From Detroit to Melbourne: John Mertic’s career story at Exel Composites
When Area Sales Manager – APAC, John Mertic, talks about his journey with Exel, he doesn’t begin with products or sales figures. He begins with people, the colleagues who taught him composites, the leaders who trusted him with a transcontinental move, and the family who made that move matter. Now based on Australia’s Gold Coast, John’s path from Detroit to Kentucky to Melbourne is more than a relocation story. It’s a reminder that careers can grow alongside life’s biggest decisions.
From automotive country to composites
Growing up in Detroit, John’s future could easily have been mapped out for him. Internships with major automotive companies, friends heading into procurement and engineering roles, and a city defined by the car industry made the direction seem obvious. Instead, he chose something slightly different.
Before joining Exel, John worked in thermoplastics, managing resin supply across Kentucky, Chicago, and southern Michigan. It was technical, relationship-driven work and during the post-COVID period, not an easy environment to sell in.
Exel’s US site was expanding into new markets and John’s materials background proved a natural fit. But while he arrived with knowledge of resins and applications, composites were new territory. That’s where the Exel difference became clear. He credits colleagues including Francesco Ierullo, Lauri Turunen, and Eric Moussiaux for accelerating his learning of everything from composites to Finnish culture. “It’s the roster of talented, generous people,” John says. “That’s one of Exel’s differences.”
Expanding markets and comfort zones
In his early years, John focused heavily on transportation, particularly automotive — the industry he understood instinctively. But Exel’s US strategy required breadth. With long sales cycles in transportation, John explored telecom radomes, electrical applications, wastewater treatment structures, and broader infrastructure opportunities. He learned quickly that growth at Exel often means stepping outside your comfort zone.
“I like being challenged,” he says. “I perform better when I’m a little uncomfortable.” That appetite for challenge would soon be tested in a far more personal way.
A promise made and kept
John met his wife in his senior year of college in 2017. She is Australian and while she relocated to the United States after graduation, the long-term plan was always clear: they would eventually move to Australia.
When John first interviewed with Exel, he had mentioned that living and working in Australia was a long-term ambition. In 2024, he raised the subject again, unsure how it would be received. “I wasn’t met with one ‘no’,” he says. “Not even a ‘maybe’, Exel supported me from the get-go.” Rather than viewing the move as a loss to the US business, the conversation focused on how John could contribute to a new geography.
For much of spring 2024, he carried mixed emotions: pride in his professional progress and guilt at the idea of stepping away just as opportunities were materializing. When the move was agreed, the relief was immediate. John recalls: “I had this cloud of negative thoughts and then it just lifted.”
A self-driven transition
He relocated in December 2024 to the Gold Coast. Exel’s Australian facility is based in Melbourne: a two-hour flight away. In his first months, John travelled frequently, spending extended periods onsite to build relationships with colleagues.
The Melbourne team, which had not hired anyone new for nearly a decade, welcomed him warmly. They jokingly dusted off the employee handbook, marking a fresh chapter, for both John and the site.
New markets, new rhythms
Working life in Australia brought immediate contrasts. In the US, John would attend meetings in business-casual attire. His first major Australian customer meeting took place in 40-degree heat and his counterpart arrived in shorts and a T-shirt. “Mate, what are you wearing?” the customer laughed at his pressed shirt and trousers. It was a cultural icebreaker.
Australian business culture, John has found, is more relaxed in style but no less serious in substance. Meetings often happen over coffee, schedules flex around school pick-ups and swimming lessons, and holidays are taken and enjoyed.
What he’s building today
John’s current focus is on identifying areas where Exel’s composites can offer clear value in Australia and Southeast Asia. This includes transportation-related applications and broader infrastructure opportunities where traditional materials such as aluminum and timber still dominate.
Australia’s building codes and market preferences can be conservative, but John sees this as opportunity rather than obstacle. “It’s about finding where we’re really strong and going after it,” he says.
His willingness to explore new segments, adapt to different cultures, and travel extensively reflects the same mindset that brought him to Exel in the first place: stay curious, stay challenged, keep learning.
Sport, community and belonging
Outside of work, sport has helped John build his social network in Australia. He has played soccer, netball, and touch rugby, embracing a community-driven sports culture. It mirrors something he values in Exel: accessibility, teamwork, and shared purpose.
For an international company, mobility is often discussed in strategic terms. In John’s case, it became deeply personal. His story shows that at Exel, global reach is not just about markets, it’s about people. And when those people are supported, they can build new lives and new opportunities in equal measure.
