Kathryn L. & Lawrence J. Bennett
Kathy Bennett graduated from UWM with a bachelor’s degree in accounting in 1986. She joined a local public accounting firm and loved the immediate interaction with partners and clients. In 1997 she became the first female owner/partner. In 2003, she became the firm’s first managing partner, a role maintained until their firm merged with a much larger firm in 2016. In 2021 Kathy retired and while she misses serving clients and mentoring staff, she is enjoying spending time with family and friends and traveling.
Kathy’s husband, Larry, attended UWM for a couple of years and then stepped away from college to help his family run their retail business in Menomonee Falls. He purchased the business from his parents in 1989 and sold the business to a large national retail company in 1996. He subsequently finished a degree in engineering at Cardinal Stritch University. After several years in manufacturing, he purchased a commercial real estate property for renovation and improvement. He now enjoys spending time hunting, fishing, and traveling.
Impact
Kathy and Larry place a high value on education and understand how important it has been to their successes in life. Both of them worked while attending school and were able to pay for their tuition. Kathy and Larry understand the challenges current students face in paying for their education, and they want to help future generations fulfill their dreams and enjoy access to the same opportunities they had. They also seek to demonstrate the importance of giving back. Kathy’s mom instilled in her at a very early age the importance of education and giving back to the community. Kathy and Larry continue to follow her example in their daily lives, including their knowledge that current and future generations will make Milwaukee and the world a better place.