Sales & Marketing Manager / Age 35
Metko/City of Brillion
Mike Smith says his biggest break was meeting his wife, Brittany, when “we were 17 years old and I had big dreams of moving away from where we grew up.” That dream came true when he was promoted to sales manager with Fastenal and relocated from Perry, Illinois in 2014.
“We packed up everything we had to move eight hours north to Brillion, where we knew no one and nothing,” Smith recalls. “Without her support and belief in me, I never would have had the courage to do it and, frankly, our lives would not be as incredibly full and rewarding as they are today.”
Now in a new role at New Holstein-based Metko, Smith still proudly calls Brillion his hometown, so much so that he has been serving as mayor since 2021.
In the next decade, Smith, who has six children, says his “number one priority is to keep my community thriving. My greatest fear is that all the incredible reasons I love Northeast Wisconsin — the jobs, the opportunities, the arts, the music, the people — all start to leave or diminish in some way, and my kids or grandkids must do what I did and move hours and hours away from me.”
