Bill Ratzburg retires, influential in creating Manufacturing Hub

The Quad Cities Chamber congratulates Bill Ratzburg on his retirement! We thank him for creating the Manufacturing Hub and providing guidance to help manufacturers throughout the region.

Ratzburg has been with the Chamber for over ten years and was initially a loaned executive from John Deere. He has provided strategic oversight and was instrumental in the development of an innovation ecosystem to help our region’s manufacturers and defense industries with diversification, resiliency, introduction of industry 4.0 technologies and supply chain diversification.

Ratzburg’s vision and superb grant writing skills helped the Chamber receive four rounds of funding to support the Manufacturing Hub in partnership with the University of Illinois and Illinois Defense Network. 

Ratzburg provided some of the impetus to begin a sector-based approach to economic development. “Manufacturing and defense is a significant part of our region’s economy. With the focus on industry-based resources, technical assistance, workforce development solutions and business development opportunities, the Manufacturing Hub has been able to effectively help our region’s existing businesses strengthen and grow in a way that hadn’t been done before,” said Julie Forsythe, Senior Vice President, Business & Economic Growth. 

“Bill has been a great mentor to me,” said Forsythe. “We worked together for over three years prior to us both landing at the Chamber. At the time, we were working on an EDA-funded proof-of-concept grant that paired patents and people with businesses. The thought was that new streams of revenue could be found using new, non-competitive corporate patents, or by having retirees available for problem-solving. We had some success with both sides of the equation.”

“Bill is so knowledgeable, strategic and is just the kindest and most professional person I’ve had the opportunity to work with in my career,” continued Forsythe.

Ratzburg had a full career before working with the Chamber. He spent over 22 years with John Deere, primarily working in Corporate Business Development and Corporate Citizenship. Prior to his time with Deere, Ratzburg was a small business owner with several businesses in the Quad Cities region.