Pros Communications, November 2005
"Living in the World of Repetitive Success "

LocalTechWire.com, September 2005
"Venture Financing in Western NC Has Promise, It Will Take Grit "

Charlotte Viewpoint, January 2005
"Q & A with Winn Maddrey "

PR Week (US), November 1, 2004
"Doctors Group To Extend PR In Three Influential States "

LocalTechWire.com, Charlotte Beat, May 19, 2004
"Heard the News? Blue Nine Partners and Marketing Matters Team Up to 'Anchor; Creative Corridor "

Charlotte Business Journal, April 23, 2004
"BlackBerrys in season among mobile workers"

UNC Charlotte, FIVE VENTURES™ 2004
"Blue Nine Partners will provide consultation to winner (to be announced April 7)"

News 14 Carolina, Working Smart, March 27, 2004
"PR campaigns can avert a crisis"

News 14 Carolina, Working Smart, March 20, 2004
"Keep customers informed with PR"

Charlotte Observer, Doug Smith Column, Jan. 28, 2004
"Maddrey's Firm Relocates"

LocalTechWire.com, Charlotte Beat, Jan. 21, 2004
"Maddrey's New Firm"

Charlotte Business Journal, Dec. 26, 2003
“Advertising market facing prospects for better times”

Charlotte Observer, Sept. 1, 2003
"Insider"

Charlotte Business Journal, Aug. 29, 2003
“Consultants can play key role in growing business”

Charlotte Business Journal, Aug. 29, 2003
"Table Talk"

Charlotte Observer, Aug. 14, 2003
“Pillowtex fall puts focus on China”

PR Week (US), November 1, 2004
"Doctors Group To Extend PR In Three Influential States "

CHARLOTTE, NC: A national doctors group has stepped up PR in three Southern states that could change the stakes for medical malpractice awards.

The advocacy group, Doctors for Medical Liability Reform, is working with agencies Blue Nine Partners and Eisenhauer Marketing Matters to reach voters in North Carolina, South Carolina, and Georgia. Each state has an open Senate seat this election and could influence future votes on the issue.

Clint Eisenhauer, principal of Eisenhauer Marketing Matters, noted that the campaign is using grassroots outreach to educate voters. He added that the effort is not a political campaign, per se, but is in response to the Senate's inability to pass a medical-liability reform bill.

'We are trying to keep the issue in front of voters,' he explained. As malpractice insurance premiums rise, 'It's just not economical for (doctors) to be in practice anymore,' he added.

Key message points of the campaign will focus on how rural areas have been especially hard hit by the loss of high-risk specialties, such as obstetrics.

The agencies also have arranged speaking forums in front of medical groups.

'Many of the states have medical liability reform under way, and we're very supportive of those,' Eisenhauer said. 'We just need federal (support).'

Charlotte Business Journal, April 23, 2004
"BlackBerrys in season among mobile workers"

To enhance productivity and accessibility, many companies provide their employees with BlackBerrys, the wireless handheld devices that integrate e-mail, organizer, phone and other functions.

Bank of America Corp. executive Jenkins Ravenel, a senior vice president responsible for mobile and access technologies, told a local gathering in March that about 6,000 bank employees have company-issued BlackBerrys, with 100 to 200 additional users added monthly.

The bank is not alone. Jefferson Pilot Financial has more than 300 employees using BlackBerrys at their home offices and in the field.

In February, the BlackBerry's maker, Research In Motion Ltd., passed the 1 million mark for subscribers. More than 17,000 companies and government organizations use the device.

In its fiscal year 2004, which ended Feb. 28, Ontario-based Research In Motion reported $594.6 million in revenue, up from $306.7 million the year before.

BlackBerrys have become popular in part because they allow real-time access to e-mail. Rather than plugging a laptop into a phone jack or asking a personal digital assistant to "pull" e-mail, BlackBerrys are always on and use "push" technology that delivers e-mail to the devices as soon as it is sent.

E-mail advantage
Ease of access to e-mail was a key selling point for Winn Maddrey, president of Charlotte-based consulting firm Blue Nine Partners. He started using one in March, after leaving town one weekend in February and returning to about 150 e-mails.

"I can't be that inaccessible for that long," Maddrey says. He travels to enough places where it's difficult to get Internet access with his laptop that he opted for a Blackberry.

The ability to send e-mail from any location is a great convenience, he says, as is being able to see who's trying to reach you.

"I think for people who travel or need to be in constant contact, it's priceless," he says.

UNC Charlotte, FIVE VENTURES™ 2004
"Blue Nine Partners will provide consultation to winner (to be announced 4/7/2004)"

The UNIVERSITY OF NORTH CAROLINA AT CHARLOTTE is proud to present FIVE VENTURES™ 2004, an annual university/community entrepreneurship event. FIVE VENTURES™ 2004 focuses on what it takes to create and grow a successful business today. While many start-ups focus purely on funding, truly successful businesses leverage the strengths, talents and resources of an entire community. We cordially invite you to this year's exciting event on April 7, 2004.

Come listen to five finalists (i.e. "Five Ventures™") from our business plan competition as they share their vision for the next multi-billion dollar business, and then compete against one another in an interactive business skills competition that evaluates their knowledge in a variety of business topics ranging from developing and launching products, developing strategic partnerships, venture capital financing, sales and marketing, to legal and accounting. The top-performing company will take home a check for $5,000, and all finalists will receive post-event education, mentoring and real services from our SERVICE PROVIDER partners.

HOSTED BY: UNC Charlotte’s; Office of Technology Transfer, College of Information Technology and Belk College of Business • The Small Business Technology Development Center (SBTDC), and the • Business Innovation & Growth Council (BIG)

Click Here to register for FIVE VENTURES™ 2004.

Charlotte Observer, Doug Smith Column, January 28, 2004
"Maddrey's Firm Relocates"

Blue Nine Partners Inc., which advises companies on management and communications, moved to a 1,500-square-foot renovated house at 1324 Berkeley Avenue, off Morehead Street. Chris Keber of Trinity Partners assisted Blue Nine, formed last year by Winn Maddrey.

LocalTechWire.com, Charlotte Beat, January 21, 2004
"Maddrey's New Firm"

Winn Maddrey, who founded Charlotte-based Crescent PR, which was sold to Capital Strategies in 2001, started a new firm - Blue Nine Partners.

Maddrey opened the doors of Blue Nine Partners in August and serves as a communications and operational management consultant to companies with under $50 million in annual revenue.

"I left Capital Strategies because I like working with a different sized client than they were moving toward," Maddrey says.

Maddrey's current clients include Thor Industrial Services, Lancaster, SC; SDN Global, Charlotte; and Charlotte Camera, among others.

"I offer objective operational management advice to companies that need an outsider to analyze a situation who won't worry about sacred cows," he explains. "Many of the companies of the size I work with don't have certain skills in house."

He's working with one company in which one partner is buying out the others on how to maintain clients. Another rolled up nine other companies and he's helping it align its strategies among them.

Maddrey has one part time employee and hires outside help as necessary.

Charlotte Business Journal, Dec. 26, 2003
“Advertising market facing prospects for better times”

“Winn Maddrey, who launched Blue Nine Partners in August, says more than general economic fortunes will set the course for advertising in 2004.

For example, low interest rates spurred a wave of ad campaigns from home builders, lenders, real estate agents and mortgage companies. Maddrey says that activity can’t be sustained, based upon current trends. ‘Someone’s got to take that space. The question is, who’s going to?’”

“Winn Maddrey, who in May left the Charlotte public relations firm he founded, has started a new venture. Last month he began handing out business cards for Blue Nine Partners, a one-man firm that mixes consulting and communications services.

“Maddrey, whose Crescent PR later merged with Capital Strategies, plans to use the skills he used to help create the former Charlotte Convergence technology networking group. He will connect clients with attorneys, accountants and others he knows in the city, as well as provide marketing and management advice.

“ ‘What I really enjoy is working with companies that are zero to $25 million in size,’ he said. ‘You can get in there with the management team and work with them.’”

“The most important thing an entrepreneur can get from a service provider? ‘Unvarnished information,’ says Winn Maddrey, president of Blue Nine Partners, a company that analyzes operations and advises entrepreneurs. Maddrey, too, knows what it’s like to sit on both sides of the table. His company is a new entrepreneurial venture that deals with the management issues entrepreneurial companies face.

“ ‘The people I am trying to talk to are the people who are saying we’re not running on all cylinders, who want to know how to get their business to run better,’ Maddrey says. If consultants can offer straightforward, honest assessments, the short-term price will be well worth the long-term effect.”

“After a short hiatus, Charlotte public relations veteran Winn Maddrey is back in the game with his new business, Blue Nine Partners. It seems that Maddrey just can’t resist the pull of his entrepreneurial spirit.

“In 1997, he founded Crescent Public Relations, Inc., which was acquired in 2001 by Capital Strategies. Maddrey stayed on as a managing partner until May. Now he’s started his new company.

“With Blue Nine, Maddrey hopes to focus on the innovation and execution of clients’ businesses in addition to marketing, public relations and communications. The ‘partners’ come into play with a team of experts he is building in fields such as law and finance. These partners are not going to be paid staff members but will be brought in on a case-by-case basis.

“ ‘It’s a small world with everyone working with everyone else,’ he says. ‘We can serve our clients better by working together.’

“Working out of his house for now, Maddrey hopes to be in an office by the end of the year. ‘I want to work with companies worth $50 million or under,’ he says. ‘That’s where owners and founders are still involved in the decision making.’”

Charlotte Observer, Aug. 14, 2003
“Pillowtex fall puts focus on China”

“Radical change is unlikely, said Winn Maddrey, a Charlotte management consultant who helped negotiate textile trade agreements for the Commerce Department in the early 1990s.

“ ‘A lot of what’s been done in the last 10 or 15 years prevents the Bush Administration from really having an impact,’ he said. ‘Their hands are tied.’”