Liz Brodek

Research Interests

• Leadership Development
• Community and Economic Development
• Residential Attachment

Professional Experience

• Development Director, City of Wausau, WI (2021-present)
• Executive Director, East Side Business Improvement District, Milwaukee, WI (2018-2021)
• Executive Director, Downer Avenue Business Improvement District, Milwaukee, WI (2020-2021)
• Promotions & Communications Coordinator, Downtown Eau Claire, Eau Claire, WI (2018)
• Executive Director, Wausau River District, Wausau, WI (2014-2018)

Professional Memberships

• MCDEVCO
• National Community Development Association
• Wisconsin Downtown Action Council
• Wisconsin Economic Development Association

Fun Facts

Last book you read?

The Life and Death of Ivan Ilyich

Best advice you ever received?

Your life is your priority and responsibility. Knowledge can be uncomfortable and inconvenient.

What did you want to be when you were growing up?

An artist.

Favorite Quote?

“It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat.” – Theadore Roosevelt

What do you enjoy most about teaching?

I love learning along with my students and sharing perspectives.

A piece of advice for students in your school?

Stay curious and turn inward first.