General Business Updates and News

[Rainrider22]

I saw a small paper sign today in the door at 41 King St W for "Latitude Geographics"  http://www.latitudegeo.com/  .  Are they new in town?  Moved from another K-W location?

I think they were at 260 King Street West before.

Interesting, their website indcates they are located in Waterloo Ontario !

[panamaniac]

With all the focus on high tech, sometimes it's nice to see a bit of news on one of the Region's manufacturers....

Waterloo firm puts its best, and safest, foot forward
Waterloo Region Record
By Brent Davis

WATERLOO — It's been a long time since the footwear industry played a prominent role in the local economy.
But a small family-owned company has persevered, and thrived, through a combination of diversification, innovation and hard work.
If you're one of the millions of people who own a pair of safety boots or shoes, there's a good chance the components keeping you safe, such as steel-toe caps and protective plates, come from Waterloo-based Swenco Limited.  ....

http://www.therecord.com/news-story/5256...t-forward/

[panamaniac]

Re Vidyard, today's Record report on the new funding adds the information that Vidyard will be taking over and renovating the third floor of the Simpson Block (119 King W) in addition to the fourth floor where they are now located.  This will give them room for 150 employees, up from the current 60, a level they hope to reach within the next 18 to 20 months.  Nice!

http://www.therecord.com/news-story/5257...el-growth/

[rangersfan]

Great news about Vidyard, great to see them staying Downtown.

[rangersfan]

Transition to advanced manufacturing powers region’s job growth
January 17, 2015 | Rose Simone | The Record | LINK

WATERLOO REGION — The transformation of Waterloo Region's economy is clearly evident at 66 Hincks St. in New Hamburg, a building that was once the location of Magnussen Furniture Manufacturing Ltd.

The furniture makers are gone.Magnussen Homestill has offices in New Hamburg, but the manufacturing part of the business left town in the 1990s.

Now rovers are moving in, along with the people who have their eyes on a moon shot.

Ontario Drive & Gear, known as ODG, has grown to employ nearly 250 people in New Hamburg. The success of its latest terrestrial rovers, based on prototype technology developed for driving around on the moon or on Mars, has meant more hiring and an expansion into 30,000 square feet of space in the former Magnussen building.

The expansion at ODG, which already occupies two buildings in New Hamburg, on Bleams Road and Bergey Court, reflects an economic transformation that is underpinning the region's robust economy.

In December, the region's unemployment rate fell to 5.6 per cent, the lowest it has been since October 2008. Only Barrie and Guelph had lower jobless rates in Ontario last month.

Peter Visscher, ODG's chief technology officer, says the company's space and robotics division is doubling in size from six to 12 people this year because of a number of contracts with the Canadian Space Agency,including two with a combined value of about $3 million. Those contracts require more manpower and lab space, he says.

The company's terrestrial rovers, based on the advanced space technology, also are a growing part of its business, Visscher says. The company recently launched its Argo J5 rover, the first of a family of robotic vehicles derived from the lunar prototypes.

Everything made for the lunar and Mars rover prototypes is unique because the environment is so extreme, Visscher says. Wheels are good example. The lunar prototype wheels can't be made of rubber, because rubber would freeze and break, or else melt on the moon. They are made of a special, flexible metal, he says.

Once off-planet technologies are developed, the company can make the designs work on terrestrial rovers for earthly applications.

The terrestrial rovers have all sorts of uses. The military can use them to transport stretchers or supplies in rough terrain; remotely operated vehicles can be used to spray crops without putting people in danger; for resource exploration, unmanned, amphibious vehicles can go into areas that are too dangerous for people.

ODG is hiring from the region's talented pool of engineers, especially mechatronics and mechanical engineers, as well as skilled tradespeople. It also needs project managers, sales people and administrative people, Visscher says.

The region is developing a hub of technology companies that are evolving around the robotics and remotely operated vehicle sector. Besides ODG, there is Clearpath Roboticsin Kitchener, which also makes autonomous vehicles; Deep Trekkerin Ayr, a startup that makes a low-cost remotely operated, underwater submersible andAeryon Labsin Waterloo, which makes airborne drones.

These companies are all hiring. So while the region has moved from its traditional manufacturing past, when production of boots, tires and furniture dominated, it is making robust robotics and technologies for land, sea, air and space.

There are struggles in other sectors of the economy. This week's announcement that Target is closing all its Canadian stores means that some 400 people in the area will lose their jobs, for example.

But the region's economy is doing remarkably well when it comes to creating jobs. In December, only Barrie, at 4.9 per cent, and Guelph, at 5.1 per cent, had lower unemployment rates. Like Waterloo Region, Hamilton had a jobless rate of 5.6 per cent.

Christine Neill, an economics professor at Wilfrid Laurier Universitywho specializes in labour economics, says the number of employed people in Waterloo Region has grown 20 per cent over the past 10 years.

The region "has had one of the strongest performing labour markets in the country in recent years," Neill says. "Along with Barrie, the employment and labour force participation rates in the region are the highest in the country outside of the Prairies"

But there are shifts in the local economy. Manufacturing is still the biggest sector, employing about 19 per cent of the working population, or about 56,000 people, according Neill. Manufacturing is recovering, with a four per cent gain in employment last year, but employment is still down compared with what it was before the 2008 recession, when more than 60,000 people were employed in manufacturing, she says.

Other sectors are growing. Transportation and warehousing, for example, added about 2,000 jobs in just the past year and now employ more than 13,000 people in the region, according to Statistics Canada.

Neill says employment in construction is also up in Waterloo Region compared with nearby areas such as Brantford. That may reflect booming housing and light rail transit construction, she says.

Ian McLean, CEO of the Greater Kitchener Waterloo Chamber of Commerce, says the strong employment numbers reflect the diversity of the local economy and the ability to make the transition to advanced manufacturing.

"The manufacturing that was left after the downturn was by and large the advanced manufacturing. We are not doing widgets anymore," McLean says. "Where we are competitive is where we can marry technology innovations."

Although many of the large manufacturers that employed more than 500 people have gone, there are now smaller manufacturers that do "value-added" products or technologies, he says.

Visscher, at ODG, says marrying technology with manufacturing is the best route for the economy. "That is the key to manufacturing in Ontario," he says. "We will have much better success focusing on high tech and producing the things that are not produced as easily in China."

Being quick to market and having the capacity to do quality in-house manufacturing also help ODG, he says. "Some robotics companies struggle a little bit because they have to buy things like gear boxes," he says. "We build our own gear boxes and we know how to build the chassis and the wheels and the bearings … it's all old hat to us."

The Canadian Space Agency is happy ODG can take space technology and find commercial applications for it, Visscher says. "We have shown that the money they spend on developing technology for space can in turn be used on earth and commercialized. So it is a good investment all around."

[rangersfan]

Startup’s digital cards helps people with special needs navigate daily life
February 20, 2015 | Terry Pender | The Record | LINK

KITCHENER — Nadia Hamilton's little brother Troy has autism so she used pictures to help him with everyday tasks — dressing, brushing his teeth, using the television — and posted the drawings on the walls of their childhood home.

"We would literally paste them to the walls until our entire living room and all the rooms in our little apartment were covered in pictures," Hamilton said.

The pictures helped Troy with tasks essential to living an independent life; cleaning, shopping, and personal hygiene. Hamilton loved playing video games with Troy, but noticed her little brother always wanted the official strategy guide.

"My brother graduated high school at the age of 21, which is when most people with special needs graduate," Hamilton said. "And he graduated to the couch. There was literally nothing to continue to support him to live in the community."

One day, Troy grabbed his old school bag and bolted to the corner where the school bus used to pick him up. His siblings ran after him and walked him home, trying to explain that he was done with high school, forever.

"It was hard to watch," Hamilton said. "It was heartbreaking."

After graduating from the University of Toronto with a degree in history and political science in 2010, Hamilton thought about ways to help people with autism by digitizing and gamifying what she did for her brother Troy.

She now leads a startup, based in the Communitech Hub in downtown Kitchener, called Magnusmode. It developed a mobile app that provides illustrated cards for people with autism. Each card provides step-by-step instructions, with pictures, to help them accomplish everyday activities.

"What started with my brother as a spark has become something that literally I could not have imagined," Hamilton said. "We have users from all over the world who are signing on."

Users collect and create digital cards, called Magnus Cards, which provide illustrated instructions for a variety of activities. The cards feature a character called Magnus, who is a magician and wears a big red-and-white striped hat. Users help him live without magic, and earn points as they practice activities.

"They are effectively building a hand-held, life-skills library that they can take with them and use for support," Hamilton said.

So far there are 12 categories for Magnus Cards; arts and culture, cleaning, entertainment, food, fun, health, money management, personal care, travel, social, shopping and safety. Magnusmode is constantly looking for sponsors for each category.

Sponsors pay for the development of the digital cards that people with special needs can use when visiting their company, theatre, restaurant or grocery store. The Kitchener Public Library, and the Waterloo Wellington Autism Services are sponsors. So is Centre in the Square.

"Partnering with Magnusmode was a perfect way to enhance the theatregoing experience for people in our community with cognitive disabilities," Rachelle Garcia, the centre's marketing manager, said in an email.

The last time Hamilton counted, Magnusmode had more than 650 users.

Parents for Community Living, based in Waterloo, paid for 30 members to use the platform. Other organizations that provide services to people with special needs, including Easter Seals Canada and Autism Ontario, promote the platform to their members.

Hamilton said Magnusmode can be used by teachers, public transit authorities, grocery stores, parents and personal support workers.

"It is really a platform that everybody can use, not just the individual with special needs, but anybody," she said.

Users pay $60 a year for unlimited access to the digital cards and the tools to create new ones. The other source of revenue is from corporate sponsors who want cards to make their businesses more accessible to people with autism.

"It is really, really exciting because not only is it an app, it is literally building bridges to community activities," Hamilton said. "And then the next step is volunteer placement. And the next step is work placement."

After graduating from university, Hamilton heard about a contest at the Centre for Social Innovation. It wanted to support people with ideas that combined a new business with social good. Hamilton entered and won $25,000.

With that seed money, Hamilton got Magnusmode going. She had the original software developed in China in 2012. The next year Hamilton turned down a job on Bay Street with Ernst & Young to pursue Magnusmode full-time.

In 2014, Hamilton entered her budding startup in the Accelerating Social Change Entrepreneurship (ASCent) competition run by Communitech. She won a spot in the Communitech Hub.

It was supposed to be a nine-month placement, but Hamilton moved to Kitchener from Toronto because she was so impressed with the startup ecosystem here.

"This region is so amazing for collaboration and partnerships," she said. "And we also have the tech support, the mentor support and investment. Since we've gotten here it has been a whirlwind of activity."

Magnusmode recently closed a round of angel funding totalling $100,000 from the Golden Triangle Angel Network, and raised another $35,000 from other investors.

"It is really, really exciting because we are at the beginning of something," Hamilton said. "It can be called a movement for independence and inclusion for people with special needs, and we are doing it on a scale and with a level of innovation that has never been done before."

[rangersfan]

Rover maker honoured with Greater Kitchener Waterloo Chamber of Commerce award
February 19, 2015 | The Record Staff | The Record | LINK

KITCHENER — A business with out-of-this world aspirations was one of the companies honoured by the Greater Kitchener Waterloo Chamber of Commerce on Thursday night.

Ontario Drive & Gear in New Hamburg received the Business of the Year Award for companies with more than 50 employees at the chamber's Business Excellence Awards dinner at Bingemans.

The company, founded in 1962 and now employing 240 people, is known for its Argo all-terrain vehicle. It also has developed a rover that it hopes will one day traverse the moon or Mars. It is undertaking a 30,000-square-foot expansion because of growing interest in terrestrial versions of the rover.

Eleven other awards were presented at the dinner.

•Caudle's Catch Seafood was recognized as the Business of the Year for companies with 11 to 50 employees. The Kitchener-based company, launched as a two-person business 29 years ago, has grown to five retail locations and nationwide wholesale operations. It has more than 30 employees and distributes more than 25,000 pounds of fresh and frozen seafood to stores and restaurants across Canada each week.

•Zoup! won the Business of the Year Award for companies with one to 10 employees. Daryl Hunter opened the U.S. soup chain's first franchise in Canada in Waterloo in 2011, and helped the company find local vendors and guide it through unfamiliar Canadian business practices. Since then, two more locations have opened in Waterloo Region.

•Lesley Warren of Lesley Warren Design Group won the Young Entrepreneur of the Year Award. The marketing and graphic design firm started in the basement of a house in 2007 and now consists of a team of seven people working out of a custom-built studio. Its client base more than tripled last year while sales increased 26 per cent.

•Economical Insurance received the Employee Engagement Award. Last year, the Waterloo-based insurance company completed the largest training program in its history, training more than 600 employees for 18 revised roles in a seven-week period.

•Wilfrid Laurier University was honoured with the Environment and Sustainability Award. The university co-ordinates sustainable practices within construction, waste and water, and has a Green Team, consisting of students, staff and faculty, that aims to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions by 25 per cent over 10 years.

•Kitchener-Wilmot Hydro received the Health and Wellness in the Workplace Award. The electricity distribution company has a wellness team of nine employees that works on five targeted items over the course of the year.

•Drayton Entertainment won the Hospitality/Tourism Award. The Cambridge-based company operates seven live theatres and entertains 225,000 theatre-goers a year. The chamber noted that it receives no government or arts council funding. The key to its success is the partnerships it has cultivated with the hospitality and tourism industry.

•St. Mary's General Hospital received the Innovation Award for implementing technology that gives patients access to real-time emergency department wait times on its website. It was the first hospital in Ontario to adopt the technology.

•Maureen Cowan, co-chief executive officer of Princeton Holdings Ltd., owner of a group of businesses, including Cowan Insurance Group, received the Michael R. Follett Community Leader Award. She has served on various boards and committees, including at Conestoga College, the Kitchener and Waterloo Community Foundation and the chamber, and chairs a foundation that has donated more than $19 million to charities across Canada.

•Chicopee Ski & Summer Resort received the Non-profit/Charitable Award. The chamber noted that the not-for-profit organization has expanded the year-round use of the facilities, and through various cost control measures was able to save an estimated $1 million last year.

•Al Hayes of design services firm WalterFedy was honoured as the Volunteer of the Year. He has played a key role on the chamber's family physician recruitment team for many years.

[rangersfan]

Juice Mobile opening an office in Kitchener
February 20, 2015 | Terry Pender | The Record | LINK

KITCHENER — A Toronto-based mobile advertising and technology company is setting up an office in downtown Kitchener to help it recruit software developers from local startups and the University of Waterloo.

Juice Mobile has already hired a director of product marketing for the office in the Breithaupt Block and is actively recruiting more developers with expertise in mobile, said Roshni Wijayashina, the firm's senior director of marketing.

"We are looking to hire more and more people there," Wijayashina said. "We haven't set a number. That is actually dynamic."

Specifically, the company wants developers with expertise in Django, Python, Android and C++.

"We are looking for people with a passion for mobile to work with us," Wijayashina said.

The company is setting up the office in Kitchener because of the area's reputation as a hub for talent.

"We realize that top-class companies like Google are going there and so we realize that for us to be able to attract talent, which is a key component of our strategy, it is important for us to be there," Wijayashina said.

With offices in Toronto, New York and Los Angeles, the company has more than doubled in size to more than 50 employees in the past year.

The company's latest product, Nectar, is an advertising technology platform that connects buyers and sellers of media ads with brands and publishers that have the ad space.

On behalf of a client, an ad agency feeds in all of the requirements for the campaign — geographic regions, start and end dates, target audience and the type of creative content the client has.

Then Nectar surfs what Juice calls its partnered premium publishers where your campaign could potentially run on, Wijayashina said. "You are then able to select these publishers to bid on your business."

This reverses the traditional model in which advertisers are bidding on space. Once publishers buy an ad, Nectar tracks where and when it is published.

"We are hoping to work really closely with the universities to drive young talent into this company," Wijayashina said.

"We are really looking forward to building out our team in Waterloo (Region)."

[rangersfan]

State-of-the-art aerospace plant opens in Cambridge
Feb 27, 2015 |  Rose Simon | The Record | LINK

CAMBRIDGE — As the Schneiders meat plant ended production in Kitchener on Thursday, political and business dignitaries celebrated the opening of a new state-of-the-art Héroux-Devtek landing gear plant in Cambridge.

It is an example of advanced manufacturing that is the future of industry in Waterloo Region. Highly sophisticated automation and pieces of computerized equipment are now being moved into the 108,000-square-foot facility in the business campus off of Boxwood Drive in Cambridge.

A skilled workforce will make complete landing gear systems for the Boeing Company's B-777 and B-777X jet airliners. The plant, now in pre-production phase, is expected to be fully operational in June.

It is part of a growing aerospace industry cluster in Waterloo Region and the second Héroux-Devtek plant in the region. The company will continue to operate a 100,000-square-foot plant on Highland Road West in Kitchener that makes medium-to large-size landing gear components.

Héroux-Devtek's $54.2 million investment in the new facility is being made with the help of a $7-million contribution from the Ontario government. It will enable the company to fulfil a long-term contract to deliver landing gear systems to a Boeing factory in Everett, Wash., starting in 2017.

The expanded production capacity will result in 40 new highly skilled jobs, bringing the total Héroux-Devtek workforce in Ontario to more than 250 people, most of them in Waterloo Region, said Gilles Labbé, chief executive of Montreal-based Héroux-Devtek.

Labbé also announced the new plant will be named in Honour of the late John Cybulski, a long time chair of the company's board of directors who was an important contributor to the emergence of the landing gear industry in Canada.

The expansion into a second plant in Waterloo Region is just the beginning of a new level of growth for the company, Labbé said. "This new facility will play a pivotal role in Héroux-Devtek's future."

The property in Cambridge has enough room to build a 100,000-square-foot addition if needed, and Labbé expressed hope that will happen with future contracts.

"The new capacity and our solid reputation will enable Héroux-Devtek to pursue other business opportunities and to supply complete landing gear systems in the global aerospace industry," Labbé said.

The facility strengthens the company's status as a maker of mid-to-large complex landing gear components, he added.

Between existing contracts and last year's acquisition of a U.K.-based company that makes landing gear and hydraulic systems and assemblies, Labbé said the company's sales are expected to grow to $500 million by the 2019 fiscal year.

He added that there are challenges, including competition from offshore companies and a shortage of qualified workers for the highly skilled jobs here. "For this reason, we must invest in automation, workforce training as well as research and development," Labbé said. The company puts about five per cent of its revenues into research and development, he added.

Labbé said Héroux-Devtek hires skilled machinists and people trained in computer controls and automation that can run several pieces of equipment at a time.

Kent Fisher, vice-president and general manager in charge of the supplier chain for Boeing, said this is "a period of unprecedented demand in commercial aerospace." He said airlines will need more than 36,000 planes over the next 20 years valued at $5.2 trillion.

Last year, Boeing delivered a record 723 airplanes to its customers, including 99 B-777 airliners. There is a current backlog of 550 of the B-777 and B-777X airplanes in the order pipeline, Fisher said.

"So I hope you like to be busy, because we will be very busy over the next several years," Fisher said.

He added that a B-777 contains about three million parts and that Boeing works with more than 500 suppliers around the world.

Fisher said Héroux-Devtek was chosen for this contract because of the quality of the team and the workforce here. A big advantage of a new facility like the one in Cambridge is that it can be set up to improve the production process and make the best use of the advanced manufacturing technology, he said.

"In today's highly competitive airplane market, we need to not only build better airplanes, we need to improve on how we build them," Fisher said.

Brad Duguid, Ontario's minister of economic development, employment and infrastructure, said the province made the $7-million investment because Ontario has to compete with other jurisdictions in maintaining the jobs and building out the aerospace sector.

A complementary cluster of aerospace companies has emerged along a corridor in Ontario and Quebec, Duguid said.

[rangersfan]

It is opportunities like these that we must dedicate a certain percentage of lands towards industrial purposes. I am not sure what prevented the company from occupying space at the former Kitchener Frame property or elsewhere.


‘Jobs are staying in the region’
Feb 28, 2015 | Paige Desmond | The Record | LINK

CAMBRIDGE — Ahead of the official implementation of the Waterloo Region Economic Development Corporation, local cities are already getting into the spirit of co-operation. Héroux-Devtek has a facility in Kitchener and specializes in the aerospace industry, designing, manufacturing and repairing landing gear and actuation systems. It was looking to expand after being awarded a new contract.

Kitchener Mayor Berry Vrbanovic said it was either going to locate here or in Quebec — but Kitchener didn't have the land the company needed.

"They needed to expand, we tried to find the right piece in Kitchener, we weren't able to do that (so) we worked with Cambridge to find the right piece," Vrbanovic said. "We're keeping the jobs here."

Héroux-Devtek celebrated its new Cambridge facility on Thursday.

In the past, the opportunity might have been lost because Kitchener didn't have the right land.

The co-operation between Cambridge and Kitchener to keep an employer here is exactly what the new corporation is supposed to help foster.

"Those jobs are staying in the region," Vrbanovic said. "That's what matters and that's what's important."

[panamaniac]

Manpower survey reveals steady hiring pace

Waterloo Region Record
By Record staff

WATERLOO REGION — Waterloo Region employers are signalling a positive hiring climate in the second quarter of this year, according to the latest employment outlook survey from Manpower.

Twenty-three per cent of local employers who responded to the human resources consulting firm's survey said they plan to hire staff in the April to June period, while only two per cent anticipate cutbacks.

Removing seasonal variations results in a net employment outlook of 19 per cent. While that is down three percentage points from the previous quarterly outlook, it is a four percentage point increase from a year ago, "indicating a steady hiring pace for the coming months," Nikki Sharpley of Manpower's Kitchener office said in a news release.

Nationally, the net employment outlook is 10 per cent, unchanged from the previous quarter.

http://www.therecord.com/news-story/5468...ring-pace/

[panamaniac]

Keep those jobs comin'!

DC Foods adding 50 jobs in Waterloo
Waterloo Region Record

By Record staff

WATERLOO — A Waterloo food processing company expects to add 50 jobs as a result of an expansion of its production capacity.

DC Foods, which specializes in breaded chicken, fish and red meat products for private labels, announced Thursday it is undertaking a project to expand its production capacity by more than 30 per cent.

The company currently employs 151 people in its plant on Northland Road.

The Ontario government is contributing $800,050 to the project through the Southwestern Ontario Development Fund.

[Markster]

Building Magazine has a generic overview writeup of the region:

http://www.building.ca/news/nerds-will-l...003540261/

Nerds Will Lead Us
North America's technology sector continues to grow and innovate, and much of that is happening in the Waterloo Region. Although Ontario's Innovation Corridor is ripe for serious growth, will public and private developers get it right?

By: Rhys Phillips
2015-03-01

A funny thing happened on the way to the implosion of the Canadian oil and commodities economy. Ontario, long dismissed as an aging laggard, metamorphosed into a leader, albeit a modest engine for a modest recovery. The jury is still out on whether plunging energy costs and the retreating dollar can turn around the province’s shrinking manufacturing sector hard hit by the deep 2008 recession. But whatever the outcome, a key misunderstanding about the strength of Ontario’s broader economy has been revealed.

Much of the Greater Toronto Area (GTA) and many surrounding cities remain in much better shape than many thought. Warnings of a housing bubble to the contrary, Toronto sometimes feels like one vast construction site.  Equally significant is the growing creative digital economy anchored at either end of an Innovation Corridor by the GTA and Waterloo Region. Iain Klugman, CEO of Communitech, Waterloo Region’s innovation commercialization promoter and operator of a highly successful digital media and mobile accelerator, goes so far as to say that the region largely escaped the impact of the Dot-com bust of 2000, the deep 2008 recession and the rapid shrinkage of Research In Motion (RIM).

[...and lots more]

Nothing there that anyone on this forum doesn't already know, but it's nice to know others are thinking about us.

[nms]

The article could have stood for more vigorous fact-checking. For instance, I do believe that the Perimeter Institute is home to the "Stephen Hawking Centre" and not the "Stephen Hawkins Institute".

That aside, I would be interested to know more about how the movers and shakers in the high-tech/start-up/entrepreneurial economy contribute to the social fabric of the Region beyond starting a company and creating jobs. Carl Zehr, quoted in the article above, claimed that downtown Kitchener circa 1997 "was devoid of spirit, it was devoid of people. It was devoid of good ideas". The Region was built on a strong ethic of community-building beyond becoming the next big millionaire. Does the current generation of entrepreneurs (following the steps of the Kaufmans, the Breithaupts, the Schneiders and hundreds of others) stepping into the gaps left as the previous generation moves on?

[panamaniac]

What would you consider to constitute contributions to the social fabric of the Region? Major donors to local charities, infrastructure, educational facilities and cultural amenities and events? Check. Pressing the provincial government to move forward with better rail links to Toronto? Check. Carrying the Region brand around the world? Check. Taking a principled stand against the development of autonomous weaponized robotics? Check (Bravo, Clearpath!). Serving as mentors to, and investors in, new startups? Check.

So far, I would say they have established a pretty credible record. I hope that it will be sustained with the newest generation, as they grow their businesses. Everything that I have seen indicates that it is generally understood that building a strong community is part of the Region's continued success.