Earlier this year, Helen Boomsma was named a “Woman of Influence” in 2024 by the Milwaukee Business Journal. As the executive director of the Schlitz Audubon Nature Center in Bayside, Wisconsin, Boomsma has left her mark on the Milwaukee community. As director, she has helped make the Nature Center a premier destination for conservation, education, and recreation.
Boomsma, a UWM English alumna, has long had a hand in shaping the landscape of Milwaukee. She started as a teacher at Milwaukee Area Technical College before spending six years at the Milwaukee School of Engineering, running the Lifelong Learning Institute. She spent 15 years at Marquette University in different capacities, including as its senior director of development, before accepting her current post at Schlitz Audubon.
She sat down to talk about her love for her alma mater, the Nature Center, and what it means to be a leader.
Congratulations on your award! What does it mean to you to be a “Woman of Influence”?
I was nominated by my team. I didn’t know that they nominated me! … It’s an honor and a privilege to be named because it’s nice for the Journal to recognize not necessarily the individual who’s been named, but the work that they’re doing, the change that they’re bringing about. The provides an opportunity to shine a light on some of the special work that all 30 (awardees) of us did and are doing and will continue to do.
What does it take to be a successful executive director?
It takes vision. Any good leader must challenge themselves and their team not to be tethered to the same-old, same-old. It’s a matter of looking out five years and asking yourself and your team, who do we want to be? What do we want to achieve? How do we want to be perceived? What is it that makes us exceptional and distinctive? And (then) craft a vision and an idea … and work backwards to build that plan and make it happen. It’s thrilling work.
Obviously, have the competency – things like finance and communication are very important, but I’ve always parroted Jeb Bartlett from “The West Wing.” Surround yourself with people who are smarter than you are. … These are the people that come brimming with ideas. They’re enthusiastic. That’s how you make the magic happen.
Describe the magic. What makes Schlitz Audubon Nature Center integral to Milwaukee?
Schlitz Audubon Nature Center is a 53-year-old nature center. We are on 185 acres. We have 6 miles of hiking trails, 2 miles of which are wheelchair-friendly. This is an incredibly beautiful place for anybody who loves nature and learning about the different types of habitats. … We have literally hundreds of different classes every year, in everything from wildflowers to tree identification to yoga to art. We have an art gallery. We feature live music in winter and summer. We have all sorts of different programs, including beer and wine tastings. We have a collection of 15 captive raptors that have been imprinted and now live with us. We have two bald eagles, hawks, kestrels, owls, that people can come and learn about.
In this world right now of screens, computers, cell phones … leaving it behind or locking it in your glove compartment and getting out in nature (helps you) leave it all behind and press the reset button. It’s good for the community to make sure that they are maintaining a connection with nature and the natural world. We’re a great place for people to unplug from their busy, chaotic lives and to come and just find a serene sense of peace and personal enjoyment.
In your time at the Nature Center, is there any accomplishment you’re particularly proud of?
I claimed when I first started here that I wanted to convert Schlitz Audubon into a four-star Charity Navigator organization. We have now been one every year for four years.
I wanted to make sure that the community understood that we are a nature center for all people, which is one of the reasons why I wanted to convert a portion of our trail system into wheelchair-friendly. Anybody and everybody who wishes to reap the many health and emotional benefits from nature would be able to do that, no matter their age or physical ability.
I wanted to make sure that we were available to all populations in the city, so we have a very large scholarship program – over $50,000 we’ve raised each year for children in the inner city to attend here. I’m very proud of that.
How did your UWM education help you on the road to success?
I absolutely loved UWM. I’m a city girl and it was an urban university that was right smack in the middle of a very interesting, colorful, diverse, culturally rich city. I really appreciated the way UWM English faculty would use the deconstruction of literature to apply to all different types of life lessons. When you study literature, you learn to think creatively. You learn how to think strategically. You really learn how to think and how to apply and how to project ideas. I had extremely influential professors.
How does an English degree help you as the executive director of a nature center? It seems like a conservation and environmental science degree might be more useful.
The opposite, actually! I’ve got a team of people who run land management and conservation. What I am actually running is the business itself. It’s managing our finances, managing our brand, ensuring that we stay relevant, ensuring that we have a very compelling value proposition.
We’re a $3.6 million organization. We have a veritable wedding rental business here. We have a licensed preschool here. We are the 14th-most visited attraction in the Greater Milwaukee Area. We bring 170,000 people (per year). Really what my job is to ensure that we are well-known, we are well-attended, and we are reaching or exceeding our revenue goals.
Do you have a favorite area of the Nature Center?
There’s a trail that goes down to the lakefront. It’s called the Elizabeth Trail. It looks like you fell backward into a fairytale. That is how magical it is. It has old wooden stairs and it goes this way and that way; it curves and meanders. To your left, you’re looking up at woods going straight up, and to the right you’re looking straight down at the bluff with the lake right down there. That’s my favorite part of the Center.
By Sarah Vickery, College of Letters & Science