The Illinois Business Journal

Friday, May 09, 2008
November 2004 issue - Vol.5, No.2, 24 pages

We Mean Business. Illinois Business.

Worker's comp costs drive companies out of Illinois
In-state plants work hard explaining why their costs dwarf rates at sister plants in other states

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By KERRY L. SMITH

Due to spiraling workers' compensation claims in Illinois, manufacturers with locations across the U.S. have to fight to justify their Illinois plants' existence when the subject of cost of business - namely workers' compensation payouts - comes up.
Jay Dee Shattuck, executive director of the Illinois Chamber Employment Law Council, said as he travels the state, Illinois' workers' comp [continue]

Legislators in both parties and players from Illinois' major industry sectors hope to revive discussions of workers' comp reform during the November veto session in Springfield.

Illinois' workers' comp agency numbers, policies contradict research institute findings

By KERRY L. SMITH

Although a national workers' compensation think tank's statistics show that Illinois employers pay considerably more per claim dollar than other U.S. states, the state agency that governs the system says otherwise, pointing out that the nature of the injury - and the state's primary employment base - are key factors.
The two entities - the Workers Compensation Research Institute and the Illinois Industrial [continue]

Angel investor wants to bring a little of San Jose to Southern Illinois

By ALAN J. ORTBALS

   Angel investor Peter Gregory is willing to invest up to $2 million in new or existing businesses in Southern Illinois and has helped devise a business plan contest in an effort to locate promising partners.
   Gregory was born and raised in Carbondale. The son of a Southern Illinois University Carbondale math professor, he sought his fortune in California's high-tech Silicon Valley after graduating from SIUC some 20 years ago.
   After working for a variety of start-ups, Gregory and two partners started their own technology consulting company in Seattle in 1994.
   "We were partnering with Microsoft and we partnered with them on

Southern
Illinois Angel Investor research and development projects that eventually turned into Windows CE," he said. In five years, Gregory's company went from the three founders to 550 employees and went public in 1999.
   Gregory began to rethink his lifestyle.
   "I decided that I had something else to do with my life besides work 80 hours a week like a dog," he said. He and his family moved back to Carbondale about three years ago.
   Gregory was in for culture shock.
   While he didn't want the day-to-day responsibilities of running a company, he hoped to find small or start-up companies to [continue]

Look inside our print edition for more Southwestern Illinois Banking and Finance articles!