Community Leader of the Year: Tim Sheehy made huge impact as president of MMAC

When Tim Sheehy began his 40-year career with the Metropolitan Milwaukee Association of Commerce in 1983, the Milwaukee Bucks were still shooting hoops at the MECCA Arena, the Milwaukee Brewers were running the bases at County Stadium, and the Park East Freeway was bisecting what is today one of the city’s largest entertainment districts.

In the past four decades, Sheehy, who became president of the MMAC in 1992, has been instrumental in lobbying for public policy, economic development and funding that have kept southeastern Wisconsin moving forward. In 1995, he pushed state legislators to pass the regional sales tax that funded the construction of what’s now known as American Family Field. Ten years later, he was one of the more vocal advocates for public funding for a new home for the Bucks.

But if any year saw Milwaukee reap the rewards of Sheehy’s knack for dealmaking, it was 2023.

A home run for efforts expected to shore up the city’s financial future, the year saw MMAC and other city boosters rejoice in the approval of an increase in shared revenue for Wisconsin municipalities as well as the approval of local sales tax increases that will help keep Milwaukee city and county governments not just afloat, but also able to make strategic investments in their future.

Those local victories were coupled with a historic, and long sought-after, increase in per-pupil state funding for students in charter and private voucher schools.

The final run was scored when the Legislature approved $365.8 million in state funding to help pay for future improvements to the Brewers’ 22-year-old stadium.

Sheehy was an influential advocate for all of those. For Sheehy, who will step down from his role as president of the MMAC at the end of the year, the goal has always been to do what is in the best interest of Milwaukee.

“I think that if you look at MMAC, it’s not a liberal-leaning organization, it is not a conservative-leaning organization,” he said. “It’s an organization that leans forward in the best interests of Milwaukee and our ability to be an attractive place for capital investment in jobs.”

In recognition of all he has accomplished and the impact he’s made on the region – especially in a momentous final year of his career – Tim Sheehy is the BizTimes Milwaukee 2023 Best in Business Community Leader of the Year.

Working for the 162-year-old chamber has allowed Sheehy to take “the long view” and focus on the things that will get deals made without having to worry about voters or shareholders, like elected officials or CEOs.

“What I’ve taken away from the experiences I’ve had during my career is that in order to be successful, you need to balance people, policy and politics,” he said. “You need to engage the right people, you need to understand the nuances of the policy and you need to be attentive to the politics around any situation or any solution. And you can’t just get two of the three, you need to get all three.”

Getting all three requires both patience and perseverance.

“There were a lot of failed attempts at getting a funding stream in place to support the city and county between 2016 and 2023,” he said. “And the same is true in terms of the per-pupil funding. I mean, that’s something we’ve been after for decades.”

Getting more equitable state funding for the voucher and charter schools and increased shared revenue for the city and county – both of which Sheehy calls mission-aligned policies for the MMAC – meant leveraging the wants of two of the association’s key constituencies.

“There were those that said, ‘Look, I’ll give more on shared revenue if I get funding for closing this per-pupil gap.’ And then there were others who said, ‘I’m willing to give more on equitable funding if I can get more on shared revenue,’” he said.

The result was a testament to one of Sheehy’s favorite mottos: “Politics is not the art of the perfect, it’s the art of the possible.”

The sentiment is as true of the per-pupil funding boost for charter and voucher schools – an increase some school choice advocates bemoaned for not being high enough – as it is for the solution to the American Family Field funding situation.

“In a perfect world, maybe we wouldn’t be putting public financing into major league (sports) stadiums, but we don’t live in a perfect world,” said Sheehy, who was appointed board chairman of the Southeast Wisconsin Professional Baseball Park District in 2021.

As he continues to work to improve the Milwaukee region, Sheehy said he’ll continue to emphasize the value of perspective – both in improving his own perspective and taking time to understand the perspective of others.

“Instead of judging somebody for a viewpoint they have, ask them questions,” he said. “The better your perspective, the better leader you are and the better decisions you make.”

When he retires at year’s end, Sheehy will hand over the reins to former state legislator Dale Kooyenga, who has worked under him since January as the chamber’s first-ever senior vice president.