Milwaukee Office
411 East Wisconsin Avenue Suite 2350
Milwaukee,
Wisconsin
53202
|
Professional Experience
Cory Nettles is Of Counsel in the Corporate Services and Government Relations groups. He served as Governor Jim Doyle’s Secretary for the Wisconsin Department of Commerce. As Secretary of Commerce, Nettles was Governor Doyle’s “point man” on business and economic development for the State of Wisconsin. Nettles managed a wide range of issues for Governor Doyle, including negotiating a $500 million venture capital package, negotiating banking and commercial lending legislation, and negotiating regulatory reform legislation.
- At the Department of Commerce, Nettles managed one of the State’s largest agencies with 450 employees and an annual budget in excess of $225 million. Under Nettles’ leadership, Commerce invested $280 million in businesses and communities in Wisconsin, which leveraged an additional $1.4 billion dollars in private investment, and which created or retained more than 70,000 jobs. Nettles also was a principle architect of Governor Doyle’s “Grow Wisconsin” plan, a comprehensive strategy for investing more than $1 billion in Wisconsin’s economy.
- Nettles has experience in a wide range of matters including private equity and venture capital investing, tax incremental financing, brownfields and environmental contamination and remediation, utilities, transportation, affordable housing, and minority and women owned business and supplier development and diversity matters.
- Nettles also has worked closely with city and county municipal leaders on community and economic development matters across the state. He has worked closely with Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett and Milwaukee County Executive Scott Walker. He also has worked with numerous county supervisors and aldermen on the Milwaukee Common Council.
- During his prior tenure at Quarles & Brady LLP (before becoming Commerce Secretary), Nettles primarily had a litigation practice focused in product liability and commercial litigation. Nettles has represented a wide range of product manufacturers, while also developing significant expertise with the Wisconsin Lemon Law and the Federal Magnuson-Moss Warranty Acts. Nettles has worked with a wide array of businesses from multinational corporations to small biotech and information technology businesses to nonprofit organizations and community churches.
Education and Honors
- University of Wisconsin Law School (J.D., 1996)
LEO Fellow. Dean's List. Ethel Brown Award. Mathys Memorial Award for Appellate Advocacy. Abe Sigman Award for Scholarship and Character. North Milwaukee State Bank Trail Blazer Award. Alpha Kappa Alpha Connection 2003 Trail Blazer Award.
- Lawrence University (B.A., magna cum laude, 1992)
Thomas J. Watson Fellow, 1992-1993 (post graduate research in Africa and the former Soviet Union).
Bar Admissions
Wisconsin,
1996
Court Admissions
U.S. District Court, Eastern District of Wisconsin, 1996
U.S. District Court, Western District of Wisconsin, 1996
Professional Recognition
Received, “Annabell Cook Whitcomb Award,” Boys & Girls Clubs of Greater Milwaukee, May 2011. Received, “Distinguished Corporate Man of the Year Award,” Phi Beta Sigma Fraternity, April 2011. Selected for inclusion in Wisconsin Super Lawyers®–Rising Stars Edition 2007 (Government Relations). Named to 40 Under 40. Received an award from St. Francis Children's Center. Received an award from Junior Achievement, “2009 Business Hall of Fame Peak Performer Award”.
Professional and Civic Activities
- Generation Growth Capital, Inc. (Founder, Managing Director).
- GGC is a Milwaukee-based private equity fund. It does buyouts and provides growth capital to small businesses and lower-middle market companies.
- The Private Bank (Advisory Board Member).
- Weyco Group, Inc. (Audit Committee, Corporate Governance, Compensation Committee and Executive Committee).
- Lawrence University (Trustee).
- Robert W. Baird's Baird Mutual Funds, Inc. (Director).
- Robert W. Baird's Baird Private Equity Advisory Board.
- Medical College of Wisconsin, Inc. (Trustee).
- University of Wisconsin, Madison Carbone Comprehensive Cancer Center.
- Boys & Girls Clubs, Inc. (Trustee).
- United Way of Greater Wisconsin.
- Partners Advancing Values in Education - “PAVE” (Vice Chair).
- Wisconsin Partnership for Housing Development (Director, Chair of Finance Committee).
Selected Presentations/Publications
- Keynote Speaker, “Diversity & Inclusion: Moving Forward at Froedtert Health,” Diversity Council Retreat, February 9, 2011.
- Guest Panelist, “Business Leaders Explain How To Create Jobs In State,” UpFront with Mike Gousha, January 2011.
- Keynote Speaker, “Impact of Politics and Public Policy on Legal Diversity Initiative,” MCCA 11th Annual Creating Pathways to Diversity Conference, November 10, 2010.
- Panelist, “Reigniting Innovation,” Manpower Innovation Panel, October 19, 2010.
- Keynote Speaker, “Wisconsin Business Council Economic Development Forum,” WBC Symposium, August 24, 2010.
- Guest Panelist, “Wisconsin Competitive Study,” UpFront with Mike Gousha, August 2010.
- Featured, “Creating a greater impact,” The Business Journal of Milwaukee, July 30, 2010.
- Featured, “Bulls among Bears, Generation Growth seizes the moment,” BizTimes, August 21, 2009.
- Guest, “Sunday Night with Mike Gousha.”
- Nettles discussed job creation and new market based strategies for economic development. Nettles also discussed Wisconsin and Milwaukee's growing poverty rankings, and he discussed the systemic causes and solutions for addressing these problems.
- Author, “Does Milwaukee have the leadership for economic growth?”
- Milwaukee is well-poised economically for dramatic growth, but it will take a true private-public partnership between business, government and our educational institutions to make it happen.
- Author, “Once again, Milwaukee pushes away progress.”
- If the Common Council would have voted for PabstCity, it would have been a $317 million economic development project that would have generated more than $3 million in annual property taxes and more than 1000 jobs and would have been the largest redevelopment project in Milwaukee history.
- Quoted, “Report shows success for inner-city firms,” Journal Sentinel, January 25, 2008.
- Quoted, “Entrepreneur breaks into world of private equity.”
- Brian A. Mitchell Construction Co., an African-American-owned bridge builder based in Madison, has acquired Choice Construction Co., a competing, unionized steel erector, becoming one of the largest minority-owned specialized construction companies in the state. The acquisition, which closed last month, was financed by Generation Growth Capital Inc., a private equity fund newly launched by Cory Nettles. “The private equity community is starting to appreciate the fact that minority communities and entrepreneurs are not getting their fair share of capital. Whenever you have that kind of inefficiency in the marketplace, it creates opportunity.”
- Quoted, “Making a profit, making a difference. Venture capitalists are ready to pump money into innovative businesses in Milwaukee.”
- Cory Nettles, board member of Midcities Investment Management Inc., the first bona fide venture fund dedicated to growing businesses in the shattered urban core of Milwaukee, said the approach to Milwaukee's inner city is to “find opportunity, build it, grow it, scale it, exit it.”
- Quoted, “VC trends, company progress discussed at Mason Wells portfolio meeting,” Wisconsin Technology Network, June 2005.
- Moderator, “Building Networks, Capacity and Opportunities,” Mayor Tom Barrett's Business Resource Exposition.
- Topics ranged from securing financing for small and growth business development, to the needs and sources of technical assistance, to procurement and contracting opportunities with the City of Milwaukee. Former Detroit Mayor Dennis Archer, who also is a present Board Member for Johnson Controls, was the keynote speaker.
- Moderator, “Upbeat/Uptown: Starting a business in the inner city,” Wisconsin Technology Council’s Entrepreneur’s Conference.
- Keynote Speaker, “Major Facility Developments in Southeastern Wisconsin and How They Drive the Regional & State Economy,” 14th Annual Wisconsin Tri-Chapter Symposium of the International Facility Management Association.
- Nettles highlighted some of the major commercial and mixed-use developments in the area and discussed how they play a role in creating a vibrant and healthy economy and community.
- Nettles has also spoken on a wide range of topics including venture capital investing, biotechnology start-ups, doing business in China while protecting intellectual property and manufacturing processes, and Wisconsin’s transition to a high-end manufacturing and service based economy.
- Nettles has also spoken on other matters generally related to the business, tax, and regulatory environments in Wisconsin.
- Additionally, Nettles has served as a Guest Lecturer at the University of Wisconsin-Madison Law School in the General Practice Skills Course, as well as in Civil Procedure and Federal Jurisdiction classes.
|