Monthly Programs - October 2003

State of the economy: Looking for the light at the end of the tunnel

Lynn Browne Tuesday, October 14, 2003

U.S. unemployment recently hit its highest level in nine years. Technology jobs have joined the trend with other industries and are moving offshore at a rapid pace. The cornerstones of technology -- companies like IBM - continue to announce job closures and aggressive outsourcing plans. Analysts report that one out of four technology jobs are in the process of being outsourced. The patter we're hearing from investment analysts is that there's nothing exciting going on with technology. We'll never see the rich returns of the late 90s, they say, as the knell of doom tolls for technology investments.

Alan Greenspan and the Federal Reserve banks have been doing everything they can to meet the challenges these difficult economic times present. Because of its technology orientation, Massachusetts has suffered more severe employment losses over the last two years than the rest of the nation. What are the prospects for recovery from these losses? Who's making it in the Commonwealth and who's not? We're hearing about "cautious placements," but where is the venture funding really going and what are the expectations? Is our position in this dark tunnel temporary, or are we hoping for a recovery that may never happen? What's the buzz on technology start-ups and fundings?

These interesting and provocative questions will be addressed at the October WPI Venture Forum meeting when a slate of respected, informed speakers and panelists will address these issues.

Keynote address

Lynn Browne, executive vice president and economic advisor at the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston, will present the keynote address. Responsible for the Bank's public information, community affairs, and regional economic outreach programs, Browne is well aware of the fiscal situation in New England. With expertise in the area of financial crises, especially relating to this region's economic development, Browne served as overseer of the New England area economic education development program. As director of research from 1993 to 2003, Browne acted as the main conduit to Federal Reserve headquarters in Washington for communications regarding the region's fiscal data.

Browne's presentation will focus on the recent national economic performance, with an emphasis on Massachusetts, and will address the prospects for an upswing in the rate of growth. She holds a BA from the University of Western Ontario and a PhD in economics from MIT.

What's the new business strategy?

Following Browne on the platform, Scott Kirsner, a business and technology writer based in Boston, will address the new, game-changing technologies being developed in New England, and how the strategies of this generation of companies differ from the last. An insightful writer and speaker, Kirsner is a widely read and respected expert on new technologies and a contributing editor at Fast Company and Wired Magazines. His informative, weekly column about the technology sector in New England, "@large," appears each Monday in the Boston Globe's business section. Kirsner's articles have also been published in the New York Times, Newsweek, Boston Magazine, CIO Magazine, Salon, The London Sunday Telegraph, and the Columbia Journalism Review.

Kirsner is a founder and program chair for Future Forward: The New England Technology Summit (www.futureforward.com) and the Nantucket Conference on Entrepreneurship and Innovation (www.nantucketconference.com). He has discussed technology issues during his frequent television and radio appearances on such programs as CNN, Bloomberg TV, NBC's Today Show, ABC News, C-SPAN, National Public Radio, New England Cable News, WBZ Radio and TV in Boston, and the Discovery Channel.

Panel discussion

Instead of a case presentation at the October meeting, in the second half of the program a panel of experts will continue the discussion about the region's economy and how it will affect entrepreneurs. In addition to keynote speakers Browne and Kirsner, a technology entrepreneur and a venture capitalist will join the panel to examine New England's fiscal health.

Greg Erman, president and CEO of MarketSoft Corporation, a provider of enterprise marketing solutions, has raised $70M in VC funding and built his company to help organizations connect marketing activity with sales results. Previously, Erman founded and served as president and CEO of Waypoint Software Corporation, a B2B e-commerce company, which he later sold to Open Market, Inc. Erman earned BSEE and MBA degrees from Rutgers University and serves on several boards of directors.

The final panelist is venture capitalist Paul Margolis who made private placements in Internet and software companies for three years before co-founding Longworth Venture Partners. Prior to that venture in 1980, Margolis founded Marcam Corporation, an enterprise resource planning (ERP) software company. As its chairman, president and CEO from 1980 to 1995, Margolis directed Marcam from its founding to a growth of $200 million in revenue and 1,200 employees. He also managed the company's successful initial public offering (IPO) in 1990. Margolis helped found a number of technology companies and serves on several boards of directors.

Margolis earned his BA from Brown University and an MBA from Harvard Business School and volunteers as vice-chairman to the Big Brother Association of Greater Boston.

Vic Marcus and Darleen Flaig serve as moderators for the October meeting.

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Last modified: Aug 19, 2005, 08:40 EDT