milwaukee
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Sequoya Borgman and the deal that got away
He left an accounting partnership with an acquisition lined up. Then the seller changed his mind. Nine years into Borgman Capital, Sequoya Borgman still spends much of his time on the part of a business that never fits neatly into a spreadsheet: its people.
Aleks Ivanovic and the business of getting to yes
From supercomputer quotations to neighborhood restaurants, Aleks Ivanovic has built software around the awkward steps that stand between a customer and a sale. His path runs from Sarajevo to Milwaukee, through Webcom and on to SpotHopper.
George Dalton and the business of sharing the bill
Before co-founding Fiserv, George Dalton saw that banks could share the cost of computing. He spent the next chapter of his career building a national business, then found retirement much too quiet.
Kevin Newell and the school that became a second chance
He went to class at Phillis Wheatley. Years later, he returned as its developer. For Royal Capital founder Kevin Newell, the route from a childhood address to a real estate deal runs through the people who made room for him.
Brian Kobylinski and the business of getting better
From 23 years at Actuant to a restructuring at Jason Industries, Brian “Koby” Kobylinski has spent his career reshaping industrial businesses. At Riverbend, he is putting that experience to work under an ownership model with time to spare.
James Madlom and the case for making room
A duplex, a growing communications firm, and a family formed through adoption: James Madlom’s Milwaukee story keeps returning to a practical question. Who gets a place here?
Don Polite Keeps Moving the Ball
From a Big Ten court to Disney, Warner Bros., Johnson Controls and SKYGEN, Donald Polite has built a career on a deceptively simple idea: good marketing begins when the organization learns to listen.
Taylor Pawelka Packed a Decade of Marketing Into ProShip - Then Chose the Unmarked Box
For ten years, Taylor Pawelka made parcel software sound like a conversation worth joining. Now, after building a team, an industry voice and a fondness for putting shipping strategies on the roast, she has left ProShip with her next label deliberately unwritten.
Ruth Harper
Ruth Harper began by teaching people how to read maps. Now she helps a global workforce company navigate the two forces redrawing work itself: artificial intelligence and the green transition.
Tom Dean
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
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.