• Daryl Johnson (Subject Matter Expert – Domestic Terrorism)
• Professor Brian Levin (Subject Matter Expert – Hate Crimes)
• Katherine “Kathy” Cramer (Civic and Political Engagement; Urban and Rural Divide)
• Dr. Cynthia Miller-Idriss (Subject Matter Expert – Extremism and Youth Radicalization)
• TM Garret (German-born former Neo-Nazi and KKK Leader)
• Ryan Lo’Ree (former Neo-Nazi)
• Arno Michaelis (a former White Supremacist)
• Derek Barsaleau (a former White Nationalist)
• Dr. Abdul-Munim Sombat Jitmoud (a Muslim father who forgave his son’s killer in the courtroom)
• O. Ricardo Pimentel (Author and Journalist)
• Dr. Jeffrey Jacobson (Liaison with Middle/High School Students)
• Sheriff David Mahoney (Law Enforcement Officer)
• Dr. Damira Grady (Liaison with all MATC Campuses in Wisconsin)
• Richard “MAC” McKinney (a Former Marine and Army Veteran who became the President of a Mosque that he planned to blow up)
• Bibi Bahrami (Afghan refugee warmly welcomed Richard “MAC” McKinney when he walked through the door at the Mosque he intended to blow up)
• Chris Buckley (a former KKK Leader and Radicalized US Military Veteran) Athens, Tennessee
• Joshua Seftel (Oscar-Nominated, Emmy-Winning Filmmaker) New York, New York
• Aaron Stark (Almost a School Shooter) Arvada, Colorado
• Tim Cullen (a former WI State Senator – D)
• Dale Schultz (a former WI State Senator – R)
• Senator Robert L. Cowles (WI State Senator -R)
• Representative Sue S. Conley (WI State Representative -D)
Daryl Johnson (Subject Matter Expert – Domestic Terrorism)
Washington, DC
Daryl Johnson is one of the foremost experts on domestic extremist groups in the US. Beginning his career as a civilian in the US Army, Johnson has held a number of government positions, most recently as senior analyst at the Department of Homeland Security. He is currently the founder of DT Analytics, a private consulting firm for law enforcement. He is also regularly cited, featured, or quoted in media covering domestic extremist groups in the US, including the New York Times, Washington Post, Wall Street Journal, Newsweek, National Public Radio, MSNBC, CNN, and NBC Nightly News, among many others. He is the author of “Hateland: A Long, Hard Look at America’s Extremist Heart” (Prometheus Books, 2019) and “Right-Wing Resurgence: How a Domestic Terrorism Threat Is Being Ignored” (Rowman & Littlefield, 2012). Johnson is also a freelance writer for various media and civil rights organizations. In 2012, he testified before the Senate Judiciary Committee on hate crimes and the threat of domestic extremism.
Professor Brian Levin (Subject Matter Expert – Hate Crimes)
San Bernardino, CA
Criminologist and civil rights attorney Brian Levin is a professor of criminal justice and founding director of the Center for the Study of Hate & Extremism at California State University, San Bernardino. He is the 2020 recipient of the annual Wang Family Excellence Award for outstanding scholarship in the entire CSU system – the largest in the nation.
Previously, Professor Levin served as Associate Director-Legal Affairs of the Southern Poverty Law Center’s Klanwatch / Militia Task Force in Montgomery, Al.; as a corporate litigator and a New York City Police Officer in the 1980s. Mr. Levin is a graduate of Stanford Law School, where he was awarded the Block Civil Liberties Award. He received his bachelor’s degree with multiple honors in American History from the University of Pennsylvania.
A prominent analyst on hate and extremism worldwide, Levin has presented influential Supreme Court briefs and Congressional testimony and is frequently interviewed on TV and in newspapers. He has also given presentations to the United Nations Special Rapporteur on Anti-Semitism, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, and the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe, among others.
Katherine “Kathy” Cramer (Civic and Political Engagement; Urban and Rural Divide)
Madison, WI
Kathy is the Natalie C. Holton Chair of Letters and Science and a professor in the Department of Political Science at the University of Wisconsin-Madison where she has worked since 2000. She is known for her innovative approach to the study of public opinion, in which she uses methods like inviting herself into the conversations of groups of people to listen to the way they understand public affairs. She is the author of 3 books including the award-winning The Politics of Resentment: Rural Consciousness and the Rise of Scott Walker. She is an inductee of the Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.
Dr. Cynthia Miller-Idriss (Subject Matter Expert – Extremism and Youth Radicalization)
Washington, DC
Cynthia Miller-Idriss is an award-winning author and scholar of extremism and youth radicalization. She directs the Polarization and Extremism Research & Innovation Lab (PERIL) in the Center for University Excellence (CUE) at the American University in Washington, DC, where she is also Professor in the School of Public Affairs and in the School of Education. Dr. Miller-Idriss is also Director of Strategy and Partnerships at the U.K.-based Centre for Analysis of the Radical Right and serves on the international advisory board of the Center for Research on Extremism (C-REX) in Oslo, Norway. She has testified before the U.S. Congress and has briefed the UN Security Council’s Counter Terrorism Committee on white supremacist extremism and white nationalist terrorism, and frequently serves as a keynote speaker and expert panelist on trends in white supremacist extremism to global academic and policy communities as well as staff and representatives in U.S. and international government agencies and embassies.
A globally-recognized expert on far right youth, Dr. Miller-Idriss is the author, co-author, or co-editor of six books, including Hate in the Homeland: The New Global Far Right, forthcoming from Princeton University Press in fall 2020. In addition to her academic work, Miller-Idriss writes frequently for mainstream audiences, with recent by-lines in The Washington Post, The New York Times, The Boston Globe, CNN, The Hill, The Guardian, Le Monde, Salon, and more. She appears regularly in the media as an expert source and political commentator, most recently on Fareed Zakaria GPS on CNN, NPR’s Morning Edition and All Things Considered, MSNBC’s Hardball with Chris Matthews, NBC’s Evening News with Lester Holt, C-SPAN’s Washington Journal, NBC’s The Today Show, the UK’s BBC Radio 4 Thinking Allowed, France 24’s The Interview, Ireland’s The Pat Kenny Show on Newstalk and in Austria’s DATUM Magazine.
TM Garret (German-born former Neo-Nazi and KKK Leader)
Memphis, TN
TM Garret Schmid (born Achim Schmid) and publicly known as TM Garret, is a German-American Public Speaker, Human Rights Activist, Consultant, Author, Extremism Researcher, Interfaith Activist and founder of C.H.A.NG.E, a non-profit organization which engages in anti-racism and anti-violence campaigns, food drives, inter-faith work as well as an EXIT program which helps individuals leave extremist groups and ERASING THE HATE, a nationwide tattoo campaign that covers up racist and hate tattoos for free. He is also the organizer of the Memphis Peace Conference in 2018 and founder of “Share a Meal Pledge.” Before he started engaging in Civil Rights work, TM Garret was a White Supremacist in leading roles in Europe and the USA. He left this lifestyle and ideology for good in 2003.
Garret works closely with the Jewish as well as the Black Community. He is a campus speaker against antisemitism for the Simon Wiesenthal Center and a member of the NAACP. He is also a US ambassador for EXIT Germany and an honorary board member of “We Are Many-United Against Hate.”
TM Garret has lectured at Harvard, Cornell, Dartmouth, Boston Law School, Vanderbilt, Hotchkiss, Pomona and many other schools and universities. In 2019 he spoke at the Illinois State Capitol in Springfield on behalf of the Simon Wiesenthal Center as well as the City Hall in New York City. He was featured on ABC, NBC, CNN, Fox, C-SPAN’s Washington Journal, VICE and VOX as well as the New York Magazine, The Guardian, Huffington Post, Haaretz, the Jerusalem Post and many other international major TV stations and outlets.
He is a radio personality and currently hosts ERASING THE HATE, a talk show on WKRA 92.7 FM The Change in Holly Springs, MS together with Pastor Ray Johnson. The show is syndicated on iHeart Radio, iTunes, Spotify, PlayerFM and many other platforms.
For more information, please visit www.tmgarret.com or his Wikipedia page: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TM_Garret.
Ryan Lo’Ree (former Neo-Nazi)
Swartz Creek, Michigan
Ryan Lo’Ree is the Program Director and Executive Board Member at Parallel Networks. Ryan was once a right-wing extremist with the Rollingwood Skins, a Michigan-based offshoot of the largest Nazi movement in the United States. While in the organization, he moved up the ranks quickly to become Vice President. In his role, he was responsible for mainstreaming hate groups on social media. To finance these efforts, Ryan found himself in trouble with the law. After Ryan’s incarceration, he went through a process of transformation and healing centered around trauma associated with sexual, physical and mental abuse he endured from male family members.
As part of his healing and deradicalization, Ryan went on to create the Team Revelation Mixed Martial Arts, a program utilized to prevent troubled youth from entering gang and extremist cultures. They offered mentorship, leadership, and self-discipline training. The program’s success led to a partnership with local juvenile probation offices in Genesee and Shiawassee County. The program would go on to keep over 100 children from entering the school to prison pipeline. Ryan would later enter the political arena where he ran for County Commissioner going after political corruption, racial and environmental justice in his hometown. Ryan has now helped to organize hundreds of justice rallies across the country, and his research has been centered around environmental impacts and their links to violent extremism. Ryan has also helped to pull dozens of former extremists out of hate groups in Michigan and abroad where he had the assistance of several organizations around the country and state. Ryan has helped to pass policy and proclamations in Flint and surrounding areas. He will now bring his expertise to Parallel Network, contributing to the organization’s work on combating polarization, structural injustice, racism, hate, and violent extremism.
Arno Michaelis (a former White Supremacist)
Mequon, WI
Arno Michaelis is a speaker, filmmaker, author of My Life After Hate, and co-author of The Gift of Our Wounds. His storytelling stems from an intention to inspire people to see themselves in others, and see others in themselves. Arno draws from his lived experience as a former Neo-Nazi to work as an interventionist at Parents 4 Peace, helping to lead people away from all violent extremist ideologies, and to support their families.
Refuge, his latest film project, is now available on Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, Google Play, and Vudu. Arno has been a professional public speaker since 2010, and has captivated audiences around the world. His keynotes and workshops leverage noble qualities of compassion, curiosity, and kindness to engage all human beings, building foundations for happiness and success. Uniquely positioned to facilitate healing for people who have been targets of hate, he has dedicated the past 14 years to bringing about a society where all people are valued and included.
Derek Barsaleau (a former White Nationalist)
Fort Atkinson, WI
I am a long-time activist, although admittedly, I have not always been on this side of the fence. 20 years ago, I was a recruiter for the National Socialists of America as well as a member of the National Alliance and World Church of the Creator; all very large white nationalist groups at the time. I served as a liaison for numerous local groups up and down the East Coast from Boston, MA to Tampa Bay, FL where I expanded recruitment efforts with help of the internet and personal interactions.
In late 2001, I enlisted into the United States Army where a life-changing event planted a seed of doubt regarding everything I held to be true at the time. Near death, my life was saved at the last moment by my Black battle buddy. A person who was well aware of the beliefs I held. In that moment though, he was able to look past my twisted ideology and treat me as his brother in arms; an American just as he was. Stubbornly, I still held on to these beliefs for a few more years, but never totally disregarded the doubt that was planted, participating in neo-Nazi rallies as recent as 2004.
As I found myself lost for several years, I fell out of activism entirely as I began a search for who I truly was. An encounter with the person, who is now my wife, proved to be exactly what I needed, along with the birth of my 3 oldest children. My focus began to change from what I was reading in statistics and headlines to asking myself the hard question of “why?”
With the sudden rise of the now rebranded “alt-right” in 2016, coinciding with the rise of the Black Lives Matter movement, I found myself at a crossroads, mentally. It was here that I decided to use my organizational skills to form the Wisconsin Progressive Alliance. This group was dedicated to being the central hub for all progressive groups across the state of Wisconsin to combat social injustice, corruption in politics and racism. We have organized over two dozen state rallies, and marches, across the state in response to events happening all over the country. We also became a model for other organizations to follow including several Indivisible groups across the country. With the backing of the AFL-CIO and a few state and national legislators, the WPA were major drivers in the Blue Wave of 2018.
I left the WPA shortly after the mid-term elections to focus more on local issues, and my family life. This is when I met Laura at The Unity Project when she asked me to do a presentation with Dr. Ozalle Thoms regarding my experience with white nationalism. Since that time, I have made myself available, in as many ways as possible, to make Fort Atkinson a better place for all.
Through further debates and conversations with people, my wife included (we weren’t always on the same page when it came to racial issues), I have continued to grow and have become even more dedicated to the cause for equality. I can honestly say I am more dedicated to this cause than I ever was towards the previous. I strongly believe that the path forward is together, through unity.
Dr. Abdul-Munim Sombat Jitmoud (a Muslim father who forgave his son’s killer in the courtroom)
St. Louis, MO and Bangkok, Thailand
Dr. Abdul-Munim Sombat Jitmoud was born and raised on a small rice farm in a village in Central Thailand. His first call to teaching came as a 7-year-old boy, when the principal of his village school asked him to teach his 1st grade class. He attended middle and high school in a suburb of Bangkok, and attended Teacher College and attained his higher teaching certification from there. He came to the USA for higher education, where he completed his BA from the University of South Florida, Tampa, Florida, his Masters from Truman State University in Kirksville, Missouri, and his Doctorate degree in Education Administration from Ball State University in Muncie, Indiana. He was also the first international student to attain his Education Specialist (Ed.S) Degree in Education Administration from Truman State University. While attaining his doctorate degree, Dr. Abdul-Munim married his colleague, Dr. Linda-Jamilah Kolocotronis®, who had accepted Islam at the time. Allah (swt) blessed them with 6 boys Mashaa Allah. He has been an Islamic School principal for 31 years, promoting Islamic education for the love of Allah (swt) and His Perfect Deen, Al-Islam in 7 different Islamic schools throughout the United States. Alhamdulillah.
Abdul shocked a courtroom in Kentucky with everybody in tears, including the judge when he forgave and hugged a man who killed his son. Abdul said on the witness stand that forgiveness is the greatest gift of charity in Islam. On April 19, 2015, our son Salahuddin was murdered. The court-hearing and sentencing took place on November 7, 2017. See the powerful video story>
O. Ricardo Pimentel (Author and Journalist)
Milwaukee, WI
O. Ricardo Pimentel was most recently the editorial page editor of the San Antonio Express-News, retiring in June 2019. He has held a variety of editing and reporting positions for newspapers in California and Arizona. He is the former executive editor of the San Bernardino County Sun, managing editor at the Tucson Citizen and Stockton Record and was a either a reporter or held an editing position for the Sun, the Fresno Bee, the San Diego Union and the Sacramento Bee. He covered Congress and federal agencies for McClatchy newspapers in Washington D.C. and was a nationally syndicated columnist with the Arizona Republic in Phoenix, Arizona.
Ricardo has written two novels, House with Two Doors (1997) and Voices from the River (2001), both published by Bilingual Review Press. He is the son of Mexican immigrants.
He is the former president of the National Association of Hispanic Journalists, a former board member of the California Chicano News Media Association, the California Society of Newspaper Editors and the Associated Press Managing Editor’s association. He was the UNITY Conference for Journalists of Color programming co-chair in 2004. He has been a Pulitzer judge for journalism entries four times.
Dr. Jeffrey Jacobson (Liaison with Middle/High School Students)
Monona, WI
Jeff Jacobson spent 38 years in rural Wisconsin secondary schools as a teacher, principal, and district administrator. Jacobson grew up in the Trempealeau County community of Blair, WI. Career stops included serving as a teacher at Augusta Jr./Sr. High School, as principal of Crandon Jr./Sr. High School, Plymouth Comprehensive High School, and Platteville High School, and as the district administrator of the Dodgeville School District. In each of these rural settings, Jacobson has come to appreciate the diversity within and between those who live, work, and build community.
Jeff is currently the Chairman of the Friends of Mwangaza, a non-profit charitable organization that raises funds to support teacher training, women’s rights advocacy, and community health in the East African nation of Tanzania. He has presented internationally at the Fulbright Sponsored International Seminar on School Leadership in Brasilia, Brazil. Additionally, he has served on the WIAA Advisory Board, the Wisconsin School Music Association Board of Directors and was a contributor to the origination of a school principal’s certification program at the University of Wisconsin – Platteville.
Jacobson earned his Ph.D. from the University of Wisconsin – Madison where he also served as the President of the Education Administration Student Organization and was recognized as an Outstanding Young Alumni by the School of Education.
Sheriff David Mahoney (Law Enforcement Officer)
Madison, WI
Sheriff Mahoney is the President of the National Sheriffs’ Association (NSA). Sheriff Mahoney is serving his fourth term as Dane County Sheriff and is retiring in May. He was first elected in Nov. 2006 to become the 52nd Dane County Sheriff. Sheriff Mahoney has been a professional law enforcement officer for 41 years and has extensive experience in labor management, having served twelve years as a local, state, and national labor executive officer.
Sheriff Mahoney has a Bachelor of Science degree in criminal justice from Mount Senario College. He is a graduate of the 92nd National Sheriff’s Institute Executive Level Management Course sponsored by the NSA and National Institute of Corrections. He is a graduate of the FBI National Academy for Executive Management and the FBI National Executive Institute (NEI) for Executive Management sponsored by the US Department of Justice, Federal Bureau of Investigation.
David and his wife, Kathleen, have two adult sons, Patrick and Sean.
Dr. Damira Grady (Liaison with all MATC Campuses in Wisconsin)
Milwaukee, WI
Dr. Damira Grady is the Vice President for Equity, Inclusion, and Community Relations at Madison College. Through this work, Dr. Grady is committed to engaging in purposeful learning and dialogue, shared leadership, and action that serves to ensure a sense of community and belonging for all students–including those who are Black, Brown, Asian, and/or Pacific Islander, Latino/a/x/Hispanic, and Indigenous, students who are differently abled or neurodiverse, communities who experience poverty, students who are caregivers, communities of different religious faiths, students of different gender and sexual identities, communities who are culturally and linguistically diverse, and their intersections.
Richard “MAC” McKinney (a Former Marine and Army Veteran who became the President of a Mosque that he planned to blow up)
Yorktown, IN
After 25 years in the armed services, and several tours in the Middle East, a Marine named Richard McKinney came back to the U.S. filled with rage towards Muslims. In what he viewed as a final mission for his country, McKinney planned and built an IED and blow up the Muncie Islamic Center. Then a fateful trip to the Mosque; where he was welcomed by the local Muslim community, changed the course of his life; and eventually became the President and leader of the Mosque. He started his own business called “From Hate to Understanding,” where he travels and speaks about his journey and changing the narrative.
- Bachelors of Social Work
- Associates of Criminal Justice
- Certified Human Rights Consultant
- Presented “Homelessness in America” at the 20th annual student symposium, Ball State Indiana
- Certified Conflict Analysis
- Certified Interfaith Conflict Resolution
- Certified Vet2Vet Peer Counseling Facilitator
- Co-founded Muncie chapter, Vet2Vet
- Lobbied and accomplished free public transportation for Disabled Veterans in Muncie, Indiana
- President of Ball State University MSA (Muslim Students Association)
- President of the Muncie Islamic Center
- Academy Award Nominee and subject of the documentary; “The Stranger at the Gate.”
- Accomplished Public and Motivational Speaker
- Co-authored “6 Wars and a Wakeup,” a veteran’s journey from warrior to peacemaker.
- Presented “6 Wars and a Wakeup” at the 2016 Cohen Peace Conference
Bibi Bahrami (Afghan refugee warmly welcomed Richard “MAC” McKinney when he walked through the door at the Mosque he intended to blow up)
Muncie, Indiana
Bibi Bahrami was born and raised in Behsood, Afghanistan. She came to Muncie Indiana in 1986 as a refugee during soviet war in Afghanistan to join her husband, Dr. Saber Bahrami, Bibi has been a community activist for over thirty-years. After learning English and earning her GED, she went on to receive Art degree from Ball State University. In 2002, she founded and became president of her own nonprofit organization, AWAKEN, (Afghan Women’s and Kids’ Education & Necessities), in order to give back to the Afghan women and children she left behind. Through Bibi’s leadership and the support of her community, AWAKEN have made a difference in the education, health care services and vocational opportunities for thousands of Afghan women and families for over a decade. In 2021, after learning that the need for housing and resettlement for incoming refugees was great, Bibi created MARRC as a sub-committee of AWAKEN to help Afghan refugees resettle and thrive in Muncie Delaware County. MARRC has provided six months of urgent support to 115 people and 35 families such as rent, utilities, jobs and many other resources. Bibi is also a member of the Muncie Rotary club, Interfaith Fellowship and is president of Islamic Center of Muncie. She is the recipient of the Vivian Conley Award for Humanitarian Service, the Indiana Women of Achievement Award, Ball State’s International Development Award, and the Rotary VIVA Award for Volunteerism. She has dedicated much of her life to the service of others and strives to make a difference in any way she can in the local and international communities!
Chris Buckley (a former KKK Leader and Radicalized US Military Veteran)
Athens, Tennessee
A native of Georgia, Buckley is a former KKK leader who now helps deradicalize young people caught up in extremism. Chris holds a Certified Peer Recovery Specialist (CPRS) in TN, a Certified Peer Support Specialist in Mental Health (CPS-MH) in GA, a Forensic Peer Mentor (FPM) in GA as well as a Certification in Trauma Stress Studies with Dr. BASSELL VanderKolk. After serving in the US Army in Afghanistan, Buckley joined the Georgia White Knights as an Imperial Nighthawk, drawn in by the movement’s anti-Muslim and racist values. Thanks to an intervention by former white power skinhead Arno Michaelis and Kurdish refugee Dr. Heval Mohamed Kelli, Buckley was able to exit extremism. He works with Serve 2 Unite to provide interventions with individuals of concern and also created the Trauma & Recovery Program to provide positive coping skills to veterans and police officers. Buckley has been featured in The Washington Post, CNN, and Bloomberg Magazine; People and been the subject of the documentary “Refuge”; and testified to the United States Congress.
Joshua Seftel (Oscar-Nominated, Emmy-Winning Filmmaker)
New York, New York
Joshua Seftel is an Oscar-nominated filmmaker known for directing the Emmy-winning landmark series Queer Eye for the Straight Guy, the feature film War, Inc. starring John Cusack, Marisa Tomei and Ben Kingsley, and his regular appearances on CBS Sunday Morning where he interviews his 86-year-old mother. Stranger at the Gate, Executive Produced by Malala Yousafzai and nominated for an Academy Award® in 2023, is the latest film in Seftel’s Emmy and Peabody-nominated Secret Life of Muslims project (SXSW), which combats Islamophobia with filmmaking. Seftel, who experienced antisemitism as a child, has been committed to working on this subject matter for the past seven years. He is also a contributor to the Peabody Award-winning podcast This American Life and The New York Times.
Aaron Stark (Almost a School Shooter) Arvada, Colorado
Aaron Stark was almost a school shooter. As a dark and destructive teen, Stark almost committed a terrible attack. Today he is a happy father of four, and wants to do all he can to help anyone on that path to find a way into the light again, and to see that they matter.
After watching the news coverage of the Parkland school shootings, Stark wrote an open letter “I was almost a school shooter.” This was sent to local news 9KUSA in Denver, and was the feature story on Next with Kyle Clark. This story gained national attention and over 17 million views in a very short time, which propelled him into a life of activism for mental wellness awareness. He has been featured on ABC, NBC, CBS, CNN, MSNBC, and also wrote his own article in the Washington Post. This was followed by his viral TEDx talk “I Was Almost a School Shooter “that currently has over 14 million views and is shown in schools, colleges, and universities, all the way up to the Dept. Of Education.
These days Aaron get in front of as many audiences as possible trying to spread his message of Giving Love to The Ones You Feel Deserve It The Least, Because They Need It The Most. He speaks to students, administrators, SRO’s, law enforcement, podcasts, one on one interviews, and any other group that is looking for a way to reach that person in the dark and remind them they matter in hopes of preventing future tragedies.
Recently he started presenting to the FBI and other law enforcement agencies in hopes of improving methods and techniques when dealing with those in the edge of darkness. Now he flies across the country speaking to help prevent the next potential HIM from happening.
Tim Cullen (a former WI State Senator – D)
Janesville, WI
Tim Cullen is a life long resident of Janesville, WI and a graduate of UW-Whitewater. He served as a Wisconsin state senator from 1975-1986 (as majority leader from 1982-1986) and again from 2011 – 2015. Tim served as the Secretary of the Wisconsin Department of Health and Social Services from 1987-1988 and as a member of the Janesville school board from 2007-2010. His the author of “Ringside Seat: Wisconsin Politics, the 1970s to Scott Walker” and is currently co-chair of Common Cause Wisconsin.
Dale Schultz (a former WI State Senator – R)
Richland Center, WI
Senator Schultz earned a Bachelor’s Degree from the School of Business at UW-Madison. He is a licensed real estate agent, and he and his wife, Rachel, own and operate a 210-acre century farm in Sauk County. They have two adult daughters, and currently make their home in Richland Center. Dale was elected to the State Assembly in 1982, and then to the State Senate during a special election in the fall of 1991 where he remained until his retirement in 2014. During his legislative tenure, he was elected Majority Leader in 2003, and served on numerous committees, including the Joint Finance Committee. Senator Schultz, who is known as a consensus leader, continues to remain engaged by promoting reforms for public schools, encouraging appropriate funding for education, and, along with Senator Cullen, is active in re-districting reform. Senator Schultz believes bi-partisan collaboration is the best way to accomplish change that will be long lasting.
Representative Sue S. Conley (WI State Representative – D)
Janesville, WI
Sue Conley is a member of the Wisconsin State Assembly, representing District 44. She assumed office on January 4, 2021. Her current term ends on January 6, 2025.
Conley ran for re-election to the Wisconsin State Assembly to represent District 44. She won in the general election on November 8, 2022. On February 26, 2024, Conley announced she would not run for re-election to the Wisconsin State Assembly.
Sue Conley lives in Janesville, Wisconsin. Conley’s career experience includes working as the executive director of the YWCA of Rock County and the Community Foundation of Southern Wisconsin.
Senator Robert L. Cowles (WI State Senator -R)
Green Bay, WI
Robert “Rob” Cowles is Republican legislator representing the 2nd Senate District, covering parts of Brown, Shawano, Outagamie and Oconto counties.