Vice President
M-C Industries Inc.
Age: 39
He’s got drive.
Brian Weber works in Monticello as vice president of M-C Industries, a multinational manufacturing company that produces commercial, medical and safety products for companies such as Harley-Davidson, Trek Bicycle, 3M and others. The company produces 80 percent of the dropdown oxygen masks for commercial airlines, as well.
Mr. Weber received his bachelor of science degree in industrial engineering from the University of Iowa. Since then, he has been awarded two U.S. patents, one while working as an engineering intern at Centro in North Liberty and another for a mechanism he developed in cooperation with an engineering team at Harley-Davidson while working at M-C Industries. He also serves on the company’s strategic planning committee and 401(k) board of trustees.
M-C Industries is headquartered in Topeka, Kan., and has two divisions, a custom-products division for a variety of industries, including aerospace, medical, government, outdoor recreation and safety. The other division is called Sunflower Marketing, which produced custom screen-print and promotional products; its biggest customer is the American Heart Association.
The custom-products division has factories in Monticello, Mississippi, China and Thailand. The Monticello plant, where Mr. Weber works, produces, among other items, 80 percent of the drop-down oxygen masks used on commercial airplanes. The factory also produces many medical products and Harley-Davidson products and accessories.
“I think people are always surprised what’s made in their backyard,” he said.
In 2005, he and his wife, Amy, in 2005, founded Hawkeye Holding Co.
“When I grew up in Robins, it was a fairly rural area; we lived in a house on 40 acres with corn all around us,” he said. “I found it to be fulfilling as a youngster as far as being able to roam around in the fields and the timber and I wanted my son to have that opportunity, as well.
So rather than stocks and bonds we had been investing in and then the tech bubble burst, we decided to move those funds into real estate and we looked at agricultural land so we would have a place to hunt and fish and camp and ride motorcycles.”
The company has grown since buying that first farm and now invests in high-quality farmland and commercial residential properties throughout Eastern and Southern Iowa.
Mr. Weber is a member of the Jones County Economic Development Commission Board of Directors. This year, he was presented with the Community Pride Award by the Monticello Chamber of Commerce for his work to expand M-C Industries’ facility and create new jobs for several young professionals. He has been a Junior Achievement volunteer and volunteers as a judge for the Sciences and Innovation Fair in the Linn-Mar School District.
“It is great to have the support and guidance of positive role models like Brian driving students to keep learning,” Michelle Hand, volunteer coordinator at Echo Hill Elementary School, stated in Mr. Weber’s nomination.
Promoting education in math and science are a passion of Mr. Weber’s.
“I really think that the youth of this generation really need a lot of direction so they can make a difference when they enter the workforce,” he said. “One of my concerns is, both here in Jones County and in Linn County, superintendents of schools are really trying to push every student into the higher education, the college track. And while I think that’s great, they also have to realize there’s a certain group of students who don’t have that desire or the means. And I don’t think the schools anymore are providing a secondary path to make sure those kids are successful.”
So fewer high school and college graduates are seeking jobs in manufacturing, he said.
“Because the growth potential for Iowa is in agriculture and manufacturing, if we’re going to continue to grow our manufacturing side, we need to have kids that know about manufacturing and have the desire to enter manufacturing as a career path,” he said.
Mr. Weber volunteers as a football coach for his son’s teams. He grew up in and lives a quarter-mile from his childhood home in Robins with his wife and their 9-year-old son, Cole and 4-year-old daughter, Lauren.
-Gigi Wood
