Experience Milwaukee

Is it possible to make cybersecurity fun and engaging? I sat down for an interview Reshad Alam and Corey Sodes. And I think both would answer the above, in chorus, with a loud YES! Reshad is VP & Chief Information Security Officer (CISO) at Regal Rexnord. Corey is the CTO and co-founder of Secure Compliance Solutions (SCS). Both carry an unmatched passion for their work. Corey and Reshad riffed on a number of topics… AI isn’t exposing your data. It’s exposing how much of it is already in the hands of your employees. Don’t block. Redirect. Innovate with purpose. HR is not giving you a free t-shirt. How continuous learning is critical to landing a cybersecurity job. Experience Milwaukee is powered by Xorbix Technologies and this episode is also presented by Digital Bridge.

This article is the launch of a new paid partnership: Recycled by Digital Bridge. As part of this program, from time to time, I’ll highlight the important work happening at Digital Bridge, Milwaukee’s e-waste recycler. I’ll also “recycle” tech articles from the past. Because good stories deserve a second life, too! For this article, I interviewed Michael Regione, VP of sales and marketing at Digital Bridge. Digital Bridge was founded by Jeff Hanson who started refurbishing laptops from the campus of the Milwaukee School of Engineering (MSOE). Michael was in software startups and healthcare technology leading up to him joining Digital Bridge. He now leads the growth of Digital Bridge, including programs that keep electronics out of landfills by getting them into the hands of people who truly need them. Experience Milwaukee is powered by Xorbix Technologies and is sponsored by Secure Compliance Solutions.

For this story, Steve interviewed Jeff Hintz, Executive Director of Sports Tech HQ in Indiana and VP of Innovation at Indiana Sports Corp. The organization Jeff leads, Sports Tech HQ, works to make Indiana a global hub for sports technology. A native of Indianapolis, Jeff has spent his career focused on what sports can do for a community. He’s a convener and connector, helping sports tech founders relocate, scale, and grow in Indiana. Steve and Jeff talk about how cities find their unfair tech advantage and how what they do with that matters. Experience Milwaukee is powered by Xorbix Technologies and sponsored by Secure Compliance Solutions.

Kurt Bauer, CEO of Wisconsin Manufacturers and Commerce, representing 3,800 businesses across the state, explains more. Kurt shares how tech plays out, or not, in the 90% of Wisconsin manufacturers with 100 employees or less. Hint: it’s not about the money. He also talks about the “dark factory” but that robots and automation still aren’t solving manufacturing’s biggest problem. Every manufacturing job creates four others. Kurt makes a strong case that what keeps Wisconsin manufacturers up at night should keep all of us up, too. Experience Milwaukee is powered by Xorbix Technologies and sponsored by Secure Compliance Solutions.

From robots and vision systems to addressing Milwaukee's severe education gap, Austin believes we can (and should) keep talent from running to the coasts. The quick snapshot of my conversation with Austin: Husco’s nearly 500 degreed engineers design the guts of machines the world’s best-known brands put into the world. There’s a staggering amount of data his company collects and doesn’t yet use. The number he threw out surprised me, and it’s exactly why he thinks a US manufacturing renaissance is just getting started. Austin also shares something about Milwaukee’s kids that he directly calls out as a tragedy and what his family is doing about it. Experience Milwaukee is sponsored by SCS, provider of managed security services, IT managed services and compliance solutions. Learn more at scsprotect.com.