Meet the team behind the people helping turn dreamers into entrepreneurs. With a breadth of experience, our state office team has the experience and network to connect business owners at any stage with the help they need to start, manage and grow their business.
Scroll to the bottom to find teams at all of our centers.
Bon Wikenheiser
State Director
Bon most enjoys empowering others to realize their best work. When the right people have a common goal at the right time, truly remarkable progress happens. Creating these teams based on the needs of others and the talent of the professionals involved is the driving motivation for what she does. Bon values these relationships and the commitments colleagues have to their clients and communities.
Colleen Merrill
Associate Director – Strategic Operations & Special Projects
Colleen specializes in creative financial packages, strategy planning, startups and connecting to resources. She maintains a workplace that is fast paced, fun, collaborative and always looking for ways to innovate and improve. Watching clients achieve their dreams through hard work and dedication is one of her favorite aspects of the job.
Gina Ferraro
Business Affairs Director
One aspect of her job Gina really enjoys is working with a great team because she feels you can accomplish so much more when you work together. Projects become especially meaningful to Gina when they help translate abstract numbers into a concrete value.
James Wegener
Network Accountant
Areas of expertise for James include numbers and budgets. Designing and managing spreadsheets and pivot tables are especially important to him. His co-workers value his ability to interpret and explain policy and say James is always a pleasure to be around. Those who work with James enjoy his patience, positive attitude and efficiency.
Stephanie Robey
Program Outreach Coordinator
Others say of working with Stephanie that she always “gets things done with a smile.” One of her favorite parts of the job is interviewing clients and then compiling the information to write their business success stories.
Kody Ova
Marketing & Communications Specialist
Kody’s favorite aspect of his job is the ability to access every part of entrepreneurship in Wisconsin. As the marketing and communications specialist for the Institute, he is able to touch and promote every part of the programming, from the high-tech CTC to food businesses in FFI and everything in-between with the SBDC. Helping to tell client stories in creative ways is meaningful to him.
Meet Our Centers Teams
Wisconsin SBDC is strong due to the dedicated, collaborative teams assembled at our 14 centers. Learn more about our expert staff and the work they do for small businesses.