Free Enterprise Award

A night to celebrate and remember, visit Free Enterprise 2026 for
sponsorship opportunities, and to purchase individual tickets or tables of ten.

The Rotary Club of Green Bay and the Rotary Foundation of Green Bay, Inc., are proud to announce the selection of Robert B. Atwell and Mike Daniels of Nicolet Bankshares, Inc. and Nicolet National Bank as the 2026 Free Enterprise Award recipients. This selection continues a long line of prestigious business pioneers and entrepreneurs in the Green Bay community who have exhibited the tenets of Rotary in their daily and business lives.

Atwell, who has more than 40 years of experience as a Wisconsin banker, is the founding chair and CEO of Nicolet Bankshares. He earned a bachelor’s degree from Beloit College and a master’s degree from Yale University.

Beyond his work at Nicolet, Atwell serves as a director of Nicolet Bankshares, Inc., Ariens Company, Great Northern Corporation and five other privately held companies. He is also co-founder and board member of Relevant Radio and serves on the board of the Shrine of Our Lady of Champion. He previously dedicated seven years to the University of Wisconsin Board of Regents.

Atwell and his wife, Sally, are proud parents to 11 children and grandparents to 15 grandchildren. 

Daniels currently serves as chairman, president, CEO and director of Nicolet Bankshares, Inc. and Nicolet National Bank, which he co-founded in 2000.

Starting from zero, Nicolet has grown to more than $9 billion in assets and is publicly traded on the NYSE. The bank has expanded both organically and through mergers and acquisitions, with Daniels overseeing the successful integration of 10 acquisitions over eight years.

With nearly 1,000 employees and 57 banking locations, Nicolet is the second-largest bank headquartered in Wisconsin, with offices primarily in Wisconsin, Michigan and Minnesota.

Under Daniels’ leadership, the bank has become a top-decile performer, consistently ranked as a premier community bank among its peers.

In October 2025, Nicolet Bank announced its intent to acquire MidWestOne, a $6.5 billion bank headquartered in Iowa City, Iowa. The combined institution will hold roughly $15 billion in assets and employ approximately 1,500 people, marking one of the largest acquisitions in Wisconsin banking history.

A 1986 graduate of St. Norbert College (SNC), Daniels is actively involved in his community – serving on several boards, including as founding president of the Nicolet National Foundation, a member of the Green Bay Packers Board of Directors and a trustee at SNC.

Both Atwell and Daniels said they are “humbled” to be included among the past winners – many of whom they consider friends and mentors.

“Thank you to the Rotary Club of Green Bay for the honor of being selected for the Free Enterprise Award,” the banking duo said. “It is still hard for us to believe that Nicolet National Bank has gone from an idea to a $15 billion bank in 25 years. Our success and growth have come in large part from the people who work at Nicolet and the way we operate, which mirrors the four-way test that Rotary is famous for – especially the fourth, which we call Shared Success.”

The Volunteer Center of Brown County has been selected as the principal recipient of the proceeds of this prestigious award event. According to Matt Hohner, Executive Director, “The Volunteer Center builds a stronger community through volunteerism. We believe the strength of a community is directly related to its volunteers. Each year, we match thousands of volunteers with hundreds of local nonprofit partners to best utilize time and talent.”