Page 3 - WMC 2025 Annual Report

2025
ANNUAL LETTER
Dear Friends,
2025 was a year of transition and transformation for your
War Memorial Center.
We launched the Preserving Our Future campaign—the
largest capital campaign in our history. We worked with
legislators in Madison to secure a State grant.
We also assembled a distinguished cabinet of civic and
philanthropic leaders to guide this effort and raise matching
funds to compliment those entrusted to our care by the State
of Wisconsin. At the same time, we conducted a nationwide
search for our next President & CEO.
We are just getting started.
Change is powerful.
For us, change means being proactive. The transformational
Preserving Our Future campaign established a preservation
fund that will ensure the War Memorial Center remains a
lasting tribute to Wisconsin’s Veterans while expanding
its impact for generations to come. This fund will support
ongoing facility upkeep, stewardship of memorials, and the
restoration of the Southeastern Wisconsin Vietnam Veterans
Memorial, originally built in 1991.
We are not just protecting a building, we are protecting
a mission—the same mission that has guided us since our
founding in 1957: Honor the Dead — Serve the Living.
That mission comes to life through community-building
events, like Field of Flags and Service Experience Day,
as well as through support for Veteran mental health and
meaningful opportunities for remembrance, learning,
and connection.
It also means commemorating our shared history and
honoring the Veterans who have served our nation since
the Revolutionary War. In 2025, we marked the 250th
anniversaries of the United States Army, Navy, and
Marine Corps.
In 2026, we will celebrate America’s 250th birthday.
We hope you join us.
In Service,
Co Nguyen
President & CEO
Andy Gordon
Board Chairman
The War Memorial Center is an architectural treasure, designed by Eero
Saarinen, the architect of iconic works like the Gateway Arch in St. Louis
and the TWA Terminal at New York’s JFK Airport. Santiago Calatrava,
architect of the Milwaukee Art Museum, which is attached to the War
Memorial Center, has called the Saarinen building, ‘extraordinary.’
— On Milwaukee, Senior Editor Bobby Tanzilo, July 28, 2025
HONOR THE DEAD – SERVE THE LIVING
3