About Us

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 Dr. Bryan Kennedy was elected Mayor of Glendale, Wisconsin in 2015, after being elected three times to the Glendale-River Hills School Board. He was re-elected mayor in 2018, 2021, and 2024.  In addition to serving as Mayor , Kennedy serves as a suburban Commissioner on the Milwaukee Metropolitan Sewerage District Commission.  Mayor Kennedy is also the national president of Democratic Municipal Officials, a progressive organization of local elected officials and an affiliate of the Democratic National Committee. Kennedy holds a seat on the DNC. Mayor Kennedy holds a Ph.D. in Latin American Studies, with a focus on economic development patterns in Brazil, from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Dr. Kennedy was a professor at the University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee for ten years and served three terms as President of the American Federation of Teachers-Wisconsin, a statewide teachers union of primarily state agency and higher education employees. Since 2014, Kennedy contracts as a consultant and executive coach for organizational development and workplace improvement. Kennedy is the author of It's All Local: Saving Democracy From the Ground Up, the book that inspired this Foundation's work in civic engagement and community-building.

  During college at the University of Wisconsin—Milwaukee Kathy worked at Loewi & Co. and when the stock brokerage firm offered her a full-time position as a trading assistant, she accepted, leaving college in her junior year. At 21, she married Kent Ehley, had two children and for the next 12 years, juggled stay-at-home mom duties with volunteer/leadership roles with the Girl Scouts, the PTA, Channel 10/36 and PBS. Kathy’s eclectic career path included Loewi, Kansas City Board of Trade, a personal chef/catering business, PBS, Milwaukee Ballet, Children’s Hospital, and as Executive Director of the Wauwatosa Business Improvement District. A two-time breast cancer survivor, she took the reins of founder Melody Wilson’s ABCD (After Breast Cancer Diagnosis), which grew to become a national organization. In 2012, people thought Kathy could put her well-rounded expertise to work as mayor of Wauwatosa, and they were right. Kathy served as mayor for eight years, which came with positions on the boards of the Milwaukee Metropolitan Sewerage District, Visit MKE, Wisconsin Center District and League of Wisconsin Municipalities. As for personal achievements, she is proud of overcoming her fears to take on new challenges, and that in her 50s, she returned to UWM and finished her degree.

  Dr. Shauntay R. Nelson is a nationally recognized leadership strategist, author, and executive with over two decades of experience in advocacy, organizational development, and systems change. She currently serves as Vice President of States at Common Cause and will assume the role of President of the Wisconsin Women’s Network on January 1, 2026. Dr. Nelson is also the founder and CEO of Nelson & Co., where she partners with leaders, nonprofits, and coalitions to deliver strategic planning, leadership development, and advocacy training nationwide. In 2023, she was appointed to the State of Wisconsin Ethics Commission and served as Vice Chair, helping advance transparency and ethical governance. A recipient of the Presidential Lifetime Achievement Award, Dr. Nelson is the author of Divinely Edited and Kitchen Chronicles, and is known for empowering leaders to lead with clarity, purpose, and impact.

  Barbara Moore served for more than a dozen years as the National Executive Director of Democratic Municipal Officials (DMO) a political non-profit affiliate organization of the Democratic National Committee.  DMO is an association representing over 40,000 local elected officials.  Over her years with DMO, Barbara built lasting relationships with elected officials across the county.  Additionally, she developed a National Advisory Board of Government Affairs professionals from Fortune 100 companies, startups, lobbying firms, trade associations, labor unions, and non-profit organizations and engaged with those leaders daily.  She understands how to build partnerships between government entities and the private sector. Prior to joining DMO, Barbara owned her own consulting firm and served the Real Estate industry as a Project Manager.  She oversaw multi-million dollar residential and commercial development projects, both new construction and adaptive reuse.  In her work, she managed the government affairs work of her clients and coordinated the work of architects, engineers, attorneys, construction companies, and Real Estate Agents.  She developed proformas and project management timelines and processed construction draws.  She shepherded permit applications, redevelopment agreements, business licenses, and zoning changes through the City of Chicago.  She understands the needs of our Real Estate clients and knows that what seems a mere day or two lost in a construction schedule can result in a reality of months of lost time to completion and hundreds of thousands of dollars in costs.

  Mike Kasperzak is a Public and Government affairs consultant representing a wide variety of clients, including start-ups, non-profits and developers and is a member of the Santa Clara County Airport Commission. He has also served as the California Field Representative for the National League of Cities. He served on the Mountain View City Council for two eight-year stints (with a break in between due to term limits), serving twice as Mayor. Professionally, Mike was a commercial mediator with Silicon Valley Mediation Group, and is a member of the Advisory Board of Nextdoor.com, a San Francisco based neighborhood social networking startup. Prior to establishing his mediation practice, Mike practiced law for 11years as a defense trial attorney specializing in Aviation and products liability. Actively involved in the community, Mike Co-Chairs the Los Altos Community Foundation, is Chair of KMVT 15, and has chaired the Mountain View Chamber of Commerce Board of Directors; the local chapter of the American Red Cross where he also served as a national management volunteer at Red Cross Headquarters; and he has served on the Board of Directors of Acterra, the Community School of Music and Arts,

Avenidas, the Santa Clara County Bar Association, and Lewis and Clark College.