Mike Bare is a dedicated public servant, small business entrepreneur, and public policy advocate. Mike is a former Alder in the City of Verona, and previously chaired the City of Verona’s Parks, Recreation, and Forestry Commission and served on Verona’s Plan Commission. He is a former aide to U.S. Senator Russ Feingold, and since 2020 has been an advocate for Wisconsin’s low-income population at the Community Advocates Public Policy Institute. Mike’s areas of expertise include expanding health coverage and improving health care, solving Wisconsin’s housing crisis, improving our criminal justice and corrections systems, and getting Wisconsinites out of poverty through work-based solutions. He has also taught graduate students at UW-Milwaukee’s Zilber School of Public Health on the social and economic determinants of health, and the acute and direct link between public policy and public health. In 2017, Mike started a community-focused and family-friendly business: The Biergarten at Olbrich Park. In 2013, Mike helped found and has since helped lead Wisconsin’s chapter of New Leaders Council, which recruits, trains, and promotes the next leaders of Wisconsin’s progressive movement. Mike and his wife have two young sons, and reside in the City of Verona.