By Kris Leonhardt
Editor-in-chief
DE PERE – Milwaukee Brewers Chief Operating Officer (COO) Marti Wronski recently spoke to a sold-out room at St. Norbert College (SNC) as part of the college’s CEO Breakfast Series.
Wronski has been with the baseball club for two decades and was promoted to COO in December 2022.
The Dec. 5 SNC presentation, held in the F. K. Bemis Conference Center focused on Wronski’s “different lenses of leadership.”
Wronski’s move to COO of the Brewers organization marks the first hiring of a woman in that position.
She is one of just two female executives to hold the COO title in Major League Baseball.
Wronski graduated from St. Norbert College in 1994 and the U-W Law School in 1997.
Wronski said that she didn’t start in leadership or seek it out, “then came the Brewers,” she said, referencing a quote from leadership expert, Warren Bennis, “The most dangerous leadership myth is that leaders are born that there is a genetic factor to leadership. That’s nonsense. In fact, the opposite is true. Leaders are made, not born.”
To be an effective leader “you cannot focus on your own appearance or what the next guy thinks about you. You are going to make unpopular decisions, so it can’t just be about you and what you think,” she added.
“We are coming off of a time — a crazy four or five years — between COVID and this new generation of employees.
“If you don’t go in; if you just want to sit back and say, ‘Here’s the deal. I know how this should work. This is how our company has always done this; this is how it should all be.’ We tried that in our organization; that does not work. Major League Baseball is like the oldest old school industry in the world.
“That doesn’t work in leadership. You have to be willing to go in and listen to your people and figure it out.”
“Your goal is to be able to get your vision for your organization and those goals down to individuals so that individuals understand the role they play ultimately in the success of your organization; so, they can clearly see what they are a part of and where they are going.
In Wronski’s role as COO, she oversees the Brewers’ legal, business analytics, information technology and human resources teams.
She said that she is “passionate about corporate culture and its impact on talent growth, retention and performance across all aspects of business; the incorporation of analytics into the business of baseball; and the business of professional sports.”
Brewers bills signed
That same day, Wronski participated in a bill signing at American Family Field in Milwaukee with Gov. Tony Evers and other Brewers staff.
Evers signed two bipartisan bills — Assembly Bill 438, now 2023 Wisconsin Act 40, and Assembly Bill 439, now 2023 Wisconsin Act 41 — to keep the Milwaukee Brewers and MLB in Wisconsin through 2050.
The bills allocate $500.8 million in public funding over the term of the lease that expires Dec. 31, 2050 — $365.8 million in state funds and $67.5 million in local contributions from both Milwaukee County and the city of Milwaukee.
“It’s a great day to be a Wisconsinite and a great day to be a Brewers fan as we finally reach the culmination of months of bipartisan work, collaboration, and negotiation on a plan to keep the Milwaukee Brewers in Wisconsin and ensure future generations will grow up rooting for the home team just as so many of us have,” Evers stated. “I’ve always believed we’d find a way to get this done, and today is yet another great example of what we can accomplish when we work together, find common ground, and put politics aside to do what’s best for Wisconsin.
The Southeast Wisconsin Professional Baseball Park District oversees the operation and maintenance of American Family Field.
“The district’s existing lease responsibilities to the Brewers require the district to manage American Family Field maintenance and improvements. Without an investment from the state, the district does not have the resources to meet existing contractual and legal obligations to maintain and update American Family Field, posing the imminent risk of Wisconsin losing the Brewers and its only MLB team,” a release from Evers office stated.
For more on future CEO Breakfast Series at St. Norbert College, visit snc.edu/go/ceobreakfast.