prestigious Rockefeller School at SUNY-Albany. He also directed an industrial park in Winona, Minn., before taking root in Madison.
“Every position I’ve held since teaching has been newly created,” says Ganser. “It left a lot of room for error, a lot of room for learning. I gave up security at each step for something that was uncertain.” – Brian Mattmiller