Greg Lawless has been named the first executive director of Dane Buy Local, a network of locally owned, independent businesses that has grown to nearly 450 members.

Lawless assumed the position as of August 2, 2010, and will establish relationships with individuals and organizations throughout Dane County to further the Buy Local message.

Lawless brings nearly 18 years of experience in locally focused economic development to his position at Dane Buy Local. In work for the UW Center for Cooperatives he helped foster co-op development in agricultural niche markets. He served as Co-Leader of UW-Extension’s Emerging Agricultural Markets (EAM) Team and Co-Director of the Agricultural Innovation Center, a joint project of UW-Extension and the Wisconsin Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection. In 2008, Thrive, an economic development organization serving South Central Wisconsin, contracted with UW-Extension to enlist Greg as their Director of Agriculture Initiatives, where he developed and launched a “buy local” pilot project in area supermarkets and a regional network of food business incubators. Greg Lawless earned a BA in Political Science at the University of Illinois in 1989 and an MS in Land Resources at University of Wisconsin-Madison in 1994. He will continue part-time at UW-Extension. Contact Greg at (608) 345-2086 or This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .

Dane Buy Local is an alliance of locally owned, independent businesses, organizations, and individual citizens committed to keeping our communities prosperous and sustainable. The group encourages consumers to Think Local First because a dollar spent at a locally owned business circulates within a community three times or more. For every $100 spent in independently owned stores, $68 returns to the community through wages, local taxes, local supplies, community donations and local business services. Dane Buy Local is now the seventh largest group in the national Business Alliance of Local Living Economies (BALLE), and is a project of Wisconsin Partners for SustainAbility.