A True Original: Dan Russell
by Paul Lundgren, with photos by Steve Burmeister
Consider Dan Russell a study in contrasts. He’s a respected leader who’s constantly joking around. He’s an avid outdoorsman in charge of Duluth’s largest indoor entertainment facilities. And he’s a competitive man with a strong record of winning, though fate has dealt him some devastating personal losses. He seems a perfect fi t as executive director of the Duluth Entertainment Convention Center, totally at ease chatting with monster truck enthusiasts, square dancers, Jehovah’s Witnesses, marathon runners and everyone in between.
When a new hockey arena is completed in 2010, the DECC will have seen expansions totaling more than $130 million under Russell’s leadership. Annual operating revenue has grown from $1.6 million in 1989 to over $8 million today. His hard work and ability to produce big results has earned him much respect over the years, but his easygoing style and devotion to family and friends are the qualities that make him one of Duluth’s most beloved citizens.
“Dan is a true original,” says Charles “Huck” Andresen, a partner in the Andresen & Butterworth law fi rm in Duluth and a former DECC board member who voted to hire Russell. “I think if there’s anybody who has really spurred the creation of the tourism industry in Duluth, it’s Dan. He helped create what Duluth is today. Dan does get credit for a lot of good things in Duluth, but damn it, he deserves it.”
Bob Hom, the DECC’s director of operations, agrees. He says even though the fi rst convention center expansion was well under construction before Russell was hired, it was still largely his doing.
“It was pretty much his idea,” Hom says. “He went out with Mayor (John) Fedo and got the money to do that.” At the time, Russell was executive director of the Duluth Convention and Visitors Bureau, now known as Visit Duluth. He held that position for 11 years, ushering in an era of phenomenal growth in tourism for the city. DCVB DAYS A native of South Minneapolis and a former UMD student, Russell was 24 years old when he saw the DCVB position advertised.
“I didn’t have a car,” Russell says. “My sister drove me up for the interview.” He was eager to return to Duluth and excited that the DCVB job came with a car. His fi rst move as head of the DCVB was leading a sixmonth battle to separate from the chamber of commerce. He then launched an aggressive campaign to attract tourists to Duluth.
“He correctly perceived that most of our tourism comes from the Twin Cities,” says Larry Oakes, northern Minnesota correspondent for the Minneapolis Star Tribune. “He didn’t have a big budget, but he fi gured out — or knew instinctively — that it didn’t matter if you had an advertising budget if you did interesting and off the wall stuff.” For one DCVB television ad, Russell hired Bob Denver and Alan Hale to reprise their Gilligan’s Island roles. Gilligan and the Skipper floated into Duluth on an inflatable safety raft, with the tagline “Cast away in Duluth this summer.” In another ad, Kojak star Telly Savalas strolls through Glensheen Mansion and asks, “Duluth, who loves ya baby? I do.” Russell also put together a series of commercials featuring comedian (and current senator) Al Franken as the Duluth Answer Man, with his writing partner, Tom Davis, playing the role of a confused tourist. In one spot, the confused tourist asks, “When they release the bulls, will I have enough time to get my family indoors?” The Duluth Answer Man deadpans, “I believe you’re thinking of Pamplona, Spain. However, the smelt run every spring in Duluth.”
THE DECC When Russell took over at the DECC in 1990 he knew he had a tough job ahead of him, not just to market the new convention space, but to put a stop to the problem employee theft, which was a well-known scandal. “People were thrilled to see Dan come in and clean up the mess,” Hom says. “He came in like the new sheriff in town.” In 2006, Duluthians gave the DECC a strong endorsement when 61 percent of voters approved a .75 percent increase to the city’s restaurant and bar sales tax to pay for a new hockey arena and parking ramp. Although the project appeared destined to receive money in the state’s bonding bill in 2006 and again in 2007, it was left out until 2008, when Russell’s persistence paid off and the Legislature allocated $38 million. The new 300,000-square-foot arena will seat 7,000, increasing capacity for UMD Bulldog hockey games by 2,100 and providing additional space for concerts and conventions. I think when you have children from ages 33 to 3, that’s Rod Stewart-like.
The new facility will be the fi rst Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design-certifi ed arena in the world. Russell says the goal is to use 50 percent of the energy a comparable facility would. The current DECC facility received the Governor’s Minnesota Great Award in February for its efforts to reduce waste and minimize its impact on the environment. Russell credits the DECC’s food service director, Chelly Townsend, for pushing him toward sounder environmental practices.
“I’ve been blessed to have a core group of women managers at the DECC,” Russell says. “If there’s one management thing I’ve figured out it’s: hire women. The other one is: go golfing.” Russell was echoing sentiments he expressed in April when he was surprised with a Joel Labovitz Entrepreneurial Success Award for entrepreneurial leadership in the public sector. He says the women in his life were responsible for his success, including his wife, who tricked him into attending the event.
SEVENTH CHILD OF A SEVENTH CHILD It’s no surprise that Russell is quick to credit the women in his life for shaping it. He grew up surrounded by them. The last of Harry and Elizabeth Russell’s seven children, Dan had fi ve sisters. Harry Russell was also the seventh child in his family, creating quite a generational stretch. Dan’s grandfather was born in 1864. When Dan was 6 years old, his father Harry died of a heart attack. A widow at 48, Dan’s mother set about putting seven kids through college. “She went out and got her real estate license and her driver’s license,” Dan says. “She was absolutely remarkable.” Dan studied journalism in college, attending UMD for three years and the main campus in Minneapolis for one, but he did not graduate. His fi rst marriage ended with a divorce in 1980, but produced two children, Jennifer and Dan Jr.
MYSTERIOUS DISEASE Dan later married Carolyn McLoughlin and added two more children, Mary and Tim. Things took a tragic turn when Carolyn began to lose her hearing. Doctors had no explanation at fi rst. Eventually, the diagnosis was mitochondrial disease. Mitochondria are supposed to convert food into a chemical that cells use for energy. When they don’t, the result is a steady decline in muscles and nerves as cells die. There is no cure. Carolyn died in 2002 at age 42.
But Russell family’s battle with mitochondrial disease would continue. Dan and Carolyn’s son Tim also fought the disease before he lost the battle in February, shortly after his 18th birthday. Despite all of that tragedy, Dan amazes his friends and colleagues with his positive outlook.
“All through that, he never lost the optimism,” Hom says. “Never.” Dan kept his family’s struggle largely to himself at work, Hom says. “You’d never hear anything. You’d have to ask, and even then he’d tell you very little. Most of the staff was pretty unaware of the seriousness of it for a good part of the time.”
Oakes says Russell’s strong connections with family and friends helped him work through his emotions outside the workplace. “He feels things deeply,” Oakes says. “I cannot imagine going through some of the challenges and hardships he’s gone through and still retain his sense of humor, his compassion for others. As far as I can tell there’s not a bitter bone in his body. He’s never felt sorry for himself. I always wondered where he got the energy to do everything he had to do with his wife and son sick at the same time. All those trips to the hospital, all those trips to New York to talk to specialists.” Andresen says keeping the DECC moving forward must have been extremely diffi cult for Dan. “During some of the toughest times, you know, he’s down at the Legislature lobbying like crazy to get funds for the new hockey arena. He managed to do a very good juggling act to get it done.”
NEW LOVE It was in the fi nal years of Tim’s life that Dan fell in love with Michelle Mike. They’ve been married nearly four years, but the relationship started slowly. “Tim is who I fell in love with,” Michelle says. “Tim is the one that captured my heart. I was drawn to him and just felt something put into my heart that this is what I was meant to do, to be there for him and help care for him and be a part of his life.” Michelle, a Grand Portage native who attended school in Grand Marais, was the local director of the Muscular Dystrophy Association when she met Tim.
“I knew that his disease fell under the MDA umbrella and my goal was to get to know him and get him to trust me so that I could have him come to summer camp with me,” she says. “Then Dan could have respite care. He’d get a break and Tim would be having the time of his life for a week.” This led to Dan and Michelle becoming close. “I’d come over to their house to visit Tim and pretty soon Dan and I just became best friends,” she says. When Dan suggested the possibility of dating, she initially resisted.
“He had lost his wife, and I wanted to make sure that he wasn’t in a vulnerable situation and that he had grieved.” A while later, the two did begin dating, with Tim’s blessing. When the time came where I said, ‘OK, I’ll date you,’ we asked Tim if it was OK. Then, later, Dan asked Tim if it was OK if he married me, and Tim was all for it.” They married at Stony Point on a windy November day. “The waves were crashing up,” Michelle remembers. “It was fun, but it was kind of, I think, a reminder that we were about to go through a pretty heavy storm, and making that commitment we could make it through.”
Michelle says their faith and love continues to help them through Tim’s recent death. “He dealt with this terrible disease with more courage and spirit than anyone could imagine,” she says. “He had a spirit that just lifted up a room. Always positive. He really helped me to focus on what’s important—living for the moment, for the day. Because you just don’t know what tomorrow will bring.” Dan and Michelle added to the family three years ago. Their daughter, Grace, is 30 years younger than Dan’s oldest daughter. “I think when you have children from ages 33 to 3, that’s Rod Stewart-like,” Russell says.
THE FUTURE Michelle says Dan’s inspiration and positive attitude will keep them going despite what they’ve been through. “The past 15 years have been an incredible journey for him,” she says. “I’ve been with him for the past four or fi ve of those years. He never waivers. “No one has ever inspired me to be the best that I can be the way that Dan has. His ability to inspire plays out in all areas of his life, including work, family, friends, community. His example of always taking the high road is rather inspiring. His mother taught him that.” Next up? The DECC expansion, Grace’s fi rst camping trip and simply enjoying the area. “All of the reasons the city points out young people should move here are reasons I came here in 1979,” Dan says. “It’s hard to imagine being somewhere else.”
