Generation Growth Capital Team

Cory L. Nettles is the Founder and Managing Director of Generation Growth Capital, Inc., a private equity fund focused on buyouts and providing growth capital to small businesses and lower-middle market companies in the upper Midwest. Mr. Nettles is formerly of counsel at Quarles & Brady LLP in the Corporate Services and Government Relations groups. Mr. Nettles also served as secretary for the Wisconsin Department of Commerce. As secretary of commerce, Mr. Nettles was the “point man” on business and economic development for the state of Wisconsin. Mr. Nettles managed a wide range of duties, including negotiating a $500 million venture capital package, negotiating banking and commercial lending legislation, and negotiating regulatory reform legislation. Mr. Nettles currently serves as a board member for several corporate and nonprofit organizations, including Weyco Group, Inc., Robert W. Baird's Baird Funds, Inc., Milwaukee World Festival, Teach For America, the Medical College of Wisconsin, the Greater Milwaukee Foundation, the University of Wisconsin Foundation, Usher’s New Look Foundation, and Associated Bank, among others. Mr. Nettles also served as a senior advisor to Baird Private Equity and on the boards of Lawrence University and The Private Bank-Wisconsin. Mr. Nettles graduated magna cum laude from Lawrence University in Appleton, WI (1992) and the University of Wisconsin-Madison Law School (1996). He has received several awards and distinctions, including the Thomas J. Watson Fellowship (post-graduate research in Africa and the former Soviet Union), University of Wisconsin-Madison LEO Fellowship, Dean's List, Ethel Brown Award, Mathys Memorial Award for Appellate Advocacy, Abe Sigman Award for Scholarship and Character, North Milwaukee State Bank Trail Blazer Award, and the Alpha Kappa Alpha Connection 2003 Trail Blazer Award. Mr. Nettles also was named a “Wisconsin Super Lawyer Rising Star 2007”, and he’s a 40 Under 40 Award Recipient. Mr. Nettles is married to Michelle S. Nettles. Michelle is the Chief People and Culture Officer for ManpowerGroup. They live in Milwaukee, WI.