Best of Business Awards 2025

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Madison Magazine

Attend the Best of Business event on Feb. 20 to hear from some of Madison's top leaders and celebrate the Best Places to Work winners.

The Madison Concourse Hotel and Governor’s Club

Join Madison Magazine and presenting sponsor Johnson Financial Group for Best of Business, which is part networking, part learning, part awards ceremony. The networking is powerful, the panel discussion featuring some of Madison's most innovative leaders is insightful, and the awards celebration is inspirational. Guests of honor include the Best of Madison Business leadership awardees and the 2025 Best Places to Work winners. THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 20, 202511 a.m. to 1:30 p.m.The Madison Concourse Hotel &amp; Governor's ClubBest of Madison Business Honorees listed belowBest Places to Work Honorees: WILL BE ANNOUNCED AT THE EVENTPresenting Sponsor: Johnson Financial Group Table Top Sponsor: James Imaging Dessert Sponsor: Rural Mutual Insurance Company Coffee Sponsor: Betty Lou Cruises$50 Individual Ticket$47 ($470) Table of 10Best of Madison Business 2025 Honorees Erik Iverson CEO of Wisconsin Alumni Research FoundationErik Iverson has been CEO of the Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation, or WARF, since 2016. In leading the world’s first university technology transfer office that turns 100 this year, Iverson has strategically evolved the nonprofit’s processes that secure patents and license inventions, and related initiatives, that come from UW–Madison. He leads a team that invests in new businesses built around those inventions; helps fund the development of drugs that could have tremendous human welfare impacts; and contributes tens of millions of dollars back onto campus to support further innovations.Ben Camp and Jeremiah Calvino Co-founders of Recovery.comBen Camp (CEO) and Jeremiah Calvino (CPO) launched RehabPath in 2017 on Madison’s east side, driven by a shared mission to improve access to mental health and addiction recovery resources worldwide. In late 2023, the company rebranded as Recovery.com, reflecting its broader vision and growing impact. Today, the company employs a team of 75 dedicated professionals and was the second fastest-growing company in Wisconsin and 196th in the country last year, according to Inc. 5000. Recovery.com collaborates directly with treatment centers and resource providers, ensuring accurate, comprehensive and relevant information for individuals seeking support on their recovery journeys.Ryan Zerwer President and CEO of Forward Community InvestmentsRyan Zerwer brings for-profit vision and leadership to Forward Community Investments, a 31-year-old community development nonprofit that acts as a financial institution. FCI’s mission continues to focus on reducing social, economic and racial disparities across Wisconsin, but Zerwer’s 2021 entrance marks a new era for FCI, most recently headed by outgoing president and founder Salli Martyniak. Zerwer is also a real estate investor who co-owns Dotty Dumpling’s Dowry with his wife, Rachael Zerwer.Katy Jinkins Co-founder and CEO of SixLine SemiconductorKaty Jinkins co-founded SixLine Semiconductor along with her Ph.D. adviser, Mike Arnold, in 2022. As CEO, Jinkins heads a team of six who are developing technology that could replace silicon in the chips that run next-generation devices. Jinkins devoted much of her academic career to studying and working with this new material that many researchers suggest might be the answer to our future electronic needs: carbon nanotubes. SixLine sets out to make this technology industry compatible and create a scalable process to get carbon nanotubes into our devices.PANEL DISCUSSION SNEAK PEEK!This luncheon's keynote panel discussion will include insights from business leaders on topics including:-How to help your business "glow up" and elevate its community presence.-How to apply for-profit thinking in the nonprofit sector to better measure and accomplish success.-How to stay true to your company's mission while continuing to grow — even after 100 years.-How to turn a nanoscale idea into a macroscale innovation.

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Best of Business Awards 2025

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Best of Business Awards 2025

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