July 24, 2006

A Face of Globalization

It's rare that Hilbert, Wisconsin, my hometown, gets a dateline in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. There's no way I can ignore the story of Todd Thiel's global investment firm McKinley Reserve managing $1 billion in assets from in such an out-of-the-way place. Cheap communications technology and inexpensive airfares allow Thiel to run his investment firm from little Hilbert.

McKinley Reserve is garnering plenty of attention for its $1 billion RiverWalk real estate investment in Dubai. McKinley is the first American company to actually own the land. That's something Donald Trump can't even lay claim to.

Technology like the internet and mobile phones means Thiel's company can communicate with clients and dealmakers all over the world. Airlines flying almost anywhere mean Thiel can go anywhere to get on-the-ground information and to seal deals personally. With a website like McKinley's you'd never know the company is run in a rural town of 1000.

With the ability to do business anywhere from anywhere something had to bring Thiel back to rural Wisconsin. He comes from a large family with relatives all over the Hilbert area. Hilbert is comfortable. "There's a lot of people who leave to go find things, but everything you need is right here. I don't fight traffic. I don't fight people. The cost of living is obnoxiously low," Thiel told John Schmid. It indeed is a comfortable place.

But access to global communications and travel is a double-edged sword. Thiel could just as easily move his company out of Wisconsin if state economic policies deteriorated. RedPrairie's CEO has trouble recruiting talent because of Wisconsin's high taxes and Milwaukee's high crime. Policy makers have to make sure the state is a pleasant place to live and make money or people like Thiel won't establish billion dollar companies here.

"Global Village"