Chief Executive Officer of the Wisconsin Economic Development Corporation Paul Jadin announced his resignation from the deparment Thursday to join a Madison area non-profit. 

Tom Thieding, communications manager at WEDC, said Jadin will become the president of Thrive, an economic development partnership for the eight-county Madison area, because of his strong economic background.

According to Thrive spokesperson Betsy Lundgren, Jadin will start work at Thrive in November.

Lundgren said Jadin is eager to take the strategies he developed and execute them on their ground. She said Jadin will be responsible for executing a program newly developed by Thrive called “Advance Now,” which will function as a blueprint for driving economic development.

The program was formed from the input of 2,000 business leaders and residents from the eight-county Madison area, Lundgren said.

Jadin served as mayor of Green Bay for eight years and as the president of the Green Bay Area Department of Commerce for seven years before coming to WEDC in 2011. Jadin was initially appointed by Gov. Scott Walker to be the secretary of the Department of Commerce.

The Department of Commerce then split into two entities, Thieding said. As a result, the WEDC handles economic development and commerce while the Department of Safety and Professional Services focuses on oversight and regulation.

Thieding said Jadin oversaw the restructuring involved with taking one agency, splitting it apart and creating a whole new organization.

“Guiding that change was one of Jadin’s major accomplishments,” Thieding said.

Thieding said the WEDC helped assist 1,000 companies since its creation and has also lowered the cost of creating jobs in Wisconsin. The Department of Commerce spent an average of $8,000 to create a job, while the WEDC spends slightly over $2,700 to create a job, he said.

Thieding said WEDC created the Wisconsin Certified Sites Program which pre-certifies development-ready industrial sites for companies.

“Jadin put in place a strategic plan which really lays out a vision and direction for how we can be innovative in supporting new businesses that want to expand and relocate in Wisconsin,” Thieding said.