Q&A: New UPAF CEO finds joy in the nonprofit sector

By Samantha Dietel

Oct 30, 2024 12:05 pm

Annemarie Scobey-Polacheck

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United Performing Arts Fund Annemarie Scobey-Polacheck

Last updated Oct 30, 2024 5:10 pm

Annemarie Scobey-Polacheck, the United Performing Arts Fund’s new president and chief executive officer, said she brings an outside perspective to the organization after working for Johnson Controls. UPAF named Scobey-Polacheck president and CEO in July. She previously served as director of corporate philanthropy at Johnson Controls. UPAF funds 14 member organizations, including the Milwaukee Ballet,

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Annemarie Scobey-Polacheck, the United Performing Arts Fund’s new president and chief executive officer, said she brings an outside perspective to the organization after working for Johnson Controls. UPAF named Scobey-Polacheck president and CEO in July. She previously served as director of corporate philanthropy at Johnson Controls. UPAF funds 14 member organizations, including the Milwaukee Ballet, Milwaukee Repertory Theater, Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra and more. UPAF also supports numerous affiliate groups in the Milwaukee area. This year, UPAF raised $9.2 million through its annual community campaign that ended Aug. 31. In 2023, UPAF fundraised nearly $10.6 million in support of the arts. UPAF’s 2025 community campaign kicks off Feb. 19. Scobey-Polacheck said it will be “a year of pretty intense fundraising.” “We recognize that it’s really going to take all of the corporate leaders to roll up their sleeves and join together for this campaign,” Scobey-Polacheck said. “We recognize we need a lot of new donors, and we’re really looking to some of the young professionals to join us with the campaign.” In a recent interview with BizTimes reporter Samantha Dietel, Scobey-Polacheck spoke about her previous connection to UPAF through her corporate role, the nonprofit's efforts to drive workplace giving and her vision for Milwaukee’s arts community. The interview has been edited for length and clarity. BizTimes: What has it been like for you working in the nonprofit sector after leaving the corporate world? Scobey-Polacheck: “It’s a joy to work in the nonprofit sector. In my job at Johnson Controls, I was very much community facing. I was the director of corporate philanthropy, so I got to really engage quite a bit with the nonprofit world. To be here more along the front lines has been a privilege. It’s really been wonderful to be able to see the good work of UPAF from the inside because I’ve always seen it from the outside. But to see the good work and the diligence of the team from inside the organization, and then be able to know how we’re going to impact the community has been really gratifying.” Considering that past engagement with the nonprofit world, what involvement did you have with UPAF before becoming CEO? “As part of my role at Johnson Controls, in terms of directing the philanthropy there, one of my responsibilities each year was to execute the fundraising campaign for UPAF. So I was very involved with UPAF strategy, both in terms of what the corporate gift would be, and helping senior leaders arrive at the proper amount for that gift. It was my job to encourage them to give, help them see the value of UPAF, help them see how Johnson Controls and UPAF were connected. I really thought it was important for the members of the Johnson Controls staff to understand what the arts did for Milwaukee and what it did then for Johnson Controls in terms of making it possible to attract and retain talent. So I knew UPAF pretty well before I joined as CEO.” Do you have any ideas for the organization that stem from that outside perspective? “I do. Internally, we’re calling this the year of the workplace giving campaign. We are really leaning hard into the many partners we have throughout the community who run workplace giving campaigns. We recognize that those campaigns have a real opportunity for us and for the employees who are part of those campaigns to get engaged, to have some fun in the workplace, to enjoy some song and dance and good food while they give to UPAF. We’ll have an intensified focus on all of our workplace giving campaigns this year. We’re partnering with the board members of the member groups who work in all of these companies to help us really lift up these campaigns and get even more employee participation.” Why is UPAF’s mission to support the arts important to you personally? “I’ve seen firsthand what the arts can do in the lives of children, especially my own children. I have four kids, and two are adopted from foster care. My daughter, Jamilet, my youngest daughter, has a voice like you wouldn’t believe, and I feel like I’m allowed to say that because she doesn’t have any of my genes, so it’s not bragging. She has an amazing voice. When she was a senior at Dominican High School, she was Aida in the musical of the same name. Through her years at Dominican, to see how she grew and what the arts gave to her in terms of confidence as she expanded on the stage. It was really meaningful to my husband and I as parents, and you can extrapolate that to thousands of children who are involved in the arts. I feel too in terms of all of us, whether we’re on the stage or not — because I will never be singing on stage, you will never find me playing an instrument. But all of us, when we hear these performances, or see the performances, we leave better. I know that’s true for me in my own life, that when I go to a performance, we come back stronger. We come back with more to talk about. And that’s so valuable for the community.” What is your vision for the arts in Milwaukee? “My vision for the arts in Milwaukee would be that every performance has every seat filled. I would hope that every child who wants arts education or experience on the stage or playing an instrument has that opportunity. I would love for all of us as a city to come together, and people of every race, ethnicity, every socioeconomic background, would look at a stage and see themselves represented by the people on that stage.” What ideas do you have for supporting that vision? “I think one of the challenges of these arts organizations is the ticket sales never cover the expenses of any of these member groups. UPAF supports 14 organizations, all of which are nonprofit, and then dozens of affiliate programs. And so I think it’s our job, really, as performing arts funds, to drive people to understand the value in donating to UPAF, and by extension, to all of these arts groups. I think it’s our responsibility as UPAF to help people understand that it’s more than a donation, that it’s an investment. It’s an investment in our community, it’s an investment in our children, it’s really an investment in our very souls, because of how the arts touch us.” You are leading this organization at a time when Wisconsin ranks last for public arts funding in the U.S. To what extent can UPAF help address that issue in Milwaukee? “I think we have to be a voice for public support of the arts, and I think we need to call our leaders at all levels to understand the importance of supporting the arts with policy and public funding. I think UPAF’s voice needs to join with voices of other arts organizations and leaders to really call for Wisconsin to step it up and to bring us to higher levels of funding.” What are your priorities as you continue serving this organization and Milwaukee’s arts community? “I think the greatest priority is to help the Milwaukee community understand that UPAF has the best interest of the community at heart, and that we are here as a servant leader to serve the arts community, to make sure that we deliver to that arts community what the community is calling for.”