Photo by Tom Jenz
Cory Nettles
Cory Nettles
I think of Cory Nettles as a Renaissance businessman because he applies his immense talents to the traditional business world and also to the world of Milwaukee’s Black community. Cory Nettles is the founder and managing director of Generation Growth Capital, Inc., a private equity fund focused on buyouts and providing growth capital to small businesses and lower-middle market companies. That includes finding finances to fund growth in the central city’s Black economic and education structure.
Wrapped around in windows, his office roosts on the 28th floor of the downtown Associated Bank River Center where the 360-degree view of the city shows there can be beauty in this old industrial town called Milwaukee.
It was Black History Month when we met, and I asked if he could relay his feelings about Black culture in this time of observance.
“The history and success of this country lies in the ability to harness the talents of a variety of ethnic and economic groups,” he said. “We all came here as immigrants, voluntarily or involuntarily as in the case of Black slaves. We’ve taken the best ideas from those people and come up with even better ideas. In the case of African Americans, there have been great inventors, business people, doctors, musicians, artists, athletes, entertainers and musicians. What I like about Black History Month is that it allows all Americans to pause and think about the rich history and contributions from Black Americans. Most importantly, it is for young African Americans who are not always surrounded by the best role models. As a young kid, I did not know what it meant to be a lawyer or a businessman. I’d like to see these young inner city Black kids know what they can aspire to.”
Tell me about your background, where you grew up, your parents, neighborhoods and schools you attended. What were you like as a kid?
I was born and raised by a single mom in Milwaukee’s inner city. We moved around a lot, but my grandmother was always on 13th and Burleigh, and that was my consistent home. I went to Sherman Elementary, then Steuben Middle School through the 7th grade, and then finished at Greendale Middle and High School. I was a smart kid, introverted, quiet, and studious. I liked to read. I never got into trouble. I was motivated and self-focused.
What happened after Greendale High School? How did you move your life forward?
I did my undergrad at Lawrence University in Appleton. I am currently the chairman of the Lawrence Board of Trustees. In the late 1980s, Milwaukee’s Black community was going through difficult times. Many educated Black boys left town to study at
out-of-state colleges. I had planned to do the same, but Lawrence offered me nearly a full ride academic scholarship. I had a phenomenal experience at Lawrence, was a government major. Class of 1992. The city of Appleton was almost all white and conservative, and I didn’t fit well with city residents. However, on the college campus, I was accepted and developed lifelong friendships.
You graduated from a prestigious college. Where did your journey take you next?
I received a Thomas Watson Foundation Fellowship to study abroad. I spent a year in sub-Saharan Africa. I was studying foreign investment in 3rd World countries. My experience there was intellectually stimulating but emotionally exhausting. I was dealing with race and class and religion. To be a Black man in Africa who is American was culturally jarring. Black Africans did not know what to do with me. White Africans first judged me by my skin color, but when I said I was American, they changed how they addressed me. Being American gave me access that ironically it did not in my own country because I was Black.
I think of the great Black American jazz artists in the 1950s and ‘60s, Miles Davis, Coleman Hawkins, Sidney Beche, and Thelonious Monk. They were revered by Europeans. Some were expatriates.
And don’t forget Josephine Baker and James Baldwin. You never feel more American than when you are a Black person outside of America.
After you got back from Africa, you went to law school, right?
Yes, UW Madison Law School. I met my wife Michelle there. She is from Gainesville, Florida. After law school, I got a job at Quarles & Brady as a trial lawyer, but I ended my time there as a corporate lawyer, specializing in acquisitions.
You eventually took some time out and become Secretary of Commerce under Governor Jim Doyle.
I did. That was a life changing experience. I was responsible for the startup, the growth and the attraction of businesses in Wisconsin. I got to travel the world and all across Wisconsin. Although I went back to Quarles & Brady for a while, that experience fueled my transition from law to corporate business. I started some businesses including housing development and manufacturing. Finally, some of my wiser friends said I should get into the private equity business. Dan Bader of Bader Philanthropies wanted to start a private equity fund. With support from M&I Bank, RW Baird, and Northwestern Mutual, among others, I started Generation Growth Capital. We opened our doors in March 2007.
What is the focus of Generation Growth Capital? What area of investments do you concentrate on?
What I learned as Commerce Secretary is that the economy is driven by small businesses, and Wisconsin has a lot of small businesses, many in manufacturing and agriculture. I found that a lot of these businesses were owned by second and third generation entrepreneurs who wanted to retire and whose adult children did not want to take over. My thesis was to buy some of these small companies and take them to the next level. Over the last 17 years, Generation Growth Capital has acquired nearly 50 of these types of businesses. We build them up and eventually sell them. We started in Wisconsin, then expanded into the Midwest, and more recently we expanded nationally.
Generation Growth Capital is a Midwest focused private equity buyout fund. Can you describe what that means?
For each business that we buy, we generally hire our own people, a new CEO, a new finance or marketing person, and so on. Once we have developed the company, we sell it, usually in about five to six years. At any one time, we might own five or six companies, each with about 40 to 60 employees.
You currently serve on the boards of Weyco Group, Inc., Robert W. Baird’s Baird Funds, the Greater Milwaukee Foundation, and Associated Bank, and many more businesses and nonprofits. What are your board member responsibilities?
Under the law, a profit or nonprofit company must have a board of directors, which has fiduciary oversight of the company. As a board member, my responsibility is to oversee the company managers to make sure they are making reasonable judgements in the interest of their constituents. If it is a for-profit company, I make sure they are responsible to their shareholders. If it is a nonprofit, I ask if the managers are providing reasonable services to those who receive them. Boards of directors also oversee the allocation of resources and help set the direction of the organization.
You are also the Board Chair for Royal Capital Group headed by the young Black entrepreneur Kevin Newell. Are you invested in Royal Capital? And what are your duties as Board Chair?
I am the board chair of the Royal Capital company, but Kevin Newell has many different development projects going at any one time, and I invest in some, but not all. Kevin is phenomenal. I try to “pay it forward,” by helping younger entrepreneurs accelerate the success of their businesses.
I was thinking that it must be very important for you to hire quality people.
Hiring quality people is the most important thing I do. You can put really good people in a bad company and get a good outcome, or you can put bad people in a good company and get a bad outcome.
You are a minority owner of the Milwaukee Bucks. Tell me more about how you got involved with the Bucks.
That is a great story. When Senator Herb Kohl sold the Milwaukee Bucks to three majority owners out of New York, one of them, Marc Lasry, asked if any local business people wanted to invest in the team. His idea was to include local involvement to help promote this small market NBA team. I helped put together a group of five African American families. We ultimately called ourselves, “Partners for Community Impact,” and we invested in the Bucks. I also helped the Bucks to get the state, the county and the city support for the project to build the Fiserv Forum arena where the Bucks play. It cost half billion dollars, but the project created a thriving economic district around the arena. It’s called the Deer District. In the last several years, the Deer District has continued to thrive. It is a phenomenal business story. The Haslam Sports Group family out of Ohio recently invested in the Bucks by acquiring the interest of Marc Lasry. This is an indication of how successful the franchise has been.
I understand you are involved with organizations that stress the importance of education for youth. You once said, and I quote, “While achievement gaps persist in the African American community, education is the most effective way to lift people out of poverty and into greater opportunities for prosperity and success.” Are you involved in any education organizations that help the Black community?
Only about a million of them (laughing). Currently, my wife, Michelle, and I have as our greatest passion project the Dr. Howard Fuller Collegiate Academy Charter School in Milwaukee. We have been at this for 20 years. Right now, it is a high school located on 29th and Capital with a student enrollment of 325. By next fall of 2024, enrollment should be up to 850 including the launch of a new junior high school. We are building a brand-new high school on Vel Phillips Street close to the Black Holocaust Museum and next to the new ThriveOnKing complex that is almost completed. Ultimately, we want to expand into K through 12.
The Dr Howard Fuller Academy is a charter school. Is there tuition?
No, because we are part of the public charter school program. We are a public charter school. We get funding from the state on a per pupil basis, and that covers tuition costs. We also have private donors to cover the gap. In Milwaukee’s central city, we have an education crisis. We are failing children and families. As I’ve said, I believe that education is the most effective way to lift people out of poverty. My wife and I grew up in poor families, and good educations helped bring us into prosperity.
I understand you are involved with the new ThriveOnKing complex on ML King Drive. It will house the Greater Milwaukee Foundation’s headquarters, and also the offices for multiple Medical College of Wisconsin centers. It will also be home to three tenant partners, Malaika Early Learning Center, JobsWork MKE and Versiti Blood Center of Wisconsin.
One of the reasons I got involved with ThriveOnKing was because I wanted to help bring in our Greater Milwaukee Foundation donors and stakeholders, many of them wealthy white people from the suburbs, into the inner city neighborhood largely populated by low income Black people. Our new high school and ThriveOnKing are located in one of the poorest zip codes in the city. I think whites and Blacks need to get out of their silos, their enclaves, and interact with each other.
