Northwestern Mutual

Joanna moved to Madison with her family in January of 1976 from Nazareth, Israel. She grew up as a Madisonian from the age of seven and while life included international travel for work and personal time, “Madison is the best place to come home to,” she says. She graduated in December of 1996 from the University of Wisconsin – Madison with a Major in Accounting, with a focus on Finance and Real Estate and in 2011 earned her MBA in Executive Business Management from here as well.

In 1997 Joanna and her business partner launch a family business office delivering financial, legacy planning and liability protection planning services to professional athletes and those in the Hollywood industry. Within one year the original Minneapolis office grew to two offices, including one in Los Angeles, CA.

In1998 Joanna launched a music production company with studios in Los Angeles and New York, and a film/TV production company – More Than Infinity Productions – based here in Madison, WI. Joanna developed and produced feature films, television pilots, and several web-based films. She was heavily involved in the development of the financial structures and sources to support these projects. She co-produced her project, ‘MADISON’, a film that was shot in Madison, WI before becoming the # 1 viewed film at the 2008 Wisconsin Film Festival. She produced the sound track with emerging local Madison musicians, international bands and topped it off with the renowned international talents of Tom Waits.

Along with her film production company, she was an international acquisitions/sales and development executive for Imageworks Entertainment working worldwide with over 100 films in their catalog. She was invited to on multiple film festival executive and leadership panels, as well as being a judge on worldwide screenwriting competitions.

Joanna joined Fleming Development, working on a $350M golf course community project in 2002 as Vice President and managed land planning and development, financing, marketing, and team building. In 2008 she joined Welton Enterprises Inc., a $130M real estate company as Director of Finance and Development and became CEO in 2011.

In January of 2014 Joanna launched her company MTI-RED, LLC focused on real estate development, family and business consulting, and equity fund raising for real estate partnerships.

Joanna was introduced to Karl Dettmann of Northwestern Mutual in the spring of 2015 and the two merged their practices into the family business office they have today. This full service team offers business owners, artists, entrepreneurs, family businesses, and individuals a holistic and sustainable strategic planning process for business and personal family life and legacy goals.

Joanna is passionate about giving back to her community. In 2011 she founded The Brauds and today has grown into The Brauds Network with multiple cohort groups nationwide. This is a non-profit organization of female leaders mentoring and empowering each other and optimizing their professional and personal growth opportunities. She also serves The Clean Lakes Alliance since 2011, a non-profit organization focused on cleaning our local lakes as best possible from harmful phosphorus and other elements. She’s held board seats on the Madison Symphony Orchestra and Downtown Rotary.

Joanna is the second of four children and resides in Madison, WI. She is the proud mother of her daughter, Raquel S. Burish who resides in New York and graduated from Fordham University.