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How Andy Nunemaker Went From Corporate Executive To Serial Entrepreneur

Tim Keane

Milwaukee native Andy Nunemaker studied electrical engineering and business at some of our country’s top universities and held high-level jobs at two of its biggest companies. He got an undergraduate degree at Valparaiso and a master's degree at Georgia Tech, both in electrical engineering.

After running major operations for GE Healthcare, first in Australia and New Zealand, then for all of Southeast Asia, Andy was deep into a career as a very successful corporate executive. But then came a moment when he was presented with a life-changing decision.

How Did You Do That co-host Tim Keane, who had known Andy for more than a decade, approached him with an opportunity: Would he leave GE Healthcare to run a small startup called EMSystems that provided emergency medical services software and didn’t have any profits?

Andy jumped at the chance and has never looked back. He ran EMSystems for seven years and engineered a sale to Florida-based Intermedix that got investors more than 10 times their money. Andy then ran Dynamis Software until its sale in 2018, at a price that gave investors nearly four times their money.

In his role as chairman of the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra Board, Andy is spearheading a $140 million capital campaign and construction of a new symphony hall in downtown Milwaukee. He also is on other non-profit and for-profit boards.

Andy’s tips for other entrepreneurs:

  • If you don’t like what you’re doing, go do something else. Life is too short, so follow your passion and take the risk.
  • Don’t be a know-it-all, and listen to others. Nunemaker says if you try do anything in a vacuum, chances are you’ll be wrong. If you seek out diverse opinions, you’ll be able to make more informed decisions.