Preparing Women for a Digital Future: Meet Michelle Schuler

Jim Golembeski, board member

I met Michelle Schuler in 2014 when we were organizing what is now the NEW North Digital Alliance. Michelle had taken six years off from her business career to raise her children, and she was ready to reenter the workforce.

As she went through the networking process, Michelle discovered two important realities:
1. Everything was going digital, and
2. There were a lot of high level, professional women who did not know each other.

In addition, only 24% of computer related jobs were held by women. Furthermore, women comprised only 5% of the leadership positions in that growing field. Those facts led to the formation of Women in Technology Wisconsin. Click Women for a Digital Future.

Green Bay’s Link to China’s Balloon

Phil Hauck, Envision Board member and Economic Transformation/Artificial Intelligence Signals Team

We all know where the infamous Chinese spy balloon ended up – in the Atlantic, off the coast of South Carolina. And now we all know it came from China, as suspected. But who actually tracked that balloon back to its origins and proved it had been launched in China? A little Wisconsin company being nurtured right here in Green Bay, at Titletown Tech, the innovative partnership between the Green Bay Packers and Microsoft.

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When Trend-Watching Pays Off:  meet Ann Franz

Jim Golembeski, Envision Board Member

It was 2006 when Paul Rauscher met Ann Franz. Ann had recently started as Business Liaison for Bay Area Workforce Development Board (WDB), and  Paul owned EMT International, a manufacturer of large, high-speed printers in Green Bay. Watching trends in manufacturing, Paul had observed:

  • An aging manufacturing workforce in one of the most heavily concentrated manufacturing regions in the country
  • A public image of manufacturing as dirty, dumb, dead-end, and headed for China
  • A K-12 and university education system that actively promoted four-year university degrees and discouraged training in the skilled trades
  • An economic opportunity to build on regional strength and experience
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