Dr. Maysee Herr
Dr. Maysee Herr is the Chief Executive Officer of HWCC. Before her current role, Dr. Herr was a university professor for nearly ten years, teaching courses in educational psychology, diversity, early childhood, multiple intelligences, and educational sustainability. Her teaching career and her background in strategic planning and diversity, equity, and inclusion work led her to consulting opportunities with businesses in both the for-profit and not-for-profit sectors. Being the daughter of a Hmong entrepreneur herself, Dr. Herr has seen firsthand the struggles that many entrepreneurs and small business owners of color face and uses that experience to advocate for HWCC clients and community members.
She is currently a board member of the Wisconsin Institute for Public Policy and Services (WIPPS) and Employ Milwaukee. She is also co-chair of the Toward One Wisconsin conference and an advisory board member for Forward 48, a program working to build diverse civic leadership through “experiential learning, professional development, and exclusive networking opportunities.” Before these boards, Dr. Herr served as an executive board member for the Community Foundation of Central Wisconsin, Toward One Wausau, and the Marathon County Child Development Agency, among others.
In 2020, Dr. Herr was recognized as a BizTimes Media Notable Minority Executive and one of Madison 365’s 48 Most Influential Asian Americans in Wisconsin. She was nominated as a Madison 365 2021 Nonprofit Leader of the Year and, most recently, named TITAN Top 100 CEOs in Wisconsin for 2023. She was also recognized as CEO of the Year by the Wisconsin Economic Development Corporation (WEDC) during its Marketplace Governor’s Awards Luncheon in December 2022. Dr. Herr has provided numerous presentations and has participated in many conference panels over the years. Outside of work, she, her husband, Asia, and their son, Elijah, love spending time with family and traveling.