Ah, politics.
The Republican Party of Wisconsin placed some print ads last weekend in a few news publications. The ads, intending to poke fun at the Democratic party, which doesn't have a nominee for governor, read: "Wanted: Individual willing to run as the Democratic Nominee for Governor of Wisconsin. Must be willing to defend tax hikes, eroding business climate and higher vehicle insurance rates. No experience necessary, but willingness to take direction from WEAC and trial lawyers a must. Deep pockets of personal wealth a plus."
This week, though, I heard another name, not Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett (who is expected to announce his decision to enter next year's race this week), who is considering running on the Democratic ticket. This name is Kevin Conroy. A few bloggers this week have also mentioned his name.
Who is he? Kevin T. Conroy is president and chief executive officer of Exact Sciences Corp. and former president and CEO of another Madison biotech company, Third Wave Technologies. Third Wave was acquired by Hologic in July 2008.
According to his bio, prior to joining Third Wave, Conroy served as intellectual property counsel at GE Healthcare. Before joining GE Healthcare, Conroy was chief operating officer of two early-stage, venture-backed technology companies in northern California.
Prior to those positions, he was an intellectual property litigator at two Chicago law firms, McDermott Will & Emery and Pattishall, McAuliffe, Newbury, Hilliard & Geraldson, where he was a partner. He earned a bachelor of science degree in electrical engineering at Michigan State University and a law degree.
Conroy is said to be "pro business," and according to Madison.com is working with his brother-in-law, Discovery World's Joel Brennan, to assemble an exploratory campaign team. Brennan, ironically, ran Tom Barrett's unsuccessful 2002 campaign for governor and Barrett's successful campaign for Milwaukee mayor.
No matter what happens, it should be an interesting end to the week in state politics. Is Barrett in? Is Conroy in? We'll find out soon.
A life-long and passionate community leader and Milwaukeean, Jeff Sherman is a co-founder of OnMilwaukee.
He grew up in Wauwatosa and graduated from Marquette University, as a Warrior. He holds an MBA from Cardinal Stritch University, and is the founding president of Young Professionals of Milwaukee (YPM)/Fuel Milwaukee.
Early in his career, Sherman was one of youngest members of the Greater Milwaukee Committee, and currently is involved in numerous civic and community groups - including board positions at The Wisconsin Center District, Wisconsin Club and Marcus Center for the Performing Arts. He's honored to have been named to The Business Journal's "30 under 30" and Milwaukee Magazine's "35 under 35" lists.
He owns a condo in Downtown and lives in greater Milwaukee with his wife Stephanie, his son, Jake, and daughter Pierce. He's a political, music, sports and news junkie and thinks, for what it's worth, that all new movies should be released in theaters, on demand, online and on DVD simultaneously.
He also thinks you should read OnMilwaukee each and every day.
