Cover Story

Cover Story
Madison’s Most Influential
Our annual list of the city’s top movers and shakers

By Chuck Nowlen
Published November 1993
Copyright 1993, Madison Magazine

It’s been a year of changing faces at the top in Madison. We’ve got a new schools superintendent, a new police chief and a new Oscar Mayer president. And, after five years as UW chancellor, Donna Shalala finally skipped town.

Developments like these made it especially fun to compile our seventh-annual list of people who have had the biggest impact on our community this year. As always, the list is an attempt to identify those who, as the dictionary says, “have the power to sway or affect based on prestige, wealth, ability or position.” More than 200 nominations came in based on behind-the-scenes interviews and many other sources. And even though we tried our best to maintain objectivity, we must admit that the list is still highly subjective. We’ve done what we can to have a little fun with it too.

As you scan the list, you will again find this year that some rather notable names are missing. (Gov. Tommy Thompson and Administration Secretary James Klauser, for example, ended their record six-year streak.) We have made a special effort to find fresh faces, and there are only three repeats from last year – although a few names have appeared sometime in the past.

With that, here is Madison Magazine’s 1993 version of the city’s top movers and shakers.

Cheryl Wilhoyte

The new Superintendent of Madison Schools spent much of her first year analyzing the strengths and weaknesses of Wisconsin’s second-largest school district. But after pioneering an annual “State of the District” speech this fall, she figures to be much more vocal on things like budget cuts, charter schools, programs for at-risk youth and the controversial “outcomes-base education” management philosophy.

Jim Durham

He’s worked with granite, marble and stone for 20 years, and as co-founder of Quarra Stone, Inc., Durham has brought the company to national success in just over 46 months. In an industry dominated by high-tech merchandising and fabricating competitors, the Madison-based Quarra Stone has more than held its own so far. This year, the company added a crown jewel to its list of projects – Grainger Hall, the stunning new UW-Madison School of Business, which includes 20,000 pieces of Indiana limestone and South Dakota granite.

Dale Mathwich, Terrence Wall, Jon Lancaster

Ever notice that the area just beyond East Towne is starting to look like a city of its own? These three gentlemen are among those most responsible. Mathwich, CEO at American Family Insurance Group, is the proud papa of the largest single corporate complex in the state. Wall, president of High Crossing Development Corporation; and Lancaster, the longtime auto dealer, were driving forces behind all those offices, apartment buildings and retail outlets south of Highway 151 near the Interstate.

Bill Vancil, Lee Leicinger, Terry Shockley

Next time you flip on your car radio, think of these three: They’re among the top players on Madison’s broadcast scene today. As general manager of WTDY, Vancil brought all-talk radio to Madison while overseeing two other stations as well – WJJO and WMGM. The irascible Leicinger is best remembered for firing just about everybody when he took over at WIBA awhile back, but this year he came to the rescue of the venerable WMAD, replacing months of silent air space with popular rock favorites. Thank Shockley, meanwhile, for all the oldies you hear on WOLX. He’s a member of almost every local board you can think of, and he’s also trying to get the license for TV’s local Channel 27.

Barry Alvarez, Stu Jackson, Jeff Sauer

Think these guys can’t get a great table in any restaurant in town? Alvarez has put the roar back into the Badgers football team, while former Knicks coach Jackson promises to do the same with the perennial-doormat basketball team. All Sauer has done, meanwhile, is win two national hockey titles while compiling the third-best record of all active college coaches. If he can just keep his players from defecting to the National Hockey League, look for more national titles down the road.

David Travis

He’s been a fixture in the state Legislature for years, and, according to insiders, his influence has been especially potent on Madison’s behalf this year. A member of the powerful Joint Finance Committee, Travis was a major force behind restoring state municipal-services payments to the city, for example, and he helped soften the blow of state cost controls. The result: millions in revenue that might not be available if he weren’t around.

Phil Blake, Clayton Frink

These are the guys who guide what you read every day in the city’s two major newspapers. Blake, the new publisher of the Wisconsin State Journal, has taken a few hits in the alternative press, but he comes with a solid background in both reporting and the business side of journalism. Frink, also a one-time reporter, was general manager of Madison Newspapers Inc. for six years before becoming the Capital Times’ publisher last month.

Jonathan Overby

He’s best know as “Johnny O” on WORT’s popular Sunday evening gospel show, but Overby is also a much-sought-after musician, an artist-in-residence at Edgewood College and a longtime leader in Madison’s black community. Find a major community initiative anywhere in the city, and chances are that Overby had something to do with it somewhere along the line.

Richard Williams

We’ll know more about his influence as the year unfolds, but David Couper’s successor as Madison Police Chief already shows signs of expanding Couper’s emphasis on grass-roots neighborhood police work. Before he even took office, the city’s first African-American police chief was out on the streets meeting with people in Madison’s most troubled areas. “We don’t have to keep saying, ‘You don’t understand,’” said one neighborhood leader, “because he knows where we’re coming from.”

Sue Bauman

Widely rumored to be a future mayoral candidate, the veteran member of the Madison City Council gets high marks from those in the know for her work on the city’s most contentious issues. She’s not afraid to take a tough stand on whatever she believes in, but she’s also known as a masterful compromiser. Many times, she’s the one who finds a workable alternative while her colleagues concentrate on butting their heads against the wall.

Michael Wilson

If and when health-care reform becomes law, who’s going to translate it into day-to-day service in Madison? People like Wilson, president and chief administrator of Dean Medical Center, the city’s largest HMO. A few months before the battle was on in Congress, Wilson put it this way: “I think we’ll be all right. Most of what they’re talking about at a national level has already taken place here.” We’ll see.

Robert Eckert

The new president of Oscar Mayer Foods Corp. takes the helm of an industry giant with more than $2 billion in sales, 2,300 Madison employees and a $13 million local payroll. The 39-year-old corporate wunderkind came from Oscar Mayer’s parent company, Kraft USA, in Chicago, where he headed the firm’s United Way campaign and helped direct a successful community organization for inner-city youth.

Louis and Julie Swedarski

The Swedarskis each live highly active professional lives: He’s assistant principal at East High School, and she’s a physical therapist at University Hospital. But if they ever slowed down during their off hours, the city’s Jewish community would definitely feel the loss. Julie is president of Madison’s Temple Beth El, which is considering expanding at its land-locked location on Arbor Drive. Louis, former president of the Madison Jewish Community Council, is a mainstay at Temple Beth El as well.

Douglas Morrissette

As the new mayor of Fitchburg, Dane County’s second-largest city, Morrissette has brought pragmatic politics and fiscal responsibility to one of Wisconsin’s fastest-growing suburbs. It’s a good thing, too: He inherited an operating revenue shortfall that torpedoed the city’s bond rating. If anyone can turn it around, insiders say, it’ll be Morrissette, who’s also a honcho in the state Department of Natural Resources.

Carin Clauss

If you’re in local, state or federal government and you need an expert on employment law, you turn to Clauss, a professor at the UW Law School. She’s been instrumental in everything from state comparable-worth legislation to federal protection in the workplace; and besides that, she’s an excellent teacher. Pleasant and hard-working, with a mind like a steel trap, Clauss gets rave reviews from her students. She’s also highly respected by her faculty colleagues.

Jim Imhoff

As president of First Realty Group, Inc., Imhoff heads one of the city’s largest real estate firms – with more than 130 brokers and offices in Madison, Middleton, Oregon and DeForest. As the company has grown, his role has changed dramatically: He now spends most of his time providing marketing, accounting and training support services for his far-flung staff. Highly involved in community affairs, he’s a trustee of Edgewood College, a United Way organizer, a member of the state Mortgage Banking Committee and an advisor to the UW School of Business Real Estate Research Foundation.

Booker Gardner, Mazi Jenkins, Gregory Kebbekus

Principal of Van Hise Elementary School since 1984, Gardner is also a volunteer at the local Equal Opportunity Commission, a member of the teacher-contract negotiating team and a mainstay on many local boards – all while leading internal school-district changes in curriculum and minority programs. Jenkins, a math teacher at Lincoln Elementary, has received both state and national awards for excellence; and she pioneered what has become a nationwide program that involves students in problem-solving math projects. Kebbekus, a guidance counselor at Cottage Grove Elementary School, was just named one of only four Wisconsin “Teachers of the Year.” Among other things, he started a district-wide guidance program that was given an exemplary rating by the state DPI.

David Kindig, Norman Fost

The only two local profs to follow “Her Shalalaness” to the Department of Health and Human Services, Kindig and Fost promise to be heavy hitters as Hillary Rodham Clinton tries to overhaul the nation’s health-care system. Kindig, Shalala’s senior policy adviser, has been making the rounds trying to drum up support for more emphasis on general practitioners in America’s medical schools. Fost, a medical ethicist, studies various proposals and advises policy makers on ethical implications. An ethicist in the cut-throat world of health-care politics? Hmmm.

Shirley Abrahamson

She’s been a state Supreme Court justice for the better part of two decades, and Abrahamson continues to keep her nose to the grindstone while some call in their work and worry about getting reelected. Tough, insightful and totally dedicated in her legal analyses, she’s described by one insider this way: “Shirley Abrahamson might be the only Wisconsin Supreme Court justice with a fully functioning brain.”

Leslie Howard, Jane Coleman

Howard directs United Way of Dane County, while Coleman is the brains behind the Madison Community Foundation. Together, they continue to represent a formidable one-two punch in community fundraising, with Howard developing this year’s innovative “Day of Caring” volunteer campaign and Coleman keeping her organization running like a well-oiled machine.

Scott Klug, Russ Feingold

After trouncing Ada Deer last November, Republican Klug solidified his hold on the once-leftist Second US Congressional District, and he continues to be an effective maverick in the House of Representatives. The solidly liberal Feingold, meanwhile, beat the pants off Robert Kasten, then found himself as a key vote in the contentious debate over Bill Clinton’s budget package (into which he inserted a moratorium on bovine growth hormone). He’s also been heard on consolidating federal overseas broadcasts and slashing certain commodities subsidies.

Michael Fox

The talented Madison attorney has been a player in town for years, and while some of his closest friends think his ego needs an overhaul, he is widely considered to be tops in his field. Whatever the case, he has a knack for making powers that be very nervous – even when he doesn’t necessarily get the verdict he pursues. Ask the UW Athletic Department, for example, if women’s basketball coach Mary Murphy really came out on top after being sued by former player Amy Bauer.

Mark Luker, Betsy Drain, Gary Sandefur

While Chancellor David Ward now gets most of the ink at UW-Madison, here are three people with considerable behind-the-scenes clout all over campus. Luker oversees a massive, top-to-bottom upgrade of the university’s instructional computer network – bringing email service to the student body, for example. Drain, a veteran of the UW’s complex governance system, is in charge of gender equity issues, while Sandefur, a renowned sociology and social work researcher, is point man on minority affairs.

Brady Williamson

This LaFollette, Sinykin attorney has been active in media law and has argued cases before the Supreme Court. Politics is his other arena. With close ties to the Clinton Administration, Williamson has served as a top advance man for the president on several trips abroad.

Butch Vig

The big-time record producer has spun the dials for every band from Sonic Youth to U2, and while he could pack his bags for La-La Land any time he wants, he prefers to make Madison his home. Vig may have put Madison on the rock ‘n’ roll map, but he and his partners are committed to keeping their Smart Studios affordable enough to serve local musicians. Refreshing indeed in a business where success can go so easily to a proven winner’s head.

Maureen Arcand

Stricken with cerebral palsy at birth, Arcand is one of two specialists studying what the new Americans with Disabilities Act will mean to county and local governments. A former Dane County Board member and an advocate for Access to Independence, she sees the ADA as a civil-rights act, not an employment mandate for business and governments. “We see ourselves as people first,” she says. “Our disabilities are incidental to our being people with the same feelings and desires to work as everybody has.”

Jeffrey Davis

As state epidemiologist since 1978, Davis is Wisconsin’s top medical detective when unknown diseases threaten citizens’ health. Tracking down the culprit in an epidemic is often painstaking work, but Davis is one of the top professionals in his field. In the late-‘70s, when toxic shock syndrome was killing American women, he did pioneering work that identified tampons as a possible cause. He was also instrumental in tracing Milwaukee’s summer outbreak of “Trebelhorn’s Revenge” to the city’s water supply.

Morris Andrews, Sharon Chamberlain

The Batman and Robin of hardball Wisconsin politics. Andrews, the former state teacher’s union strongman, showed the master’s touch this year in the Monona Terrace Convention Center victory and Russ Feingold’s Cinderella trek to the US Senate. Chamberlain’s state-of-the-art polling and research techniques, meanwhile, provided the raw data that Andrews parlayed into electoral wins. At this point, the husband-and-wife team can call the shots on just about any political campaign they choose.

Michael Johnson

This Madison-area man has become one of the leading public speakers in the country when the subject is AIDS. Johnson, who has the disease, often speaks with his wife Cheri at his side; and the pair never duck a question. It’s compelling, important stuff, especially when the audience is young.

Bettye Latimer

She just stepped down from her seat on the Madison Equal Opportunities Commission, but that won’t dilute her many years of influence, particularly in the African-American community. As publisher of Umoja, a monthly newsletter dedicated to positive news about the city’s black residents, Latimer knows just about everything about who’s doing what, whether it’s opening a new shop for hip-hop casual wear or a wedding-renewal ceremony built on African customs.

Helene Nelson

A fast-rising veteran of several state and county agencies, the youthful Nelson now oversees Dane County’s largest department, the Department of Human Services. Highly efficient and ultra-savvy, Nelson hopes to be a peacemaker between county and city dwellers, bringing cost-effectiveness to an often-strained $103 million agency. Two top priorities: humanizing the welfare process and automating much of the paper shuffling that is now done manually.

Sunny Schubert

A longtime presence on Madison’s newspaper scene, Schubert started as a State Journal feature writer, but was bumped up to the editorial page a few years ago. Some think the paper has gone soft under the weight of corporate pressures, but Schubert is at least one exception on the staff. Her editorials are among the feistiest you’ll find in town.

Walter Kunicki, Charlie Gonzales

Underrated when he first became Speaker of the Wisconsin Assembly, Milwaukee-transplant Kunicki has learned a lot since; and it would be a big mistake to underestimate him as the Legislature gears up this year. Gonzales, Kunicki’s top aide, is a major mover and shaker behind the scenes at the Capitol; but, then again, he’d better be. He makes more money than a dead artist or a plumber who specializes in overtime.

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Cover Story Madison’s Most Influential Our annual list of the city’s top movers and shakers By Chuck Nowlen Published November 1993 Copyright 1993, Madison Magazine It’s been a year of changing faces at the top in Madison. We’ve got a new schools superintendent, a new police chief and a new Oscar Mayer president. And, after five years as UW chancellor, Donna Shalala finally skipped town. Developments like these made it especially fun to compile our seventh-annual list of people who have had the biggest impact on our community this year. As always, the list is an attempt to identify those who, as the dictionary says, “have the power to sway or affect based on prestige, wealth, ability or position.” More than 200 nominations came in based on behind-the-scenes interviews and many other sources. And even though we tried our best to maintain objectivity, we must admit that the list is still highly subjective. We’ve done what we can to have a little fun with it too. As you scan the list, you will again find this year that some rather notable names are missing. (Gov. Tommy Thompson and Administration Secretary James Klauser, for example, ended their record six-year streak.) We have made a special effort to find fresh faces, and there are only three repeats from last year – although a few names have appeared sometime in the past. With that, here is Madison Magazine’s 1993 version of the city’s top movers and shakers. Cheryl Wilhoyte The new Superintendent of Madison Schools spent much of her first year analyzing the strengths and weaknesses of Wisconsin’s second-largest school district. But after pioneering an annual “State of the District” speech this fall, she figures to be much more vocal on things like budget cuts, charter schools, programs for at-risk youth and the controversial “outcomes-base education” management philosophy. Jim Durham He’s worked with granite, marble and stone for 20 years, and as co-founder of Quarra Stone, Inc., Durham has brought the company to national success in just over 46 months. In an industry dominated by high-tech merchandising and fabricating competitors, the Madison-based Quarra Stone has more than held its own so far. This year, the company added a crown jewel to its list of projects – Grainger Hall, the stunning new UW-Madison School of Business, which includes 20,000 pieces of Indiana limestone and South Dakota granite. Dale Mathwich, Terrence Wall, Jon Lancaster Ever notice that the area just beyond East Towne is starting to look like a city of its own? These three gentlemen are among those most responsible. Mathwich, CEO at American Family Insurance Group, is the proud papa of the largest single corporate complex in the state. Wall, president of High Crossing Development Corporation; and Lancaster, the longtime auto dealer, were driving forces behind all those offices, apartment buildings and retail outlets south of Highway 151 near the Interstate. Bill Vancil, Lee Leicinger, Terry Shockley Next time you flip on your car radio, think of these three: They’re among the top players on Madison’s broadcast scene today. As general manager of WTDY, Vancil brought all-talk radio to Madison while overseeing two other stations as well – WJJO and WMGM. The irascible Leicinger is best remembered for firing just about everybody when he took over at WIBA awhile back, but this year he came to the rescue of the venerable WMAD, replacing months of silent air space with popular rock favorites. Thank Shockley, meanwhile, for all the oldies you hear on WOLX. He’s a member of almost every local board you can think of, and he’s also trying to get the license for TV’s local Channel 27. Barry Alvarez, Stu Jackson, Jeff Sauer Think these guys can’t get a great table in any restaurant in town? Alvarez has put the roar back into the Badgers football team, while former Knicks coach Jackson promises to do the same with the perennial-doormat basketball team. All Sauer has done, meanwhile, is win two national hockey titles while compiling the third-best record of all active college coaches. If he can just keep his players from defecting to the National Hockey League, look for more national titles down the road. David Travis He’s been a fixture in the state Legislature for years, and, according to insiders, his influence has been especially potent on Madison’s behalf this year. A member of the powerful Joint Finance Committee, Travis was a major force behind restoring state municipal-services payments to the city, for example, and he helped soften the blow of state cost controls. The result: millions in revenue that might not be available if he weren’t around. Phil Blake, Clayton Frink These are the guys who guide what you read every day in the city’s two major newspapers. Blake, the new publisher of the Wisconsin State Journal, has taken a few hits in the alternative press, but he comes with a solid background in both reporting and the business side of journalism. Frink, also a one-time reporter, was general manager of Madison Newspapers Inc. for six years before becoming the Capital Times’ publisher last month. Jonathan Overby He’s best know as “Johnny O” on WORT’s popular Sunday evening gospel show, but Overby is also a much-sought-after musician, an artist-in-residence at Edgewood College and a longtime leader in Madison’s black community. Find a major community initiative anywhere in the city, and chances are that Overby had something to do with it somewhere along the line. Richard Williams We’ll know more about his influence as the year unfolds, but David Couper’s successor as Madison Police Chief already shows signs of expanding Couper’s emphasis on grass-roots neighborhood police work. Before he even took office, the city’s first African-American police chief was out on the streets meeting with people in Madison’s most troubled areas. “We don’t have to keep saying, ‘You don’t understand,’” said one neighborhood leader, “because he knows where we’re coming from.” Sue Bauman Widely rumored to be a future mayoral candidate, the veteran member of the Madison City Council gets high marks from those in the know for her work on the city’s most contentious issues. She’s not afraid to take a tough stand on whatever she believes in, but she’s also known as a masterful compromiser. Many times, she’s the one who finds a workable alternative while her colleagues concentrate on butting their heads against the wall. Michael Wilson If and when health-care reform becomes law, who’s going to translate it into day-to-day service in Madison? People like Wilson, president and chief administrator of Dean Medical Center, the city’s largest HMO. A few months before the battle was on in Congress, Wilson put it this way: “I think we’ll be all right. Most of what they’re talking about at a national level has already taken place here.” We’ll see. Robert Eckert The new president of Oscar Mayer Foods Corp. takes the helm of an industry giant with more than $2 billion in sales, 2,300 Madison employees and a $13 million local payroll. The 39-year-old corporate wunderkind came from Oscar Mayer’s parent company, Kraft USA, in Chicago, where he headed the firm’s United Way campaign and helped direct a successful community organization for inner-city youth. Louis and Julie Swedarski The Swedarskis each live highly active professional lives: He’s assistant principal at East High School, and she’s a physical therapist at University Hospital. But if they ever slowed down during their off hours, the city’s Jewish community would definitely feel the loss. Julie is president of Madison’s Temple Beth El, which is considering expanding at its land-locked location on Arbor Drive. Louis, former president of the Madison Jewish Community Council, is a mainstay at Temple Beth El as well. Douglas Morrissette As the new mayor of Fitchburg, Dane County’s second-largest city, Morrissette has brought pragmatic politics and fiscal responsibility to one of Wisconsin’s fastest-growing suburbs. It’s a good thing, too: He inherited an operating revenue shortfall that torpedoed the city’s bond rating. If anyone can turn it around, insiders say, it’ll be Morrissette, who’s also a honcho in the state Department of Natural Resources. Carin Clauss If you’re in local, state or federal government and you need an expert on employment law, you turn to Clauss, a professor at the UW Law School. She’s been instrumental in everything from state comparable-worth legislation to federal protection in the workplace; and besides that, she’s an excellent teacher. Pleasant and hard-working, with a mind like a steel trap, Clauss gets rave reviews from her students. She’s also highly respected by her faculty colleagues. Jim Imhoff As president of First Realty Group, Inc., Imhoff heads one of the city’s largest real estate firms – with more than 130 brokers and offices in Madison, Middleton, Oregon and DeForest. As the company has grown, his role has changed dramatically: He now spends most of his time providing marketing, accounting and training support services for his far-flung staff. Highly involved in community affairs, he’s a trustee of Edgewood College, a United Way organizer, a member of the state Mortgage Banking Committee and an advisor to the UW School of Business Real Estate Research Foundation. Booker Gardner, Mazi Jenkins, Gregory Kebbekus Principal of Van Hise Elementary School since 1984, Gardner is also a volunteer at the local Equal Opportunity Commission, a member of the teacher-contract negotiating team and a mainstay on many local boards – all while leading internal school-district changes in curriculum and minority programs. Jenkins, a math teacher at Lincoln Elementary, has received both state and national awards for excellence; and she pioneered what has become a nationwide program that involves students in problem-solving math projects. Kebbekus, a guidance counselor at Cottage Grove Elementary School, was just named one of only four Wisconsin “Teachers of the Year.” Among other things, he started a district-wide guidance program that was given an exemplary rating by the state DPI. David Kindig, Norman Fost The only two local profs to follow “Her Shalalaness” to the Department of Health and Human Services, Kindig and Fost promise to be heavy hitters as Hillary Rodham Clinton tries to overhaul the nation’s health-care system. Kindig, Shalala’s senior policy adviser, has been making the rounds trying to drum up support for more emphasis on general practitioners in America’s medical schools. Fost, a medical ethicist, studies various proposals and advises policy makers on ethical implications. An ethicist in the cut-throat world of health-care politics? Hmmm. Shirley Abrahamson She’s been a state Supreme Court justice for the better part of two decades, and Abrahamson continues to keep her nose to the grindstone while some call in their work and worry about getting reelected. Tough, insightful and totally dedicated in her legal analyses, she’s described by one insider this way: “Shirley Abrahamson might be the only Wisconsin Supreme Court justice with a fully functioning brain.” Leslie Howard, Jane Coleman Howard directs United Way of Dane County, while Coleman is the brains behind the Madison Community Foundation. Together, they continue to represent a formidable one-two punch in community fundraising, with Howard developing this year’s innovative “Day of Caring” volunteer campaign and Coleman keeping her organization running like a well-oiled machine. Scott Klug, Russ Feingold After trouncing Ada Deer last November, Republican Klug solidified his hold on the once-leftist Second US Congressional District, and he continues to be an effective maverick in the House of Representatives. The solidly liberal Feingold, meanwhile, beat the pants off Robert Kasten, then found himself as a key vote in the contentious debate over Bill Clinton’s budget package (into which he inserted a moratorium on bovine growth hormone). He’s also been heard on consolidating federal overseas broadcasts and slashing certain commodities subsidies. Michael Fox The talented Madison attorney has been a player in town for years, and while some of his closest friends think his ego needs an overhaul, he is widely considered to be tops in his field. Whatever the case, he has a knack for making powers that be very nervous – even when he doesn’t necessarily get the verdict he pursues. Ask the UW Athletic Department, for example, if women’s basketball coach Mary Murphy really came out on top after being sued by former player Amy Bauer. Mark Luker, Betsy Drain, Gary Sandefur While Chancellor David Ward now gets most of the ink at UW-Madison, here are three people with considerable behind-the-scenes clout all over campus. Luker oversees a massive, top-to-bottom upgrade of the university’s instructional computer network – bringing email service to the student body, for example. Drain, a veteran of the UW’s complex governance system, is in charge of gender equity issues, while Sandefur, a renowned sociology and social work researcher, is point man on minority affairs. Brady Williamson This LaFollette, Sinykin attorney has been active in media law and has argued cases before the Supreme Court. Politics is his other arena. With close ties to the Clinton Administration, Williamson has served as a top advance man for the president on several trips abroad. Butch Vig The big-time record producer has spun the dials for every band from Sonic Youth to U2, and while he could pack his bags for La-La Land any time he wants, he prefers to make Madison his home. Vig may have put Madison on the rock ‘n’ roll map, but he and his partners are committed to keeping their Smart Studios affordable enough to serve local musicians. Refreshing indeed in a business where success can go so easily to a proven winner’s head. Maureen Arcand Stricken with cerebral palsy at birth, Arcand is one of two specialists studying what the new Americans with Disabilities Act will mean to county and local governments. A former Dane County Board member and an advocate for Access to Independence, she sees the ADA as a civil-rights act, not an employment mandate for business and governments. “We see ourselves as people first,” she says. “Our disabilities are incidental to our being people with the same feelings and desires to work as everybody has.” Jeffrey Davis As state epidemiologist since 1978, Davis is Wisconsin’s top medical detective when unknown diseases threaten citizens’ health. Tracking down the culprit in an epidemic is often painstaking work, but Davis is one of the top professionals in his field. In the late-‘70s, when toxic shock syndrome was killing American women, he did pioneering work that identified tampons as a possible cause. He was also instrumental in tracing Milwaukee’s summer outbreak of “Trebelhorn’s Revenge” to the city’s water supply. Morris Andrews, Sharon Chamberlain The Batman and Robin of hardball Wisconsin politics. Andrews, the former state teacher’s union strongman, showed the master’s touch this year in the Monona Terrace Convention Center victory and Russ Feingold’s Cinderella trek to the US Senate. Chamberlain’s state-of-the-art polling and research techniques, meanwhile, provided the raw data that Andrews parlayed into electoral wins. At this point, the husband-and-wife team can call the shots on just about any political campaign they choose. Michael Johnson This Madison-area man has become one of the leading public speakers in the country when the subject is AIDS. Johnson, who has the disease, often speaks with his wife Cheri at his side; and the pair never duck a question. It’s compelling, important stuff, especially when the audience is young. Bettye Latimer She just stepped down from her seat on the Madison Equal Opportunities Commission, but that won’t dilute her many years of influence, particularly in the African-American community. As publisher of Umoja, a monthly newsletter dedicated to positive news about the city’s black residents, Latimer knows just about everything about who’s doing what, whether it’s opening a new shop for hip-hop casual wear or a wedding-renewal ceremony built on African customs. Helene Nelson A fast-rising veteran of several state and county agencies, the youthful Nelson now oversees Dane County’s largest department, the Department of Human Services. Highly efficient and ultra-savvy, Nelson hopes to be a peacemaker between county and city dwellers, bringing cost-effectiveness to an often-strained $103 million agency. Two top priorities: humanizing the welfare process and automating much of the paper shuffling that is now done manually. Sunny Schubert A longtime presence on Madison’s newspaper scene, Schubert started as a State Journal feature writer, but was bumped up to the editorial page a few years ago. Some think the paper has gone soft under the weight of corporate pressures, but Schubert is at least one exception on the staff. Her editorials are among the feistiest you’ll find in town. Walter Kunicki, Charlie Gonzales Underrated when he first became Speaker of the Wisconsin Assembly, Milwaukee-transplant Kunicki has learned a lot since; and it would be a big mistake to underestimate him as the Legislature gears up this year. Gonzales, Kunicki’s top aide, is a major mover and shaker behind the scenes at the Capitol; but, then again, he’d better be. He makes more money than a dead artist or a plumber who specializes in overtime.
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