Dan McElroy

Daniel Clark McElroy (born July 15, 1948) is an American politician and former public official in the state of Minnesota. He served in the Minnesota House of Representatives from 1995 until 2003. [1] Following his legislative service, he was Commissioner of the Minnesota Department of Employment and Economic Development from 2007 through 2010, Chief of Staff to Governor Tim Pawlenty from 2004 through 2005 and Commissioner of Finance in 2003 and 2004.

While working in the Executive Branch of state government, he also served as:

• Trustee of the Minnesota State Colleges and Universities, a system with 7 four year colleges and 25 community and technical colleges. He chaired the committees on Finance and Academic and Student Affairs during his tenure as a Trustee.
• Chair of the Public Facilities Authority, a financing vehicle for local waste water and drinking water facilities.  The authority has approximately $3 billion in assets and initiates about $400 million in loans each year.

• Chair of the Jobs Skills Partnership Board.  This program provides grants for job training to businesses and training providers with an annual budget of about $4 million. The board also has financial authority for the state Dislocated Workers program with an annual budget of about $25 million.

• Chair of the Agriculture and Economic Development Loan Board, a state program that finances job creating business expansions and acts as a conduit bond issuance entity for non-profit organizations.  The Board has assets of about $30 million and has completed bond transactions of about $1 billion since 2003.

• Chair of the Minnesota Science and Technology Authority charged with developing and implementing an economic development strategy for science and technology oriented industries, including the commercialization of University research.

• Chair of the Urban Initiative Program, a micro lending facility that provides capital to start up, usually minority owned businesses in low income neighborhoods.  The program initiates about 25 loans a year through 13 community partners. Loans range from $5,000 to $100,000.

• Member of the Environmental Quality Board, the Mining and Forestry Sub Cabinets, the Next Generation Energy Board, the Ultra-High-Speed Broadband Task Force and the Continuous Improvement Sub Cabinet.

Prior to his service in the Executive Branch of State Government and in the legislature, he served as Mayor of Burnsville from 1987 to 1995 and on the Burnsville City Council from 1983 to 1987.  In the private sector, Dan spent 23 years running travel agencies and travel agency software and consulting companies.  Dan retired in July 2018 after seven and a half years as President and CEO of Hospitality Minnesota, a coalition that includes the Minnesota Restaurant, Lodging, and Resort & Campground Associations.