CBE names Daniel L. Florness Executive-in-Residence at UWRF

Daniel L. Florness, chief financial officer and executive vice president of Fastenal, Winona, Minn., has been named the Spring 2013 Executive-in-Residence by the College of Business and Economics (CBE) at UW-River Falls.

Florness will deliver a lecture, “Surround Yourself With the Best,” from 2-3 p.m. on Tuesday, April 23, in the Riverview Ballroom, University Center.

The lecture is free and open to the public.

Florness joined Fastenal as CFO in 1996 after 10 years at KPMG, LLP, and the results of his financial stewardship have been extraordinary enough to place him among the top 10 in The Wall Street Journal’s “best CFOs” list in 2012 of executives who both run top-performing finance operations and take a lead role in setting strategy at their companies.

Under his leadership, Fastenal’s earnings growth consistently surpasses sales growth and the company targets 51 to 53 percent gross margin.

“We are privileged to have Dan Florness on campus this spring,” said Glenn Potts, dean of the College of Business and Economics.

“Not only was he ranked nationally as one of the best by The Wall Street Journal, Florness was chosen the CFO of the Year for Public Companies by the Minneapolis/St. Paul Business Journal. The message he will deliver to campus comes from a very successful career that started at UWRF.”

A native of Ellsworth, Wis., Florness graduated from UWRF with a degree in accounting, and recently accepted an invitation to serve as a member of the CBE Business Advisory Board.

Florness is the 21st executive to bring his observations and experience to the UWRF campus since the Executive-in-Residence program was initiated in 2003.

The program is sponsored by the UWRF College of Business and Economics and WESTconsin Credit Union.

For more information, call Audrey Ternes at 715-425-3335 or email audrey.ternes@uwrf.edu.