UBS Launches Elevating Entrepreneurs in Chicago Metropolitan Area

UBS Wealth Management Americas (UBS WMA), together with the Chicagoland Chamber of Commerce, will today launch Elevating Entrepreneurs: A UBS Small Business Advisory Program in the Chicago metropolitan area. The six-month initiative is part of a national roll-out that began last week in Los Angeles, and follows the completion of a successful pilot in New York City last year. The Chicago and Los Angeles mentorship programs, along with $15 million in small business lending, represent a commitment announced today by UBS at the Clinton Global Initiative’s (CGI) Americas conference.

"I am very proud to be launching Elevating Entrepreneurs in Chicago and to be working with Mayor Emanuel and the Chamber to support small businesses in this community,” said Bob McCann, CEO of UBS Group Americas. "Chicago’s entrepreneurs are critical drivers of economic growth and prosperity – both here in the US and around the world. To ensure their continued growth and success is to ensure America’s, and I’m incredibly grateful for the UBS Financial Advisors and clients who are giving so generously to this important initiative.”

Over the course of six months, select entrepreneurs from the greater Chicago area including Chicago proper, Oak Brook, Northbrook and Bensenville will receive pro bono strategic financial and business advice, as well as access to UBS’s senior leadership and vast network of resources. Tailored to high-growth businesses that have significant potential for job creation, the program matches participating small business owners with a UBS Financial Advisor and a dedicated client from a related industry. Through regularly scheduled meetings, workshops and networking events, the teams identify the challenges and opportunities facing the company today and work together to develop a plan of action on how to move forward. The goal of the program is for each entrepreneur to walk away with new ideas and enhanced skill sets that will enable them to take their businesses to the next level. Small businesses enrolled in the Chicago program had average revenues of approximately $8.5 million in 2011 and together employed over 250 people.

Participating entrepreneurs and their companies include: Ron Anastacio, Nology Interactive; Amit Gauri, Black Dog Corp; David Hunt, GelScrubs; Arthur Zayas Miller, MZI Group; Howard Neal, STRYTECH Group, Inc.; Kitty Pon, Pactran Air & Sea, Inc.; John Rico, RICO Computer Enterprises; Ken Williams, The Shred Authority; and Sherman Wright, Commonground Marketing.

The UBS Financial Advisors and clients working with the small businesses are: Advisor Stephen Smith and Ron Waters, Director of Fortune Brands Home & Security, Inc. – supporting Sherman Wright; Advisors Sheldon and Ben Altman and Ed Bjorncrantz, Retired Marketing Executive – supporting Ron Anastacio; Advisor John Jacobs and James J. Sanfilippo, President & CEO of Clear Lam Packaging, Inc. – supporting Kitty Pon; Advisor Michael Ellington and Michael Bruening, Principal of Lancer Marketing Communications, LLC – supporting Ken Williams; Advisor Frank Oddo and Frank Marrese, CEO of ECKER Construction – supporting Arthur Zayas Miller; Advisors Jay Maltby and Matt Ludington and Brad Carlin, CEO of Carlin O’Brien – supporting Amit Gauri; Advisor Paul Lee and Jamie Yoder, U.S. Insurance Advisory Co-Leader for PricewaterhouseCoopers – supporting John Rico; Advisors Dmitry Farbman and Paul Stepankovskiy and Dr. Eric Kochman, CEO of Thermosoft – supporting Howard Neal; and Advisor Phil Allen and Mike Duffield, Former President and Chief Executive Officer, Wallace Computer Services – supporting David Hunt.

In addition, UBS is announcing a $5 million lending program to be used exclusively for funding loans to qualifying small businesses in the Chicago area. This program, a new component of Elevating Entrepreneurs for 2012, follows last week’s announcement by UBS to provide $10 million for small business loans in Los Angeles.

Elevating Entrepreneurs is a continuation of UBS’s Revitalizing America initiative, which is aimed at forging common ground and discussing how business, government and the non-profit sector can partner to develop actionable solutions that will help revitalize the U.S. economy. For more information on Elevating Entrepreneurs, please contact Lori Feinsilver at lori.feinsilver@ubs.com, or visit our website at ubs.com/smallbusiness.

UBS's announcement at CGI Americas will be available live at http://live.cgiamerica.org at approximately 11:00 AM, ET. For live updates through Twitter, please follow @ClintonGlobal.

About UBS Wealth Management Americas

UBS Wealth Management Americas provides advice-based relationships through financial advisors who deliver a fully integrated set of products and services specifically designed to address the needs of ultra high net worth, high net worth and core affluent individuals and families. It includes the Wealth Management US business, the domestic Canadian business and the international business booked in the United States.

About UBS Wealth Management Americas Revitalizing America Initiative

Launched in response to investors’ deep concerns about America’s long-term economic growth, UBS Wealth Management Americas Revitalizing America Initiative comprises a series of speaking engagements and programs that UBS will host over the course of the year, aimed at forging common ground and discussing how, together, we can revitalize the U.S. economy. In support of the initiative, UBS WMA has published "Revitalizing America: Forging a New Path toward Economic Prosperity,” a report on the challenges facing the nation’s economy. Additional information available at: financialservicesinc.ubs.com/revitalizingamerica

About UBS

UBS draws on its 150-year heritage to serve private, institutional and corporate clients worldwide, as well as retail clients in Switzerland. The firm combines its wealth management, investment banking and asset management businesses with its Swiss operations to deliver superior financial solutions.