Aug. 15, 2024 — The Badger Institute Board of Directors last week voted to add three new board members: American Enterprise Institute President Robert Doar, Metropolitan Milwaukee Association of Commerce President Dale Kooyenga and health care executive Shannon Sweek.
“We’re thrilled to add Robert, Dale and Shannon to our ranks,” said Board President Ave Bie. “Their experience in so many different realms, wisdom, policy chops and political insight will be invaluable as we push for free-market solutions in our most vexing problems in Madison and around the state. The Badger Institute is prospering, and we will make sure our state does too.”
Robert Doar is president of the American Enterprise Institute (and, almost as importantly, the godson of Packers legend Johnny “Blood” McNally). Before joining AEI, one of the nation’s most influential conservative think tanks, he spent 20 years in leadership positions in the social service programs of New York state and New York City. A graduate of Princeton, he has also served as a co-chair of the National Commission on Hunger and as a lead member of the AEI-Brookings Working Group on Poverty and Opportunity.
Dale Kooyenga is president of the Metropolitan Milwaukee Association of Commerce. He served in the Wisconsin Senate and Assembly from 2011 through 2022, and is a Lt. Colonel in the US Army Reserve. Dale is trained as a Military Intelligence officer and was the officer in charge of economic development for Coalition Forces in Baghdad in 2008. A certified public accountant, he also served as a Senior Manager at KPMG, providing client services related to acquisitions, business formations and carve-outs. He is a resident of Brookfield.
Shannon Sweek is a healthcare business executive who has served Medicare and Medicaid enrollees for over 20 years. She is a Vice President with UnitedHealth Group, the Minnesota-based Fortune 4 health care and well-being company. She has a BS in Biomedical Sciences from Marquette University and a Masters Degree in Public Health Administration from the University of Minnesota. She was past president of both Friends of Milwaukee Public Library Board and the Milwaukee Chapter of America’s Future Foundation. She lives in Pewaukee with her husband and two children.
The Badger Institute is a nonpartisan, not-for-profit research, journalism and advocacy organization working to inform and engage Wisconsinites in discussions and timely action on public policies critical to growth, opportunity and prosperity. The Institute is guided by a belief that competitive and free enterprise, limited government, private initiative, personal responsibility and civil society are essential to our democratic way of life.
