Speakers

Here are some of LEAD Wisconsin’s past speakers!

Joseph Backholm

Joseph Backholm

Senior Fellow for Biblical Worldview and Strategic Engagement

Bio

Joseph Backholm is Senior Fellow for Biblical Worldview and Strategic Engagement at Family Research Council. He combines extensive legal, political, and policy experience with a love for the way biblical truth cultivates human flourishing.

Previously, Mr. Backholm served as legal counsel and Director of What Would You Say? at the Colson Center for Christian Worldview where he developed and launched a growing platform that creates short, animated videos answering common questions about faith and culture. His YouTube career began as a self-identified “6’5 Chinese Woman” in a series of YouTube videos exploring the logic of gender identity.

He served as a legislative attorney for three years and spent 10 years as the President and General Counsel of the Family Policy Institute of Washington in Washington State where he managed educational, legislative, and electoral operations on behalf of life, marriage, religious freedom, and parental rights. He led three ballot initiatives on marriage and gender privacy.

He is a Washington State native who loves travel, sports, and whatever his kids are into. Joseph received his Bachelor’s degree from the University of Washington and his law degree from Seattle University. He and his wife Brook have four children.

Charlie Kirk

Charlie Kirk

Founder and President of Turning Point USA

Bio

Charlie Kirk is the Founder and President of Turning Point USA, a national student movement dedicated to identifying, organizing, and empowering young people to promote the principles of free markets and limited government. With a presence on over 2,500 high school and college campuses nationwide, over 400,000 student members, and over 450 full- and part-time staff all across the country, Turning Point USA is the largest and fastest growing conservative youth activist organization in the country. At just 28-years-old, Charlie has appeared on Fox News, FOX Business News, Newsmax, and CNBC over a thousand times. He’s also a columnist at Newsweek and his writings can be seen on Fox NewsThe HillRealClearPoliticsThe Washington TimesBreitbartAmerican Greatness, Daily Caller, and Human Events. Charlie was named to the Forbes “30 under 30” list, was the youngest speaker at the 2016 Republican National Convention and was the opening speaker at the 2020 RNC. He’s the author of three books including the #1 Amazon and New York Times best seller, “The MAGA Doctrine: The Only Ideas that Will Win the Future” from Broadside Books, an imprint of Harper Collins.

In 2020, Charlie chaired Students for Trump, which activated hundreds of thousands of new college voters through its more than 350 chapters present on campuses in battleground states. His social media reaches over 100 million people per month and Axios has listed Charlie as one of the “top 10 most engaged” Twitter handles in the world. Charlie is the host of “The Charlie Kirk Show” podcast, which was downloaded over 120 million times in the last 12 months and regularly ranks among the top 10 shows on Apple News podcast charts. As of October 2020, Charlie took his “podcast to broadcast,” nationally syndicating his show on on over 120 radio stations and across the Salem Radio Network, live from 12 – 3 PM ET.

Dave Gerry

Dave Gerry

Founder & CEO of the Princeton Club and SaltCo

Bio

Dave Gerry has been a Madison area businessman for 35 years. He is the CEO of The Princeton Club – a health club he founded in 1987. Today the Princeton Club has 11 locations and over 50,000 members. He is also the CEO of SaltCo – an up-and-coming venture disrupting the water softening salt delivery market.

While CEO is his official title, Dave describes himself more as a “coach”. His desire is to help lead, inspire and encourage the next generation in their own entrepreneurial endeavors. He wants people to understand the value of their role in the marketplace and how God wants to use them in whatever arena they are called to function in.

Curtis McMiller

Curtis McMiller

Founder and Senior Pastor at Heritage Baptist Church

Bio

Curtis McMiller is the Founder and Senior Pastor of the Heritage Baptist Church, located in Kenosha Wisconsin.  For the past 20 years, under his leadership Pastor McMiller has implemented a weekly evangelistic program; Christian School, and Radio Program entitled, “Answer the Call” which is aired every Saturday evening on WVCY, 107.7 FM.  Pastor McMiller has also spoken at several Leadership Conferences in Illinois, Indiana, and New Mexico.  In addition to this he has spoken at various Campgrounds, and Men Retreats outings namely at the Trial Ridge Campgrounds located in Northern Wisconsin and was keynote  speaker at the Bible Baptist Fellowship Youth Conference in 2021.

As a devoted husband to Ruby McMiller, Pastor McMiller eagerly supports his beautiful wife of more than 33 years.

Ruby McMiller, a best friend, a mother, a grandmother, and a loving pastor’s wife, also serves in ministry at Heritage Baptist Church. He and his wife Ruby married 1988 and are blessed to be the parents of two adult children.

Jacky Drewry

Jacky Drewry

CEO at Anchor of Hope Health Center

Bio

Jacky Drewry was born in central MN, the youngest of 9 children. Raised on a small dairy farm, she learned to value family and hard work from a young age. After graduating from Royalton High School, Jacky went on to pursue degrees from the University of Minnesota-Waseca, Virginia Tech, the University of Tennessee – Knoxville, and Liberty University.

Jacky, her husband, Greg, and their two sons relocated to the beautiful state of Wisconsin in August of 1997 when she was offered a job with Kettle Lakes Cooperative (Land O’ Lakes) as a ruminant nutritionist. Following 2 years employment with Land O’ Lakes, Jacky sensed a ministry calling to serve at a local church where her passion for God’s people and non-profit ministry began. In February 2015 Jacky was hired as a director of operations/executive director for Anchor of Hope Health Center, then New Hope Pregnancy Center of Sheboygan, Inc.

Anchor of Hope opened in August of 2015, initially offering pregnancy testing, parenting classes, material support, and community referrals. Since that time, the center has added 8 staff members and services to include ultrasounds, STD testing and treatment, abortion pill rescue, and much more. Since 2015, over 250 moms have chosen life for their unborn babies after receiving services from Anchor of Hope. The Center is projected to serve over 500 clients in 2022.

In addition to being passionate about serving women in unexpected pregnancies, Jacky loves spending time with her family and is active in her church. She also enjoys devoting time to gardening, bee keeping, and jail ministry.

Julaine Appling

Julaine Appling

WFC President

Bio

With a heart for education, Julaine is a sought-out speaker who you may have heard in the media from Christian radio to Wisconsin Public Radio.

She works on and speaks on a variety of topics, all in an effort to strengthen, preserve and promote marriage, family, life and religious freedom in Wisconsin.

As president of Wisconsin Family Action and Wisconsin Family Council, she has both a strong platform and a strong voice on issues impacting Wisconsin families as well as for encouraging citizens to be informed and involved so they can make a positive difference in their communities.

Daniel Suhr

Daniel Suhr

Managing Attorney at Liberty Justice Center

Bio

Daniel Suhr serves as Managing Attorney at the Liberty Justice Center, where he spends every day on the front lines of the fight to preserve our rights and liberties. His previous work includes serving as deputy legal counsel for Governor Walker and as chief of staff for Lieutenant Governor Rebecca Kleefisch.. Prior to working for Governor Walker, Daniel clerked for Judge Diane Sykes of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit.

Daniel holds a B.A. and J.D. from Marquette University, and master’s degrees from Georgetown University Law Center and the University of Missouri-Columbia. When he’s not pursuing major constitutional cases in court, he can be found writing about them on op-ed pages like the Wall Street Journal, discussing them on Fox News, or speaking about them at places like Yale Law School, or arguing about them with equally nerdy friends..

He is a member of Christ Church Mequon, an Eagle Scout, and a fair-weather runner. He’s married to Anna and loves building legos and watching Star Wars with their young sons, Will and Graham.

Toni McFadden

Toni McFadden

Founder of Relationships Matter

Bio

Toni is an international pro-life speaker and the Founder of the program, Relationships Matter. Toni shares her abortion story of regret with transparency while leaving her listeners with hope. Toni is the Minority Outreach and Healthy Relationship Director for Students for Life of America.

 

Toni has spoken alongside of pro-life advocates Stephanie Gray and Star Parker on a debate panel in Mexico. She also presented alongside Alveda King (Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr’s, niece) at the First National Pro-Life Summit after the 47th annual March for Life. 

 

Toni holds a bachelor’s degree from West Chester University and her master’s degree in Biblical Counseling from Summit University. She was the former Relationship Educator and Director of Relationship Education Program in the greater Philadelphia area for 6 years and has shared this program internationally in Africa and Israel.

 

Toni has been married to her wonderful husband Kris McFadden for 11 years and they have 4 beautiful children. She loves helping people see their worth and giving them hope through her own story, being an advocate for the unborn, being a stay-at-home mom, and spending time with her family.