WTN Media's Mike Klein Awarded Journalist of the Year by the U.S. Small Business Administration Midwest Region

WTN Media's Mike Klein Awarded Journalist of the Year by the U.S. Small Business Administration Midwest Region

MADISON, WI – The U.S. Small Business Administration has named Mike Klein Journalist of the Year for the Midwest Region. Klein is editorial director for WTN News, a Web-based publication that covers emerging technology and business.
Klein received the honor for 2008 at both the state and regional levels. The SBA Midwest Region V covers six states in the Upper Midwest, including Wisconsin, Minnesota, Illinois, Indiana, Michigan and Ohio.
Klein is president of WTN Media, (www.wtnmedia.com) an online news, business-to-business media and events company he founded in 2002. Klein serves as editorial director for Wisconsin Technology Network (www.wistechnology.com), WTN News and FusionCIO.com. He is also producer and editorial director for the Digital Healthcare Conference and Fusion CEO – CIO Symposium.
“WTN Media and WTN News are new media for a new era,” said Neil Lerner, director of the University of Wisconsin-Madison’s Small Business Development Center. “Mike and his team have done a great job championing Wisconsin high-technology business development throughout the U.S. and the world entirely on an Internet platform.
“WTN’s coverage of our technology firms helps publicize the great Wisconsin opportunities available to angel and venture capital investors located on the coasts and elsewhere,” Lerner said. 
By establishing WTN Media as a fulcrum for technology-related news and events, Klein has leveraged the power of the Internet while filling the need for an electronic media to represent the region on the Web, said John Byrnes, Executive Managing Director of Mason Wells, a Milwaukee venture capital firm.
“And he has done that in a way that no one else is doing,” Byrnes said. “He and his wife, Deb, deserve a lot of credit because they did it single-handedly. They didn’t get any money from the state, or from private equity investors.”
Tom Still, president of the Wisconsin Technology Council, an independent, non-partisan organization that promotes business technology development throughout the state, says the honor symbolizes that Wisconsin is an innovative state not only when it comes to developing new technologies, but also how technology applies to the business world.
“In the case of Mike and Wisconsin Technology Network, he has shown time and time again that he and his staff understand the issues facing the technology industry in Wisconsin, and how that fits into a global picture,” Still said. “WTN is a valued service in the technology community, and a fair an honest purveyor of the news.”
WTN’s target audience is comprised of business executives, investors, policy makers, academics, as well as economic development specialists. During the past six years, WTN’s readership has helped to foster connections, investment, partnerships and media coverage for entrepreneurs, emerging small businesses as well as existing companies.
Zach Brandon, executive assistant of Wisconsin’s Department of Commerce said, “On behalf of Sec. Leinenkugel and the Department of Commerce – congratulations to Mike Klein on his award – and thank you for all that he does for Wisconsin’s technology community. The recognition is well-deserved and we are proud of the great work Klein provides!”
The publication has been quoted in the Wisconsin State Journal, The Capital Times, Forbes, Wisconsin Public Radio, and the Associated Press.
WTN’s readership has grown to a high of over 100,000 monthly visitors, and is now known as WTN News. The Web site is supplemented with a twice-weekly e-mail based newsletter that reaches over 30,000 readers per month. WTN’s mission is to connect the people, technology, and ideas driving the advancement of the life science, information and health technologies, nanotechnology, as well as emerging alterative clean energy solutions that are being developed by new and existing companies in Wisconsin.
” have always been impressed with Mike’s many connections and his influence. He has played a key leadership role in making IT more visible throughout our region, and demonstrating the importance of IT to the success and growth of our regional economy. He brings vision, focus, clarity, and innovation to his work. He is always listening to the needs of IT execs, and then engaging with a compelling message through his writing in a way that is easy to understand. As an IT entrepreneur, I appreciate his interest and support in what matters most, and his commitment to drive understanding and positive outcomes for everyone involved, said Laurie Benson, CEO, Inacom Information Systems.
Klein previously wrote a regular column on small business technology issues for Madison’s InBusiness magazine, and has been regularly featured on WIBA-AM radio in Madison as a guest commentator.
Prior to forming WTN, Klein had over 23 years of experience in information technology publishing as a group publisher and vice president for major technology publications including PC Magazine and InformationWeek. He served as VP, Group Publisher for IDG Communication‘s Executive Forums and DevX.com. He has held management positions with Ziff-Davis, and CMP Media, and was the founding publisher for Knowledge Management Magazine.
FOR MORE INFORMATION: Contact Mike Klein at WTN Media at (608) 438-1007, or via e-mail at mike@wistechnology.com.