Meet the Former Bike Executive Who Could Crush Scott Walker’s White House Dreams
Mary Burke, Walker’s opponent, is running as a McKinsey moderate, the anti-politician with business savvy who will jump-start the state’s economy and heal a divided Wisconsin. She believes her pro-business message can win over those key undecided voters. In a nonpresidential year when turnout could decide the election, Burke’s strategy is a gamble—and it just might work.
A fourth-generation Wisconsinite, Burke is a former executive at Trek Bicycles, the Waterloo-based company founded by her father that rose to the top of the business by selling made-in-America quality. After graduating from Georgetown and Harvard Business School, Burke ran Trek’s European division, got talked into serving under Democratic Gov. Jim Doyle as secretary of the Commerce Department (Walker would later scrap the agency), and later devoted her time to education and philanthropy, including launching a nonprofit that helps low-income students attend college.
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