The Top Women Leaders of Milwaukee for 2026

Milwaukee’s Industrial Roots Meet C-Suite Evolution

When you map out the economic machinery humming along the western shore of Lake Michigan, you are looking at a cityscape built on heavy industry, advanced manufacturing, and deep brewing roots. That industrial baseline has expanded rapidly into medical research, financial technology, water innovation, and global healthcare logistics. According to a Women We Admire report detailing the Top Women Leaders of Milwaukee for 2026, the region’s current leadership reflects this heritage.

Take Tessa Myers at Rockwell Automation. Bringing over 27 years of experience at the Milwaukee-headquartered digital transformation giant, Myers stepped into the role of Senior Vice President and Chief Revenue Officer in October 2026. Her trajectory mirrors the city’s broader technological shift, moving from her start as an associate sales engineer in 1999 through leadership of hardware and software businesses before taking charge of the company’s Intelligent Devices segment.

Corporate Transitions Across Manufacturing and Healthcare Giants

At ManpowerGroup, current President and Chief Strategy Officer Becky Frankiewicz is preparing to step into the Chief Executive Officer role effective January 1, 2027. Frankiewicz, who joined the global workforce solutions firm in 2017 after leading a multi-billion-dollar division at PepsiCo, oversees long-term innovation priorities including the integration of artificial intelligence across the company’s brands.

Meanwhile, the healthcare sector is managing its own high-profile executive shifts. Jeannette Bankes, who took the helm as President and CEO of Patient Care Solutions at GE HealthCare in Waukesha in May 2025, is departing the company on November 15, 2026. While GE HealthCare announced that Bankes is leaving to become the CEO of another publicly traded company, the organization has not yet disclosed her next employer.

Gabrielle Finley-Hazle, Executive Vice President and President of the Wisconsin Division at Advocate Health and President of Aurora Health Care, coordinates operations across 18 hospitals and more than 300 care sites in the state. Alongside leaders like Amy Berentes—who serves as Chief Nursing Officer and Chief Operating Officer at Ascension in Franklin—these executives steer clinical services, workforce development, and patient care standards across local communities.

Engineering Supply Chains and Digital Strategy

Industrial manufacturing continues to anchor the regional balance sheet. At Milwaukee Tool, Chief Financial Officer Christine Delisle oversees finance and supply chain management, drawing on a career that spans process engineering, lean manufacturing, and financial oversight since she joined the company in 2011.

Jill Brown brings her background as a mergers and acquisitions IT project manager at GE Healthcare into her current work directing private equity services at Alvarez & Marsal. In the therapeutics sector, Dr. Jaya Phookan serves as Founder and CEO of Atreides Therapeutics, combining clinical leadership and hospital operations to advance medical innovation.