Category: Accomplishments
Photo by Richard Hurd
Reinhart Attains Mansfield Rule 6.0 Certification for 2023; Continues Commitment to DEI
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
October 20, 2023
Reinhart Attains Mansfield Rule 6.0 Certification for 2023; Continues Commitment to DEI
MILWAUKEE – For the second consecutive year, Reinhart Boerner Van Deuren s.c. (Reinhart) has achieved Mansfield Rule Certification, an achievement confirming the firm’s commitment to a diverse leadership team, recruiting and retaining top talent from underrepresented groups, and ensuring the equitable allocation of new business opportunities. The Mansfield Rule Certification, administered by Diversity Lab, is a leading international initiative to eliminate the gender and diversity gap in the legal profession. Reinhart was among the 106 mid-size U.S. law firms to achieve this honor for 2023.
“We are committed to a diverse legal profession, starting from within by supporting an equitable and inclusive workplace, which is why our alignment with the principles of Mansfield makes so much sense,” says Reinhart CEO Al Orr. “Encouraging diverse perspectives is essential to our clients’ success, and participation in the Mansfield Rule strengthens our ability to provide the very best counsel and service to address the full range of their evolving needs.”
The Mansfield Rule, which has been running for six years, has become the science-backed and data-driven benchmark for law firms to ensure that they have actively considered candidates from diverse backgrounds for leadership positions, promotions to equity partnership and client pitch meetings. Qualification for certification requires that more than 30 percent of the attorneys considered for these roles and opportunities are women attorneys, attorneys from underrepresented racial/ethnic groups, attorneys with disabilities, and LGBTQ+ attorneys. Reinhart considers these and other attributes for such roles and opportunities.
“Diversity, equity, and inclusion are fundamental values that we uphold at Reinhart, “says Jessica Hutson Polakowski, Reinhart board member and co-chair of the firm’s DEI Committee. “We are dedicated to advancing a professional culture that fosters the success of lawyers from diverse backgrounds, and we believe that meaningful progress in this regard can only be achieved through collective efforts to build inclusive communities.”
ABOUT DIVERSITY LAB
Diversity Lab is an incubator for innovative ideas and solutions that boost diversity and inclusion in law. Experimental ideas are piloted in collaboration with more than 250 top law firms and legal departments across the country. Diversity Lab leverages data, behavioral science, design thinking, and technology to further develop and test new ideas and research, measure the results, and share the lessons learned. For more information, visit www.diversitylab.com.
ABOUT REINHART BOERNER VAN DEUREN S.C.
Reinhart is a full-service, business-oriented law firm with offices in Milwaukee, Madison, Waukesha and Wausau, Wisconsin; Chicago and Rockford, Illinois; Minneapolis, Minnesota; Denver, Colorado; and Phoenix, Arizona. With more than 200 lawyers, the firm serves clients throughout the United States and internationally with a combination of legal advice, industry understanding and superior client service.
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REINHART MEDIA CONTACT:
Megan White, Marketing/PR Writer
Reinhart Boerner Van Deuren s.c.
1000 North Water Street, Suite 1700 | Milwaukee, WI 53202
Office: 414-298-8404 | Fax: 414-298-8097
mwhite@reinhartlaw.com | reinhartlaw.com
Photo by Richard Hurd
WPS Charitable Foundation awards scholarships for 2023
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact:
DeAnne Boegli
Vice President of Communications
608-512-5754
deanne.boegli@wpsic.com
WPS Charitable Foundation awards scholarships for 2023
Funds help support education for children of WPS Health Solutions employees
MADISON, Wis.—Oct 16, 2023—The WPS Charitable Foundation has awarded scholarships to 16 students across the country. They are the 2023 recipients of the Ray Koenig Memorial Scholarship, benefiting children of employees of WPS Health Solutions or one of its wholly owned subsidiaries. Each student received a one-year scholarship valued at $1,250.
Wisconsin
- Caitlin Drevs, UW-Milwaukee
- Lindsay Gilge, UW-Madison
- Sydney Kanable, UW-Whitewater
- Spencer Kanable, UW-Whitewater
- Dom Lobner, UW-Madison
- Elijah Moua, Madison College
- Sam Piontek, UW-Eau Claire
- Catherine Rault, Loyola University Chicago
- Paige Schuttemeier, Madison College
- Makaila Weddle, Concordia University
Illinois
- Hailey Bryan, Murray State University
- Sydney Harbison, Beloit College
- August Skinner, John A. Logan College Foundation
Missouri
- Elizabeth Skoff, Missouri State University
Nebraska
- Sam Mullin, University of Nebraska-Lincoln
North Carolina
- Kamille Stevenson, Clark Atlanta University
About the WPS Charitable Foundation
The WPS Charitable Foundation was formed in 1986 to honor WPS’ first president, Ray Koenig. The Foundation is a nonprofit charitable organization that focuses on enhancing the communities we call home by supporting organizations focused on health and wellness, especially of women and children, seniors, military and veterans, and underserved populations. The Foundation also funds the Ray Koenig Memorial Scholarship program. Each year, the program makes educational opportunities available through scholarship awards to children of employees of WPS Health Solutions and its subsidiaries.
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Photo by Richard Hurd
Victoria Thayer, CPA from Novii CPA Selected to Attend AICPA’s 2023 Leadership Academy
Victoria Thayer, CPA was one of only 36 CPAs honored by the American Institute of CPAs (AICPA) as a member of the Leadership Academy’s 15th graduating class. Victoria was selected based on her exceptional leadership skills and professional experience for the four-day Leadership Academy program, which will be held December 11th – 14th.
Victoria is the founder of Novii CPA, a local downtown Madison firm, that currently has 5 employees and continues to grow in the Madison Community. Victoria was the recipient of the 2023 WICPA Young Professional Excellence Award for her professional achievements. She is a board member of Madison Reading Project, Big Brothers Big Sisters of Dane County’s Finance Committee and part of the Advisory Committee for WWBIC.
The AICPA Leadership Academy was designed to strengthen and expand the leadership skills of promising young professionals while they network with a peer group of talented and motivated CPAs.
The Leadership Academy features career-development workshops and sessions with some of the accounting profession’s most prominent influencers. Participants were selected from public accounting firms of all sizes, business and industry, government, and consulting firms.
The 2023 Leadership Academy attendees were recommended by their employers, state CPA societies, and/or volunteer organizations. Candidates submitted resumes and a statement explaining how participating in the Leadership Academy would impact them personally and professionally.
To date, more than 480 CPAs have participated in the AICPA Leadership Academy, many of whom have gone on to take on leadership positions in their firms, businesses, and volunteer organizations.
For more information about the AICPA Leadership Academy, visit AICPA.org/Leadership.
Photo by Richard Hurd
StartingBlock wins 2023 SBA Growth Accelerator Fund Competition Phase 2
StartingBlock + 7 Partners are winners of the Phase 2 2023 SBA Growth Accelerator Fund Competition. You can read the official announcement from SBA here.
Why this matters:
- SBA recognizes the entrepreneurial strengths of the Madison region.
- The prize money allows us to align our programming with regional strengths.
- We will be able to expand our programmatic reach across the state.
- We are bringing Federal dollars to Wisconsin to support local startups.
What’s next:
- We will launch the Wisconsin HardTech accelerator next spring.
- We will be focusing on Advanced Manufacturing and on Food, Bev and Ag.
Our Ecosystem Partners include:
Photo by Richard Hurd
One City Schools to Open Child Care Center for its Staff
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
For comments or more information, contact:
Kaleem Caire
Founder and CEO
Email: kcaire@onecityschools.org
Mobile Phone: (202) 997-3198
Gail Wiseman
Chief Operating Officer/External Relations
Email: gwiseman@onecityschools.org
Mobile Phone: (608) 514-6119
One City Schools to Open Child Care Center for its Staff
The center will offer affordable childcare for infants and toddlers for One City Staff
Madison, WI (Thursday, September 14, 2023) – Today, One City Schools announced that it will begin offering affordable on-site child care for children of its employees beginning in October 2023. One City will pilot its new staff-only center this school year at its Pleasant T. Rowland Leadership Campus located at 1707 W. Broadway in Monona, Wisconsin. The new Gail and Gordon Derzon Early Care Center will enroll children ages 6 months to one year old. Children who are two, three and four years old with parents that work for One City can already enroll in One City’s preschool which serves children from across Dane County. The project is made possible through a $100,000 grant from the Roots & Wings Foundation, a leading funder of child and family wellbeing in Dane County.
One City founder and CEO, Kaleem Caire, shared his organization’s reasons for offering expanded child care specifically focused on its staff. “Each year, we have team members who bring beautiful new children into the world but are unable to find available and/or affordable care for their infants and toddlers. We operate a highly sought-after 5-star preschool with an outstanding, stable and experienced staff. We decided it would benefit our staff, their children, our three schools and the 400 children we teach to offer on-site child care for infants and toddlers. Doing so will enable teachers and staff to keep working and teaching with us while also giving them peace of mind that their children are being well cared for.”
Caire added, “We are deeply grateful for the tremendous and timely support of the Roots & Wings Foundation. We appreciate what they are doing to expand access to high quality early learning opportunities in Wisconsin. It also feels great that we are able to extend child care opportunities to our staff, and provide it at a rate they can afford.”
Bryce Pickett, One City’s Executive Director of Early Education, said One City will open its center next month with one lead teacher, an assistant teacher and six infants and toddlers. The funding provided by Roots & Wings will enable One City to hire staff and purchase equipment and materials to set up the center. One City currently offers all staff a 25% discount on tuition at its preschool for their first child and 10% for their second child. With the 25% discount, One City staff will pay $255 per week for infant care and $240 per week for one-year-olds. Tuition payments, along with the Roots & Wings investment, will cover the full cost of operating the new center.
Pickett said, “As with everything we do at One City Schools, we hope to be an example for other employers and educational institutions who would like to offer the same benefit for their employees. We share everything that we do at One City so others can learn with us and from us. We look forward to sharing how this works with our colleagues and other schools across the country.”
One City’s new infant and toddler center is named after Gail and Gordon Derzon, two longtime and strong supporters of One City Schools. Both are lifelong supporters of early childhood and K-12 education, college access, and health equity in Wisconsin and internationally. Gordon Derzon served for 26 notable years as the president and CEO of the University of Wisconsin Hospital & Clinics. Mr. Derzon has also served on the Board of Directors of One City Schools since 2016.
Click here to download a copy of this press release.
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