Dr. Carla Rutley followed her passion for music and landed her first professional marketing position as an assistant to the marketing manager for the World’s Largest Music Festival, Summerfest. Located along Lake Michigan in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, Summerfest is an 11-day festival with an average attendance of over 800,000+ patrons. A decade later, Carla became a co-founder of one of the Midwest’s largest outdoor music festivals, Country USA, in Oshkosh, Wisconsin.

Carla continued her entrepreneurial spirit with an interest in developing her home region of Southeastern Wisconsin. She assembled community leaders, CEOs, and local officials to start Waukesha County Action Network (WCAN), an economic development think tank designed to grow sustainable businesses and build a pipeline of prepared workforce talent for individual and community prosperity. To consolidate efforts, WCAN merged with the Waukesha Country Business Alliance.

At this juncture, Carla pursued her enthusiasm for women’s leadership, serving as Executive Director for several women’s leadership organizations, including Milwaukee Women, Inc., Tempo, and more. She built employment readiness programs for The Women’s Center to guide their clients and encourage them to rebuild lives away from abuse and poverty.  

Carla’s interest in developing small businesses and professionals led her to obtain an MBA and a Doctorate, both in business administration and a concentration in marketing. She is a five-time entrepreneur and has been teaching adult learners for over 16 years years. Carla brokers real-life business needs with higher education, ensuring students learn rigor relevant to on-the-job needs and performance.