Fiserv is a Milwaukee-based financial technology company that provides payment processing, core banking software, and merchant services to banks, credit unions, businesses, and consumers around the world. Formed in 1984 and transformed by its 2019 acquisition of First Data, it runs the Clover point-of-sale platform, the Carat enterprise commerce operating system, and account-processing systems that power a large share of everyday transactions - from a corner cafe swiping a card to a regional bank settling deposits overnight.
Tom Dean is the co-founder, President and CEO of Renaissant, a Milwaukee-based logistics technology company building a voice-enabled, agentic AI operating system for warehouse yards and loading docks. A former Ernst & Young auditor turned hedge fund trader and investment manager, Dean pivoted Renaissant from a building-security platform into freight tech, raised a $5 million Series A in 2024, and now runs software across roughly 130 sites that talks to truck drivers in their own language to speed check-ins, deter cargo theft, and cut idle time.
Charlie Sykes spent 23 years as one of Wisconsin's most influential conservative talk-radio voices, then walked away and turned his fire on his own movement. He co-founded The Bulwark, became a fixture of the Never Trump opposition, and now writes the Substack newsletter and hosts the podcast 'To the Contrary.' Author of nine books and an MSNBC contributor, he is a rare media figure who publicly reckoned with the part talk radio played in remaking the American right.