Jack Rooney (left) President of Capitol Strategies Consulting, Inc. reviews plans for the Lincoln Technology Center with Natalie Marquez (right), Lincoln attorney and property manager

Right in the middle of it all....
Springfield firm leverages Lincoln's unique location
Capitol Strategies to open business in downtown Lincoln

[September 18, 2014]  LINCOLN - Central Illinois businesses and individuals do not often take out a map and fully appreciate the strategic location of the City of Lincoln. Lincoln is the intersecting hub for state routes 10 and 121 with interstates 55 and 155. Few fully realize that over 1 million people live within easy daily driving distance from this central point.

Consider the fact that the new high-speed rail system will be stopping right in the center of downtown and one can clearly imagine the possibilities. Lincoln possesses a true "center of the center" strategic advantage, unmatched by any other town if its size in the central United States.

That is how technology firm Capitol Strategies of Springfield came to view Lincoln. Further they believe Lincoln's unique position can help them and their central Illinois clients with an important challenge. "Each of the core central Illinois towns......Springfield, Decatur, Peoria, Bloomington, Champaign, and others each has a finite supply of true expert level IT talent," says Capitol Strategies president Jack Rooney. "Lincoln though provides several unique advantages that can better help these central Illinois cities effectively share and "re-assign as needed" these unique skills."

It is for this reason that Capitol Strategies has opened their Lincoln Technology Center in downtown Lincoln, just a block from the soon-to-be high speed rail depot. "Many years of central Illinois IT recruiting experience have taught us something very interesting," says Rooney. "IT specialists are generally not willing to drive an hour each way between cities every day. In other words, they generally are unhappy driving say from Bloomington to Springfield every day. But interestingly enough, they are ok with 30 minutes say from Bloomington to Lincoln. Our Lincoln technical center will allow us to centralize these skills and effectively share them as needed from city to city, client to client. For certain clients in Springfield, there are only 100,000 people to recruit from. Our strategically located, tightly coupled Lincoln facility will recruit from a base over ten times that number. When high speed rail trains stop in downtown Lincoln every morning and leave every night the opportunities will be even greater. We plan for formalize efforts to allow staff to work from home and be “on the clock” while riding the train to and from work.”

Lincoln mayor Keith Snyder is also excited about the opportunities “Our strategic plan has always revolved around the fact that we have a great centralized location. The Lincoln technology center would allow central Illinois business’ and government entities to effectively share high demand technical skills. Such a solution would be beneficial and exciting for everyone.”

Capitol Strategies specializes in primarily Microsoft .Net development and all the analysis, database, and project management skills that surround it. "We also help with other development languages too,” says Rooney, “along with other technical skills outside of application development." Capitol Strategies is widely recognized as one of the leading provider of IT consulting in central Illinois, providing services to both public and private sector clients.

Note: In a telephone conversation with LDN Wednesday afternoon, Rooney said his company is currently negotiating a lease agreement with a downotwn property owner.  He expects that the new business will be up and running by the first of the year.

[Text received: JACK ROONEY, CAPITOL STRATEGIES/LINCOLN TECHNOLOGY CENTER]