Dennis J. Conta, President

Dennis Conta is President of Conta and Associates, Inc.  Conta and Associates is a Milwaukee-based  company that provides management and consulting services in three areas:

• Development of Public Charter Schools
• Governmental Relations
• Public Policy Studies

In 2014, Mr. Conta retired from his extensive involvement with Milwaukee and Wisconsin charter schools. Mr. Conta served as the Executive Director of the Milwaukee Charter School Advocates (MCSA), was a member of the Board of the Wisconsin Charter School Association (WCSA) and served on the board of the largest Charter School Management Organization located in the City of Milwaukee—Seeds of Health, Inc. (SOH).

Mr. Conta also is co-founder of Tenor High School, a school established in 2006, chartered by the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee and administered by Seeds of Health. The charter high school offers students a unique curriculum which blends traditional academic studies with courses at Milwaukee Area Technical College in various trade and technology areas. Students who complete the program graduate with two credentials—a high school diploma and an MATC certificate. Tenor High School was named Charter School of the Year in 2009.  That same year Mr. Conta was named Charter Person of the Year.

In the process of discharging the firm’s other professional responsibilities, Mr. Conta has provided consulting services to a broad range of large corporations, trade associations, non-profit agencies and governmental agencies in the areas of project management, research and analysis, contract procurement, and strategic planning.

In addition to his consulting responsibilities, Mr. Conta was active in the area of public service until he retired in 2014. The Governor of Wisconsin, Jim Doyle, appointed Mr. Conta Chairperson of the State of Wisconsin Health Insurance Risk Sharing Program Authority (HIRSP). The Authority was governed by a Board of Directors consisting of HIRSP policyholders, health care providers, insurers and small business leaders. The program was annually funded with over $200 million in revenue from premiums, fees and assessments and provided insurance to over 18,000 Wisconsin citizens who were unable to obtain individual health insurance from private health insurance companies because of adverse medical histories or who lost access to group insurance coverage.

Gov. Doyle also appointed Mr. Conta to the Board of Governors of the Wisconsin Injured Patients and Families Compensation Fund (PCF).  The PCF oversees health care liability plans for health care providers in Wisconsin and also supervises payments made for medical malpractice claims in excess of a provider’s underlying coverage. The fund maintains and administers assessments of over $800 million dollars. During his tenure, Mr. Conta served as Chairperson of the Finance, Investment and Audit Committee of the PCF.

Mr. Conta was elected to the Wisconsin State Legislature in 1968 and served four terms. After serving five years as the Co-Chairman of the important Joint Committee on Finance, Mr. Conta was appointed Secretary of the Wisconsin Department of Revenue in 1976.   Mr. Conta left the Revenue Department in 1979 and established Conta and Associates.