About
Vision
To achieve balanced representation of women on boards of directors to maximize the performance of Wisconsin businesses.
Mission
Milwaukee Women inc is an organization of professional women determined to change the face and quality of leadership in the Wisconsin business community by increasing the number of women corporate directors.
Over the past 17 years, our annual research has shown a steady, but slow, upward trend in women on Wisconsin boards and a decline in companies with no female board members.
For example, the percentage of women on the boards of the top 50 Wisconsin public companies has increased from 9.3% in 2003 to 21.2% in 2020.
2003
2020
In 2020, nine women were added to Wisconsin public company boards resulting in 21.1% representation, surpassing 20.8% last year and the largest percentage since we began measuring. While this is encouraging, there is still much work to do.
MWi strives to achieve our mission through three pillars:
Engagement
Research
Resources
Mary Ellen Stanek Award for Diversity in Corporate Governance
Each November the Greater Milwaukee Committee (GMC) and MWi solicit individuals to nominate a person or organization for the Mary Ellen Stanek Award for Diversity in Corporate Governance. Learn more about the current and past winners.
Women’s Leadership Collaborative (WLC)
On National Equal Pay Day, April 2, 2019 Milwaukee Women inc, TEMPO Milwaukee, and Professional Dimensions, announced the formation of the Women’s Leadership Collaborative. As a unified voice to advocate for issues related to equity for all professional women, the collaborative has identified pay equity as a top priority.
Board of Directors
Patricia Ackerman
Chair
SVP, Investor Relations, Corporate Responsibility & Sustainability and Treasurer, A.O. Smith Corporation
Kim Stoll
Vice Chair/Chair-Elect
Vice President Sales & Marketing,
Badger Meter, Inc.
Nicole Pienkos
Treasurer
Senior Vice President of Finance, Global Banking & Wealth Management
FIS
Sandra Cunningham
Secretary
Director
Versiti, Inc.
Lindsay Hammerer
Immediate Past Chair
Partner,
KPMG LLP
Lisa Cieslak
External Engagement Co-Chair
Chief Financial Officer, GMR Marketing
Kristin Dufek
Member Engagement Co-Chair
Vice President,
Eppstein Uhen Architects Inc.
Peggy Williams-Smith
Chair, Research Committee
President & CEO, VISIT Milwaukee
Karen Hung
Member Engagement Co-Chair
CEO and Founder, Silver Rock Consulting
Marilyn Vollrath
Chair, Communications & Marketing
Senior Consultant,
Reputation Partners
Mara Swan
External Engagement Co-Chair
Board member and EVP, Global Strategy and Talent, ManpowerGroup, retired
Lisa Pendergast
Member-at-Large
Vice President & Treasurer, MGIC
History
In 2002, a group of Milwaukee women leaders got together to discuss how to promote research and education concerning the value of diversity in corporate governance and management, and eliminating barriers to full inclusion of women in leadership positions. The group published its first research report in 2003. In 2010, Milwaukee Women inc (the “inc” stands for inclusive) was incorporated and was granted a 501(c)(3) exemption from the IRS. Since then, MWi has evolved to include more than 85 steering committee members and over 30 sponsoring organizations that support our goals, both financially and through their active participation.
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