Staff

I’m Mike Marsch President of Wisconsin Property Taxpayers. I came to work for WPT on October 10, 1987.

I was hired as a member representative. When I started with the  organization, we had less than 1,500 members. Today thanks to all the  hard work of many member representatives WPT is Wisconsin’s largest  taxpayer organization with over 18,000 business, farm and homeowner  members. We are a force to be reckoned with when it comes to taxation  and spending.

In  November of 2011, my wife Kim and began managing the organization from  Nancy Dohm, who operated the organization for about 10 months after the  passing of her husband Tom Dohm who founded the organization in 1985. As  you visit  through the archives of this website, you will realize how instrumental  WPT has been in all of the significant taxation and spending policy our  great state of Wisconsin has adopted into law saving hundreds of  millions of dollars over the years for Wisconsin taxpayers.

I  am proud of the hard work and dedication of our past and present staff.  No other organization in Wisconsin works harder to serve the interests  of ALL taxpayers in pursuit of fair taxation and fiscal responsibility. I  also want to thank our 18,000 members who stand in the gap with us  every day. Without them, we would be just another fading voice in the  wind. Instead we are a chorus of voices standing united for fairness and  reform, which is heard loud and clear.

Paul  has lived in Wisconsin most of his life. Working jobs through high school, UW-Whitewater, and an online M.B.A., he has seen business from many different perspectives. On the hard work side of being an employee, he has held jobs including manufacturing and landscaping. On the high risk side of business ownership, he spent a year launching a startup and over nine years an independent contractor and small business owner. He  has seen the issues both sides face and the different struggles to succeed.

His mission is to help the hard working underdog get ahead. Personally, he  has volunteered for organizations like St. Vincent de Paul, Pregnancy Helpline Sharing Center, Parish Council and various soup kitchens.  Professionally, he has regularly worked to be a connector for business professionals different networking groups, meetups, & associations, and sees WPT as a great resource to make improvements in  their business and influence how the legislature impacts their business.

Paul currently lives in Madison with his wife Abbie and their five kids. They enjoy seeing all parts of Wisconsin by attending Packers, Badgers and Brewers games, visiting family in New Richmond, Medford, Coloma & Milwaukee, and going to the lake in Eagle River. They also enjoy camping  trips to visit National Parks, Monuments, and other landmarks. Paul enjoys watching good television, reading, coaching/attending his kids activities, and running more than cleaning gutters or writing bios

My  role within WPT is to support our lobbying effort through the creation  of communication tools such as website development, newsletter  production and public forums.  We as personnel know the great job we do  for our member’s every day, but if the member doesn’t realize it, then  we have not communicated adequately the seriousness of the issues or the  opportunity presented to make a change in the way government works.   A  lobbying organization is only as strong and powerful as the membership  it attempts to engage in the process this change.
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Our  Membership Representatives also rely on me to perform many of the  day-to-day functions of the organization, assisting them in servicing  our members, and of course the mundane administrative work that accounts  for the payables and receivables of WPT.  The bottom-line for me: I do  whatever I can to make the organization better and more functional for  our members.

Hello! My name is Laurie Rauk and I work as the Business Analyst and Accounts Manager for Wisconsin Property Taxpayers, Inc. In my role, I work closely with our team member representatives to help them achieve their goals and to expand our organization's reach in various communities around the state. Being part of a team that supports the ordinary citizen's voice in the Wisconsin government is something I am very passionate about, especially in today's world where it can be challenging to actively participate in the discussion of proposals, laws, and budgets. 

I recently completed my bachelor's degree in Organization Management, which was a long-term goal of mine. I also hold a Computer Science Degree in System Analysis, and my work experience in the IT field is something that comes in handy when dealing with various technical issues that arise. Additionally, I enjoy photography and producing digital content. I believe that creating artistic and engaging visual content enhances communication with our members, which is essential in helping them stay informed and engaged. As a lifetime resident of Wisconsin, I love exploring new places around our state. There's always something new to discover! 

I was born in Racine, but grew up in rural Central Wisconsin, in farmland country. This instilled in me an appreciation for the outdoors and love for wildlife. I graduated from high school and went to the UW of Marshfield, now part of UWSP. I obtained an Associates of Arts and Science Degree. I went to the UW of Stevens Point for two years, then furthered and completed my education at Mid-State Technical College, with a degree in Business Management and Accounting. 

I am proud to be able to utilize my college degrees for WPT and make a difference.

I still live in the countryside of Central Wisconsin and enjoy doing hiking, camping, martial arts, and spending time with my family.

I  grew up in Babcock, Wisconsin in the heart of cranberry country. My  family instilled in me a love for the outdoors, the value of hard work  and love of country. After high school I went to work in t cranberry  production, working my way up from summer help to cranberry marsh  manager. In 2003 I left cranberry growing to start a small business  which my wife and I operated successfully for 17 years. After selling  the business in 2020, my desire to make a difference and wanting to see  our rural way of life preserved led me to work for WPT.
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I  live in Arpin, Wisconsin with my wife and three younger children. I’m  the father of six and grandfather of 3. We enjoy hunting, fishing,  gardening and other outdoor activities.

Keith  joined the organization in 2015. Since then he has traveled thousands  of miles meeting WPT members, and prospective members. Keith's mission  is to serve members and to keep them updated on WPT initiatives and  member benefits -- which have been greatly expanded!  

Prior to his WPT  calling, Keith served in jobs as wide ranging as media, radio news,  newspaper ad sales, insurance, and inside sales- for one of Wisconsin’s  largest privately held firms. His belief is in the value of WPT and the  connections it brings to make Wisconsin a better place to live, work and  play. He holds a Bachelor’s degree from UW Oshkosh.  

Keith and his  wife, Wendy, have three grown children and live in Oshkosh. He grew up  in Sheboygan and enjoys outdoor pursuits, especially fishing. Keith  loves to root for our state’s sports teams.  According to Keith, there  is no better place than Wisconsin!

Kari  is originally from Nevada but has lived in Wisconsin for several years.  She is a woman who has worn many hats in the business world. Along with  having experience as a hard working employee she has several years as a  business owner under her belt as well.  
She was the co-owner of two successful businesses! One a hunting ranch  and the other a fiber optic cable installation company. With that being  said she has seen first hand the many challenges and rewards of owning a  business.  
Kari currently resides in Altoona with her two dogs and young daughter.  Her favorite things to do involve spending time with her daughter. She  loves to take her new places, teach her new things, and is always in the  stands at any school events.

Hi, My name is Sybil and l and am proud to call Wisconsin my home state. I am from LaCrosse and moved to the Madison area to attend Edgewood College, graduating Cum Laude, with a degree in Graphic Design.  

I have been fortunate to help many organizations grow profitably with roles in both Marketing and Sales. I was blessed to grow up on a small family dairy and horse farm in both Northern and Central Wisconsin. I still enjoy working on the farm milking cows and help out at a local, family owned dairy near my home in Evansville. 

Joining the WPT team has given me the opportunity to use both my farm and career experience to serve our membership in continuing to fight for fairness and reform concerning taxation.  I love being part of the ag community, meeting our members, listening to their concerns and creating positive change to help them not only stay in business but thrive during these challenging times. 

When not driving the beautiful back country roads visiting our membership, you can find this nature lover kayaking the endless local waterways, hiking a scenic trail and baking chocolate chip cookies for my son and his friends which they say are the best cookies ever! 

As a third-generation farmer in Wisconsin, I was born, raised, and worked on the family farm. Outside of crop management and being a leader in innovation, one of my greatest accomplishments included having a certification in insemination leading to my successes in heard management and production with AAA mating. 

Through my love of farming and ranching, and an inspiration for the success of farming and ranching communities also came additional accomplishments; I saw a need in rural communities to be able to access necessary and urgent needs closer to home such as feeds, overnight birthing’s needs, pet supplies, tools, equipment, repairs, and everyday household items which grew into opening a farm, ranch, pet, hardware, and retail store.  

While not having much time left in my days, I managed to make some time to enjoy a few of my other passions. I loved being on the farm, ranching, and loved having the opportunity to enjoy all that nature had to offer including logging, horseback riding, hunting, fishing, and valuing spending time catching up with family and friends. 

God Bless America!  God Bless the Farmer’s and Rancher’s! God bless each and every one, who put in the hard work every day to keep this country going in a positive direction no matter how much of a struggle each day may bring. 

I’m honored to be a part of the WPT team, joining in their 40th year, and to have the privilege of meeting business members and hearing their stories and experiences.

After spending much of my adult life in the Milwaukee/Waukesha area, I have resided in Stoughton the last eight years, where my Norwegian heritage is celebrated, and corn fields and a few tobacco fields surround the city, making me feel right at home. I have spent many years managing Independent Senior Living communities and serving as Business Manager in continuum of care facilities, after obtaining a Paralegal degree with the intent to advocate on behalf of the elderly. Now I get to use the experiences and skills gained to play a part in advocating for legislation that frees up businesses to more fully prosper and keep their profits.

In my free time I enjoy the Madison farmer’s market, concerts on the square, kayaking, contra dancing, volunteering, many local coffee shops, and walking my neighbor’s dog Aspen (dog therapy without commitment!). Outside of Madison I enjoy our State Parks (my favorite is whatever one I’m currently in), and regular visits to Sanibel, Florida.

Believing our great State in all its variety of beauty, landscapes, families, and multitudes of hard-working people and innovative businesses is worth fighting for, I have also come to realize in recent years that it’s not about politics, it’s about governance, and that we all need to find ways to engage. Now this is my opportunity to do so by amplifying the collective voice of our business members who are often too busy to engage their State Senators and Representatives on a consistent basis. May God Bless Wisconsin!

Hello, My name is Peter Kaye. I represent the important work Wisconsin Property Taxpayers or WPT, does to help preserve the farming way of life, and I do so for all of the NW Wisconsin Farmers and Ag Businesses. So, you can better understand, I would like to explain why I decided to represent Wisconsin Property Taxpayers, Inc.

My father had grown up on a dairy farm near Weyerhaeuser, WI and was the oldest of twelve children. He left the farm at age eighteen and ended up in London, England during WWII. During the war he met my mother who was from London, and they married shortly after the war, eventually moving to Minneapolis, and starting a family. The farm was still active, and I, along with my older brother, would spend a large portion of our summers on the farm. I grew to love that way of life. There were thriving family farms every quarter mile or so, and it was a wonderful period of time to truly experience farm life, especially for a couple of city boys. Fast forward ten years or so and I met the girl I fell in love with and married, (that was fifty years ago now), how time flies! I mentioned Nashville and here’s why there’s a connection. In 1985 while working in Music City, I decided to call one of my uncles who still lived near the farm, and I asked him how things were in the area. Once he told me about the high number of farms no longer operating, I felt led to write a song about it called, “The American Farmer”. Our publisher introduced the song to Willie Nelson for use in Farm Aid. He considered recorded it but later decided not to, and the song was eventually shelved. Ten years later we had moved from Nashville to Weyerhaeuser to go through some missionary training and we ended up in Central America along with our fifteen month old daughter… I know, it’s a crazy story.

We did that for two years, then found out we were having another child, and now back in Wisconsin, I started working as an insurance agent, working with farmers. I saw first hand how we were losing three farms a week in Wisconsin and as many as fifty a week nation- wide. I started playing “The American Farmer” for farm families when on appointments, and at the same time started a foundation called “American Farmer Foundation”. As hard as I tried, I could not get anyone to join forces with me, not corporations who worked in agriculture, and not even farmers. After some time of trying to get  traction, I had to get back to making a living and postponed the whole idea. It’s now forty-one years later, and I have retired from insurance work. Recently as mentioned, I was introduced to WPT’s Mike Marsch, who has been working with farmers since 1985, all the way back to when I originally wrote the song! As I prayerfully considered joining forces with WPT, Deb and I figured this had to be God’s hand directing me to get involved with farmers again. So instead of not doing much to help any longer, (except a lot of complaining about things), I decided to get active again and try to help again. I’m now representing WPT in the Northwestern part of Wisconsin, where we’ve been living for the last thirty-seven years.

As you can see from this publication, WPT has been instrumental in helping make extremely beneficial changes for farm families across the State. My goal is to help them, help you, to preserve as many family farms, and that incredible farm way of life, for as many as we can, and I’m really honored to be doing so!

Oh, if you’d like to hear the song it’s on all of the streaming platforms like Apple Music, Spotify, iTunes, but probably the best way is on YouTube.

If you simply enter in the search; “Peter and Debra Kaye American Farmer” (even Google Search should work) the song should come up. We also released a song called “Pledge Allegiance” a few years ago and I encourage you to listen and share both of these songs. These two songs, about Farmers and America, are very important subjects to all of us….they are two things that we must preserve!

So for all of you in the northwestern part of the state, I’ll be stopping by to see you in the very near future.