Mike Van Milligen:  

My wife and I met in graduate school at Southern Illinois University. We both have Master's Degrees in Public Affairs. Nancy is the President and CEO of the Community Foundation of Greater Dubuque (in 2023 the CFGD celebrated their 20th anniversary going from under 0ne million dollars in assets when they hired Nancy as their first employee 20 years ago to almost $150 million in assets today). Nancy was named a Distinguished Graduate of SIU for her lifetime achievements. I have been the City Manager of Dubuque, Iowa since 1993. I was fortunate to be named the City Manager of the Year by the International City/County Management Association. Prior to Dubuque I was the Assistant Village Manager in Skokie, Illinois and a Police Officer in Carbondale, Illinois. We have 5 children and 18 grandchildren. Between our children, Foster children, Foreign Exchange students and kids that just needed help we have had over 30 children (and several adults) live in our home. Being Foster Parents has been one of the most rewarding experiences in our lives. One of the awards I feel best about is when I managed little league baseball in Skokie I was named Manager of the Year, with my oldest son and one of our Foster sons on the team. But there is no doubt the greatest recognition Nancy & I ever received was when our first Foster son, who had lived with us from 5 years old to 10 years old, retired from the Air Force in 2022. His Commanding Officer called us up on the stage and she and David recognized us as Air Force Mom & Air Force Dad. Our oldest son lives in Des Moines, Iowa where his wife is a Psychiatrist (I am hoping for the Family and Friends discount) and he is a very talented Chef who is leveraging his business degree working on opening new restaurants (first St Kildas and now 30hop) for other investors. One of our daughters lives in Woodbury, Minnesota where she works as the Public Works Director. Another son lives ...Expand for more