Growing up in Madison, I played on a summer softball team sponsored by Katy’s American Indian Arts, a local jewelry shop. My friends and I pooled our change and popped into Neuhauser Pharmacy for candy after school. As a teenager, I scooped frozen custard at Michael’s.
These neighborhood businesses are part of my personal history, and we all have these stories. Think of where you bought your first car, the coworking space where you refined an idea for a startup, or the music venue where you saw a favorite band. Such places shape the experiences of all of us fortunate to live in Wisconsin’s Capital Region.
My name is Katie Dean, and I’m happy to introduce myself as the new editor-in-chief of In Business Madison. It’s a new year and new chapter for the 48-year-old magazine, and I’m excited to lead the publication at a pivotal time.
Part of my enthusiasm for my role is that Publisher Dave Neill and I have a shared vision for what a refreshed In Business Madison can look like. As 2025 begins, our coverage will focus on the creative people and ideas in the city’s business community — from technology entrepreneurs to small business owners to nonprofits, adding to the coverage of larger, more established companies in our area.
We’re looking beyond the C-suite to write about local business leaders in all parts of Wisconsin’s Capital Region, including areas like health care, hospitality, and higher education, among others.
We want to grow and diversify our audience, and expand what business coverage looks like in our community. We intend to write about people, companies, and local organizations that haven’t been included in these pages in the past, and prioritize timely and compelling stories.
In addition, we are committed to the highest standards of journalism and are bringing a new focus on photography and creative, visual storytelling to the digital and print products, coupled with an increased presence on social media platforms.
It’s an ambitious goal and this won’t be an instant change, but we’re excited about it and committed to it. Madison’s thriving business community has numerous stories to share, and we want to be the ones to tell them.
I’ve been a part of innovative media organizations in the past. I was a reporter at one of the early online news sites, Wired News, in San Francisco, during the dotcom boom (and subsequent bust). And I helped lead The Capital Times’ shift from a daily print newspaper to an online publication with a weekly tabloid. This role feels like a natural next step.
I’d love to get your thoughts on our new direction, and if you know of a story that should be told, email me at katie.dean@ibmadison.com. I’m looking forward to the creative possibilities ahead. Thanks for reading!
