Citizens League

Dan McElroy Biography

Dan McElroy is the Chief of Staff for Governor Tim Pawlenty. The Governor previously appointed McElroy as Commissioner of Finance, where he headed the Finance Department and served as the state’s chief budget and financial officer from January 2003 to February 2004.

Prior to this appointment Mr. McElroy was a State Representative from Burnsville. He was elected in 1994 and re-elected in 1996, 1998, 2000 and 2002. He served as an Assistant Majority Leader during the 2001-02 sessions and was the Chair of the Committee on Jobs and Economic Development Finance from 1999 through 2002. He also served on the Committees on Taxes, Commerce, and Ways & Means. He served on the Legislative Audit Commission from 1995 to 2003 and was the Commission Chair in 1999-2000. He served on the Burnsville City Council from 1983 to 1986 and as Mayor of Burnsville from 1987 to 1995.

In the private sector, Mr. McElroy has been a management consultant and software developer working with travel management companies. As President and “Head Coach” of Travel Agency Management Solutions, Inc., he assisted over 300 companies in the United States and Canada with business and technical issues in a rapidly changing industry. Mr. McElroy was a founder of Travel Professionals, a large Twin Cities travel agency and served as its Chief Financial Officer from 1986 to 1992. The company was sold to Northwestern Travel Management in 1992 and Mr. McElroy stayed on as president of the Mainline Travel division of Northwestern and served as the parent company’s Director of Information Management from 1992 to 1994.

Mr. McElroy was a Director of American Bank Burnsville from 1994 to 1998. He has been active in the Burnsville community and is a member of the Citizen’s League of the Twin Cities, the Minnesota Taxpayer’s Association, and the Center of the American Experiment. He is a graduate of the University of Notre Dame. He and his wife Mary have lived in Burnsville for twenty-five years.