Join us for our annual holiday luncheon as we debut the new Rotary choir, the Reveling Rotarians, as they perform some of your favorite holiday songs. Performers include President Ed Krishok, Beth Heller of the Urban Ecology Center, Dr. Christine Pharr of Mount Mary University, Jodi Ristau of Baird, Patrick Fennelly of Morgan Stanley, Bill Robison of Engberg Anderson Architects, David Froiland of Ogletree Deakins, and Amanda Robison of Swedish News/ Nordstjernan.  Special thanks to Barbara Velez of Velez & Associates for organizing the choir.  In honor of the occasion, we will have an open bar starting at 11:30 am.

We are honored to welcome Rotary International (RI) President Barry Rassin of the Rotary Club of East New Providence, Bahamas. In his role as RI President, Barry oversees the 35,000 Rotary Clubs in over 200 countries around the world. As a Rotarian since 1980, Barry has served Rotary as director and as vice chair of The Rotary Foundation Board of Trustees. He also received Rotary's highest honor, the Service Above Self Award, as well as other humanitarian awards for his work leading Rotary’s relief efforts in Haiti after the 2010 earthquake there.  Barry has a MBA in health and hospital administration from the University of Florida and was the first fellow of the American College of Healthcare Executives in the Bahamas. He recently retired after 37 years as president of Doctors Hospital Health System, where he continues to serve as a Director.

Hershel “Woody” Williams, the last surviving Medal of Honor recipient from the battle of Iwo Jima in WWII, and co-founder of the Hershel “Woody” Williams Medal of Honor Foundation ("HWWMOHF"), will address our Club. He enlisted in the United States Marine Corps and served in the Battle of Iwo Jima with the 21st Marines, 3rd Marine Division. During the battle, Mr. Williams displayed “valiant devotion to duty” and service above self as he “enabled his company to reach its objective”. Mr. Williams’ actions, commitment to his fellow service members, and heroism were recognized on October 5, 1945, when he received the Congressional Medal of Honor from President Truman at the White House. A Rotarian himself, Williams welcomes the opportunity to share his life experiences with those in Milwaukee who share his passion for service. 

This program featured David Haynes, Erin Richards, and Angela Peterson of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. They discussed their latest project: a series of stories examining rampant student turnover in Milwaukee and at schools nationwide, and how churn is an under-discussed factor tied to lower test scores, fractured social ties, increased discipline issues and in general, a disrupted learning pipeline for many kids.

Austin Ramirez is the second-generation President and CEO of Husco International, a global engineering and manufacturing company. During his tenure as CEO, the company has grown more than 300% and been recognized as Wisconsin Manufacturer of the Year. Austin recently said that the proposed tariff increases would immediately put Husco and other American manufacturers at a disadvantage to competitors abroad. How have the tariffs impacted Husco’s business? How is Husco dealing with the increasing uncertainly of international trade markets? Join us to hear Austin Ramirez share more details.

Today we partnered with the Milwaukee Press Club for a joint program featuring the candidates in the Wisconsin Attorney General race. Josh Kaul, a Madison attorney, is challenging incumbent Attorney General Brad Schimel. Steve Walters of WisconsinEye moderated the discussion.

We will partner with the Milwaukee Press Club to present a joint program featuring U.S. Senate Candidate Leah Vukmir. Vukmir will share her vision on how to bring the Wisconsin Way to Washington.

Professor Bobbi Wolfe will discuss what we are learning regarding how poverty influences a child’s brain, the tools used and the potential for informing policy.  She will discuss her own research and the emerging research in neuroscience and poverty more broadly.  The goal of this research is to inform public policy to improve opportunities for children in low-income families. With funding from the Herb Kohl Public Service Research Competition, Wolfe and colleague, Professor Seth Pollak, brought 15 national leaders in neuroscience, poverty, and public policy to Milwaukee in September 2017. Bobbi Wolfe is the Richard A. Easterlin Professor of Economics, Population Health Sciences, and Public Affairs at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. She is also an affiliate of UW-Madison's Institute for Research on Poverty.

Join us for a joint program with the Milwaukee Press Club to hear Governor Scott Walker. Walker, who is seeking re-election for a third term on November 6th, will share his vision on how Wisconsin is working and will outline his agenda for the future so that Wisconsin keeps moving forward.The Rotary office is also working on scheduling Tony Evers to speak at an upcoming luncheon, so please stay tuned for more details.

The Navy The Nation Needs — Rear Admiral Gabrielson will give an overview of how our Navy is organized and operates, and touch on various ways the Navy’s mission impacts the lives of all Americans, especially those away from fleet concentration areas. “The Navy The Nation Needs” gives some history of the Navy, operational updates from across the fleet, as well has how the Navy is working to address future challenges. The presentation provides civic leaders with insights on the Navy’s importance to cities such as Milwaukee, and provides a chance to interact with a service branch that doesn’t have a significant footprint in Milwaukee.  Rear Admiral Gabrielson was the Commanding Officer when the USS Freedom was commissioned in Milwaukee.

The contest to land the 2020 Democratic National Convention is down to the final three cities – Miami, Houston and Milwaukee. Alex Lasry, Senior Vice President of the Milwaukee Bucks, along with the City of Milwaukee has been spearheading the effort to bring the DNC Convention to Milwaukee for the last year. The DNC Convention is widely considered one of the largest events any American city can host every four years. Alex will give an update on what landing the DNC Convention will mean for Milwaukee and how the entire community will need to be involved in the bid during the coming months.

We will partner with the Milwaukee Press Club to host Milwaukee Brewers executives Rick Schlesinger, chief operating officer and David Stearns, general manager. The program will feature an on-the-record discussion between Schlesinger and Stearns and a panel of journalists, followed by Q&A with the audience.

Amelia Kegel, co-owner of Wheel & Sprocket and daughter of founder Chris Kegel–a legend in the biking industry– will discuss How Bikes Build Milwaukee and Wisconsin Communities. Founded in 1973 in Hales Corners, Wisconsin, Wheel & Sprocket began as a small, local bike shop with big dreams. After 44 years of growing Wheel & Sprocket has become one of the most successful bike shops in the country. Chris Kegel passed away, but left behind quite a legacy. Today, the Wheel & Sprocket brand has extended its reach to four stores in the Metro-Milwaukee area, two in the Fox Valley, and two in the Chicago, IL. suburbs of Evanston and Oak Park.

Celebrate the end of JoAnne Anton's term as RCM President at our 2018 Changing of the Guard program. We will also welcome Ed Krishok as our 2018-19 President. 

On April 5, 2018 Alfonso Morales was named Chief of Police until January 2020. Chief Morales holds a Bachelor’s degree in Criminal Justice from Carroll University in Waukesha, has taken masters level classes at the FBI National Academy in Quantico, Virginia, and is a graduate of the Senior Management Institute for Police (SMIP). He will join us to share his vision for policing in Milwaukee.

In partnership with the Milwaukee Jewish Federation, the Rotary Club of Milwaukee is honored to have welcomed the Israeli Ambassador to the United States, Ron Dermer, who discussed Israeli and United States relations. 

The Rotary Club of Milwaukee proudly awarded PDG Rick Luedke with our Lifetime Achievement Award yesterday. This award has only been given out twice in our 105 year history to Harry Franke and Bill Randall.

Rick's passion, leadership, and dedication throughout his nearly 50 year history with our Club are exemplary. As a President and Rotary District 6270 Governor, he was an instrumental player in many community and international projects. Rick helped shape the future of Rotary, Milwaukee and communities around the globe.

Congratulations, Rick! We thank you for a lifetime of Service Above Self.

The Rotary Person of the Year Award recognizes individuals, executives and entrepreneurs who, through their profession, are making the Milwaukee community a better place to live and work. In recognition of his remarkable career at one of the region’s largest and most innovative companies, the Rotary Club of Milwaukee has selected Michael Barber, the President and CEO of GE Healthcare’s Molecular Imaging and Computed Tomography (MICT) as the Rotary Person of the Year. 

Click here to learn more about Michael Barber and the award.

The Rotary Person of the Year Award recognizes individuals, executives and entrepreneurs who, through their profession, are making the Milwaukee community a better place to live and work. In recognition of his remarkable career at one of the region’s largest and most innovative companies, the Rotary Club of Milwaukee has selected Michael Barber, the President and CEO of GE Healthcare’s Molecular Imaging and Computed Tomography (MICT) as the Rotary Person of the Year. 

Click here to learn more about Michael Barber and the award.

Join us for our annual Armed Forces Day Celebration featuring Dr. Daniel Zomchek,CEO/Medical Center Director of the Zablocki VA Medical Center system which actively serves 64,000 Veterans throughout eastern Wisconsin. Dr. Zomchek will speak about how access to high quality care, financial stewardship, and community engagement have been his key priorities for the health care system. He will also provide updates about construction projects that are improving the patient experience and advancing medical care for our Veterans. In addition, he will cover how the campus’ rich history is being preserved and celebrated. Finally, he will discuss his vision for the future of the Zablocki VA Medical Center system.

The Medical College of Wisconsin (MCW) celebrates 125 years as a cornerstone institution, innovation leader, and provider of the next generation of physicians for Wisconsin. However, this community asset was nearly lost fifty years ago when funding was challenged. Hear how Milwaukee’s leaders of the 1960-70s mobilized to build an academic medical center in our community with value that extends beyond healthcare to economic impact and vitality. Rob Henken, President, Wisconsin Policy Forum, will deliver a 50-year checkup on MCW, followed by Dr. John Raymond, MCW President/CEO, to discuss the vision and impact of academic medicine in our region.

With residents and partners, LISC Milwaukee forges resilient and inclusive communities of opportunity across America – great places to live, work, visit, do business and raise families.

One sector we focus on in Milwaukee is commercial revitalization. Among the strategies we utilize to that are: launching a new real estate grant fund called the Dr. Mark Eppli Catalytic Venture Fund. It is available solely to alumni of Marquette University’s Associates in Commercial Real Estate program, which is an educational program for minorities that want to pursue careers in the commercial real estate industry. The fund was named in honor of Eppli, who started the ACRE program.

Creating Pop-Up MKE, a public and private partnership focused on economic development and entrepreneurship, is actively seeking business owners looking to start or expand their business in one of three vital commercial corridors. The pop up spaces are a great opportunity for entrepreneurs to test their products, and begin to generate buzz for their business in a low risk, supportive environment.

In 2017 Wisconsin’s workforce and business climate went toe to toe with other states to compete for 13,000 new jobs and $10 billion of capital investment from Foxconn’s new state-of-the-art display manufacturing campus. Wisconsin won. Governor Walker’s former Department of Administration (DOA) Secretary Scott Neitzel served as a senior member on the recruitment team for Foxconn and will share insights of the negotiations and how the project will positively impact Wisconsin for generations.

Scott Neitzel served as DOA Secretary from March 2015 – March 2018. In addition to working with Foxconn, during his tenure he worked on two state budgets and served as Chair of the Wisconsin Center District overseeing lease negotiations for the new Bucks arena. Scott was previously a Senior Vice President at Madison Gas and Electric Co. and a Commissioner at the Wisconsin Public Service Commission.

Why do some people make it big while others, equally experienced, talented, and credentialed, fall by the wayside? One study shows that half to two-thirds of all managers will be fired, demoted, or plateau at some point in their careers. Further, the cost of those derailments to companies can be more than twenty times that of the employee’s salary. Carter Cast’s book, The Right (and Wrong) Stuff: How Brilliant Careers are Made and Unmade looks into the rules and rituals of business life and what high performers do differently than the rest.

Carter is also a professor of innovation and entrepreneurship at the Kellogg School of Management, where he’s received the Faculty Impact Award from 2012-17 by his students. When not teaching, he is a venture partner at Pritzker Group Venture Capital, which invests in early stage technology companies.

This was joint program with the Kellogg Alumni Club of Wisconsin.

Join us to hear the highly acclaimed journalist Sam Quinones, author of Dreamland: The True Tale of America’s Opiate Epidemic. In his book Quinones weaves together two classic tales of capitalism run amok whose unintentional collision has been catastrophic. The unfettered prescribing of pain medications during the 1990s reached its peak in Purdue Pharma’s campaign to market OxyContin, its new, expensive—and extremely addictive—miracle painkiller. Meanwhile a massive influx of black tar heroin—cheap, potent, and originating from one small county on Mexico’s west coast, independent of any drug cartel—assaulted small towns and midsized cities across the country, driven by a brilliant, almost unbeatable marketing and distribution system. Together these phenomena continue to lay waste to communities from Tennessee to Oregon, Indiana to New Mexico. Dreamland is a revelatory account of the corrosive threat facing America and its heartland.

This program is brought to Rotary by the generosity of the Zilber Family Foundation.

Wisconsin is known for its culture of prudence and risk aversion. So, it is not surprising that I hear people say, ‘I think Bitcoin and cyrptocurrencies are a fraud.’ But when pushed, they can’t explain blockchain technology or bitcoin. It might be a cop-out to cry foul because blockchain and bitcoin are potentially one of world’s biggest collaborative math projects that could transform the global economy in a manner similar to the impact of the Internet. Cryptocurrencies and blockchain can fundamentally rewrite many business models, especially in banking and financial services – which is why we all need to understand this new, emerging technology. Professor David Krause of Marquette University will provide more insight.