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 15 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 18.9% in 2018.
2003
2018
In 2018, 12 of the top 50 Wisconsin public companies had three or more women directors on their boards, an increase of 33% from 2017. While this is encouraging, there is still much work to do.
MWi strives to achieve our mission through:
Research
Education
Resources
Programming
Board of Directors
Lindsay Hammerer
Chair
Partner,
KPMG LLP
Patricia Ackerman
Vice Chair/Chair-Elect
Vice President, Investor Relations & Treasurer, A.O. Smith Corp.
Gail L. Hanson
Treasurer
Chief Financial Officer,
Advocate Aurora Health, retired
Mary Dowell
Secretary
Principal Consultant,
MJ Dowell & Associates, LLC
Sandy Wysocki
Immediate Past Chair
VP, Business Development,
Mueller QAAS
Lori Craig
Chair, Fund Development
Senior Vice President,
PNC Wealth Management
Kristin Dufek
Chair, Programs
Vice President,
Eppstein Uhen Architects Inc.
Kira Lafond
Chair, Corporate Outreach
Market President & Publisher,
Milwaukee Business Journal
Janet Slater
Chair, Research Committee
Founder & CEO,
Greenleaf Partners
Kim Stoll
Chair, Governance & Membership
Vice President Sales & Marketing,
Badger Meter, Inc.
Marilyn Vollrath
Chair, Communications & Marketing
Senior Consultant,
Reputation Partners
Ellen Bartel
Member-at-Large
President, Divine Savior
Holy Angels High School,
retired
Susan Martin
Member-at-Large
Executive Vice President – General Counsel and Corporate Secretary, WEC Energy Group, retired
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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