When it comes to drawing tech business to Springfield, Cully Davis says we have an advantage over Silicon Valley. Davis is vice chairman for private equity markets with Jeffries and a Springfield native. He says the Midwestern ethos is something Silicon Valley doesn’t have. Midwesterners, according to Davis, wake up with a certain humility and the drive to put in an honest day’s work. People from this region, he says want to “help each other out and not tear each other down, and there is an understanding that the collective group benefits when everyone is built up.” Davis has now been in Silicon Valley for over 20 years and has worked with companies including Google, Lyft, NetSuite and SunPower.
Davis advises electing people who support making Springfield attractive to entrepreneurs and tech businesses. He says it’s about building an ecosystem that has multiple parts and those parts have to be fed, nurtured and work together. For technology development, Davis points to the five components of the ecosystem – academia, government, capital, an advisor network and entrepreneurs. Building an ecosystem is tough, he says, because “it takes patience, time and a lot of resources.” Davis says he’s “blown away” by the progress that has already been made and the commitment that is here in Springfield.
Davis spoke at the Memorial Learning Center Tuesday morning for the “What’s Next for The Next 10” event sponsored by the Community Foundation for the Land of Lincoln and the University of Illinois-Springfield business incubator Innovate Springfield.
Davis received his MBA from The Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania and a bachelor’s degree in English from Illinois Wesleyan University after graduating from Springfield High School. He is also the son of the late Professor Cullom Davis, a founding faculty member of Sangamon State University (now the University of Illinois Springfield).