FRI AM News: WisBusiness: the Podcast with Heather Wentler, Doyenne; At least 150 dairy industry Teamsters vote to strike amid contract dispute

December 5, 2025

— This week’s episode of “WisBusiness: the Podcast” is with Heather Wentler, co-founder and executive director of Doyenne.

Wentler announced in a blog post last month that she will be stepping down from leading the Madison-based organization, which aims to support women and other underrepresented groups as they launch and grow early-stage startup companies.

She discusses the path ahead for the nonprofit group, which has begun the search for its next executive director. The leadership team started doing first-round interviews in the first week of December.

Wentler explains she didn’t want to promote someone from within to take over, noting “I don’t know what I’m not seeing” without casting a wider net.

“Trying to hire at an executive level during the holidays can be kind of tight and can be kind of tough,” she said. “So while we’re trying to be able to have someone accepted and starting the role not long after the new year, we know that might not happen … We want to be very intentional about it.”

Wentler has been at the helm of Doyenne for 14 years, saying the decision to step down wasn’t made lightly.

“When I started thinking about what does the organization need to continue to flourish and move forward, you know, it’s something that I preach and teach to my entrepreneurs as well, is identifying when you’ve kind of run your course within your company,” she said.

Now, she said the focus is on identifying who is best suited to carry on the momentum established under her leadership and continue advancing Doyenne.

“I know that as we continue to move into this next phase of society, we might need a different person at the help to be able to keep up with those things,” she said.

Wentler said she’s seeing a backslide in disparities within the entrepreneurial community after earlier progress was made in the 2010s.

“When we look at how we were making progress … around funding, around recognition, around opportunities for historically marginalized individuals, we’re starting to see those gaps grow again,” she said.

Listen to the podcast and see the full list of WisBusiness.com podcasts.

See more on Doyenne here.

— At least 150 Teamsters members at three western Wisconsin dairy facilities have voted to strike amid a labor contract dispute, the union announced.

Workers at the Actus Nutrition facility in Sparta and Foremost Farms processing plants in Richland Center and Lancaster are represented by Teamsters Local 120.

The union says Actus is moving to “slash worker benefits and protections.”

And it claims Foremost Farms is seeking similar changes at the other sites. This comes after the dairy processor previously finalized a contract with the union a month before selling its Sparta plant to Actus, according to the release. But the union says Actus “refused to honor key benefits” in that agreement, including provisions related to health care, pensions and more.

Tom Erickson, president of Local 120, says Actus has tried to “gut” the earlier contract that members negotiated with Foremost Farms.

“If these companies think they can shuffle ownership around to strip workers of their rights and protections, they are in for a rude awakening,” he said yesterday in a statement. “Our members held up their end of the deal, and they are ready to hit the streets to get what’s rightfully theirs.”

Neither employer responded to requests for comment on the strike.

After workers at the Actus site rejected the company’s latest offer, they filed a 10-day strike notice, the release shows. The union says workers at the other locations are worried that Foremost Farms may sell them as well, and also filed strike notices there.

See the release.

— A bill being circulated by Dem lawmakers would establish an “innovation council” around multi-family housing and direct it to create new guidelines for single-stairway dwellings.

Sen. Jamie Wall of Green Bay and Rep. Mike Bare of Verona recently sent a co-sponsorship memo to other lawmakers on LRB 2644/1.

While the state commercial building code currently doesn’t allow for building multi-family dwellings with a single staircase, bill authors say these structures improve housing affordability and density by making “more efficient use” of floor space.

“These buildings can be more cost-effective to build, fit on smaller lots, and support a greater variety of unit layouts, including larger, family-friendly units,” they wrote in the memo.

Under their legislation, the council would be required to make recommendations to the Commercial Building Code Council to allow for single-staircase multi-family construction, the memo shows.

The council, under the state Department of Safety and Professional Services, would be directed to create a “guidebook” for local governments for making such allowances, including a model ordinance. The legislation would authorize counties, cities, villages and towns to enact rules under this framework.

Members of the council would include a building inspector, a professional firefighter, a fire chief, a fitter of automatic fire sprinkler systems, an engineer, an expert on the International Residential Code and a DSPS employee with expertise in commercial building code. Several of these members would have to be recommended by relevant associations or unions.

In addition to meeting each month until completing the guidebook and model ordinance, the council would be required to meet at the request of the DSPS secretary to work on other recommendations related to multi-family housing.

The co-sponsorship deadline is today.

See the bill text.

— Appleton-area startup Auvia Health has won the NEW Launch Alliance Pitch Event, landing a small cash prize and the opportunity to present to a larger audience next year.

The New North economic development group yesterday announced Nicole Hurd’s pitch for Auvia Health got top marks Wednesday during the competition held at TitletownTech in Green Bay. She earned $2,000 and was also invited to speak at the New North Summit in June.

Hurd’s own experience with post-partum depression led her to launch the digital health business, which has a 24/7 “lifeline” to support others going through the challenges of maternity. It has a voice-based technology platform that can guide users toward professional care when needed, according to an overview of her presentation.

“I started the company from a place of pain,” Hurd said in a statement. “I felt an empathetic pull to create a better world for new parents. I wanted them to have 24/7 support outside of traditional health care.”

The company’s LinkedIn page shows it’s raised at least $250,000 from angel investors and other “early believers” and has more than 200 families on its waitlist.

Patti Habeck, president and CEO of New North, says this week’s pitch event “demonstrated that there is no shortage of quality business ideas germinating within the New North region.”

See more in the release, including details on other top presentations.

UW-Madison will be cautious in admitting grad students for next fall

Tyco Fire Products, Wisconsin near settlement in long-running PFAS suit

TOPICS

EDUCATION

– Report: More than one-third of Wisconsin’s youngest students need reading intervention

– UW-Madison creating a new college for artificial intelligence

ENVIRONMENT

– Wisconsin is in for a frigid, snowy December, thanks to a polar vortex

FOXCONN REPORTS

– How Foxconn will spend $569M at Racine County campus

HEALTH CARE