If this August issue of Insight has an overriding theme, it would be water and all the many opportunities that spring from it.
Example A: our Personalities feature on page 14. Sheboygan’s history-making mayor Ryan Sorenson — he was elected in 2021 at age 27, making him the youngest mayor in the city’s history — shares a look at his new role as co-chair of the Great Lakes and St. Lawrence Cities Initiative. Sorenson is leading the 250-member coalition in efforts to protect and restore the Great Lakes Basin. (And please note his very appropriate choice of tie in his photo taken by none other than Shane Van Boxtel of Image Studios.)
I appreciate Sorenson’s big-picture thinking when it comes to water health and its impact on our local ecosystems — both environmental and economic. “Water doesn’t know political boundaries,” as he puts it.
Contributor Lori Kaye Lodes furthers our theme in her Insight Insider feature, “Liquid economy,” on page 32. Here, Lodes gives us the latest updates on the Bay of Green Bay’s progress toward a National Estuarine Research Reserve (NERR) designation from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
The Green Bay ecosystem is the world’s largest freshwater estuary — obtaining NERR designation will raise the visibility and prominence of this globally unique freshwater resource, says Matt Dornbush of the University of Wisconsin‑Green Bay, which is the lead entity on the designation effort. It is an exciting possibility that is close on the horizon.
All this work to protect and preserve our waterways, of course, means residents get to keep recreating on them. Turn to Kate Bruns’ For the Love feature on page 29 to learn how one nonprofit organization is utilizing the Fox River to promote diversity and cultural education.
I hope you were able to take a look at the Insight Women of Influence in the New North Region Awards special publication that came with this month’s issue. We were honored to celebrate these eight amazing women at our Aug. 1 special event at the Oneida Hotel Casino and Conference Center. The day was a powerful reminder of the immense talent, drive and determination that can be found in our region. To learn more about this fifth-annual awards program, visit insightonbusiness.com/women.
If we missed you at our Women of Influence awards, I hope to catch you at our next event: InDevelopment on Tuesday, Sept. 17 at KI Convention Center in Green Bay. Registration is open now for this one-day conference packed with the latest on economic development, commercial real estate, development deals and important policies happening throughout the New North.
Thanks for picking up this issue of Insight, best enjoyed boatside on one of the New North’s many beautiful water bodies.
