Alumnus Brad Pfaff: ‘We need leaders that can build connections, move people forward’

Wisconsin’s Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection secretary designee and UW-Green Bay alumnus, Brad Pfaff ’90 (Public and Environmental Affairs) says college allowed him to expand his horizons beyond his rural community and work with people who were not farmers. “I needed to meet and work with people that didn’t know the difference between a cow and a steer,” Pfaff said in a story by Wisconsin State Farmer. “I needed to challenge myself in a different way. I didn’t know where to go or what to do. But I know I needed to go somewhere.

That “somewhere” was UW-Green Bay—205 miles away from the farm—where he studied business and public administration. As a freshman far from home, Pfaff said the new beginning pushed him out of his comfort zone and allowed him to learn how other people approached issues and led him to better understand what issues were important to him.

“I got to better understand and appreciate what agriculture and rural communities really meant to me. And I started to think about what I wanted to do with my life,” he said. “How I can better connect the dots between agriculture, rural communities, rural people and those that live in cities and suburbs and have no idea what agriculture is all about?”

In time Pfaff became a better listener and communicator and was able to put himself in others’ shoes. Read more via Pfaff: We need leaders that can build connections, move people forward.