Eau Claire attorney, former legislator, named to UW System Board of Regents

May 4—EAU CLAIRE — An Eau Claire attorney who formerly represented the city in the state Assembly has been named to serve on the UW System Board of Regents.

Gov. Tony Evers announced three appointments on Wednesday to replace three people with expiring terms on the board that oversees Wisconsin's public universities.

Among those joining the board in May is Dana Wachs, an Eau Claire native and resident who has practiced law since 1985. He currently is a partner at Gingras, Thomsen & Wachs and works from the firm's Eau Claire office. Wachs served on the Eau Claire City Council in 2009 to 2012 and then ran for state Assembly. Wachs represented the state's 91st District from 2013 to 2019 as a Democrat, a political party affiliation he shares with Evers.

A news release from Evers' office announcing the appointments made note of Wachs serving on the Assembly Committee on Colleges and Universities and the State Building Commission, which often has deciding votes on UW System building projects, while he was in the state Legislature.

"After many years advocating for the UW System in the Legislature, it is truly an honor to be appointed to the Board of Regents by Governor Evers," Wachs said in the news release. "Our UW System is the pride of this state, and I look forward to helping it flourish in this new role."

Wachs will be joining a fellow Eau Claire attorney who is serving his second term on the board and is currently its president. First appointed by former Democratic Gov. James Doyle, Edmund Manydeeds served as a Regent from 2010 to 2017 and was then reappointed by Evers in 2019.

Also appointed by Evers is Angela Adams, a corporate leader from southeastern Wisconsin. She has worked for Goodwill Industries of Southeastern Wisconsin and Metropolitan Chicago since 2016, most recently promoted in January 2021 to the position of chief communications and diversity officer. Prior to Goodwill, she had held leadership roles at Ascension Wisconsin, Johnson Controls and Pfizer.

Adams and Wachs are replacing two Regents who were appointed during the administration of former Republican Gov. Scott Walker. Those departing Regents are Michael M. Grebe, chief legal officer for Aurora Health Care, and Andrew "Drew" Petersen, senior vice president of corporate affairs for TDS Telecom. Their terms expired on Sunday.

Wachs and Adams will serve seven-year terms, while the third appointee named by Evers will serve two years as one of the two student Regents on the board.

Evers named Jennifer Staton, a nontraditional student studying applied health sciences at UW-Parkside, to the board. Staton is a lifelong Wisconsin resident who served various roles in the U.S. Army from 2007 to 2014. During deployments to Iraq and Afghanistan, she served as a combat medic.

Staton is replacing Corey Saffold, a nontraditional student studying criminology at UW-Whitewater.

For his picks for the new Regents, Evers noted how their diverse professional backgrounds will contribute to the board.

"From serving in the Legislature and our communities to serving in our armed forces, the wide-ranging experiences that these folks hold will be invaluable to the overall governance of the UW System, and I'm honored to be appointing them to the Board of Regents," the governor stated in the news release.