leadership team
The NSF Resiliency Engine leadership team comprises leaders from Wisconsin’s technology, industrial, nonprofit and university sectors.
dean amhaus
the water council
co-principal investigator
Dean Amhaus has served as the founding president and CEO of The Water Council (TWC) since March 2010. Under Amhaus’ leadership, TWC has developed water technology innovation and water stewardship programs and received numerous international and national economic development and leadership awards. Amhaus served as the executive director of the Wisconsin Sesquicentennial Commission. He has led Spirit of Milwaukee, a nonprofit organization dedicated to enhancing Milwaukee’s image; Forward Wisconsin, the state’s marketing economic development organization; and the Wisconsin Arts Board. Amhaus received his MBA from the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater and his bachelor’s degree in business from the University of Wisconsin-Platteville.
amy jensen
the water council
co-principal investigator
Amy Jensen brings more than 25 years of nonprofit management experience to her role as chief financial officer and chief operating officer of TWC. She is a CPA and earned her MBA from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. Jensen was the recipient of the Milwaukee Business Journal’s CFO of the Year award in 2008 and its Women of Influence award in 2020. She has been the administrative lead fulfilling the compliance and reporting role for TWC’s federal and state funding contracts.
buckley brinkman
wisconsin center for manufacturing & productivity
Buckley Brinkman has brought more than 25 years of transformational manufacturing leadership to the Wisconsin Center for Manufacturing & Productivity, with a breadth of experience in helping companies drive growth, world-class competitiveness and performance excellence. Experienced in Lean, Six Sigma, supply chain management and turnaround planning, he led efforts to save dozens of operations in the U.S. by finding new ways for them to compete.
Throughout his career, Brinkman provided executive leadership to companies ranging from $5 million to more than $4 billion in sales. A Wisconsin native, he holds a business degree from the University of Wisconsin and an MBA from the Harvard Business School.
ayrton bryan
Avery dennison
Ayrton Bryan supports global sustainability as a professional and champion for greater environmental accountability. As a senior manager for sustainability at Avery Dennison, he leads efforts to integrate sustainability across the company’s value chain. His work supports connecting the physical and digital to create a healthier planet. In 2023, he was named to the Milwaukee Business Journal 40 under 40 and the Harvard Business School Young American Leader Program.
Bryan is passionate around community impact and empowerment. He continually works to create opportunities for workforce development and environmental impact reduction. He is also active in several nonprofits focusing on diversifying small businesses and representation in the outdoors. Prior to joining Avery Dennison, he has worked in sustainability-defining, cradle-to-grave carbon impacts and in environmental health and safety at global companies focused on employee safety and well-being and environmental reporting.
Michael cook
rockwell automation
Michael Cook is the director of industry-academia at Rockwell Automation and has broad global corporate strategy and business development experience. Prior to moving to the USA in 2004, he worked for several years as hands-on management and implementation consultant in diverse manufacturing environments such as automotive, food and beverage, and heavy industries such as mining, primary and secondary aluminum production, and supply chain and services in Africa. His team spends their time building future talent for advanced automation careers by working with academic institutions from schools through universities. They provide access to new technologies for both students and upskilling with an eye on generating excitement and passion about making things sustainably through advanced manufacturing and helping to unlock human potential with this technology. The team works with partners plus federal and state agencies to generate socially, environmentally and commercially sustainable and equitable impacts.
aaron drews
mke tech hub coalition
Aaron Drews is the workforce development and operations associate at the MKE Tech Hub Coalition, where he writes and administers grants and supports implementation of workforce development programs to increase diverse participation in Southeastern Wisconsin’s tech ecosystem. He also brings professional experience as a communications intern at the Chicago Council on Global Affairs. Drews earned his bachelor’s degree from the University of Wisconsin with majors in French and international studies, as well as a concentration in religious studies. He earned his master’s degree in international relations from the University of Chicago.
Jason Fields
Madison Region Economic Partnership
Jason Fields joined the Madison Region Economic Partnership (MadREP) as president in January 2021 after serving as a Wisconsin state legislator. Fields represents the United States as a senator of the World Business Angel Investment Forum. He is founder of The Financial Promise Foundation, Inc., a nonprofit organization teaching personal financial and business literacy, and founder and managing director of Dark Knight Capital Ventures, a venture fund investing in underrepresented founders across America. Fields started his career in the financial sector, collaboratively managing more than $100 million in assets. He is a published author, certified financial education instructor and certified capital-raising specialist. He holds a bachelor’s degree in business management from Cardinal Stritch University.
Fields is the President of the Regional Leadership Council and member of the Governor’s Financial Literacy Council and Rotary Club of Downtown Madison. He serves on the board of directors of Destination Madison, Wisconsin Technology Council, MKE Tech Hub Coalition, Competitive Wisconsin, the Green Bay Packer Mentor Protégé Program and the Convergence Resource Center.
karen frost
the water council
Karen Frost is The Water Council’s vice president for economic development and Innovation. She managed the program development, implementation and oversight of TWC’s U.S. Small Business Administration Regional Innovation Cluster Contract from 2015 to 2020. She is an experienced connector and strong relationship builder and collaborator with the small business community, project partners and funders. She brings prior experience in program management, grant management and marketing and holds a degree in business marketing from Kansas State University.
Frost leads the suite of innovation programs for TWC including the BREW 2.0 Post-Accelerator, the Pilot Program and the corporate-sponsored Tech Challenge. These programs serve and connect innovators from across the globe to TWC’s network of companies and members.
matt ginder-vogel
university of wisconsin-madison
Matt Ginder-Vogel is the director of sustainability research innovation in the Nelson Institute of Environmental Studies and an associate professor in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. His research focuses on understanding the prevalence of contaminants in drinking and surface water. Prior to joining the Madison faculty, Dr. Ginder-Vogel was the manager of process and analytical chemistry at Calera Corporation. At Calera he led teams responsible for production of cementitious materials derived from industrial CO2 sources. Previously he worked at the Delaware Environmental Institute at the University of Delaware. He received his Ph.D. in Geosciences from Stanford University.
andrew graettinger
university of wisconsin-milwaukee
As associate dean for research, Dr. Andrew Graettinger continues to build on UWM’s R1 status and the college’s work to advance the frontier of technology, enhance the economic growth and vitality of the region, and provide world-class research opportunities and experience for students. Previously, he served as professor and director of graduate programs at the University of Alabama’s Department of Civil, Construction and Environmental Engineering.
Dr. Graettinger has worked on over $7.5 million in funded research focused on applying geographic information system technology to solve complex spatial problems in the field of civil engineering. His most recent research projects included those that developed spatial tools to accurately collect infrastructure characteristics, analyzed big data sets that contained both time and space elements, and improved organizational information handling for large agencies.
kathy henrich
mke tech hub coalition
Kathy Henrich is CEO of the MKE Tech Hub Coalition. Under her leadership, the Tech Hub has launched an early-stage incubator serving more than 200 founders, a cross-disciplinary collegiate bootcamp, an apprenticeship program and talent attraction activities. Prior to the Tech Hub, Henrich had over 30 years of experience in the tech industry, leading $500M+ sales and partnership organizations within IBM. In 2018, she obtained her master’s degree in workforce/talent development from Louisiana State University with a focus on AI/automation. She used these skills as a senior manager in Accenture’s future workforce practice, assisting clients with talent transitions resulting from digital transformation. Henrich serves on several boards including Tech Associations of North America (TECNA), WI Startup Coalition, M3 Insurance, United Way’s Tech United and Wisconsin Policy Forum’s Economic Development committee.
Jeanne Hossenlopp
Marquette university
Jeanne Hossenlopp, Marquette University’s vice president for research and innovation, oversees the university’s central research infrastructure and the central campus innovation and entrepreneurship center, the 707 Hub. Hossenlopp has extensive experience with building regional partnerships for translational science initiatives. She serves on the Board of Directors for the Milwaukee Regional Innovation Center, housing one of Milwaukee’s largest communities of entrepreneurs. Hossenlopp is a member of the Council on Competitiveness Technology Leadership and Strategy Initiative, a group of nearly 50 chief technology officers from universities, national laboratories and industry seeking to build more productive research partnerships.
She is also deeply engaged in diversity, equity and inclusion efforts that include serving on the Board of Directors of the Milwaukee Academy of Science, a K-12 charter school whose mission is to graduate urban students to successfully compete at the post-secondary level. She is the PI on Marquette’s NSF ADVANCE grant, which seeks to promote institutional change to support the success of STEM faculty from under-represented backgrounds through a lens of how gender and other intersecting social identities impact workplace experience.
Sarah Lillie Sewell
MKE Tech Hub Coalition
Sarah Lillie Sewell is an award-winning expert at fostering inclusive work environments where everyone thrives. As MKE Tech Hub Coalition’s director of workforce planning and upskill/reskill programs, she leads efforts to build the supply of diverse tech talent in southeast Wisconsin through inclusive pathways to tech careers. Her experience includes crafting innovative workforce policy, designing replicable hiring and training programs, and facilitating regional and national cross-sector partnerships to create a diverse workforce in sectors spanning natural resource management, tech and more. Sarah has a master’s degree in public administration from Bowie State University and a bachelor’s degree in urban and environmental studies from the University of Pittsburgh.
laura mullen
the water council
As The Water Council’s member engagement manager, Laura Mullen is responsible for developing, managing and supporting member programs and services with a focus on growth and retention. She creates events, content and programming that promote TWC’s goal of building strong partnerships and cooperation. She helps guide the organization’s strategy to grow membership, build relationships and encourage participation. As the NSF project manager, she keeps the team on track and helps to move the project forward.
tom still
wisconsin technology council
Tom Still is president of the Wisconsin Technology Council, the nonprofit, bipartisan science and technology policy advisory board to the governor and the Legislature. He serves on the WiSys board of trustees, the industrial advisory board for the University of Wisconsin-Madison College of Engineering; the board of visitors for the UW-Madison Department of Computer Sciences; and the board of directors for the Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters, among other civic and business groups. Still writes a syndicated column that appears regularly in more than two dozen publications. He moderated the Wisconsin Economic Summits (2000-2003) and helped write the Wisconsin Prosperity Strategy in 2010. He is the co-author of “Hands-On Environmentalism,” published by Encounter Books, New York.
stacy vogel Davis
the water council
Stacy Vogel Davis, in her role as The Water Council’s communications director, takes water issues of vital importance, including the need for water technology innovation and corporate water stewardship, and explains them to stakeholders and the public in a way they understand. A Milwaukee native, she has a journalism degree from Northwestern University and experience as a reporter and editor with the Milwaukee Business Journal and other publications.
joseph zaccaria
rockwell automation
Joseph Zaccaria is the manager of academia-industry at Rockwell Automation, working in IOT and cyber-physical systems program development. He has 38 years of industrial experience in oil and gas, petrochemical, water and water, food and beverage, pulp and paper, and more. He holds several patents and a bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering from the University of Pittsburgh-Johnstown.