Wisconsin Forum

Governor Scott Walker & Dan O'Donnell – Thursday, October 2, 2025
2025-10-02 17:30 - 20:30 UTC | The Ingleside Hotel, 2810 Golf Rd, Pewaukee, WI 53072
Thursday, October 2, 2025
Fireside Chat with Governor Scott Walker & Dan O’Donnell

Governor Scott Walker served as the 45th Governor of Wisconsin, earning national recognition for his bold reforms, fiscal discipline, and historic victory as the first governor in U.S. history to survive a recall election. A proven leader with decades of public service, he continues to share insights on leadership, policy, and principled governance.

Dan O’Donnell is a prominent radio talk show host, journalist, and commentator known for his engaging storytelling, insightful political analysis, and sharp perspective on current events. With a background in both news and broadcasting, he brings a unique voice to Wisconsin’s airwaves and a trusted platform for meaningful conversation.

Join us for a unique evening as Governor Scott Walker sits down with Dan O’Donnell for an insightful fireside chat. Together, they will discuss leadership, civic engagement, and the pressing issues shaping Wisconsin and beyond. This intimate conversation offers a rare opportunity to hear candid perspectives and engage with two influential voices in our state.

John Tillman – Tuesday, November 11, 2025
2025-11-11 17:30 - 20:30
John Tillman
How to Prevent Wisconsin from Becoming Illinois

John Tillman is one of the nation’s most prominent leaders in the free-market, public-policy arena. He is CEO of the American Culture Project, an organization that attracts, educates and mobilizes independent voters around the ideas of freedom and opportunity. Tillman is best known for building the Illinois Policy Institute (IPI), which he currently chairs, into one of the most influential state-based think tanks in the country while he was CEO from 2007 to 2021. IPI was a key part of the coalition that defeated Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s progressive income tax in 2020. As Politico noted, “IPI has shown an ability to drive the debate and influence action in the Illinois Legislature, including whipping opposition to key votes.” While leading IPI, he co-founded and served as chairman of Liberty Justice Center, which won the precedent-setting Janus v. AFSCME case before the U.S. Supreme Court in 2018.
Tillman has founded and chairs numerous other enterprises within the liberty space. As chairman of the Franklin News Foundation beginning in 2017, he turned a near-insolvent operation into a media powerhouse that has news bureaus in every state and Washington, D.C. Their newswire service, The Center Square, is republished in hundreds of newspapers throughout the country has a daily readership of 2.2 million. Tillman is also the co-founder and chairman of Iron Light, a full-service, for-profit digital marketing agency, which does work for more than 75 nonprofits across the conservative public policy space.
With a career dedicated to advancing free-market reforms and reshaping state-level policy, Tillman brings a wealth of experience and insight into the challenges and opportunities that lie ahead for Wisconsin. Drawing on lessons from Illinois—where out-migration, institutional decline, and burdensome regulations have taken a heavy toll—Tillman will highlight how Wisconsin can chart a different course. He will share actionable strategies to strengthen civic resilience, expand economic opportunity, and ensure long-term prosperity for future generations. This presentation will not only diagnose the risks but also inspire practical solutions rooted in freedom, innovation, and sound policy.
A reservation is required. For Wisconsin Forum event, membership, and reservation information, please visit our membership page.

Abigail Hall - Thursday, February 19, 2025
2026-02-19 17:30 - 20:30
Abigail Hall
How to Run Wars—A Confidential Playbook for the National Security Elite

Abigail R. Hall is a Senior Fellow at the Independent Institute and an Associate Professor of Economics at the University of Tampa. She was previously an Assistant Professor of Economics at Bellarmine University in Louisville, Kentucky. She received her Ph.D. in economics from George Mason University.
Hall is the author of scholarly articles in such journals as Public Choice, Defence and Peace Economics, Advances in Austrian Economics, Review of Austrian Economics, The Independent Review, Atlantic Economic Review, and The Journal of Private Enterprise. And, her popular articles have appeared in Newsweek, The Hill, The Daily Caller, The American Thinker, and the nationally-syndicated McClatchy-Tribune News Service. Hall is also the recipient of the William P. Snavley Award for Outstanding Achievement in Graduate Studies, Association of Private Enterprise Young Scholar Award (2013, 2014, 2015), and the Don Lavoie Memorial Essay Competition Award.
Hall’s works include topics surrounding women’s issues in business and the family, civil and economic liberty, the U.S. military and national defense, including, domestic police militarization, arms sales, weapons as foreign aid, and the political economy of military technology.
In this timely presentation, Professor Hall will explore the true costs of maintaining a military-forward foreign policy. She will pose essential questions: What does such a policy demand of our nation—not only in monetary and human terms, but also in the currency of liberty? Attendees will gain a deeper understanding of how decisions about national security reverberate through our economy, civil society, and democratic institutions.
For Wisconsin Forum event, membership, and reservation information, please visit our membership page.

Donald Luskin – Tuesday, March 10, 2026
2026-03-10 17:30 - 20:30
Donald Luskin
“I Am John Galt” – A Book, An Idea, and A Lesson on Looters & Legends (past and present)!
Donald Luskin, is the Chief Investment Officer at TrendMacro. Luskin’s 40-year career as an entrepreneur, executive, investment manager and commentator has been built around his passion for the application of technology and innovation to the challenge of investing.
Prior to founding Trend Macrolytics, Don was vice chairman and co-chief investment officer of Barclays Global Investors. After a decade building Wells Fargo Investment Advisors into the world’s largest and most innovative investment manager — where indexing, sector ETFs, tactical asset allocation and quant-active investing were invented and popularized — Don was a member of the three-man management team that sold the firm to Barclays Bank PLC in 1995. The firm was acquired by Blackrock in 2009.
At Barclays, Don invented and patented target-date mutual funds, which have since become a standard for retirement investment. He pioneered sector ETF’s, creating the fund family now known as i-Shares. After Barclays, Don was CEO and co-founder of MetaMarkets.com, and manager of the pathbreaking OpenFund — the world’s first “interactive mutual fund,” that showed all its holdings and trading activity in real-time on the Internet.
Don was the inventor of the POSIT ECN, and founder of Investment Technology Group at Jefferies & Company. He has been a hedge fund manager and an options market maker on the Chicago Board Options Exchange, the Pacific Stock Exchange, and the New York Stock Exchange.
Don has been an economic advisor to two presidential candidates including the late John McCain, and has briefed the President in the White House. He contributes frequently to the op-ed page of the Wall Street Journal, and appears regularly on Fox Business.
He is the author of I am John Galt and Index Options and Futures: The Complete Guide, and editor of Portfolio Insurance: The Guide to Dynamic Hedging, all published by Wiley.
His articles and commentaries have been published in the Washington Post, Investors Business Daily, Reason, the Harvard Business Review, National Review, Pensions & Investments, Townhall, the American Spectator, the San Jose Mercury News and the Detroit News. He was formerly a columnist for TheStreet.com and Business 2.0 (now Fast Company), and SmartMoney.com.
Luskin’s I Am John Galt, draws parallels between Ayn Rand’s Atlas Shrugged characters and contemporary political and economic leaders, spotlighting the ongoing tension between government overreach and free markets. In this engaging, interview-style presentation—with opportunities for audience participation—Luskin will offer fresh reflections on Rand’s timeless ideas and their relevance to today’s dynamic geopolitical landscape.

A reservation is required. For Wisconsin Forum event, membership, and reservation information, please visit our membership page.

Colin Grabow – Thursday, April 30, 2026
2026-04-30 17:30 - 20:30
Colin Grabow
The Jones Act and the Fallacy of Protectionism
Colin Grabow is an Associate Director at the Cato Institute’s Herbert A. Stiefel Center for Trade Policy Studies where his research focuses on domestic forms of trade protectionism such as the Jones Act and the U.S. sugar program.
His writings have been published in a number of outlets, including USA Today, The Hill, National Review, and the Wall Street Journal.
Prior to joining the Cato Institute, he performed political and economic analysis for a Japan-based trading and investment firm and published research and analysis for an international affairs consulting firm with a focus on U.S.-Asia relations.
Grabow holds a BA in international affairs from James Madison University and an MA in international trade and investment policy from George Washington University.
The Ingleside Hotel
8210 Golf Road
Pewaukee, WI 53072
5:30-6:15pm – Cocktail & Networking Hour
6:15-7:00pm – Dinner
7:00-7:45pm – Speaker
7:45-8:00pm – Q&A Session

A reservation is required. For Wisconsin Forum event, membership, and reservation information, please visit our membership page.
