2021 Speakers

With two partners, Duplanty co-founded Young Blood Brewing Co., located in downtown Madison, in spring 2020. Previously he had worked in the beer industry for over a decade in Milwaukee in various merchandising and sales capacities.

Ayodele leads the business development team at CancerIQ and manages its strategic partnerships. She is a Chicago Booth New Venture Challenge winner, a Rock Health fellow and winner of 1776’s Global Challenge Cup.

A Madison native, Baldwin is Wisconsin's junior senator, first elected in 2012 after serving 14 years as a member of Congress representing the greater Madison area. Health care has been a focus of her work throughout her congressional career, including work to help...

Balz is chief correspondent for the Washington Post, covering national politics. He has worked at the Post since 1978, authored or co-authored three books and won numerous awards, including the John Chancellor Award for Excellence in Journalism in 2017.

Barnes became Madison’s newest police chief in February. He was previously the director of training and professional development for the Civilian Office of Police Accountability in Chicago. Barnes was honored as a National Institute of Justice LEADS Scholar for using...

Becker joined the Cap Times in 2016, where she covers city and county government. In the past two Wisconsin Newspaper Association contests, she was recognized for her local government reporting with first place awards. Becker reports on a variety of topics, including...

Brandon has led the Chamber since 2012. Prior to that, he was the director of the Wisconsin Angel Network, an early stage investment organization focused on increasing equity investments in Wisconsin's entrepreneurs, and he also served as the deputy secretary of the...

Caire is the founder and CEO of One City Schools, a growing Madison charter school that primarily serves children of color. Prior to starting One City, Caire was the head of the Urban League of Greater Madison and chair of the National Urban League’s Education...

Cavazos began her career in politics, later becoming a community leader and an advocate for economic equity. Her community awards include being named Hispanic Woman of the Year by United Migrant Opportunity Services and Community Leader of the Year at Madison's...

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce Foundation is the nonprofit affiliate of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce (of which Cawley is a senior vice president), the world’s largest business federation. Under Cawley’s leadership, the foundation has launched new signature programs,...

Charley has just completed her second season in Portland, where she recently signed a two-year extension. She also played in Australia with Canberra United of the W League. A graduate of Vanderbilt University with a double major in psychology and sociology and a...

At Destination Madison, Westman Chin oversees its mission to increase the impact of the tourism economy on businesses, workforce and the quality of life for Madison. She leads a team of 30 whose efforts bring meetings, events and leisure visitors to the greater...

Christians has been writing about fine arts and food since 2008 for the Cap Times, where she hosts a periodic podcast called The Corner Table about food and drink in Madison. She is also the author of the forthcoming book, “Madison Chefs: Stories of Food, Farms and...

A Madison native, Clark is a personal chef and caterer who specializes in historical and traditional comfort dishes from around the world. She has been cooking for about seven years, attended culinary school at Madison College, and founded Palate Pleasures five years...

Conway is medical director for Immunization Programs at UW Health. He has spent his career working and advocating for the prevention of vaccine-preventable disease in the U.S. and abroad, receiving an American Academy of Pediatrics Special Achievement Award in 2009...

A seasoned chef and farmer, Correa has worked in the Madison food scene since 2012. He is the founder and co-owner of La Cosecha Tortilla Company, whose mission is to help lead the way in revolutionizing our food system through supporting regenerative agriculture,...

Cox, Ph.D., is an assistant professor in the Department of Indigenous, Race, and Ethnic Studies at the University of Oregon. She is also co-director of The Sound of Victory, a multi-platform project located at the intersection of music and sport. Her work focuses on...

During the Trump administration, Eilperin wrote about how the administration transformed federal environmental policy and the agencies that oversee it. She is part of the Washington Post team that won a Pulitzer Prize in 2020 for a groundbreaking series about climate...

Shahar Erez is a co-founder and the CEO of Stoke, a freelance management platform which enables companies to build an agile workforce that scales quickly with freelance talent. A tech-scene veteran, Erez has more than 15 years of executive experience under his belt at...

Findley has been a public defender, and since 1997, a faculty member at the UW Law School. In 1998, he co-founded the Wisconsin Innocence Project, which he co-directed until 2017, when he became senior advisor. In 2018, Findley co-founded the Center for Integrity in...

Angela Fitzgerald is the creator, producer and host of "Why Race Matters." She has dedicated her extensive education and career to leadership, community engagement and creating opportunities for others.

Gaffney leads business development, partnerships, and fundraising at VEDA, leveraging over 15 years of work with elected officials to identify opportunities for new technology businesses to thrive.

For 27 years, Gaines has been working at Quartz and UW Health with families who receive Medicaid, advocating and creating programs that support their health and assist in removing barriers to health care. As the community liaison manager, she supports nearly 46,000...

Girard is the local K-12 education reporter at the Cap Times. A Madison native, he joined the paper in 2019 after working for six years for Unified Newspaper Group.

Based in Madison, Keur Fatou specializes in West African cuisine for outdoor events, conferences, office lunches, weddings, and other gatherings. Gomez is also a graduate student at Lakeland University, majoring in Leadership and Organizational Development.

González is the university's primary contact with the local community and nonprofit organizations. Her previous roles include management posts at Agrace and Group Health Cooperative, where she oversaw interpreter services, community outreach to vulnerable patients and...

Grayson founded Urban Triage in 2020, following the murder of George Floyd by Minneapolis police. The group aims to create a better world for the Black community through self-awareness, agency, accountability, and trauma recovery. Grayson was the co-founder of the...

Guse has lived and worked in Madison for over 20 years and runs one of the city's favorite private trivia experiences — Smarter Than You Trivia, known for live-performed musical challenges and as-yet-unclaimed offer to give his car to anyone who gets all the questions...

Handelsman is director of the Wisconsin Institute for Discovery at UW-Madison, a Vilas research professor and Howard Hughes Medical Institute professor. She previously served as associate director for Science at the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy...

Henrickson is a licensed clinical social worker who has worked in crisis intervention services for over 20 years. At Journey Mental Health she oversees crisis workers embedded with the Madison Police Department and the Dane County Sheriff's Office, as well as the new...

A Madison native, Hicks started her current role in the school district this year after serving for 10 years as the principal of Wright Middle School and earning a doctoral degree. Prior to that, she was an administrator and a teacher at other district schools.

Hitt is the former chairman of the Republican Party of Wisconsin and successfully spearheaded its rebuild after the party’s 2018 losses. He focused on empowering the grassroots, building the party's minority outreach — including opening the first office in Milwaukee —...

Howard leads the direction for impact and public programs for the documentary series, FRONTLINE. She joined FRONTLINE from POV/American Documentary, where she served as the senior director of station marketing and audience engagement. She previously served as the...

Prior to joining Downtown Madison Inc., Ilstrup worked in hotel management and development at HotelRED, the Iron Horse Hotel and the Madison Concourse Hotel. Before entering hospitality, he served as a legislative aide and legal counsel for several politicians. He is...

Jackson writes about the intersection of sport and society, exploring what the games we play (and watch) tell us about the communities — local, national, and global – in which we live. Her writing has appeared in the Los Angeles Times, Washington Post, Boston Globe,...

Jackson-Ford is the proud mother of four children: Tiffany, Tamika, David, and Bobby Jr.; the grandmother of six boys: Cameron, Jacques, Trevis, Davion, Derion and Jackson; and one girl, Averie. She is retired from the Natchez-Adams School District in Mississippi with...

Jangda invests in fast-growing digital health-based companies as partner at HealthX Ventures, and advises various innovation communities. He started on his current path at the Texas Medical Center, and having seen firsthand how a lack of integration hinders patient...

Kennedy is a journalist, writer and publisher. With his mother, Adrienne, he is the co-author of the play "Mom, How Did You Meet the Beatles?" The mission of Kennedy's nonprofit, The Black Experience, is to present the world with positive images of Black Americans...

Dr. Kisiel focuses his research primarily on the discovery and translation of biomarkers for the early detection of cancer. Collaborating industrywide, his team of multidisciplinary, translational and academic investigators seeks to leverage molecular markers for...

Lang was born and raised in the heart of Milwaukee. She has an extensive background in community organizing. In the past, Lang served as both an organizer and state council director for the Service Employees International Union, working on such campaigns as the Fight...

Lauritsen is transforming management as a keynote speaker, trainer and author. He liberates managers from outdated and inhumane practices so they can cultivate human potential at work and improve people’s lives. Lauritsen is the author of two books, "Unlocking High...

Leonnig is a co-author of “I Alone Can Fix It”, a portrait of the final year of Donald Trump's presidency. She is also a three-time Pulitzer Prize winner and an investigative reporter who has worked at the Washington Post since 2000.

Lichtenstein is an award-winning filmmaker who has been making documentaries since 1998 and founded 371 Productions in 2003. He’s been nominated for two Emmys: one Sports Emmy for the VR film Ashe ’68, which premiered at Sundance in 2019, and a News and Documentary...

A specialist in Black theatre and performance, Long, Ph.D., has published in several scholarly forums and is currently at work on a book project about the life and works of Black feminist theatre artist Glenda Dickerson. Long is also a freelance dramaturg with a focus...

Since 2010, Loving has led Access, a nonprofit group of Madison health centers that seeks to remove barriers to quality health care for patients, regardless of their ability to pay. He has been a practicing family physician at Access since 1996 and is bilingual in...

A Madison native, Andrew Maraniss is a New York Times bestselling author of narrative nonfiction, focused on sports and social justice. Maraniss is also a special projects director at Vanderbilt University Athletics, and a contributor to ESPN’s race and sports...

A Madison native, McDowell became the CEO of YWCA Madison in 2017 — the first Black woman to hold that position — three years after starting work there. She is deeply committed to offering programs and services that support women and social justice, help families and...

Minssen is the creative director and co-owner of The Deliciouser, a Madison based spice company specializing in spice and salt blends. Hailing from Santa Fe, New Mexico, she moved to Madison in 2017, and was quickly struck by the diverse foodie culture of the city....

Mount became smitten with photography after learning to print black and white photographs when she was 10 years old. Since then she has lived in a variety of places, working as a photojournalist, editor and educator. Mount was part of the Washington Post team that won...

Nelson has served as the President of AFA-CWA, AFL-CIO since 2014, representing 50,000 flight attendants at 17 airlines. She has been a flight attendant since 1996 when she started at United. Nelson designed the successful payroll support program, which kept aviation...

In addition to his work at the Cap Times, Nichols is the author of several books about politics and the media, including "Horsemen of the Trumpocalypse." He writes about electoral politics and public policy for The Nation magazine.

Opoien joined the Cap Times in 2013, where she covers state government and politics. Her work has been awarded by the Milwaukee Press Club and the Wisconsin Newspaper Association. Opoien also writes the biweekly Capitol Notes newsletter.

Orville is general manager of Exact Sciences’ pipeline. Prior to joining Exact Sciences, he served as a general manager at Quest Diagnostics. In 2008, Orville co-founded Cleveland HeartLab and served as its chief executive officer through 2017 when Cleveland HeartLab...

Oshiro is an assistant professor of Sport Administration at Belmont University. She earned a Ph.D. in kinesiology from Texas A&M University, an M.S. in kinesiology and a B.S. in sport studies from East Carolina University, where she was a student-athlete. Oshiro’s...

Ott has been with Quartz since 2015, bringing more than 25 years of experience in the successful development of health care products and services. Her experience includes working on the health care delivery side, and the health insurance side, on both a local and...

Prior to The Atlantic, Packer was a staff writer for The New Yorker for 15 years. His 2012 book, “The Unwinding: An Inner History of the New America,” won the National Book Award for Nonfiction. His most recent book, “Last Best Hope: America in Crisis and Renewal,”...

Paulsen is a professor of urban planning at UW-Madison, studying housing policy, land use, and municipal finance.

Poblete, Ph.D., RN, is chief executive officer of Stand Up To Cancer, which funds and develops promising cancer treatments to help patients, connecting top scientists to collaborate and create breakthroughs in cancer prevention, early detection, interception and...

Rhodes-Conway was elected Madison's mayor in 2019. Prior to her election, she worked for nearly 14 years as the managing director of the Mayors Innovation Project, a learning network for mayors nationwide. She also served on Madison's city council for six years.

In 2013 Richardson left his position as vice president of strategic partnerships at the Urban League of Greater Madison to start his own company, Unfinished Business LLC, which helps professionals navigate career transition, while also helping organizations acquire...

At the Food Finance Institute, Rostowfske helps food and beverage businesses scale their growth efficiently. He came to the post after having developed and launched successful new consumer products with companies like Oscar Mayer, Sargento Foods and Palermo’s Pizza.

Schreiter is a seasoned clinical health psychologist and behavioral health consultant who is passionate about teaching as well as spreading the benefits of integrated behavioral health care to support health. She is also the co-chair of the 2021 Collaborative Family...

Sethi is the faculty director of the Master of Public Health Program at the university, and his research focuses on communicable diseases including HIV and more recently, COVID-19.

Smith is a co-anchor of 27 News at 5, 6 and 10 p.m. He previously worked at WFLD in Chicago where he was a morning news anchor and sports anchor. Smith also spent 10 years as a correspondent for ESPN, covering stories for SportsCenter and Outside the Lines. He...

After sparking national debate in 2003 over her college basketball protest against domestic and global oppression, Smith-Thompson built a career addressing social justice issues. She is an organizer who works to advance racial justice, focusing primarily on access to...

The son of two Madison Metropolitan School District teachers (Tenia Jenkins and Charles Stovall), Camara has been an elementary school teacher in Madison for over 20 years. He taught at Emerson, Leopold, Lapham and Van Hise before moving to Allis over 10 years ago.

Prior to joining The Edgewater's operations team in 2015, Supple worked for Landmark Development Company as a development director and was the development lead for The Edgewater project. In her career, Supple has been involved in more than $7.5 billion in real estate,...

Sykes is a founder and the editor-at-large of The Bulwark, host of The Bulwark Podcast, and an NBC/ MSNBC contributor. He has written for The New York Times, The Atlantic, The Washington Post, Commentary, The Wall Street Journal, Politico, and other national...

Thomas joined the Cap Times in 1999 and is its features editor, focusing on film and music. He also writes the Morning Update newsletter five days a week.

Timberlake took the reins at the Department of Health Services in January, 10 years after she held the same post. She most recently worked at Michael Best Strategies, supporting initiatives in health care and human services transformation. Before that, she directed...

In addition to his work at The Nation, Zirin has written 11 books on the politics of sports, including most recently "The Kaepernick Effect." He is also host of the popular podcast, The Edge of Sports, and a columnist for The Progressive.