Friends of Nolen Waterfront Board of Directors

Deb Archer Deb is an early advocate for making strides to “celebrate” our lakes and excited for what lies ahead for the Nolen Waterfront. As former CEO of Destination Madison and the Madison Area Sports Commission for 25 years, Deb and her team were instrumental in the success of Monona Terrace the first 25 years of its history and responsible for bringing Ironman and the Cross Fit Games to Madison, the very special Bucky on Parade and securing long-term agreements to host WIAA state high school championships in Madison. Deb is a champion for Madison and all there is to do and see in the area.  Deb also serves on the Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra Board of Directors, is Vice Chair of the American Family Children’s Hospital Advisory Board and a public member of the University of Wisconsin Medical Foundation Board.

Brenda Baker, Brenda is Vice President of Exhibits, Facilities, and Strategic Initiatives at Madison Children's Museum and a practicing visual artist. Brenda has overseen the museum's major expansion and exhibit projects for more than 30 years. She is the visionary behind MCM's sustainability work and a national museum leader in sustainable design, climate change initiatives, and cultural exhibitions. Brenda is on the board of directors for the Association of Children's Museums, is one of the  co-founders of Badger Rock Middle School in Madison, and co-founder of the Women Artists Forward Fund and Forward Art Prize. Brenda's paintings and sculpture are held in collections in the US, Canada, Europe and South America. In her spare time, Brenda enjoys cross country skiing, cycling and coaching middle school cross country skiers with Madnorski.

Sheri Carter [bio coming soon]

Pam Christenson Pam is the Director of Customer and Community Relations for Madison Gas and Electric.  Prior to her work with MGE, Pam held positions in both the public and private sector including 15 years in a number of different leadership roles with the State of Wisconsin. In addition to the FNW Board, Pam also serves on the boards of Downtown Madison Inc., Clean Lakes Alliance, Madison Regional Economic Partnership (MadREP), Workforce Development Board of South-Central Wisconsin, Forward BioLabs, Utility Economic Development Association, the Wisconsin Economic Development Association, Wisconsin Business Development, and chairs the Destination District Taskforce.  She and her husband co-own Christy’s Landing, a third generation bar and restaurant on Lake Waubesa.

Susan Detering, Susan is a Broker at Solidarity Realty and a co-Owner of Batch Bakehouse. Her East-side roots run deep (even though she’s a Madison transplant). Prior to starting her life and family in Madison; Susan was a Grand Canyon river-guide trip-leader rowing 188 miles of the Colorado River, and middle school art teacher living in Flagstaff, AZ. It’s a toss up which of those careers was harder! Before that she lived and worked in NYC at a Contemporary Art Gallery on Fifth Avenue and stayed out of trouble studying Yoga in the Village. Susan has a BA from Mount Holyoke and M.Ed. from Northern Arizona University. She also has the privilege to say she helped restore the lower Colorado River as a crew member on the Yuma East Wetlands Project, a 1400 acre wetland restoration. When Susan isn’t rolling up her sleeves to get something done, she’s collaborating with friends on something beautiful.

Alan Fish, Alan came to Madison in 1977 for a MS in Urban Planning and never left, mostly. He worked in State government in both legislative and executive branches for ten years. In 1989 Donna Shalala hired him to help rebuild UW Athletics and he worked there for 12 years. He began facility development projects at that time as project manager for the Kohl Center and Camp Randall. From 2002 on, he spent 10 years as vice chancellor for Facilities Planning and Management for the campus and worked on dozens of new and remodeled building projects. He was involved with fundraising, campus master planning, local and state approval processes and led a team that managed all campus buildings, grounds and transportation infrastructure. He was recruited for the same job at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore from 2012 to 2015. He retired and returned home to start a project consulting business in 2016. He has lived on the near east side on Lake Monona for 30 years and the prospect of reimagining the Monona lakeshore is both exciting and challenging. He looks forward to joining a great team to work on building a sustainable organization to see this vision accomplished and maintained.

Dan Kennelly, Dan is VP at Quad Capital Partners, specializing in real estate investment and development in flagship university markets. With previous positions in both the public and private sectors, Dan’s focus has been working at the convergence of local government, real estate development, and business to shape and build communities. This includes advising municipalities as a Director at Baker Tilly, managing major projects and business resources with the City of Madison, and crafting economic development strategies at Vandewalle & Associates and AECOM Economics. Dan serves on the Boards of the Madison Public Schools Foundation and Downtown Madison, Inc. He has a master’s in urban planning from the University of Michigan and a bachelor’s from UW-Madison. Born and raised in Madison, Dan currently lives in the Bay Creek neighborhood.

Tyler Leeper [bio coming soon]

Jamie Patrick Jamie serves as the VP for Sales, Sports and Services at Destination Madison and the Madison Area Sports Commission.  He has led the process to bring numerous National and International events to Madison including the CrossFit Games. Prior to Destination Madison he worked at the Yakima Valley Sports Commission and holds degrees from the University of Nebraska and Gonzaga University.

Raj Shukla [bio coming soon]