When he’s crisscrossing the state — from Superior to Kenosha to Sturgeon Bay and everywhere in between — John Miller chooses audiobooks over podcasts. He’s partial to nonfiction like biographies on Larry Bird and Winston Churchill, and histories of iconic businesses like General Motors.
History, Miller believes, reveals the messy truth in a way traditional business self‑help books can’t, and most memoirs won’t.
“I don’t think they often tell the full story,” Miller says. “I like to look at history because it lays out the good, the bad and the ugly — even the best laid plans sometimes don’t work, and sometimes the plans that you don’t think are going to work are the best ones.”
Understanding the full story — the good, the bad and the ugly — of Wisconsin economic development has been priority No. 1 for Miller, who was appointed secretary and CEO of the Wisconsin Economic Development Corp. last December.
He has spent the last seven months racking up miles (and audiobooks) visiting communities and businesses throughout Wisconsin’s 72 counties to get the true picture of what they need to flourish.
“I rarely spend any day in one place,” says Miller, who is based in Fox Point.
Along the way, he’s been getting familiar with WEDC’s extremely varied program portfolio, which includes tax credits, grants, loans, equity investments and technical assistance programs.
“WEDC [has] a bunch of tools in its toolbox,” Miller says. “My goal now is to find the wrench that fits each opportunity as it presents itself in every corner of the state.”
And when Miller says every corner, he means it. He grew up in rural Manitowoc County before attending Marquette University and later worked in Washington, D.C. as a congressional staffer. He came back to Wisconsin to attend UW Law School but ended up taking over as president and CEO of his family’s business, Miller‑St. Nazianz Inc., a farm equipment manufacturer that was five generations deep in St. Nazianz, population 783.
“Making sure that we have a lot of attention paid to rural areas is extremely important to me. It’s ingrained in my blood,” says Miller, who points to the state’s Office of Rural Prosperity, which was created six years ago to ensure rural voices and interests are represented in state government.
Miller eventually sold the family business and in 2015 founded Arenberg Holdings LLC, a venture capital fund in Milwaukee, to invest in early‑stage Midwest companies.
His diverse career experience earns him credibility with the business community.
“I’ve had this unique ability to be on both the government and the business side, so I can see things through both of their lenses,” he says.
One need shows up in nearly every place he visits, no matter if it’s Milwaukee or Manitowoc: housing.
“Housing is the number one thing that employers bring up,” Miller says. “It’s very clear if somebody can’t find a place to live, they’re not going to work at a business and they’re not going to locate their family there.”
This spring, WEDC’s Office of Rural Prosperity launched a new initiative designed to build local capacity for rural housing development in communities statewide. The Emerging Rural Developer Fellowship places fellows in rural communities to work on housing development projects, gain hands‑on experience and help local partners move forward on new housing opportunities.
NeighborWorks Green Bay is hosting a fellow in this first group, which will focus on housing development in Door County.
“Smaller communities may not have the resources or staff capacity to support housing development, while developers may struggle to make smaller projects financially viable,” Miller says. “This initiative helps address both challenges by building local capacity and creating new pathways for rural housing development.”
It’s one example of a mindset Miller applies to his broader role, whether he’s meeting with multinational manufacturers or main street business owners.
“We are committed to building an economy for everybody, where everyone has the opportunity to thrive,” he says. “I want people to know that we are there for them. We hear their struggles and we want to work with them every day to make sure that they are successful, whether they have two employees or 200 employees.”
By the numbers
360
Grants, loans, tax incentives and other financial awards WEDC issued in FY2025
~$200 million
Total amount of those FY2025 awards, the highest volume in five years
120+
Meetings WEDC set up between Wisconsin companies and potential customers/distributors during its February trade mission to Mexico. “By the end of the week, we already had some companies that had purchase orders for selling their Wisconsin-made products into Mexico,” Miller says.
