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Bruce Braun retired from state service after 37 y6ars of high level management, budget and facility development experience, including: Assistant State Budget Director Chief of State Facilities Planning, Deputy Director of Natural Resources, Associate Vice President of UW-System and Assistant Vice Chancellor of UW-Madison Facilities Planning and Management.
In the late '60s, he helped develop most of the state's early environmental legislation and staffed the Kellett Commission which created the Department of Natural Resources. He directed staff services for several major State Boards including the State Building Commission, the Natural Resources Board and the Board of Regents.
Since he retired, Bruce has been active on several Boards and currently serves on two of them: the Natural Resources Foundation of Wisconsin (NRF) and the Wisconsin Regional Artist Association He was involved with the creation of the NRF when he was the Deputy Secretary at DNR and has remained an active and committed member. He has served two years as Vice Chair, and six years as Chair of the Board. His involvement with WRAA came about as a result of his interest in art. He has served six years as Vice President.
Travel, nature photography and art appreciation have been three of Bruce’s major lifelong hobbies. Once he retired though, he decided to go beyond just appreciating fine art and started painting, first in watercolors, then acrylics and now oil painting. His travels throughout the country and the world have provided him and endless supply of photos which are the subjects of his paintings. Bruce exhibits in numerous art shows in Wisconsin.
He painted this sea otter in acrylics from a photo he took while on an Alaskan trip sponsored by NRF. The painting won an award at one of the WRAA art shows, and he donated it to the NRF where it now hangs in their downtown office.
Another painting of the Oregon Coast (shown below) was purchased by the Pyle Center and is hanging on the second floor corridor.
Bruce holds a BS in Forestry and a Masters in Public Administration from Syracuse University. He is married to his wife Nancy, who is his best art critic. He has two daughters: Deborah who lives in California and Bonnie who lives here in Oregon and has a son named Alex.