FRI AM News: WisBusiness: the Podcast with Tina Chang, SysLogic; MCHS, Sanford Health sign affiliation agreement as they plan to merge by year’s end

October 25, 2024

— This week’s episode of “WisBusiness: the Podcast” is with returning guest Tina Chang, CEO of SysLogic.

Chang shares insights from the Brookfield-based company’s recent Cybersecurity Summit, held earlier this month in Milwaukee, while also discussing some of the latest industry trends such as AI development.

“AI certainly hit us, from a societal perspective, by storm and certainly on the top of everybody’s minds,” Chang said. “AI definitely was a feature at this past Cybersecurity Summit, not only AI in its way to enable cybersecurity, but where more adoption of AI is creating more cybersecurity concern.”

SysLogic specializes in IT consulting, cybersecurity, data analytics and application development. Chang says AI is becoming “better and better” at identifying unauthorized access to online data, helping IT professionals prevent or stop attacks more quickly.

While AI improves with more data from systems and devices, Chang warns that “enabling the free flow” of information creates more potential weak points for hackers. She says developing AI safely depends heavily on data security.

“Unfortunately, all the stats are still heading in the wrong direction,” she said. “So global cybercrime is growing by 15% a year. It is both going to be $9.5 trillion globally this year and $10.5 trillion … by next year.”

Chang offers some advice for businesses to protect themselves from online threats, noting the size of the business isn’t the most important factor.

“I would say it’s who has the most interesting and valued data,” she said. “So when you think about what’s being sold on the dark web or between brokers, Social Security numbers, credit card numbers, VIP databases, passwords and logins, right? A variety of different-sized companies have and hold that valuable data.”

She says the most sensitive data should be the top priority to protect, and more businesses are understanding this and investing in protections against cyberattacks. While hacking is on the rise, human error “still plays too big of a role,” Chang noted.

“Investing in employee training and readiness is still something that’s very top of mind and should be a priority for everybody,” she said. “Because, boy, if one person accidentally clicks on a bad link, no program or monitoring service is going to prevent that 100%. So getting us to build some muscle memory on what protection and safe handling looks like is so important.”

Listen to the podcast and see the full list of WisBusiness.com podcasts.

Listen to an earlier podcast with Chang.

— Marshfield Clinic Health System and South Dakota’s Sanford Health have signed an affiliation agreement, marking another step toward merging into a combined health system.

The health systems yesterday announced the move, which comes after they established a memorandum of understanding in July outlining their plans to form a unified organization. The merger is expected to finalize by the end of this year, according to the announcement.

Once complete, the combined health system would have nearly 56,000 employees across 56 hospitals, 4,300 providers, two integrated health plans and “nationally recognized” research institutions, an earlier release shows. Bill Gassen, president and CEO of Sanford Health, calls the affiliation agreement a “significant milestone” in the merger process.

“We are excited to strengthen access to cutting-edge care and invest in new initiatives to serve the needs of patients throughout the rural Midwest, now and in the years ahead,” he said in a statement.

Tom Still, president of the Wisconsin Technology Council and board member for MCHS, notes the larger Sanford Health is also a predominantly rural health system and is familiar with the unique health challenges of rural America. He says the merger will provide greater stability for patients.

“The kinds of support that they can provide, from financial to logistics to health care itself, is a plus,” he said yesterday in an interview. “I think it’s going to accrue to the benefit of the patients who are cared for by Marshfield, throughout mostly northern and central Wisconsin, also parts of the [Upper Peninsula] and Michigan. So it’s a good match.”

The boards for both MCHS and Sanford voted unanimously in favor of the affiliation agreement, and MCHS also held a vote among all of its doctors across the system with more than 95% in favor, according to Still.

“It just speaks to the fact that the physicians saw this as a strong opportunity from the clinic itself, and had faith in the fact that this was going to improve life for their patients as well,” he said.

Once combined, the name for the new South Dakota-based health system will be Sanford Health, and Marshfield Clinic Health System will be a region within it. MCHS will keep regional leadership, according to an earlier release, anchored by its medical campus in Marshfield. Gassen will be president and CEO of the combined system, while Dr. Brian Hoerneman will be president and CEO of the MCHS region, the release shows.

While the merger still has to go through standard regulatory processes and closing conditions, Still said he’s heard the Federal Trade Commission has “had no questions or qualms” about it at this stage.

See the release.

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— WARF has announced it’s providing $159.8 million in support for UW-Madison research for the academic year ending in 2025.

Of that total, $105.4 million comes from grants made to the UW-Madison Office of the Vice Chancellor for Research, according to yesterday’s release. That total covers research projects, as well as funding for research faculty, graduate student researchers and research support staff, along with research facilities.

In addition to the funding for that office, WARF has allocated $5.3 million for the Morgridge Institute for Research, a private UW-Madison affiliate located on campus. Another $49.1 million is being provided through in-kind, operational and functional support for the cost of technology commercialization and asset management, the release shows.

The Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation is kicking off a year-long celebration of its centennial, marking its 100th anniversary of supporting UW-Madison’s research endeavors next year. Since launching in 1925, WARF has helped bring the university’s discoveries and innovations to market as its designated patenting and licensing organization.

Yesterday’s announcement also touts the role of the WARF Accelerator program, which offers targeted gap funding and other support for inventors, as well as WARF Therapeutics, which has a focus on drug development and commercialization.

“What better way to kick off our centennial year than to celebrate the ways we will be partnering with UW-Madison throughout this upcoming year to uphold the tradition of research excellence at our great university,” WARF CEO Erik Iverson said in a statement.

See the release.

— State officials are touting a record-high total of 189,194 working-age people with disabilities employed in Wisconsin last year.

The state Department of Workforce Development recently announced the record for last year, based on data from the American Community Survey released by the U.S. Census Bureau. It was the second year in a row that Wisconsin set a new record for this figure, the release shows.

DWD Secretary Amy Pechacek is highlighting the agency’s Division of Vocational Rehabilitation, which helps connect the dots between job seekers with disabilities and positions in top industries for the state. The division has enrolled 1,000 students with disabilities in training programs since 2021.

“At any given time, DWD’s Division of Vocational Rehabilitation is serving approximately 16,000 Wisconsin residents with disabilities and we appreciate the U.S. Department of Education and many stakeholders who help obtain, maintain, and advance employment for people with disabilities,” she said in a statement.

See the release.

UW-Madison’s AI research gets $15 million boost from WARF

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