May 15, 2010

The May Report: 5/15/2010: Special Bulletin: One big fish down, one or more to
go: I have been hearing rumors for a few months now that there was trouble in
Weinstein city, but Crain’s has now confirmed it: David Weinstein and Jason
Felger are gone, leaving more questions than answers….

Editor and publisher: ron@themayreport.com, ronaldmay@aol.com,
www.themayreport.com , 773-525-3944.

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

The Scoop section:

— Briefly noted, by Ron May
— Crain’s article on Weinstein’s and Felger’s sudden departure
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The Scoop section:
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Briefly noted, by Ron May

* Fourteen months after David Weinstein had three security guards keep me from
entering the building at the Four Seasons Hotel, one of us is still standing
and one of us is not. Ain’t life grand?

* Crain’s got the story, but TMR has been getting the tip:

++++++++++++++++++++++
From The May Report, 5/7/2010

My sources are also telling me that Herr Weinstein should be examined in the
same way that we have looked at the ITA and the ITDA. Funding, what they do
with the money, etc.?
+++++++++++++++++++++++

And earlier, about a month and a half earlier, I found out that Weinstein was
missing meetings but I knew no more than that.

This Crain’s story really does not tell us what was going on, but no doubt
about it, they did get the story that Weinstein and Felger are leaving.

We will get to the bottom of it — you can count on that. The pitbull is now on
the pot roast. And what about Jason Felger? And what about the status of the
i2A fund? Both David and Jason were GPs in that fund.

I would make one major correction to the article. Crain’s conveniently and
completely leaves out the never executed $24MM TIF that Weinstein engineered
for Bob Bernard and marchFIRST and the CEO position he subsequently (or maybe
at the same time) engineered for himself at a firm with $30MM in VC funding
called BlueMeteor, mostly coming from Bill Lederer, the primary investor, and
it also leaves out the $8MM TIF (to my knowledge never paid back to the City)
that David engineered for Steve Levin of Brijus Properties at the 247 Hub. But
what are facts for, if not to be forgotten?

It has been about eight or seven years since Weienstein took the helm at the
CEC. In 1999, he was the Mayor’s Advisor on Technology. In 2000, he was CEO of
BlueMeteor; and after that blew up he had set up offices at Divine as a
consultant and as I have heard it, but I have no proof at this time, selling in
a bundled way, access to the Mayor for $10,000 per client. Again, I have no
proof of that, but have been aware of it for about ten months now. Then he went
to the CEC and got rid of a potential rival, Molly Cole. This was in the
2002-2003 time frame. That is seven to eight years, not a decade.

I started checking the TMR archives, but to heck with it. There will be time
for that.
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Crain’s article on Weinstein’s and Felger’s sudden departure

www.chicagobusiness.com/cgi-bin/news.pl?id=38242

Chicagoland Entrepreneurial Center chief Weinstein is leaving
By: Lorene Yue May 14, 2010
(Crain’s) – David Weinstein, who has been president of the Chicagoland
Entrepreneurial Center for nearly a decade, said Friday he is stepping down for
personal reasons.

Mr. Weinstein’s departure was one of two management changes announced by the
Chicagoland Entrepreneurial Center, which was created in 1999 by the
Chicagoland Chamber of Commerce to help local businesses get off the ground.

The center also said that Jason Felger is departing the organization as its
executive vice-president to take a strategy and business development job with
Redbox Automated Retail LLC in Oakbrook Terrace. John Roberson, president of
consulting firm Target Group Inc., will replace Mr. Felger.

No replacement has been named for Mr. Weinstein, though a special committee has
been formed to search for a new president.

Chicagoland Chamber of Commerce President Gerald J. Roper praised Mr.
Weinstein’s work in a statement and wished him well on his next business
opportunity.

Before Mr. Weinstein joined the Chicagoland Entrepreneurial Center, he was
president of his own consulting firm, David Weinstein & Associates LLC. He was
also Mayor Richard M. Daley’s technology advisor from 1998 to 2000.
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END OF REPORT