Feb. 13, 2023 — The Badger Institute – Wisconsin’s oldest free-market policy and journalism think tank – today announced the promotion of Angela Smith to executive vice president, the addition of board members Shannon Whitworth and Matt Rowe, and the appointment of an array of Wisconsin luminaries as emeritus directors.
Smith joined the Institute in 2021 as director of development and was promoted a year ago to vice president of development, marketing and operations. Her new role as executive vice president, effective immediately, will include responsibility for development, marketing, communications and operational initiatives.
“Angela’s extensive experience in both the private sector and the non-profit world is invaluable,” said Badger Institute President Mike Nichols. “We’re growing, expanding our reach and influence and fundraising, and Angela will be instrumental in all of that. Bottom line: she’s smart, easy to work with, has great experience and management skills and just gets stuff done. We’re lucky to have her.”
The Institute’s board members all are high-profile, influential leaders with experience in policy, advocacy and management. The addition of Whitworth and Rowe brings the size of the board up to eleven.
“Shannon Whitworth and Matt Rowe have the experience, stature and perspective needed to help us make sure we’re tackling the right issues, listening to and interacting with a broader swath of Wisconsin and having an impact where it counts – both across the state and in Madison, where we just opened an office,” said Nichols.
- Whitworth, 52, is the executive director of the Free Enterprise Academy at Milwaukee Lutheran High School and an attorney with over 20 years of litigation and public policy experience. A graduate of Macalester College in St. Paul and the University of Wisconsin Law School, he has also served as an Ozaukee County Assistant District Attorney, with the Dane County Child Support Agency and as a fellow at the Wisconsin Institute for Law & Liberty. Also a member of the Ozaukee County Board, he lives in Cedarburg with his wife and two children.
- Matt Rowe, 51, is the president of the Wausau-based law firm Ruder Ware. He earned a B.A. from UW-Eau Claire in 1994 and, in 1997, a J.D. from the University of Minnesota Law School, where he was managing editor of the Minnesota Law Review. He has served as Chairman of the Board for Aspirus, Inc., a regional health care system headquartered in Wausau, and he has also served on the boards of an array of other community and civic organizations, including the Dan Storey Foundation, the Victor and Helen Geisel Foundation, Meritas® (a global alliance of more than 180 business-focused law firms) and the Greater Wausau Prosperity Partnership. Matt lives in Wausau, is married and has three children.
The Milwaukee-based Institute is also adding eight emeritus directors, all of whom have been high-profile leaders in the state and previously served on the Badger Institute board: Cate Dellin, Jon Hammes, Tom Howatt, Bill Nasgovitz, Ulice Payne, Tim Sheehy, Jerry Whitburn and Ed Zore.
