In Business Madison’s reporters covered a lot of topics this year. From Kwik Trip opening a new distribution center in DeForest — our most-read story — to Epic doing, well, epic things with medical records and AI, and a pickleball boom, it was a busy 2025 in Wisconsin’s Capital Region.
Data centers also became a hot topic this year — especially their environmental effects on water and land usage. And according to what we’ve reported over the year, data centers will continue to be built at a rapid pace in Wisconsin.
As we close out the year, know IB Madison will continue to do its best to deliver the best business news in the Madison area.
Thanks to our readers for your support!
These are the 10 most-read stories of the year.
1. Kwik Trip’s new center on track for fall opening
The 280,000-square-foot facility in DeForest services 370 Kwik Trip stores in southeastern Wisconsin and Illinois, and is Kwik Trip’s second distribution center in the state, complementing a distribution facility at its La Crosse headquarters. It opened in November.
Reporter Joe Vanden Plas took a road trip to La Crosse to check out Kwik Trip’s headquarters for our September cover story. Family-owned Kwik Trip has thrived and rapidly expanded through its mix of manufacturing and distributing its own retail products, acquisitions and growing an avid customer following. A sidebar story on KT’s banana-ripening rooms was also a reader favorite.
3. Flexing their staffing muscles
Rachel Neill, CEO and founder of Carex Consulting Group; Madeleine (Maddy) Niebauer, founder and CEO of Virtual Chief of Staff (vChief); and Ashley Quinto Powell, founder of myVA Rocks, are all business executives and mothers who established new models designed for working parents and others seeking flexible schedules. Their approaches are finding success in Madison and around the country.
4. At Epic, it’s all about the customer
After 45 years, Epic’s market-leading EHR software is deployed across the world in hospitals, health systems and homes. A Harvard Business School case study chronicles the historic events that enabled Epic’s founding and subsequent growth, and it explores the unconventional — and successful — way the company operates.
5. Epic UGM: Futuristic Faulkner sets the AI tone
If there is one thing Epic Systems CEO Judy Faulkner likes to emphasize, it’s whatever is new or next, especially when it comes to the company’s electronic medical records technology.
In the case of her annual executive address in August, she kicked off the company’s Users Group Meeting with a rundown of the over 160 artificial intelligence projects Epic is working on.
In Business Madison’s inaugural Executive Excellence: Finance & Technology Awards ceremony, held in July at Garver Feed Mill, drew 300 attendees and honored 11 winners for their roles in the growth, vitality and future of their organizations, and for their contributions to the Greater Madison community.
7. Pickle BOOM!
Once seen as a casual retirement sport, pickleball is now an economic force: new businesses are opening around it, existing facilities are being repurposed to meet demand, and tournaments are drawing hundreds of players and spectators.
With the Madison Pickleball Open in the summer, the region’s largest tournament has become a fundraising powerhouse and a showcase for the sport’s staying power. From custom gear and paddles to themed leagues and social events, the pickleball economy is only getting more competitive, and more lucrative.
8. Data centers spark heated debate
As large, “hyperscale” data centers needed to run artificial intelligence applications pop up in the state, fears about what these developments mean for climate change and water usage have surfaced.
Because such data centers and their AI servers require more powerful chips and intense cooling systems due to the heat they generate, some believe the only path forward is the continued reliance on fossil fuel sources.
Under that scenario, there is still a role for clean energy to play, but it may be a supporting role. The multiple business benefits of AI and the international race to lead in this transformative technology could mean a fully green energy economy will happen later rather than sooner.
9. 2025 Forty Under 40: Class acts
Strong professional accomplishments and meaningful civic contributions are the criteria for selection to our annual Forty Under 40 class, and if the class of 2025 is any indication, the future of Madison business is in good hands. Read our short profiles of these standout leaders shaping our community.
10. Madison consultant develops a ‘cheat sheet’ for managers
“The next generation of managers are asking: how are we making the world a better place? Everybody needs to answer that and our answer — it’s really my prime motivation here — is that the jargon of management is really a barrier, an exclusionary barrier to lots of people who can’t afford an MBA or to keep up with the Wall Street Journal,” Madison consultant Derrick Van Mell said. “So, having a standard language allows everybody to communicate.”
