Age: 33
Development and Land Services Director, Outagamie County
Menasha native Kevin Englebert started his career in urban planning as a college intern in his hometown and has since held a variety of critical roles across Wisconsin. He has demonstrated leadership through challenging times — including administering $36.5 million of American Rescue Plan Act funding in Outagamie County, with efforts that resulted in the creation of a 9-1-1 communications center and a substitute child care teacher program, as well as the construction of affordable housing.
Housing and child care are the biggest ongoing issues hampering economic development in Northeast Wisconsin, Englebert says. He also believes it is critical to address the decline in public trust in local government.
“A lack of trust reduces civic participation, disrupts effective policy implementation, and makes it more difficult for us to achieve long-term community goals,” he says.
First job: My first job was serving ice cream at Dairy Queen in downtown Neenah. My favorite items included brownie earthquakes, pumpkin pie Blizzards, and of course Archie’s Famous Popcorn.
Can’t live without: Green olives. You will find no bigger fan of them than me.
Next decade’s goal: I would like to develop an effective growth management program for Outagamie County and the Fox Cities. We have a growing community, and that has led to exurban sprawl or large lot rural residences not connected to public utilities. These developments hurt our agricultural sector, create environmental issues, and make it harder for our municipalities to grow efficiently. We have several pieces in place for a comprehensive growth management program, but we need to connect them all together.
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