About the Presenter

Mike Francis was raised in Boise, Idaho, graduating from Boise High in 2002. After high school, he decide to attend the University of Washington in Seattle where he studied Industrial Engineering. Upon completing his degree, he started a job as an industrial engineer for the Boeing Company where he worked in Flight Test Manufacturing and on the 737 Final Assembly Line. During his time at Boeing, he realized that the corporate life wasn’t for him and he decided to pursue a career in the brewing industry. Mike then attended the Siebel Institute of Technology in Chicago where he received an associate’s degree in Brewing Technology. Armed with his degree, he found a job at Schooner Exact Brewing in Seattle where he learned more of the art and science of brewing. In late 2009, it was time to move back to Boise to open his own brewery. A year and a half later, Payette Brewing opened its doors and started selling beer to bars and restaurants around Boise. Payette is now distributed in 7 states in the Western United States and recently opened a new production facility on River Street in Boise.