Spring 2009 Dinners On Wisconsin!: Topics, Hosts & Schedule

Host: Jessica Acker
Monday, March 30
6:30 p.m.

A recent graduate of the UW, Jessica Acker has hardly sat still since she entered the workforce. At her dinner Jessica would like to share her stories and opportunities with undergraduates on how to make money with a conservation degree, how to use foreign language skills and travel the world!

Host: Mike Bormett
Monday, March 30
6:30 p.m.

Mike is the Budget and Policy Director for the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction (DPI), a position he has held since November 2001. The DPI, under the leadership of the elected state superintendent, advances, oversees and helps fund public K-12 education and public libraries in Wisconsin. This year, the DPI's budget totals $6.4 billion, the largest of any agency in state government. About 98% of all funds are distributed to state school districts and libraries.

Mike supervises the Policy and Budget Team at DPI. The team performs budget, fiscal and policy analysis as well as budget, legislative, and federal-state planning functions. The team also develops the agency's biennial budget request to the Governor; coordinates agency policy development; analyzes and monitors key state and federal legislation affecting schools, libraries, and the department; and provides assistance in management planning.

He has worked for the state since 1990, almost exclusively in budget and policy offices in three large state agencies. He graduated from the University of Wisconsin-Madison in 1987 with dual Bachelor's degrees in Economics and Political Science. He has started a Master of Administration – Public Management degree. He’s married to another UW-Madison grad who is a math teacher in Verona.

Register for this dinner by emailing dinners@uwalumni.com. Please include your name, the title of the dinner, your email address and phone number.

Host: George Dreckmann
Monday, March 30
6:30 p.m.

George Dreckmann is the Recycling Coordinator for the City of Madison, Wisconsin, a position held since 1989. He oversees a program that serves over 65,000 households and diverts over 57% of its waste from the landfill. In addition, George is responsible for all of the public education efforts of the Streets Division, including winter parking, street repair and maintenance, and solid waste services. His current projects include serving on the city's Climate Change Task Force, leading the time that is implementing a zero waste city policy, and teaching recycling and waste reduction to high school and college classes. George is currently the Chairman of the Board of Directors of the National Recycling Coalition and has served on the Board since 2001. In 2004 the Associated Recyclers of Wisconsin (AROW) named him Wisconsin Recycle of the Year.

Register for this dinner by emailing dinners@uwalumni.com. Please include your name, the title of the dinner, your email address and phone number.

Hosts: Dawn and Dean Krahn
Monday, March 30
6:30 p.m.

Dawn Krahn received her degree in civil engineering, and currently works for the Department of Transportation, with a focus on highway planning and development.

Dean Krahn is a native of Sheboygan and went to undergrad and med school at UW-Madison. He did his residency at Milwaukee and University of Minnesota. He has been a psychiatrist and researcher at the University of Michigan, the University of Wisconsin, the University of North Dakota, and in VA system.

Hosts: Irene and John Olson
Monday, March 30
6:30 p.m.

Irene Olson worked for the National Parks Department before returning for a Masters in Urban Planning. She then returned to school for a nursing degree!

John Olson worked as a Consulting Engineer for 10 years before entering Medical School. He is currently employed as an Anesthesiologist.

Hosts: Nathan Henry and Rachel Henry Currans-Sheehan
Monday, March 30
7:30 p.m.

As member of The Mellman Group since 1999, Nathan Henry has acquired extensive experience conducting surveys, focus groups and ad testing for a wide variety of candidates and political organizations, including Democratic Presidential candidate John Kerry, the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, Senator Frank Lautenberg, Congressmen Jim Langevin and Ben Chandler, and Montana Governor Brian Schweitzer. Since 2005, Henry has been based in the Midwest, operating out of Chicago from 2005 to 2007 and Madison, Wisconsin since 2007. Henry spearheads the firm’s work and Wisconsin and the upper-Midwest. Prior to working at The Mellman Group, Henry served as Field Director on two Congressional campaigns in Wisconsin, and as a finance assistant on a U.S. Senate campaign in Delaware. He also served as a policy advisor and legislative aide to former Wisconsin State Representative Doris Hanson, working primarily on issues dealing with the state budget, tax policy and the state’s budget stabilization, or “rainy day” fund. Originally from Wilmington, Delaware, Henry graduated with distinction from the University of Wisconsin-Madison with a degree in Political Science (B.A. ’97), and studied at Eötvös Loránd University in Budapest, Hungary, where he researched post-communist social and economic transformations in former Soviet-bloc countries.

Rachel Currans-Sheehan works for the State of Wisconsin's Department of Health Services as Legislative Liaison for the Secretary. In this position, Currans-Sheehan serves as the Department’s lead for legislative initiatives and communicates the Department’s policy positions to the Legislature on behalf of the Secretary. Prior to this serving the State in this capacity, Currans-Sheehan served as the Section Chief for Managed Care Contract Compliance within the Department of Health Services leading a team of analysts whose responsibility was to ensure that HMOs in Wisconsin were fulfilling their obligation to serve over 450,000 Medicaid beneficiaries. Rachel has been part of the team to develop and implement significant health care reform policies such as the Governor's BadgerCare Plus and Childless Adults Health Care Expansion Programs. Prior to working in for the State of Wisconsin, Currans-Sheehan worked in U.S. Senate campaigns, and in politics and policy at both the state level and in Washington, D.C. Rachel received her Masters Degree in Public Policy Studies from the University of Chicago’s Harris School of Public Policy and her Bachelor's Degree in Political Science and History from the College of St. Catherine, in St. Paul, MN. Rachel resides in Madison, WI with her husband, Nathan Henry.

Hosts: Kennedy Gilchrist & Heidi Wilde
Monday, March 30
7:30 p.m.

Heidi Wilde came to this country as a Fulbright Scholar from Munich, Germany, and retired from the Department of Population Health Sciences in the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health in 2006. There she had been the Associate Director of the Administrative Medicine Program and Coordinator of the newly established Masters in Public Health Program. She has traveled extensively overseas and co-led trips for WAA and University Extension to Germany and Asia. She looks forward to hosting On Wisconsin dinners and meeting current students.

Kennedy Gilchrist is a Professor Emeritus in the Department of Pathology & Laboratory Medicine in the UW School of Medicine and Public Health. He was regularly involved in translational medical research projects with colleagues in Asia, Europe and the USA. Since his retirement in 2003, he has continued traveling overseas for pleasure and has increased his volunteer activities, including University-related ones, such as serving on the board of the Friends of the Lakeshore Nature Preserve.

Host: Cheryl Daniels
Monday, March 30
7:30 p.m.

Cheryl has worked in state government for 23 years as a lawyer and administrative law judge, mostly with the Wisconsin Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection. She has also worked in personnel areas and the legislative arena as the attorney for the Wisconsin Legislative Audit Bureau. Cheryl has work experience in elementary and secondary schools, as a longtime volunteer and as an expulsion hearing officer for the Madison Metropolitan School District. She has a keen interest in literacy, voting and civics as a volunteer for Altrusa International of Madison, League of Women Voters and Madison Civics Club. Cheryl and her family have hosted numerous international visitors to Madison, including more than seven exchange students!

Register for this dinner by emailing dinners@uwalumni.com. Please include your name, the title of the dinner, your email address and phone number.

Host: Alicia Cronk
Tuesday, March 31
5:30 p.m.

Alicia graduated from UW-Madison in 2003 with a Bachelor's degree in chemistry. Since then she has been employed at SAFC - Madison in the kilo labs, where they utilize organic chemistry to manufacture active pharmaceutical ingredients on a scale from a few grams up to a few kilograms. She is also involved in some of the safety programs including the emergency response team. At this dinner, you will meet at SAFC for an informal dinner of pizza and a tour of the facility, including kilo labs, process development and scale-up, pilot plant, quality control and analytical labs. Additional (UW Madison alumni) department representatives may be available to talk with, as well.

Register for this dinner by emailing dinners@uwalumni.com. Please include your name, the title of the dinner, your email address and phone number.

Host: Rebecca Verhulst
Tuesday, March 31
5:30 p.m.

Why do we come to work everyday? Come hang out with us, share dinner and chat with UW alums on Tuesday, March 31st to find out why we love our jobs! Each Covance employee contributes everyday to our company mission of helping to bring the miracles of medicine to market sooner - we are really making a big difference in people's lives. Covance is a global company with businesses in over 20 countries around the globe. We serve the following industries: biotech, environmental, food and dietary supplements, pharmacy, research and vaccines. Each year we hire many UW graduates with majors in animal science, biology, chemistry, biochemistry, food science and nursing to name a few. Covance is a fast-paced, team oriented and results driven company. Current employees are enjoying a relaxed, but professional work environment, numerous career growth opportunities and exceptional benefits. We would like the opportunity to share more about our business, our career opportunities and experience and have you visit our state of the art laboratory facility. See you at the '2009 Dinners on Wisconsin' event!

Host: Stephanie Kundert
Tuesday, March 31
6:30 p.m.

Throughout her undergraduate career, Stephanie was an intern for the Wisconsin Legislature and volunteered on a number of campaigns before she graduated in 2005 with BA in Political Science and International Studies. She then moved to Washington, DC where she worked as a Staff Assistant to Congressman Paul Ryan. From there, she went on to work as a Research Assistant at Public Opinion Strategies, a national political consulting firm that has conducted polling for Senator John McCain, former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney, House Minority Leader John Boehner, the Wall Street Journal, and NBC News. While in DC, she had the privilege of meeting the late Tim Russert and had lunch with Chuck Todd of NBC. Since returning to Madison a year ago, she has worked as a Legislative Assistant to Representative Karl Van Roy and Representative Samantha Kerkman in the State Assembly. She also took time off from the Capitol to work full-time as a campaign manager for Representative Van Roy, helping him win 54% of the vote in November's elections. Stephanie is planning to return to the classroom in the fall to pursue a Masters degree in Journalism.

Register for this dinner by emailing dinners@uwalumni.com. Please include your name, the title of the dinner, your email address and phone number.

Host: Debra Shapiro
Tuesday, March 31
6:30 p.m.

Debra has worked for the UW-Madison School of Library and Information Studies since 2000, where she coordinates and teaches courses for students earning a masters in Library and Information Studies. As a librarian, Debra is interested in issues around moving libraries to the Web, such as helping people utilize digitized library materials, and online social networking. She also has a long history of involvement with co-ops of various types, and is currently serving on the Board of the Willy Street Co-op.

Register for this dinner by emailing dinners@uwalumni.com. Please include your name, the title of the dinner, your email address and phone number.

Hosts: Steve Winistorfer and Jed Hanneman
Tuesday, March 31
6:30 p.m.

With more than 20 years of R&D, design, and marketing experience in the engineered wood products industry, Steve's involvement includes positions with the USDA Forest Products Laboratory, Trus Joist Corporation, Alpine Engineered Products, and Champion International. A Registered Professional Engineer in Wisconsin and Florida, he has authored or co-authored more than 25 papers on wood engineering, design, and management. Steve holds BS and MS degrees in Agricultural Engineering (wood engineering emphasis) and an MS in Business Operations Management, all from the University of Wisconsin–Madison.

In December 2006, Jed graduated from the University of Wisconsin-Madison with a B.A. degree in People-Environment Geography, which focuses on the interactions between humans and their use of the environment. More specifically, he studied the human use, perception, and modification of environments, which is precisely the focus of green building standards. Jed worked in construction during summer breaks in his hometown of Stratford, Wisconsin, and was a foreign exchange student while in high school, spending three months in Peru. Jed joined TECO as a Green Building Specialist in January 2009.

Steve is now Chairman/CEO/President of TECO, a small, privately-held firm that tests and certifies products for use in construction, and also other products like adhesives and wooden baseball bats (for Major League Baseball). TECO is based in Sun Prairie (WI); operates laboratories in Louisiana and Oregon; serves clients in more than a dozen countries; is accredited to certify and/or test products in the US, Canada, Japan, New Zealand and Australia; and has cooperating partners in Germany and Italy.

Hosts: Griffin Klema, Victoria Satton, Paul Pucci and Justin Anderson
Tuesday, March 31
6:30 p.m.

Come learn more about the Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation (WARF)! This dinner is hosted by WARF's staff ranging from Marketing Analysists to IP associates. The official mission of this private, non-profit organization is to support scientific research at the UW-Madison. WARF accomplishes this by patenting inventions arising from university research, licensing the technologies to companies for commercialization, and returning the licensing income to the UW-Madison to support further scientific endeavor. Since making its first grant of $1,200 in 1928, WARF has contributed more than $915 million dollars to the UW-Madison, including monies to fund research, build facilities, purchase lands and equipment, and support a bevy of faculty and graduate student fellowships each year.

Register for this dinner by emailing dinners@uwalumni.com. Please include your name, the title of the dinner, your email address and phone number.

Hosts: Bill and Deb Holden
Tuesday, March 31
6:30 p.m.

Bill is the retired Vice President of Engineering for Diageo. He has worked in project management and engineering with Miller Brewing, ConAgra and Pillsbury. Deb, also recently retired, is the former Director of Consumer Products Research for The Coca-Cola Co in Atlanta. She has also worked for numerous other companies in research, development, and consumer research including General Mills, Pillsbury, ConAgra and Procter & Gamble. We live out in the country and enjoying cooking – come hungry!

Register for this dinner by emailing dinners@uwalumni.com. Please include your name, the title of the dinner, your email address and phone number.

Hosts: Dan and Jamie Weissburg
Tuesday, March 31
6:30 p.m.

Jamie Weissburg is a 1988 graduate (Communication Arts). Her career is focused on the management of charitable organizations, with particular focus on fundraising and special events. She is Executive Director of the Western Wisconsin Chapter of the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation. A gourmet cook, Jamie lives in Madison with her husband Dan and their two children.

Dan Weissburg is a 1987 graduate (History and Political Science). He is a health care attorney and serves as Director of Compliance at University of Wisconsin Hospital and Clinics. Dan is a political junkie and little league baseball coach.

Host: Rebecca Smith
Tuesday March 31
6:30 p.m.

The Nature Conservancy (TNC) is largest conservation non-profit in the world. Rebecca Smith has worked 10 years at TNC in Wisconsin and is responsible for freshwater work focused on the Great Lakes and the Mississippi River, conservation science, land protection, government relations and land management. The Wisconsin TNC has protected over 140,000 acres of land and has projects in Baraboo, Mukwonago, Green Bay, Military Ridge and Minocqua.

Rebecca is engaged in conversations on how conservationists will integrate the needs of people into our actions, how climate change changes the dynamics of conservation priorities, sustainable harvests, and how to engage the public to consider the benefits of "ecosystem services" inherent in our natural systems.

Rebecca has an undergraduate degree in social work and graduate degree in social service administration. She has 15 years experience in social service non-profit management. She has served on local non-profit boards focused on domestic abuse and homelessness.

Register for this dinner by emailing dinners@uwalumni.com. Please include your name, the title of the dinner, your email address and phone number.

Host: Robert Gutsche Jr.
Tuesday, March 31
7:30 p.m.

Robert Gutsche Jr. has been a local and national journalist for 12 years. He has written for The Washington Post, The New York Times, the Chicago Tribune, Newsday and other local and regional newspapers and magazines. He has a journalism degree from UW-Madison, a master's in Student Personnel Administration from Concordia University Wisconsin and is currently a Ph.D. student at Marquette University, studying journalism education. Gutsche teaches journalism at UW-Richland and continues to write for newspapers and magazines. This session will allow students to talk about journalism careers, finding their passions in whatever they do in life and even debate social issues currently in the media – both in news journalism and public relations.

Hosts: Scott and Georgia Roeming
Tuesday, March 31
7:30 p.m.

Georgia Roeming is an Owner/Partner of The Geo Group Corporation headquartered in Madison, Wisconsin. She has a BA in Communications from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. She began a sales career in the broadcast and the corporate video production industries. During that time, she founded the Madison chapter of the International Television Association and in 1995, Georgia was the President of the Madison Advertising Federation receiving their highest honor, the Silver Medal Award in 2002.
The Geo Group Corporation is a full service foreign language translation agency. Georgia and her husband Scott manage forty employees in four Midwest offices and 600 language contractors worldwide. The Geo Group is a founding member of the Association of Language Companies (ALC) and in July of 2006 Georgia served as the association President. The Geo Group is has been in business for 18 years.

Hosts: Jon and Karen Staebell
Tuesday, March 31
7:30 p.m.

Jon has a BA from UW Madison in Computer Science and Mathematics and an MSE in Computer Science from the University of Pennsylvania. He has worked for AT&T Bell Laboratories and Charter Communications, and is currently an independent consultant for InSpeech LLC (www.inspeech.com). He consults with several technology companies, with an emphasis in computer speech technology and social media. Karen has a BA from UW Oshkosh, and is finishing an MBA with the University of Phoenix this semester. She is an IT Analyst with Alliant Energy. Their son is a junior at UW Milwaukee and their daughter is a sophomore at UW Madison.

Register for this dinner by emailing dinners@uwalumni.com. Please include your name, the title of the dinner, your email address and phone number.