Volunteer Spotlight: Dennis Brouwer
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Dennis Brouwer
CEO
The Brouwer Group
Dennis Brouwer has been in the hospitality industry for two years as a speaker on servant leadership and teamwork. In that time, he has spoken to groups as diverse as TopGolf, The World Economic Forum, the Baldrige Quality Awards, and various SHRM chapters.
The best career advice he ever received is "there are times to bend the rules and there are times not to bend the rules, and knowing the difference can be really, really important. I was flying on and off aircraft carriers at the time, and had an engine catch fire during a launch, so I had the chance to test that advice quite a bit".
His favorite vacation spot is Key West. He loves the culture and great entertainment, all within an easy walk. His favorite music is island rock and nuevo flamenco, both of which he says can be heard there. “It’s an excellent place for meetings!”
Both him and his wife grew up in or near tiny towns in rural southwestern Minnesota. He says the joke was that his hometown of Tyler was so small that it only had one traffic light, and it was in the car wash. The thing that made it funny was that it was true!
Dennis and his wife currently live on a 10-acre farm in Loudoun County where he helps his wife run the fiber arts business she has built around her flock of over 30 sheep. His background is in tech startup and IT services companies, so it’s been fascinating for him to learn about sustainable agriculture and the difference it can make in the lives of women in the arts and entrepreneurship. He says it’s a different world.
His dream job is speaking about servant leadership and teamwork—"I love it because it’s a way for me to actually make a difference and help improve the quality of people’s work lives and careers. I love the process of connecting with people through stories, and seeing the light bulbs come on as people apply it to their own lives.” If he couldn’t be a speaker, he thinks he would be a filmmaker.
The craziest thing he is doing right now is learning to ride a unicycle. He is cross-training between mountain bike and unicycle, and he says it’s equal parts exhilarating, terrifying, humbling, and good exercise too.
