Wisconsin Manufacturers & Commerce

Wisconsin Manufacturers & Commerce
Basic facts
Location:	Madison, Wisconsin
Type:	501(c)(6)
Top official:	Kurt Bauer, president and CEO
Founder(s):	F. J. Sensenbrenner
Year founded:	1911
Website:	Official website

Wisconsin Manufacturers & Commerce (WMC) is a 501(c)(6) business association in Wisconsin. Founded in 1911, the association represented over 3,800 member companies as of December 2025. In addition to lobbying on behalf of business interests, WMC also serves as the state's chamber of commerce, manufacturers’ association, and safety council.

Background

F. J. Sensenbrenner founded the Wisconsin Manufacturers' Association (WMA), a statewide business group, in 1911. The organization, located in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, initially represented 200 member businesses. In 1973, WMA acquired the Wisconsin Council of Safety and established a political action committee the following year.

In 1976, WMA and the Wisconsin State Chamber of Commerce merged to form the Wisconsin Association of Manufacturers and Commerce. The organization moved from Milwaukee to Madison in 1986 and adopted its current name, Wisconsin Manufacturers & Commerce (WMC).

As of December 2025, Kurt Bauer was WMC's president and CEO. WMC's lobbying priorities included: "taxation; labor relations; environment; business regulation; health care; civil justice; energy; transportation and workforce."

Leadership

As of December 2025, the following individuals held leadership positions at WMC:

• Kurt Bauer, president and CEO
• Wade Goodsell, COO and vice president of Membership & Partnerships
• Kay Kertz, senior vice president of Finance & Human Resources
• Scott Manley, executive vice president of Government Relations

Work and activities

Lobbying efforts

WMC said it was "consistently ranked as the number one lobbying organization in Wisconsin," with a 2025-2026 legislative agenda that included what it said were the following challenges: high healthcare costs, skilled labor shortages, and a high tax burden. As of December 1, 2025, WMC had spent $496,501 lobbying during the 2025-2026 state legislative session.

WMC was a top-spending lobbyist in the state during the 2019-2020, 2021-2022, and 2023-2024 legislative sessions. WMC lobbied for job skills training for high school students and the expansion of school vouchers. During the 2015-2016 legislative session, WMC successfully lobbied in favor of a right-to-work law.

Legislative Voting Record

As of December 2025, WMC issued a biennial Legislative Voting Record, also known as a scorecard, for the state legislature. The scorecard was "designed to help the business community see how individual members of the legislature voted on key issues affecting the business climate in Wisconsin." Click here for the 2023-2024 scorecard.

WMC also granted "Working for Wisconsin" awards to state legislators who supported what it said were pro-business policies. These legislators had to score at least 70% or above on WMC's scorecard to be considered for the award.

Notable endorsements

See also: Ballotpedia: Our approach to covering endorsements

This section displays endorsements this organization made in elections within Ballotpedia's coverage scope.

Notable ballot measure endorsements by Wisconsin Manufacturers and Commerce

Measure	Position	Outcome
Wisconsin Question 1, Prohibit Legislature from Delegating Appropriations Power Amendment (August 2024)  source	Support	Defeated
Wisconsin Question 2, Require Legislative Approval for State Expenditure of Federal Funds Amendment (August 2024)  source	Support	Defeated

Affiliations

As of December 2025, the WMC Foundation was an affiliate 501(c)(3) of WMC. Its mission was "improving Wisconsin’s economy and ensuring a high quality of life for all citizens by providing educational programs and informational sources to enhance public education and update the skills of the current workforce." The foundation was founded in 1980 and offered three main programs as of this writing: Wisconsin Business World, Future Wisconsin Project, and Wisconsin Leads Executive Fellowship.

The WMC Litigation Center was also a 501(c)(3) affiliate of WMC as of December 2025. The center said it "represents WMC and other clients in legal actions to foster and protect the free enterprise system."

As of December 2025, WMC's affiliate 501(c)(4), the WMC Issues Mobilization Council, said it "raised and spent more than $63 million to educate the public about jobs, the economy, regulations, taxes, and which politicians are pro-business and which are not." According to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, WMC Issues Mobilization Council typically spent money on ads that supported Republican and conservative candidates.

Finances

The following is a breakdown of Wisconsin Manufacturers & Commerce's revenues and expenses from 2015 to 2022. The information comes from the Internal Revenue Service.

Wisconsin Manufacturers & Commerce financial data 2015-2022

Year	Revenue	Expenses
2015	$3.3 million	$3.2 million
2016	$3.4 million	$3.1 million
2017	$3.9 million	$3.7 million
2018	$4.1 million	$3.7 million
2019	$5.5 million	$5.0 million
2020	$4.4 million	$3.9 million
2021	$4.9 million	$3.8 million
2022	$4.8 million	$4.6 million

Noteworthy events

John Doe investigations

See also: John Doe investigations related to Scott Walker

Two John Doe investigations, beginning in 2010 and ending in 2015, were launched by Milwaukee County District Attorney John Chisholm (D) into the activities of staff and associates of Gov. Scott Walker (R). WMC was one of 29 conservative organizations subpoenaed during the course of the second of two John Doe investigations.

See also

• What is an influencer?
• John Doe investigations related to Scott Walker
• 501(c)(6)
• Nonprofit organization

External links

• WMC website
• Social media:
  • Facebook
  • X
  • YouTube
  • LinkedIn