Building a thriving economy in Wisconsin takes cooperation, collaboration, and a determination to pursue a vision for the future, speakers told the 2025 Wisconsin Economic Summit.
Unlocking investment in Wisconsin’s economy was the theme for this year’s conference, held Oct. 15-16 at the KI Convention Center in Green Bay. More than 400 people were registered to attend the event.
“Unlocking investment isn’t just about dollars. It’s about the people and places in Wisconsin,” WEDC Deputy Secretary and Chief Operating Officer Sam Rikkers told the gathering. “Wisconsin’s success depends on community vitality and business growth.”
Chef Paul Bartolotta speaks at the 2025 Wisconsin Economic Development Summit
Bartolotta: It’s all about people
Chef Paul Bartolotta, owner and co-founder of Bartolotta Restaurants, echoed that message, saying the success of his company is “about people and community. They live together.”
Bartolotta, the conference’s opening featured speaker, said his restaurant group—which encompasses 18 restaurants and catering facilities in the Milwaukee area and employs about 1,000 people—aims to “elevate the social fabric of the communities in which we operate … I want Milwaukee to be visible to the world.”
Wauwatosa natives Paul and his brother Joe Bartolotta (who died in 2019) opened their first Milwaukee-area restaurant in 1993 after Paul had worked in restaurants in France, Italy, New York City, and Chicago. Bartolotta said their vision for the company centered around hiring good employees and supporting them.
“It’s all about our people. Let’s take care of them first and invest in them. Believe in their vision and support their vision. Give them the opportunity and they will help you grow,” he said. “Growth helps everyone. It creates career pathways. It creates opportunity.”
Green Bay Mayor Eric Genrich speaks at the 2025 Wisconsin Economic Summit, hosted at the KI Convention Center
Genrich: Collaboration is key
In his luncheon address to the summit, Green Bay Mayor Eric Genrich also emphasized the importance of working together. “It starts and ends with partnership and collaboration,” he said. “Partnerships are so essential to growing this city.”
Genrich said support from WEDC and from the Wisconsin Department of Administration have helped with job growth and economic development.
In particular, a $500,000 WEDC Idle Sites Redevelopment Grant authorized in 2021 was “the key” to kicking off a huge, multi-year waterfront redevelopment project, Genrich said. It allowed Brown County to purchase property that had been the site of a power plant and clear away remaining coal piles to incorporate the land into a promenade and public concert and recreation area along the shores of the Fox River that will be “transformational” to the city, he said.
A grant for $1.8 million from the state’s Opportunity Attraction Fund, administered by WEDC, helped cover public safety costs that resulted from Green Bay hosting the 2025 NFL Draft in April, drawing about 600,000 visitors to the area. “We are so grateful,” Genrich said.
Educational partnerships play a role, as well, he said, such as the courses at Northeast Wisconsin Technical College that have trained “so many tradespeople—work that is really essential to who we are in Northeast Wisconsin.”
In addition, a project by Harvard University and the Bloomberg Philanthropies City Data Alliance is redesigning Green Bay’s city government data systems to improve services to residents.
Genrich said working with communities throughout the Fox Valley is also critical for the regional economy. “There’s a great spirit of collaboration across municipal boundaries. We recognize that we rise and fall together. If something is good for Ashwaubenon, it’s ultimately good for the city of Green Bay. If not for those collaborations, we would not be in the place where we are today,” he said.
WEDC Deputy Secretary and Chief Operating Officer Sam Rikkers at the 2025 Wisconsin Economic Summit
Rikkers: Invest in communities
Rikkers acknowledged that the state has challenges to confront—including affordable housing, child care, and a workforce shortage—but said those challenges offer an opportunity to rethink strategies for growth.
“Every time we invest in workforce, infrastructure, or entrepreneurship, we’re strengthening the communities that sustain them. And every time we invest in communities, we’re creating the conditions businesses need to grow,” he said.
Noting that Wisconsin lags behind neighboring states in terms of venture capital investment in startups, WEDC Vice President of Entrepreneurship and Innovation Shayna Hetzel said investors should be taking a longer look at Wisconsin for its exceptional workforce and supply chain.
“We have so much unmet potential in Wisconsin. We can have debates but when we leave the room, we are Team Wisconsin. We need everyone to lock arms and commit to innovation. Innovation is everyone’s job,” Hetzel said.
Oneida Nation Chairman Tehassi Hill at the 2025 Wisconsin Economic Summit
Oneida Nation chairman highlights education, job creation
Investing in community is not just an issue for Wisconsin’s cities and towns, it is also the keystone of the state’s 11 federally recognized Native American Tribes.
Oneida Nation Chairman Tehassi Hill is “a leader who embodies this spirit of investment,” focusing attention on preserving the Tribe’s culture, community, and its future, Rikkers said in introducing Hill at the summit.
One of the featured speakers at the summit, Hill said the Tribe’s diverse businesses are an economic engine for the state, as well as for the Oneida Nation, providing an annual financial impact of more than $750 million.
Gaming—that started with bingo parlors in the 1970s and expanded to the Oneida Casino that opened in Green Bay in 1994—have provided financial stability for the Tribe. “Every dollar coming into the casino was earmarked for essential services to tribal members and still is, to date,” Hill said.
But gaming also represents more than just a revenue stream. “It was about standing firm in our sovereignty and building a foundation for the future of our people, on our terms,” Hill said.
The Oneida Tribe has more than 7,000 members in Wisconsin, and 59% of them live on the 65,400-acre reservation, he said.
In addition to the casino and hotel, the Tribe operates the Thornberry Creek golf course at Oneida and owns several engineering companies, retail shops, and an apple orchard. Hill said the tribe provides about 3,000 jobs. According to the Wisconsin Department of Administration, the Oneida Nation is the fifth-largest employer in Brown County and the 14th-largest employer in Outagamie County.
Revenue from the businesses goes toward education, health care, public utilities, police operations, and social services for Tribal members. Education is the Tribe’s “leading priority,” Hill said, and the reservation’s K-12 school “relieves local school districts of almost $6 million in educational costs for our members’ children.”
The Oneida Nation was formally recognized as a sovereign nation in 1838 after the tribe was displaced from its original lands in New York in the early 1800s and many of its members were relocated to the Green Bay area. Tribal members persevered, with their “seven generations” philosophy, thinking about providing for their children, their children’s children, and beyond, Hill said.
“Our ancestors forged a great path for us to follow and they have laid the foundation for this community in which we live today,” he said.
Governor Tony Evers at the 2025 Wisconsin Economic Summit
Governor Evers: Invest in Wisconsin’s future
Governor Tony Evers drew two standing ovations as he made a surprise appearance near the close of the two-day summit.
Governor Evers noted that WEDC has committed more than $91 million in grants, loans, and tax credits to projects and programs across Wisconsin in the 2025 fiscal year—the highest volume in the past five years.
“Capital is important, but it’s about people investing in people and all of us investing in Wisconsin’s future,” he said. “That’s the Wisconsin way. We show up, we roll up our sleeves, and we find a way forward.”
Governor Evers referred to “incredible wins” the state has achieved through investments from global corporations, including Microsoft’s partnerships with the Green Bay Packers and the UW-Milwaukee, as well as the purchase and planned expansion of the Nexus Pharmaceuticals plant in Pleasant Prairie by Eli Lilly & Co. These projects will create thousands of jobs with good salaries and will ensure that Wisconsin moves forward in sectors such as advanced manufacturing and personalized medicine, he said.
Governor Evers said the Wisconsin Economic Summit has reflected the spirit of coming together to imagine what’s next for that state.
“I hope you leave inspired to keep that collaboration growing. Continue building an economy that works for every person in every corner of the state,” he said.
