By Peter JacksonThe Daily Northwestern
Commencement speakers may tell Northwestern graduates to go forth and change the world, but some have decided that they can seize such opportunity by remaining in Evanston.
Over the last few years, the number of NU alumni who stay in Evanston and open forward-thinking businesses has increased substantially, said Jonathan Perman, executive director of the Evanston Chamber of Commerce.
They’ve helped formulate and build electronic and print media providers, information technology companies, multimedia production companies and web design firms.
“These are businesses that will change our world in our lifetimes,” Perman said.
Evanston’s increasingly collaborative atmosphere and expanding alumni network have created an ideal center for the emergence of entrepreneurial, knowledge-based businesses, he said.
Ian Carswell, Weinberg ’00, exemplifies it better than most: Before graduating with a degree in computing information systems, he formed a company with one of his professors. He had to stay in Evanston while the nascent corporation took off, and he’s been here ever since, he said.
“I took a job to pay my bills,” Carswell said. “The opportunities kept knocking on my door.”
His other business ventures include Dizpersion Technologies, which develops and markets business models based on emerging technology, and Cardinal Law Group’s intellectual property division. Both operate out of offices at 1603 Orrington Ave.
Still, Carswell said Evanston isn’t attracting enough alumni.
“There’s still a largely destination-based mentality,” Carswell said. “‘I’m going to Boulder,’ or, ‘I’m going to San Diego and I’ll find work there.'”
To help Evanston retain more NU graduates, he co-founded the Evanston Young Professional’s Association in June 2005. The group has grown to include more than 100 members and holds dinners and volunteer events that foster networking.
Across town at Legacy.com, a Web site that aggregates obituaries from newspapers and funeral homes across the nation, executives turned to Ernie Roth, Kellogg ’97, to jump-start two new media properties. He joined the Web site, based at 820 Davis St., in September 2006 as senior vice president of new businesses.
Two fledgling Web sites expand Legacy.com’s compiling business. Gadzoo.com compiles pet news and advice,while Mypublicnotices.com gathers public notice advertisements .
“The pet population in this country is bigger than the human population, and it’s a giant business based on passion,” Roth said. “All that interest can add up to a successful opportunity.”
Roth had worked in Chicago since he graduated, but he never felt disconnected from Evanston and the NU community, he said.
“I’ve got family and friends who went to NU,” he said. “I grew up nearby. I’ve been connected to it most of my life.”
Perman said the growing collection of information-based businesses is no accident.
“There’s a synergistic effect,” he said. “These businesses want to be around each other. They feed off each other and cluster around one another. That’s what we look to foster in a forward economy.”
Reach Peter Jackson at [email protected].
