Dan Etersky

Board Member

Dan Etersky spent one semester at Bay in the ‘90s before deciding to take an alternative path. He eventually returned to Bay which ultimately changed his life for the better.

Dan graduated from Menominee Senior High School in 1991. After completing one semester at Bay, he decided to enter the food and beverage industry.

“I needed a job when I moved here – I was interviewed at the Chippewa Club and was offered the position,” he said.

After Dan had worked in the food and beverage industry for several years, he decided to go into the trucking field. While he enjoyed being involved with trucking, he grew ready for a change after spending over a decade in that business.

“I left the trucking industry, and I went back to school. I was getting burned out on trucking, along with other factors – fuel prices were skyrocketing, being on call constantly was stressful,” he said.

To pursue his changing career goals, Dan signed up for classes at Bay once again in 2013. There, he primarily took classes at Bay’s West Campus, along with some online and hybrid courses at the Escanaba campus.

Initially, he said re-adjusting to a school mindset was somewhat challenging – especially since he was older than most Bay students. However, he eventually managed to get back into the swing of things.

“It got easier as I saw a greater variety of students. After my first full year, I really got into a good groove of balancing working full-time and going to school nearly full-time,” Dan said.

Dan graduated from Bay with an associate degree in business and an accounting certificate in 2017. Now, he works for Iron Mountain-based communications business CCI Systems, and he said the business skills he learned at Bay have helped him immensely in his job there.

“I was actually able to get hired here prior to my graduation. When I was hired here, they were fairly impressed with my background in transportation. I was hired as a warehouse specialist in the beginning; shortly after my graduation, I was promoted to a fleet manager position. My current title is safety, fleet, and building manager,” he said.

Furthermore, he has maintained his connection with Bay. He is now a member of the Bay College West Campus Foundation, which he was nominated for in May 2022.

“I feel pretty honored just to be asked to join,” Dan said.

Though he is still new to the board, Dan said he is excited to share his own experiences as an adult Bay College student with the world.

“I’m trying to get my story out there as a success story while targeting the people that will help Bay College continue to be successful in the future through fundraisers,” he said.