A Milwaukee organization that has spent five decades building networks for women in senior leadership just crossed state lines for the first time, launching TEMPO St. Louis with 40 executive women representing 31 regional organizations. The new chapter marks the first time TEMPO has expanded beyond Wisconsin since its founding, bringing its model of executive mentoring and cross-company connection to a new Midwestern market.
TEMPO St. Louis draws its founding cohort from a wide swath of the region's corporate and institutional landscape, including senior leaders from Edward Jones, Commerce Bank, Microsoft, Husch Blackwell, BDO, Centric Consulting, Maryville University and Washington University in St. Louis, according to TEMPO Milwaukee. The inaugural group also includes members from World Wide Technology, Bayer North America and Commerce Trust, spanning financial services, technology, healthcare, higher education, law, professional services and nonprofit work, as reported by The Business Journals. Founding members named in that report include Microsoft Strategic Account Director Jenny Bartlow, Edward Jones Associate General Counsel Shantia Coley, and Commerce Bank Vice President Angie Ackerman.
Why TEMPO Picked St. Louis
TEMPO president and CEO Jennifer Dirks said the St. Louis launch is an important moment in the organization's history and a natural step in its evolution, per the outlet's report. The decision followed research and conversations with business and community leaders, and TEMPO found comparable market characteristics between Milwaukee and St. Louis, including shared demand among executive women for cross-company and cross-industry networking. Business leaders in the two cities already had established relationships, the report notes, which helped smooth the path for the chapter's rollout.
St. Louis women leaders have said they want more opportunities to connect across companies and industries, a gap TEMPO believes its decades of experience building executive women's communities can help fill. The St. Louis market already counts nationally prominent female executives among its ranks, including Enterprise Mobility CEO Chrissy Taylor and Edward Jones Managing Partner Penny Pennington, according to Briefcase Coach. Even so, local women executives have voiced demand for broader cross-industry networking platforms that go beyond what exists within any single company.
Fifty Years Rooted in Milwaukee
TEMPO was founded on February 6, 1975, in Milwaukee by four women executives — Patricia Gerczak Lunde, Donna Dollase, Mary Frymark and Suzanne Sheedy — to challenge the exclusion of women from local corporate power structures, according to TEMPO's own historical materials. It was originally established as the TEMPO Business and Professional Women's Club of Milwaukee, aiming to secure equal representation for women in decision-making and policymaking roles. The organization opened its first regional expansion chapter in Racine in 2006, long before venturing outside Wisconsin, as reported by WUWM 89.7 FM.
Today TEMPO has grown into Wisconsin's largest professional women's organization, with nearly 800 executive and Emerging Women Leaders members across southeastern Wisconsin, per the same station's report. Its charitable arm, the TEMPO Foundation, was established in 2011 and has since distributed more than $525,000 in educational scholarships and over $100,000 in professional development grants aimed at supporting women at various career stages. The St. Louis launch aligns with TEMPO's 2026–2029 strategic plan, which took effect on May 1, 2026, alongside the installation of the organization's newest Board of Directors and Foundation Board.
A Pipeline Problem That Persists
The expansion lands amid national data showing that progress for women in corporate leadership has stalled. Women hold 29% of corporate C-suite positions nationwide, a figure that remained unchanged from 2024, according to McKinsey & Company's 2025 “Women in the Workplace” report. That share had climbed from 17% in 2015, but researchers found senior executive representation has since plateaued.
Research from McKinsey and LeanIn.Org also points to a persistent “broken rung” earlier in the pipeline, where only 81 women are promoted to manager for every 100 men, and entry-level women face a sponsorship gap, with just 31% receiving sponsors compared with 45% of men, per WeAreTheCity. Researchers note that career ambition remains equal between men and women when equivalent advocacy and executive sponsorship are provided. Compounding the gap, roughly 13% of employers reduced or eliminated formal women-focused career development programs between 2024 and 2025, according to Business Insider, a retrenchment that has pushed more executives toward independent networks like TEMPO for mentoring and career development.
For now, TEMPO St. Louis stands as the organization's first test of whether its Milwaukee-built model can translate to a new city. TEMPO has scheduled a panel discussion titled “Tempo's expansion to St. Louis: A conversation with leaders” for September 17, featuring Dirks, Board Chair Ana Simpson and St. Louis founding member Jenny Bartlow, where the group plans to discuss the research and cross-city conversations that shaped the move into Missouri.
