2025 Rotary Person of the Year
 
The Rotary Club of Milwaukee has no higher honor than the Rotary Person of the Year Award.  Annually, the club honors an accomplished local individual who has distinguished herself or himself with professional accomplishments. Unlike other awards that recognize civic and philanthropic achievements, the Rotary Person of the Year honors individuals, executives and entrepreneurs who, through their profession, are making the Milwaukee community a better place to live and work. Past Rotary Person of the Year Award recipients have shown outstanding leadership in the advancement of ideas, products or services.
 
The Rotary Person of the Year Committee requests that nominators follow these guidelines:

  • Describe why you think the individual you're nominating meets our criteria and should receive the award.

  • Nominations should be 500 words or less in length.

  • Submit a one-page attachment if necessary to highlight or note any special attributes beyond what you have written in your nomination.

  • Rotary members may work together on a nomination.

  • Nominations that were received in 2024 that were not selected will be automatically reconsidered in 2025. Nominators are welcome to supplement the original nomination with additional information.

  • If an individual was nominated in 2023 or earlier and not selected, a new nomination is required for consideration in 2025

 
 
Nominations are due January 31, 2025
 
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2024 Rotary Person of the Year
Michael Gosman, President & Executive Director of Acts Housing
 
Although he started his career with Whyte Hirschboeck as a staff attorney, Michael Gosman’s passion for improving our community drew him to Acts Housing, an organization he has led for nearly a decade.
 
Since 1995, Acts has helped over 3,200 Milwaukee families into homeownership. Under Mike's leadership the organization has grown from seven employees in 2012 to over forty employees in 2023; and from $670,000 in revenue in 2012 to nearly $9,000,000 in combined revenue in 2023.
 

Recognizing that access to conventional financing for some families was limited, Mike established Acts Lending to fill an unmet need, a division which provides loans to families with barriers to homeownership. Today, Acts Lending has a $7MM portfolio of nearly 150 performing loans and nearly zero charge-offs.

In 2023, Acts families were unable to compete with predatory out of state financial buyers, so Mike helped establish Acts Homes, again meeting a market need. Acts Homes serves to interrupt the predatory practices of out-of-state investors who convert single-family homes to rentals. With philanthropic funds, Acts Homes buys portfolios of rental homes from investors and makes them available for owner-occupied homeowners. This novel concept attracted national media coverage in 2022 from Soledad O'Brien, the Wall Street Journal, and others. In its first year of operation, Acts Homes has made 35 homes available for purchase by families in Milwaukee. In 2024 it plans to acquire at least 60 more rental homes to be available for families.

Homeownership cannot be overstated as a means to building generational wealth. Building equity in a home can create financial stability and opportunities for better education and healthcare that will strengthen future generations. Mike’s inventive ideas, products and services have resulted in stronger families, neighborhoods and communities in Milwaukee, and for these contributions, he is our 2024 Rotary Person of the Year.