This is the fourth of a five-part series. Part One is here , Part Two is here and Part Three is here. Members of The Fam got this list last night — you can join now at Madison365.org/TheFam!
Janette M. Braverman is Executive Director of External Partnerships at Cardinal Stritch University and the first Black County Board Supervisor for Ozaukee County. She is a Forbes business coach and contributor and the author of “10 Reasons Communication Brings Transformation: Unleash Your Greatness.” She has also published several articles. Braverman’s professional experience includes positions in government, academia and more than 20 years in information technology. She has pivoted seamlessly across industries. Most recently, she served as the dean for the College of Business and Management for Cardinal Stritch University. She was awarded the 2019 NAACP Game Changer Award and the 2018 Milwaukee Business Journal Woman of Influence award for being an inspirational community leader. She is the owner of Leaders Leaving Legacies, LLC.
Letesha Nelson is executive director of Goodman Community Center in Madison, a role she took on at the beginning of 2021. Nelson came to GCC with more than 16 years of experience in nonprofit management, as well as a healthy dose of love for the community. Nelson most recently served as the executive director of Children and Family Enrichment at Idlewild in Memphis, Tennessee. Prior to that, she spent more than a decade in various roles with the Girl Scouts, where she worked her way from a coordinator role up to Chief Operations Officer.
Gabe Doyle is Director of Community Impact – Health at United Way of Dane County. He spent several years working as a licensed counselor and worked at Children’s Hospital of Wisconsin as a youth intervention specialist and community health navigation supervisor. He earned a bachelor’s degree from Roosevelt University and master’s from Alverno College, both in psychology.
Theola Carter is Dane County’s manager of policy and program improvement and an adjunct professor of intercultural communications and principles of management. She previously worked at the State of Wisconsin as a housing bureau director and unemployment division program manager. Since 2007, she has served on the Board of Directors at Dane County Credit Union, which is currently navigating a merger with Heartland Credit Union. She is also an actor, performing in numerous community theater productions. She has a degree in history and English from Fisk University and a master’s degree in public administration from UW-Madison.
Kenge Adams is the founder and CEO of Connect Business Consulting. She is an enthusiastic industry leader and entrepreneur with expertise partnering with corporations and community organizations to effectively manage and execute business and community initiatives, programs, and projects. Before launching her business in 2019, she spent five years in progressively responsible roles at Northwestern Mutual; 10 years at Jacksonville, Florida-based IT firm FIS; and four years as a business analyst at Federal Home Loan Bank of Chicago. A graduate of UW-Parkside, she also earned a master’s degree in communications from Northwestern.
Kenneth Robertson is Executive Vice President, Chief Operating Officer and Chief Financial Officer at Greater Milwaukee Foundation, overseeing tens of millions of dollars in endowments, grants and donor-advised funds. He functions as an operational bridge looking across all areas of the Foundation to ensure the smooth operations of the Foundation and the integration of its programmatic and operating departments. Before joining GMF in 2015, he spent eight years as VP of Finance at Boys and Girls Clubs of Greater Milwaukee and four years as controller at Briggs & Stratton. He holds a bachelor’s degree in accounting and an MBA, both from UW-Milwaukee.
Jeffrey Norman was sworn in as Milwaukee’s Chief of Police in November 2021. He first joined the department in 1996. As an officer, Chief Norman served in District 1, District 2, and the Technical Communications Division until his promotion to detective in 2002. As a detective, he served in the Robbery Division, Violent Crimes Division and Homicide Division until his promotion to lieutenant in 2010. As a lieutenant, he served in the Property Crimes Division, Metropolitan Division (Robbery Task Force, Homicide Unit and Cold Case Unit) and District 5 as the dayshift commander. Promoted to captain in 2017, he commanded the Inspections Division and District 3. In 2020 he was promoted to Assistant Chief. Chief Norman holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Criminal Justice from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, a Masters of Public Administration degree from Kaplan University, and a Juris Doctor degree from Marquette University Law School. Chief Norman is a graduate of the FBI LEEDA’s Executive and Command Institutes, Southern Police Institute’s Chief Executive Leadership, International Associations of Chiefs of Police’s Leadership in Police Organizations and 68th Session of the Police Executive Research Forum-Senior Management Institute for Police (SMIP) in Boston, MA.
Dineo Dowd is a full-time mom and writer who was born in South Africa but now lives in Madison with her husband and their daughter. For the past 4 years she has been an ambassador for Hike it Baby, a non-profit organization that connects families with babies and young children to the outdoors and each other. As part of this, Dineo spends much of her time outdoors, once hiking 21 miles in 8 hours and she is keen that her daughter spends as much time outside as is possible. Dineo’s other passion is for writing and she currently has two books in circulation. Adventure Day and Sunset Hike are both hiking books for children that are dedicated to nature and were created to inspire children to get out into the fresh air. They both contain exciting and diverse characters that children love. In her free time Dineo loves reading nature books to her daughter, cooking and baking. She enjoys running, camping and hiking whenever the opportunity arises and her ambition is to be able to travel the world, volunteering her time to help the needy and using the experiences she plans to write even more children’s books.
Ken Goodnight is Senior Vice President & Chief Customer Officer at Navitus. He brought over 15 years of experience in designing and implementing customer care strategies. At Navitus, he is responsible for creating customer strategies to ensure the company delivers superior service to our clients and their members. He also provides strategic direction and oversight to the call center, member experience division and government programs. Ken has helped organizations reach best-in-class standards for service delivery and operational efficiency through high employee engagement. Prior to joining Navitus, he served as the principal of PinnacleCX, a consulting firm that assists organizations in solving critical customer service and operational challenges. Ken has held executive roles in health care, pharmacy benefit management, consumer credit, and travel and entertainment, including leading customer service and Medicare Part D operations at CVS Health and Express Scripts. With a focus on giving back to both the business and local communities, Ken has served as the Board Chair of his local United Way and as a key presenter on customer centricity at the CCNG Executive Leadership Council. Ken holds an undergraduate degree in business administration and organizational development from Colorado State University.
Part 5 coming tomorrow!
