Herman Baumann is active in fostering the future of journalism. He also serves on the Wisconsin Newspaper Association Foundation Board, is a founding board member of the Wisconsin Collegiate Media Association, serves on the UW-Madison School of Journalism and Mass Communication (SJMC) Board of Visitors, and is board chair emeritus of The Daily Cardinal Media Corporation, which owns the student newspaper at UW-Madison.

Baumann is the former editor and managing editor of the Chicago Suburban Times Newspapers chain and was assistant editor of the Vilas County News-Review in Eagle River, Wis.

He subsequently worked in the health field and held senior executive positions in the areas of marketing, business development, new product development, and strategic planning with Children’s Memorial Hospital (now the Ann and Robert H. Lurie Children’s Hospital of Chicago, the pediatric teaching hospital of the Northwestern University Medical School), Vizient Inc., Health Research and Educational Trust, and the American Hospital Association. In 2007 Baumann founded Green Line Strategies LLC, from which he retired in 2016. The firm provided business development and strategic planning services to trade associations and other not-for-profit organizations.

Baumann received a bachelor’s degree in journalism in 1975 from the UW-Madison SJMC, which presented him with a Distinguished Service Award in 2007. At his alma mater he currently serves on the College of Letters and Science Board of Visitors and the SuccessWorks (career advising) Board.