Carl Brewer

Carl Brewer has worked aggressively to connect recession-hit Wichita — where aircraft manufacturers like Cessna and Learjet have major operations — with China’s burgeoning aviation industry. Since January 2012, when Boeing closed its 80-year-old factory in Wichita, Brewer has reached out to China in earnest, visiting Beijing in October 2012 and hosting a delegation in July 2014 from the central Chinese city of Xi’an, where Wichita later opened a liaison office.