Riverland Community College

General Information:

Born April 7, 1947 in Owatonna (oldest of 7 children)

Moved to Austin in 1954 at the age of 7

Married my wife Terry on August 22, 1970

We have two children Andrea and Andrew both living in Austin

Military:

Served in the Air Force from 1965 – 1969

Education:

Attended St. Augustine grade school from 1954 – 1961

Graduated from Pacelli High School in 1965

Attended Austin Community College for 1 year (1969 – 1970)

Attended both Austin Community College and Mankato State University from 1976 – 1982). Graduated from Austin Community College with an AA degree in Accounting. Graduated Cum Laude from Mankato State University with a BS degree in Accounting.

Career:

Hired by Geo. A. Hormel & Co. in March 1970 as a part time employee as an accounting clerk in the Grocery Products Accounting Dept, which turned into a full time job in June 1970 thus I did not continue on with my education.

Promoted to an accounting clerk position in the Accounting Dept. in 1973

Promoted as an accounting clerk in the International Dept. in 1976

Promoted to Accounts Payable Manager in 1980 (first management position)

Promoted to Manager of Administration, The Hormel Foundation in May 1988. Elected to Assistant Secretary-Treasurer of The Hormel Foundation in December 1988.

Assumed the duties of Cash Manager of Hormel Foods Corporation in 1992 (thus had responsibility for two jobs)

Retired from Hormel Foods Corp. on December 31, 2010 but kept my position as Assistant Secretary-Treasurer of The Hormel Foundation for which I am still employed.

Current Community Involvement:

Vision 2020

• Steering Committee member
• Chair of the Gateway to Austin Attraction Committee

The Salvation Army

• Advisory Board member
• Finance Committee member
• Chair, Nominating Committee
• Volunteer

The Arc Mower County

• Board member
• Finance Committee member
• Special Olympics bowling coach
• Volunteer

United Way of Mower County

• Finance Committee member
• Volunteer

Austin Community Charitable Fund

• Board member

Mayo Clinic Health Systems Austin

• Patient Advisory Council

Karl Potach Foundation

• Financial assistant

Our Saviors Lutheran Church

• Mission Committee

US Bank, NA – Austin

• Advisory Board

Austin Rotary Club

• Member

Mower County USBC Association (Bowling)

• President (14 years)
• Youth bowling coach

Minnesota Council on Foundations

• Member

Southeastern Minnesota Selective Service Board

• Appointed by Governor Dayton and approved by President Obama

Comments:

As a child I grew up in a loving home despite the fact that my father was an alcoholic and we were on welfare for a good share of my childhood. Because I had no money for college I joined the Air Force, which was a good education in itself, plus I matured as an individual. While in the Air Force I was trained in hospital administration. I was honorably discharged from the Air Force in July of 1969. Shortly thereafter I registered for classes at the Austin Community College (at this time the college was on a quarterly basis) with a goal of getting into administration. This was paid for by the GI Bill, which I had earned from serving in the armed forces. I attended one year of college (full time). While in school I had various part time jobs, which included custodial work, working at the Terp Ballroom and eventually landing a part-time job in March 1970 with the Geo. A. Hormel & Co., now Hormel Foods Corp. as an administrative clerk. This turned into a full time job in June, which met my goal at the time, thus I did not go back to school but rather got married and started a family.

In 1976, after working 6 years in administrative and accounting clerk positions, I realized I could do better for myself thus I set a goal of obtaining an accounting degree. I went back to college on a part time basis and was able to attend classes at both the Austin Community College and Mankato State University (this was allowed at the time as long as you had the prerequisite classes to take the advanced classes). Some of the Mankato State classes were offered in Austin while others (especially later on in obtaining the 4 year degree) I had to travel to Mankato to take night classes. This involved working a full time job at Hormel (7:00 a.m. – 4:00 p.m.) then going home getting my books and sack lunch and heading for Mankato for a class from 6:00 – 10:00 p.m. and then the drive back home arriving around midnight). An interesting fact is that I graduated from both the Austin Community College and Mankato State College at the end of the Spring quarter in 1982. This was accomplished through good communication with the Mankato State Student Affairs Dept. as I did not transfer my Austin Community College credits to Mankato until I received my AA degree. At the time they accepted the AA degree as a complete package and were not able to pick and choose what credits they would accept upon transfer. With above said the equivalent of three full years of college credits were paid for with the help of the GI Bill whereas the last full year was paid for out of pocket.

Austin Community College (now Riverland Community College) was convenient, affordable, a great learning experience and afforded me the opportunity to advance my career at Hormel Foods Corp. Attending college, starting with the Austin Community College, was the best decision I ever made (besides marrying my wife). One needs to set goals and have the drive and determination to succeed no matter the challenges. The college offers a great variety of programs to assist in reaching career dreams. I would encourage anyone who is interested in advancing their careers or changing careers to take advantage of the programs offered at the college. I believe the Austin community, and surrounding area, is very fortunate to have such a high class learning institution in our own back yard.

Working for The Hormel Foundation is an honor and a privilege. It is hard to retire from such a great organization that does so much good for the community. Education is very important to the Foundation. Good examples of funding from the Foundation at the college level are as follows: a) Be Your Best Summer College Prep Academy, which is a 9-week intensive academic program that mitigates the academic achievement gap for underrepresented youth between the ages of 16 and 22. It promotes and supports high school graduation and then provides advising and assistance for college enrollment; and b) Cycles for Success, which offers scholarships to Austin youth. It is designed to inspire students to graduate and earn a college education locally and thus provide employers with a skilled workforce in high-demand occupations. It focuses primarily on assisting “underrepresented students” who fall within the middle 50% of their class rank and who have limited financial resources.

My personal goal is in line with the Vision 2020 initiative and that is in making Austin a better place to live. I especially enjoy making a difference for those in need in our community.