Board of Directors

The Board of Directors of the Oshkosh Area United Way includes volunteers from our community who ensure we carry out our mission. This group meets every month to oversee the programs, finance, policies, and strategic issues of the United Way. They also ensure that we manage our resources to best meet the needs of our community.

Board Chair

Dave is a lifelong Oshkosh resident. He attended UW-Madison College of Engineering and graduated from Milwaukee School of Engineering (BS Mechanical Engineering, AS Internal Combustion Engines). In 1971 he joined the Army Reserve Officer Training Corp. Then, he began working at Keenline Conveyor Systems in 1975. His current position at Keenline Conveyor Systems is CEO and Owner.

In 1997, Oshkosh Chamber of Commerce voted him Small Business Person of the Year. He was also nominated as Wisconsin Small Businessperson of year. Dave is the president of the Omro Area Development Corporation, and the Military Veterans Museum and Education Center in Oshkosh.

He is involved with St. Raphael’s Church in Oshkosh and is also a member at St. Raphael’s Knights of Columbus.

Vice Chair

Bryan Brandt is Oshkosh Corporation’s Senior Vice President and Chief Marketing Officer. Bryan joined the company in October 2016 and leads the work streams of Global Marketing, Branding & Communications, Strategy Deployment, Enterprise Simplification, Quality & Continuous Improvement, and Organizational Change Management.

He has been instrumental in growing the company’s People First culture through creating vision, leading change, building high performing teams and executing strategic approaches that drive enterprise-wide results.

Prior to joining Oshkosh, Bryan was part of Bemis Company where he led various teams in sales, continuous improvement, transformation and marketing. Bryan studied at the University of Colorado at Boulder.

Vice Chair, Board Management & Secretary

Tina Schmiedel is a partner at Sareja LLC where she provides consulting services in strategy development, engineering, and project leadership to select clients.

Tina retired as the Director of Strategic Initiatives at Oshkosh Corporation, where she supported the development and execution of global strategic initiatives for the corporation.

During her 12-year tenure at Oshkosh Corporation, she developed best practices for market intelligence, market assessment, market plan development and new market entry for the corporation. Her work supported business unit priorities and new product development, as well as the integration of the marketing tools and requirements in the New Product Development Process. She supported the development and execution of the global investor relations strategy which included developing processes and best practices to execute the strategy. Also, she addressed daily management items such as in-depth competitive, industry and investment analysis and perspective to management on an ongoing basis.

Following her retirement from Oshkosh, she continues to remain active in the community and with Michigan Technological University. Tina is married and has three children.

Treasurer

Nathan Kastein is the Vice President of Business Banking with Bank First. He is tasked with maintaining and developing business relationships in the greater Fox Valley region.

He has over 15 years of banking experience, with the last 11 years in business banking. Nathan earned a bachelor’s degree in business, majoring in finance and marketing from UW-Oshkosh, and an MBA from the University of Phoenix.

Nathan lives in Oshkosh with his wife and two children. In his spare time, he enjoys golfing, boating, traveling, and coaching the various sports teams with which his children are involved

Vice Chair, Allocations & Community Development

Houa Xiong has been working in higher education for the past 21 years in student services and advocacy. She values the opportunity to interact with individuals one-on-one to learn about their interests, skills, abilities, and passions. Houa strongly believes in being visible and meeting people where they are at by role modeling, participating in, and attending many community events. In addition to her student services role as an Associate Dean, she has taught classes, presented at conferences and in the classroom, served in leadership positions for Wisconsin Academic Advising Association (WACADA), and serves as a member of diversity and inclusion initiatives at both UW Oshkosh and the Oshkosh Area School District.   

As a refugee from Laos, she came to the United States at a young age and grew up in
La Crosse, Wisconsin, with her parents, six brothers, and one sister. As a first-generation student, she graduated with her BS in Recreation Management and MS in
College Student Development and Administration from UW-La Crosse. She credits her success to her parents, siblings, husband, and countless mentors who helped guide, advocate, and support her throughout her life.     

Houa’s greatest achievement is her immediate family (husband Bee, three sons; Sahee, Javit & Kinji, daughter-in-law Elise, and puppy Emi). In her spare time, she loves to cook, travel, and spend time with her family. She is excited and humbled by the opportunity to give back to her community as a United Way Board member. 

Al Hartman holds a Bachelor degree from the University of Wisconsin Madison; and Masters and Doctorate degrees from Michigan State University.

In addition to teaching for almost 40 years, he served in several leadership roles. These include 13 years as dean of the College of Business, assistant dean, interim Provost, acting assistant Vice Chancellor and chair of the Faculty Development Board.

In addition to serving on the Oshkosh Area United Way he has served on many local boards, including Leadership Oshkosh Retreat, Evergreen Retirement Community, Evergreen Foundation Board, FVTC Oshkosh Advisory Board, Oshkosh Opera House Foundation, Wisconsin Family Business Forum, Business Success Center, Oshkosh Area Economic Development Committee, New North Workplace Excellence Award Selection Committee, Oshkosh Downtown Development Task Force, New North Formation Task Force, and Angels on the Water.

Al is a past United Way Board Chair.

Dave Richter is the Vice President of Operations for Silver Star Brands. Silver Star Brands manages six direct-to-consumer brands: Miles Kimball, Walter Drake, Easy Comforts, Dream Products, StarCrest, and Native Remedies. Dave has over 20 years’ experience in sales and customer service managing multiple global brands in the consumer goods industry. Before joining Silver Star Brands in 2015, Dave was most recently the Vice President of Consumer Packaged Goods at Alta Resources a global outsourcing company located in Neenah, WI.

Dave received his Bachelor’s Degree from the University of Wisconsin–Oshkosh and is a Certified Six Sigma Green Belt. Dave is also an accomplished musician/vocalist who has performed hundreds of shows across the Midwest and is a former member of local bands ‘Boogie and the YoYoz” and “RPM.” “RPM” was nominated for a Wisconsin Area Music Award for “Best Cover Band” in 2014 and 2015.

Dave is the co-owner of Greene’s Pour House a bar/restaurant located in downtown Neenah and downtown Oshkosh and the winner of the 2018 Fox Cities Golden Fork Award for “Best Bar and Grill.”

Dave also serves on the boards for Big Brothers Big Sisters of East Central WI and the Oshkosh Area United Way. In 2023, Dave will serve as the Co-Chair for the Oshkosh Area United Way Campaign.

Dave and his wife Jenni live in Oshkosh with two children at home…Miles (11) and Olivia (14) and the oldest Taitt (21) is a business major and currently attending UW Oshkosh.  

 

Mark joined the board in 2016, after graduating from Leadership Oshkosh. He has worked at Blue Door Consulting in Oshkosh for eight years. He is the Programming Team Lead and a Full-Stack Web Developer.

Born and raised in Milwaukee, he came to Oshkosh to attend UW Oshkosh, graduating from the College of Business in 2003. He has 15 years of web and software development experience, all with companies headquartered in the Fox Valley.

Paulette Feld has represented the Fox Valley Area Labor Council on our board since 2016. She also serves on the allocations and community impact committee for OAUW.

She is retired from the University of Wisconsin Oshkosh, where she was a staff member at Polk Library. While at Polk, Paulette helped organize the University Staff Senate (formerly the Classified Staff Advisory Committee) and served on various university and library committees.

She served leadership roles with the Wisconsin Library Association and American Library Association. Paulette also was involved in her local union at UW Oshkosh (AFSCME Local 579), serving as local president and on the statewide executive board and as president of AFSCME Council 24 (now a part of AFSCME Council 32). Paulette is on the board of the Winnebago County Labor Council.

Clint Herrick is Generac Power Systems VP of Global Service overseeing the service vision and strategy across business groups and international service teams on best practices and technologies.

Prior to joining Generac, Clint previously spent 19 years at Oshkosh Defense supporting aftermarket, training, field operations, service centers, engineering and product support teams.
Clint received a Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Wisconsin – Platteville and a Master of Science in Engineering Management from the Milwaukee School of Engineering.

He also serves on the board of Lakeside Packaging Plus (Oshkosh & Neenah) and currently resides in Oshkosh with his wife Rebecca and four children.

John Kriz is President of Muza Metal Products.  He joined the organization in 2013 initially as Director of Operations, and quickly transitioned into the role of President within his first several months.  Prior to joining Muza, John was a team member at Ariens Company (outdoor power equipment – lawn mowers and snow blowers) supporting roles of Operations Manager, Value Stream Manager, and Corporate Quality Manager and spent time at Leach Company (refuse vehicles) as Quality Manager, Operations Supervisor, and Mechanical Engineer.  He obtained his bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering from Michigan Technological University in Houghton, MI.

John brings with him extensive lean and continuous improvement experience to Muza, and was instrumental in the creation of Muza’s Core Values: honesty, fairness, passion, fun, customer-focus, and teamwork.

John believes strongly in volunteering and giving back to the community.  Through the years he has supported Habitat for Humanity, Children’s Hospital, Big Brothers Big Sisters, and Salvation Army just to name a few.  He is also very involved with coaching youth sports, most notably his son’s hockey team over the past 13 years.  John has also been a very significant advocate and fundraiser of the Alzheimer’s Association after losing his father to the horrible disease back in 2016.

John lives in Neenah with his wife, son, and border collie dog, and enjoys playing and coaching hockey, fishing, and volunteering within his community and is excited to help make a positive impact for the United Way.

Tricia Rathermel is President and CEO of Greater Oshkosh Economic Development Corporation. Combining her 15-plus years of experience in a variety of for-profit and not-for-profit industries with skills in project management, strategic planning, and marketing — Economic Development was the perfect match for her passion to help others. As a lifelong resident of the Fox Valley area, she is dedicated to improving the region for business growth and quality of life.   

Prior to joining Greater Oshkosh EDC, Tricia was part of EAA where she managed the marketing and logistics for tradeshows, a mobile marketing unit, and large events including the popular Hops and Props. She was also responsible for hospitality and events at the Kohler Company, including managing the annual Kohler Food and Wine Experience.  

Tricia has a bachelor’s degree in business administration from Calvin University in Grand Rapids, Michigan. She lives with her husband, Randy, daughter Jocelyn, and their rescue pup, Lego.

Bio coming soon.

Board members serve without compensation.
Oshkosh Area United Way