Top cabinet official set to lead Greater Milwaukee Committee
Gov. Evers to appoint new DOA Secretary
The Greater Milwaukee Committee has selected Joel Brennan, Gov. Tony Evers' top cabinet official, as its next president.
The GMC board of directors announced Wednesday that Brennan would become the next president. Brennan has served as secretary of the Department of Administration since 2019.
Brennan, who has worked both in public and private sectors, will leave his role in Evers' administration to become president of GMC. Brennan will take the helm of the civic group in mid-January, he said in an interview.
His departure on Jan. 17 from the Evers administration will come after Brennan's second cycle overseeing state budget negotiations with Republicans who control the state Legislature and after he played a key role in re-negotiating a contract between the state and Taiwanese tech giant Foxconn to reflect a significantly scaled back project.
“Secretary Brennan has been a part of my administration since the very beginning, and I want to thank him for his service to the people of Wisconsin over the last three years,” Evers said in a statement.
“Especially over the last 19 months, the Department of Administration has been a critical partner in supporting our state and our economic recovery efforts, and I wish Secretary Brennan and his family all the best.”
Brennan follows Julia Taylor, who has been president of GMC for 19 years. Taylor will retire from the role at the end of the year.
“(The GMC) has always been a place where the biggest issues are elevated and resources are accumulated and directed — that's a noble purpose,” Brennan said. “It's something that's everevolving. I'm eager to be part of the efforts to do that so we can shape Milwaukee.”
The GMC focuses on improving southeastern Wisconsin’s civic life and economy. The group is made up of about 200 leaders of businesses, financial institutions, law firms, nonprofit groups and educational institutions in the metro area. The committee was founded in 1948 to help Milwaukee recover from the Great Depression and World War II.
“We wanted to build off of (Taylor’s) legacy of continuing to position the GMC in the center of helping to establish ways in which Milwaukee and the region around Milwaukee stays vibrant,” said Cristy Garcia-Thomas who was a co-chair of the selection committee. “(Brennan) stood out as someone who had expertise with his background in civic engagement to really help leverage our past and continue to look for ways that we can elevate and accomplish more together.”
Brennan said his top focus areas include K-12 education, economic opportunity, workforce development and infrastructure. He said he supports the sales tax proposal to fund community services and other needs.
Fence-mender in divided Capitol
Brennan said he will bring a “bias toward action” to the role that was informed by living through the last couple of years during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Before working in the Evers’ administration, Brennan was the president and CEO of Discovery World. He led the museum from 2007 to 2019. He was also the head of Milwaukee’s Redevelopment Authority.
Brennan grew up in the Milwaukee area. He lives in Milwaukee’s Brewers Hill neighborhood with his wife and two children.
He leaves just as the governor is gearing up for a re-election bid that faces national headwinds for Democrats.
Brennan, who was appointed just after Evers was elected in 2018, has been a unique force in the Evers administration as one of the few — if not only — top administration officials Republican lawmakers have not rejected outright and he even received praise from the Senate leader at the time of his appointment.
During a peak of disagreement between Republicans and Evers, it was Brennan who was deployed to mend fences. In the fall of 2019, Brennan tried in vain to talk Senate Republicans out of firing Evers’ agriculture secretary, for example.
As DOA Secretary, Brennan oversaw crucial operations of state government including the state budget and employment matters. He was central to re-negotiating a state deal with Taiwanese tech giant Foxconn earlier this year and his office oversaw the approval of a new casino in Beloit.
Evers said Wednesday he will replace Brennan with Department of Financial Institutions Secretary Kathy Koltin Blumenfeld, who was appointed to her current post after Evers was elected.
“Secretary Blumenfeld has been an incredible partner and leader at DFI since the beginning of my administration, including during the pandemic, providing guidance and steady leadership for Wisconsin’s financial institutions and the financial well-being of folks across our state,” Evers said.
DFI deputy secretary Cheryll OlsonCollins will replace Blumenfeld as secretary of the agency.