Thursday, August 15, 2013

Blugolds breaking ground

Jason Wudi, chief cultural officer for JAMF Software and a 2001 UW-Eau Claire management information systems graduate, addressed the crowd gathered Aug. 14 at the groundbreaking for JAMF Software's  new corporate offices in downtown Eau Claire.
Congratulations to JAMF Software, a company with strong UW-Eau Claire connections, on the groundbreaking for their new corporate offices in downtown Eau Claire! I had the pleasure of attending the ceremony on Wednesday.

JAMF was co-founded by Eau Claire native and 2004 UW-Eau Claire graduate Zach Halmstad, and the new corporate office is just the latest example of the company’s commitment to the city of Eau Claire.  The company has grown from four employees to more than 100 in Eau Claire alone, and their new 72,000-square-foot, $10 million building will enable them to grow their workforce here to 300 (I’m told JAMF also has about 100 employees in the Twin Cities, as well as offices in Cupertino, Calif., New York City, Hong Kong and Amsterdam). Currently, 35 percent of JAMF’s worldwide workforce are Blugolds! 

The groundbreaking was well attended, with many JAMF employees, members of the city council and business community present.  It was gratifying to hear so many of the speakers talk about the importance of JAMF’s new project to downtown Eau Claire redevelopment, and also the support expressed for the proposed Confluence Project, a $78 million public-private partnership to build a new community arts center, student housing and retail and office space at the confluence of the Eau Claire and Chippewa Rivers in downtown. JAMF has pledged $500,000 to the community arts center portion of the project and is supporting it because of the cultural amenities it will offer to employees and the Eau Claire community.

I’m proud to see Blugolds taking this important leadership role in helping to shape the future of our community!
Discussing the future of downtown Eau Claire with Blugold alumnus Jason Wudi at the groundbreaking for a new downtown corporate office for JAMF Software.