Honorary Research Fellow
woemichen@wisc.edu

B.A. Carleton College
J.D. University of Wisconsin-Madison
Research Fellow, University of Wisconsin-Madison Law School Institute for Legal Studies

William (Bill) L. Oemichen is Research Fellow in both Food Systems Security at the University of Wisconsin-Madison College of Agricultural and Life Sciences and the University of Wisconsin Law School’s Institute for Legal Studies. Oemichen previously served in several senior level federal and state government positions, including as Director of the Office of Preparedness & Emergency Health Care at the Wisconsin Department of Health Services; as Trade & Consumer Protection Division Administrator at the Wisconsin Department of Agriculture, Trade & Consumer Protection; as Deputy Minnesota Agriculture Commissioner; and as a staff member for the U.S. House of Representatives, Minnesota State Senate, and Minnesota House of Representatives.

Oemichen also served in the private sector as President & CEO of Cooperative Network, the largest all-cooperative trade association representing member-owned cooperatives in Wisconsin and Minnesota and as an attorney practicing agricultural, cooperative and business law at large law firms in Minneapolis and St. Paul.

Oemichen currently serves on the Board of FCC Services, the education and insurance arm of the $330 billion American Farm Credit System headquartered in Denver, Colorado where he is the Audit Committee Chair; Slipstream Inc, an energy efficiency research nonprofit headquartered in Madison, Wisconsin where he serves as board chair; Group Health Cooperative of South Central Wisconsin where he serves as board treasurer; the Wisconsin Selective Service Board; Member of the Board of the $7.5 Billion AgCountry Farm Credit; Chair of the Board of Trustees for the $5.5 Billion Wisconsin College Savings Program, and Vice President of the Board of the New Glarus Public School District.

Oemichen has previously served as a member of the Wisconsin Homeland Security Council; as Chair of the Board of Visitors for the U.W.-Madison College of Agricultural and Life Sciences; as a member of the U.W.-Madison Center for Cooperatives Advisory Board; as President of the Minnesota Cooperative Education Foundation; as chair of the Minnesota Rural Finance Authority Board; as a member of the Minnesota Public Finance Authority board of directors; and as co-chair of the Cooperatives Section of the Minnesota State Bar.

Oemichen earned a B.A. in Economics from Carleton College in Northfield, Minnesota with a Concentration in Science, Technology and Public Policy; a Juris Doctorate (J.D.) from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, and served as a Walter F. Mondale Policy Fellow at the University of Minnesota. Oemichen is also a former Adjunct Professor in the University of Minnesota College of Population and Clinical Sciences. Currently a Research Fellow at the Canadian Centre for the Study of Co-operatives at the University of Saskatchewan.