Jeff Baldus is Executive Director of the Austin Area Foundation. He was selected as the organizations first executive director in May of 2014.

Baldus is a longtime resident and prior to joining the foundation was employed by the Austin Area Chamber of Commerce, supporting Ambassador activities, membership and the 4th of July Freedom Fest. His career includes 33 years of restaurant management and was the successful owner/operator of Austin Culver’s Restaurant until he sold in June of 2009.

Currently active on many local boards and in volunteer positions including past Austin Chamber of Commerce president, Freedom Fest Director, KSMQ board member, Mower County Health Services advisory board member, Austin Convention & Visitors Bureau board member, Austin ArtWorks steering committee member, Paint the Town Pink steering committee member and board member on The Hormel Foundation.

Jeff lives in Austin with his wife Kris, and has two adult children. 

David has served as Superintendent of Austin Public Schools since 2009. Previous to Austin, he served as Superintendent, High School Principal and Assistant Principal, Director of Technology, and math and science teacher in Wisconsin and Minnesota school districts over his 40 plus year career in education. David earned his Bachelors, Masters and 6th Year degrees from Winona State University. David has served as a member of the Board of Directors for the Minnesota Association of School Administrators, the State Superintendents Professional Association. He is currently on the Region 1AA Executive Board of the Minnesota State High School League, Hormel Foundation Board of Directors and Executive Board of the Austin Chamber of Commerce. He is a member of the Austin Rotary, Austin Noon Kiwanis, and Austin Morning Lions Clubs. David’s immediate family consists of wife Eileen, son Christopher (39) – daughter-in-law Krista and granddaughter Violet (8 years), and sons Michael (37) and Brian (32).

Melissa is an Operations Administrator at Mayo Clinic Health System (MCHS). Melissa's role provides administrative leadership support to the Surgical Division across the Southeast MN region. Melissa has worked at MCHS for fifteen years and also serves as Adjunct Faculty staff at Riverland Community College. Melissa teaches courses within the Supervisory Management/Leadership programs, and has been doing so for the last six year. Melissa earned her Bachelor of Art's (B.A.) in Organizational Management & Communications, and Master of Arts (M.A.) in Leadership from Concordia University, St. Paul, MN. 

Melissa is active and engaged in many community activities and boards in both Albert Lea and Austin. Melissa has a passion for serving the community, giving back, and fully appreciates the journey of life-long learning. Melissa resides in Albert Lea with her husband, who co-own DMB Properties, a company that offers clean, well maintained, affordable rental properties in Freeborn County. Melissa enjoys spending time with family, including their three children.

Geoff Baker is President and Chief Operating Officer for McFarland Truck Lines, Inc., a position he assumed in 2004. The company is family-owned and is based in Austin. McFarland Truck Lines runs more than 120 trucks specializes in moving temperature-controlled food and related products in the Upper Midwest. 

Prior to joining the family business in 1999, Geoff spent 9 years in the phone business, primarily with Sprint’s Long Distance Division in Kansas City, MO. He holds a BA in Marketing from Iowa State University and an MBA from the University of Kansas.

He is actively involved in the Minnesota Trucking Association. He served as Chairman of the Association in 2015, and has also chaired the Minnesota Trucking Association’s Political Action Committee. 

Geoff is serving his second term on the Austin Utilities Board of Commissioners. He is also a past member of the Austin City Council. He is a past board chair of the Mower County Chapter of the American Red Cross and a past Chair of the Austin Chamber of Commerce.

 Geoff lives in Austin with his wife Diane, and has two Son’s at the University of Wisconsin at Madison.

Tim Fritz is the Vice President of Grocery Products Operations for Hormel 
Foods.  In this role, Tim is responsible for the Grocery Products 
processing plants and Co-Manufacturing Operations.  Tim joined Hormel in 
1984 as a relief supervisor at the Fremont Plant.  He held various 
supervisor, superintendent and HR manager roles at Fremont, Atlanta and 
Austin until being named Director of Industrial Relations in 2005.  He 
then returned to the Austin Plant as the Production Manager in 2010 and 
was later named Plant Manager in 2011.  He assumed his current role in 
April of 2016. 

Tim has served as a board member and chair for the United Way of Mower 
County, Austin Area Catholic Schools and Austin Youth Basketball. He is a 
past president of the Austin Area Chamber of Commerce and a member of the 
Rotary Club of Austin. 

He holds a Business degree from the University of Illinois and he and his 
wife, Kathy have 2 children, TJ, a Production Supervisor at Osceola Foods 
in Osceola, Iowa and Merideth, who is a Pharmacy student at Purdue 
University.  Both children attended Pacelli through 8th grade and are 
graduates of Austin High School.

Andrea started her career with Austin Public Schools in 1998 and currently serves as the principal of Austin High School.  Prior to her time as principal, she worked as a Social Studies teacher and assistant principal, all at AHS.  She earned her Bachelors degree at Concordia University-St. Paul, Masters at Southwest Minnesota State University, and 6^th Year degree at Minnesota State Mankato.  Andrea is a member of the Austin Rotary Club and Salvation Army Advisory Board.  She is lives in Austin with her husband Kane and their 2 dogs Charlie and Murphy.

Kimberley Hillberg is a Principal with the National Assurance Technical Group for CliftonLarsonAllen (CLA). CLA is a professional services firm that provides wealth advisory, outsourcing, and public accounting (audit, tax and consulting) services. CLA specializes in providing services to privately held businesses and their owners, as well as nonprofits and governmental entities. As one of the ten largest CPA firms in the country, CLA serves more than 150,000 clients out of more than 100 locations across the United States.

Kimberley started her career as a state and local government auditor with CLA after graduating college in 1997. She also has experience in the private sector, including internal audit and government finance. She holds a Bachelor of Arts in Accounting from Gustavus Adolphus College.

Kimberley holds an active CPA Certificate and is actively involved in the Minnesota Society of Certified Public Accountants and with the Minnesota Department of Education.

Kimberley is currently a member of the Mower County Humane Society Finance Committee and is a past President of the Austin Area Chamber of Commerce.

Kimberley resides in Austin with her husband, George, and their three cats – Mary-Margaret Finnegan, Jack, and Sully.

Pat Hawkins is the Market President of US Bank Austin and has served in this capacity since September of 2017. Prior to joining US Bank, he spent 9 years working for an Agricultural retail Cooperative in Southern MN serving as the Sr. VP of Risk and Business Development. Before moving to the Cooperative system, Pat had spent his time since 1990 working in the finance industry in Southern MN specializing in agricultural production.

Since starting in Austin, he has been active in Chamber of Commerce Ag Committee, the Development Corporation of Austin and a member of Rotary International.

Pat and his wife Mary have two grown children and a daughter entering her senior year in high school.

Dale Wicks, Human Resources Director has been with Quality Pork Processors, Inc. since it began operations in 1989. Starting out on the Production line, moving into management as Sanitation Supervisor and then in 1991 into the Personnel Department. His primary role in Human Resources is Labor Relations along with Payroll, Recruiting, Training, and Safety. He has served on several community Boards including, Oakland Baptist Church Board, Austin Chamber of Commerce Board, and the Austin Rotary Club Board. A lifetime resident of the Austin area, he continues to operate the small family farm with crops, cattle and horses in rural Austin. He and his wife, both Austin High School Graduates, have 5 grown children, who all live in the Austin area, and has 18 Grandchildren.