Mary Burke

Mary Burke
Born	(1959-04-30) April 30, 1959 Hartland, Wisconsin, U.S.
Occupation(s)	Entrepreneur, politician
Years active	1980s–present
Known for	Democratic nominee for Governor of Wisconsin (2014), Wisconsin Secretary of Commerce (2005–2007)

Mary Patricia Burke (born April 30, 1959) is an American entrepreneur and was the Democratic contender for Governor of Wisconsin in the 2014 race. She held a position on the Madison, Wisconsin school board from April 2012 until July 2019. Burke previously worked as an executive at Trek Bicycle Corporation and served as Wisconsin's Secretary of Commerce between 2005 and 2007. She is the daughter of Trek’s founder, Richard Burke.

Early life and education

Raised in Hartland, Wisconsin, Mary Burke is the second eldest among five siblings. She graduated magna cum laude from Georgetown University, earning a degree in business administration. In 1985, she completed her MBA at Harvard Business School and also participated in the General Course program at the London School of Economics.

Career

Burke launched her professional journey as a consultant based in New York and Washington, D.C., working with McKinsey & Company before briefly establishing her own consulting firm. She later returned to Wisconsin to join Trek, initially overseeing European operations and subsequently directing strategic planning. In 2005, Governor Jim Doyle appointed her as Wisconsin’s Secretary of Commerce.

She stepped down from this role in November 2007 to dedicate more time to family matters and philanthropic endeavors, notably with the Boys & Girls Club of Dane County. In 2008, Burke led an analysis addressing financial difficulties faced by Milwaukee schools. Her election to the Madison school board came in 2012 after personally investing $128,000 into her campaign.

During her gubernatorial bid, two former Trek executives accused Burke of being removed from her leadership role in Europe due to financial underperformance and management problems. Both Burke and her brother John, Trek’s CEO, refuted these allegations; it was later disclosed that one accuser had been fired for incompetence.

Following her departure from Trek, Burke took a two-year hiatus that included a four-month snowboarding excursion across Argentina and Colorado before rejoining the family business in a different capacity.

Burke resigned from the Madison school board in July 2019 to concentrate on Building Brave, a nonprofit organization she established to support women's empowerment.

2014 gubernatorial election

On October 7, 2013, Burke declared her intention to seek the Democratic nomination to oppose Republican incumbent Scott Walker in the 2014 Wisconsin governor’s race. Running as a moderate candidate, she was polling evenly with Walker by August 2014.

In September 2014, Burke acknowledged that segments of her "Invest for Success" jobs plan had been directly borrowed from earlier proposals by other Democratic candidates. Following this revelation, her campaign dismissed consultant Eric Schnurer for failing to disclose the source of the material.

Burke was defeated by Walker on November 4, 2014, losing by a margin of 136,793 votes.

Personal life

Burke maintains an active role in philanthropy and community involvement. She serves on multiple nonprofit boards and has volunteered extensively, including mentoring young people and aiding homeless populations. She contributed $450,000 to Road Home, an organization dedicated to assisting homeless families in Dane County, alongside supporting both the Boys & Girls Club of Dane County and Madison Prep charter school.

As co-founder of AVID/TOPS, she has worked to assist first-generation college students. Her volunteer efforts began during her teenage years when she taught tennis in Milwaukee’s inner city. In 2011, Madison Magazine recognized her as one of their "People of the Year". She lives in Madison, Wisconsin.

External links

• ; retrieved November 8, 2014.