Rieger takes reins at Davis & Kuelthau

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Street corner chatter rose up in Italian, English, sometimes both at once, where Ann Rieger grew up.

Rieger lost her father, Frank Roccapalumba, when she was young. From the east side Milwaukee duplex Rieger called home as a child, her mother, Madeline, taught her to study hard, work hard and give back to the community.

She carried the legacy of her Italian immigrant parents when she graduated from Marquette University; Rieger was the first person in her family to go to college.

And she holds it close today, representing clients corporate to non-profit.

Rieger, 44, lives in Brookfield now. She has been a lawyer for 20 years. In October, she was named president of Davis & Kuelthau S.C., a firm with six locations statewide, including Rieger’s offices in Brookfield and Milwaukee.

Rieger said she is honored to be the first female president of her firm, but also is happy to say she no longer sees the need for that distinction.

“Early on the issue was: Would women advance?” said Rieger, estimating a 50-50 split of men and women in her 1988 Marquette Law School class.

As evidenced by her career and others, Rieger feels women certainly have achieved the same success as men in the law.

“It’s really a matter of everyone doing the best job that they can,” Rieger said. “The doors that have been opened and the opportunities that have been afforded really have been afforded on a gender neutral basis. Men versus woman, knock on wood, is no longer an issue.”

Married 20 years to her husband, Tom, a database administrator and engineer, Rieger has come to appreciate the team effort it takes to maintain career and family.

The couple has three daughters – ages 10, 14 and 16. And their extracurriculars sometimes make Rieger feel that she’s got a second career as a profession chauffeur.

At one time, that commitment to family might have hindered career advancement. But, even motherhood isn’t much of an issue anymore, at least from Rieger’s experience.

Beyond her office and home, Rieger’s affiliations reflect her childhood values about education.

She is a council member at St. Dominic Parish in Brookfield, which has been her home church since she moved there. She also maintains ties to Milwaukee, where Rieger helped draft the charter for the YMCA Youth Leadership Academy and now sits on the board of directors and the finance committee.

“I want to give back to my community,” she said. “We’re fortunate to be in the positions that we’re in, and we would truly like to make Milwaukee and greater Milwaukee a better place.”

– Jessica Stephen