10 Maritime Leaders in Milwaukee Worth Knowing Today

Last updated: 7 August 2026.

Milwaukee's maritime story is much bigger than ships moving through the port. It includes harbour governance, freshwater research, sailing access, youth boatbuilding, banking and the people who help those parts work together.

This list focuses on leaders with a clear current connection to Milwaukee's working waterfront, Great Lakes education or community boating. It is a practical starting point for anyone trying to understand the people shaping the city's maritime life today.

1. Benjamin "Benji" Timm

Municipal Port Director at Port Milwaukee

Benjamin "Benji" Timm is the Municipal Port Director at Port Milwaukee. He was appointed in 2025 after more than 25 years in City of Milwaukee public service, much of it in industrial real estate, business attraction and brownfield redevelopment. He is a practical example of how a port leader has to understand both commercial movement and environmental responsibility. His work sits across industrial real estate, trade and the Milwaukee Estuary cleanup, one of the largest environmental cleanups in Great Lakes history. Explore Port Milwaukee.

2. Eric Polzin

Harbor Master at Port Milwaukee

Eric Polzin is Harbor Master at Port Milwaukee. His work spans security, safety and daily harbour operations. It is an important part of the local maritime story because every strategy still has to work in real weather, around real vessels and alongside real tenants. He represents the operational leadership that turns a port's plans into safe daily movement on the water. Explore Port Milwaukee.

3. Holly Church

Director at Milwaukee Community Sailing Center

Holly Church has led the Milwaukee Community Sailing Center as Director since 1999, after first learning to sail there in 1985. She holds a U.S. Coast Guard Merchant Marine Captain's licence and oversees the centre's programming, events and staff training for sailors of all ages and abilities. Church also received the 2019 US Sailing Outstanding Organisational Leader Award. Her leadership connects inclusive access to sailing with practical education on Lake Michigan. Explore Milwaukee Community Sailing Center.

4. John Emmerich

President and CEO at Discovery World

John Emmerich is President and CEO of Discovery World. He leads work across aquatic science, freshwater education and the Reiman Aquarium. Discovery World is also part of the working waterfront story as a Port Milwaukee tenant on Lake Michigan's shoreline. Emmerich's contribution is the bridge between maritime infrastructure, public learning and the Great Lakes environment. He leads a public-facing institution that makes freshwater science part of Milwaukee's everyday waterfront life. Explore Discovery World.

5. Rebecca Gries

Executive Director at Milwaukee 7

Rebecca Gries is Executive Director of Milwaukee 7, the regional economic development partnership for southeastern Wisconsin, and a Harbor Commissioner at Port Milwaukee since July 2026. She has been recognised through the 2024 40 Under 40 list and a 2022 Top 50 Economic Developers honour. Her dual role connects the port to the wider regional economy rather than treating it as an isolated facility. She brings regional economic development thinking into the governance of a major local maritime asset. Explore Port Milwaukee.

6. William Nimke

Executive Director and Founder at All Hands Boatworks

William Nimke is Executive Director and Founder of All Hands Boatworks. He uses youth wooden boatbuilding, work-based learning and on-water activities to create a workshop, a classroom and a route into confidence at the same time. His work shows how a maritime organisation can build practical skills alongside a relationship with the lake. He uses wooden boatbuilding, work-based learning and time on the water to build confidence and practical skills for young people. Explore All Hands Boatworks.

7. Beth Handle

Owner and Founder at Milwaukee Kayak Company

Beth Handle founded Milwaukee Kayak Company in 2013 and still owns and runs it from Jerry's Docks on the Milwaukee River. The business now operates three river launch points and introduces thousands of paddlers to the water each season. She also serves on the boards of Harbor District, Harbor District BID and the Milwaukee Riverwalk District. That mix of hands-on small business work and civic board service gives her a practical view of how a working river can also be a recreational one. Explore Milwaukee Kayak Company.

8. Eric Leaf

Senior Director of Advancement and Assistant Dean for Advancement at the UWM School of Freshwater Sciences

Eric Leaf leads advancement for the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee's School of Freshwater Sciences, based at the Great Lakes Research Facility on the harbour. He has spent more than 25 years in higher education fundraising, including donor engagement for the school's newest research vessel, the Maggi Sue. He also helped launch the Freshwater Collaborative of Wisconsin. His work connects academic research on the Great Lakes to the resources that keep that research on the water. Explore UWM School of Freshwater Sciences.

9. Heather Nelson

President and CEO at Spring Bank, Harbor District Board President

Heather Nelson is President and CEO of Spring Bank and also chairs the Board of Harbor District, the nonprofit steering redevelopment of Milwaukee's working waterfront. She brings more than 30 years of commercial banking experience, much of it spent helping small businesses access capital. Leading both a bank and the harbour's civic board gives her a direct hand in the finance and governance decisions shaping the waterfront's future. Explore Harbor District.

10. John Koetz

Chief Operating Officer at Komatsu Mining Corporation

John Koetz is Chief Operating Officer and Executive Vice President of Strategic Business Operations at Komatsu Mining Corporation, and a global officer of parent company Komatsu Ltd. He led Komatsu's acquisition, environmental remediation and development of its Harbor District campus, along with several coastal restoration projects along the waterfront. He also serves on the Harbor District board, connecting a major employer's investment to the wider effort to restore Milwaukee's harbour. Explore Harbor District.

Conclusion

The people above work in different settings, but their work meets around the same basic questions. How does Milwaukee move goods, care for its harbour, teach people about freshwater, welcome people onto the lake and give young people a practical way to learn?

The answer is not one organisation or one job title. It is an ecosystem. The Port provides infrastructure and governance. Education, research and community organisations make the water more accessible and better understood. Small businesses and boatbuilding programmes give people a hands-on relationship with the lake. Banking and civic boards help fund and steady the wider effort.

Milwaukee's maritime work changes with new appointments, projects and community priorities. The people on this list show what steady, practical leadership looks like around the water right now.

About the Author

Jonno White is the author of Step Up or Step Out and a Certified Working Genius Facilitator. The Working Genius framework was created by Patrick Lencioni and The Table Group. Jonno is Brisbane based and works with schools, organisations and leadership teams around the world.

Next Read

If this list of Milwaukee's maritime leaders has you thinking about how your own team works together, two related reads might help. How to Build a Company Culture Employees Will Move Cities to Join looks at the conditions that keep good people engaged for years, not months. Is Working Genius Worth It for Your Leadership Team breaks down what the Working Genius framework actually changes once a team puts it into practice.

Milwaukee's maritime leaders show what it looks like when people across different organisations pull in the same direction toward one shared goal. If you want that same clarity and teamwork inside your own leadership team, email jonno@consultclarity.org and tell me what you are working on.