Cultivating a ‘Passionately Local’ Perspective

Nebraska Business Executive Believes in Giving Back

By Susan Houston Klaus

University of Nebraska Foundation Trustee Dan Kinsella always is looking for the potential in people.

A first-generation student, he got to know his own potential while earning two business degrees and being a wrestler at the University of Nebraska at Omaha. He learned how to nurture it in others as a grad assistant at the Nebraska Business Development Center. And he took those experiences with him to the Omaha office of Deloitte, a global accounting firm, where he’s had a 25-plus-year career and leads a local team of 300 and thousands around the world.

While Deloitte is an international firm, it’s also firmly focused on nurturing local talent and creating local solutions, Kinsella said. It’s been a good fit, he noted, because it’s allowed him to be what he calls “passionately local” but still have access to a network of resources that can make the community successful. “This is about helping people and business in Nebraska win,” he said.

A longtime financial backer of the university, Kinsella has supported the UNO CBA Accounting Fund for Excellence. He also has established the Dan and Barb Kinsella Memorial Work Ethic Scholarship, named in honor of his parents, for UNO students across multiple colleges who are working and attending school. As a trustee, Kinsella believes it’s important to help grow the success of the University of Nebraska system by including those who aren’t native Nebraskans.

“The least I could do is give back, but I want to give back in a way that not only supports those who were born and raised here but also cultivates, rewards and recognizes those who did not come up in my model, those who might be new to the state. I’m grateful to be a part of that,” he said.

Kinsella’s commitment to stewarding quality people in his role at Deloitte aligns with the University of Nebraska’s commitment. This became clear to Kinsella when he served on the search committee for the new dean of the UNO College of Business Administration. Kinsella says he sees his role as a trustee as helping make the most of what the state has to offer, through the potential that lies in its people and those Nebraska attracts.

“My time with the trustees is really trying to make sure that we understand of ourselves and that we understand of the future, the wonder that we have to live, work and play in this place called Nebraska.  The best is yet to come.”