Tech Connect is a video series by MKE Tech Hub Coalition that spotlights the real voices behind Milwaukee’s growing technology ecosystem. Each episode features candid conversations with local tech professionals on leadership, career, culture, and what makes Milwaukee a place worth building in.
In our sixth episode, we sat down with Tom Posta and Brian Kohlmann of Bader Rutter, for a conversation spanning nearly 30 years of shared agency history—covering career growth, leadership, innovation, and what makes Milwaukee’s tech scene distinct.
On the skills that surprised them most: Tom came into agency life from a sales background where speed and hustle drove everything, so patience wasn’t natural at first—he credits getting married and having a child with helping him build it, alongside years spent working across teams and clients. Brian’s surprise was different: early in his career, he didn’t expect how much people would value him simply being the calm, steady presence in the room. Both agree self-awareness becomes more critical, not less, as your career advances—understanding your own tendencies is what lets you stay steady for the people around you.
On mentoring the next generation: Brian talks about coaching college students navigating career uncertainty—including a recent conversation with a student worried that AI might erase marketing careers before they start. His advice: the people who learn to work with AI, rather than around it, are the ones who’ll thrive. Tom echoes that duality—building an inclusive space for tech in the city while also feeding the pipeline with the next wave of graduates.
On AI and the human element: Both guests push back on the idea that AI will replace creative work. Brian argues AI-generated content without a human hand behind it is easy to spot, and that strategic thought, discernment, and empathy remain distinctly human contributions AI can’t replicate. Tom adds that the real opportunity is using AI as a starting point and letting human creativity shape and elevate what it produces, rather than treating it as the finish line.
On building a culture of innovation: Tom describes innovation as everybody’s job, not just “blue ocean” big-idea thinking—sometimes the most valuable ideas come from the smallest team or the newest hire, and a healthy culture makes room for that. Brian points to Bader Rutter’s own experiments, including a since-adjusted attempt at restructuring health benefits, as an example of the agency’s “fail fast, own it, move on” mindset. Both return to the same idea: there’s no finish line, only continuous change.
On what “small-waukee” really means: Tom describes rarely being more than one or two degrees of separation from anyone in the local business world—a small, well-networked circle across organizations like MMAC and the MKE Tech Hub Coalition. Brian pushes back gently on the word “small,” arguing it undersells a metro area of over a million people; what actually defines Milwaukee, he says, is how deliberately welcoming and connected the community is, not its size. Both agree the region’s relatively low number of competing organizations—rather than a shortage of scale—is what lets groups like the MKE Tech Hub Coalition and MMAC build focused, overlapping communities instead of fragmented ones.