For Immediate Release

Donnelly President Kirscht named to Minnesota CPA Leadership Cabinet

Alexandria, Minn. (12/31/02) Æ Ron Kirscht, President of Donnelly Custom Manufacturing, was recently selected to serve a three-year term on the Minnesota Society of Certified Public Accountants (MNCPA) Leadership Cabinet. Kirscht holds a bachelor's degree in accounting and earned his CPA designation in 1982.

The Leadership Cabinet, which holds annual or semi-annual in-person sessions, provides feedback to MNCPA's Board of Directors regarding program services, policies, legal and professional issues. The first Cabinet session was held in December.

MNCPA President Betsy Adrian said Kirscht's experience and commitment to professionalism made him an ideal candidate for the Cabinet position.

"We had 120 applications for 50 positions and the selections were not easy, since the quality of the applicants was very high," Adrian said. "However, Ron more than fit the mold based on his deep and multi-faceted accounting, business and leadership experience."

Prior to joining Donnelly in 1991, Kirscht served as Corporate Controller at Plastech Corporation. He also worked in cost accounting management at Sandoz Nutrition (now Novartis) and in the Audit Group of Coopers & Lybrand's (now PriceWaterhouseCoopers) Minneapolis office.

The Leadership Cabinet is a new concept for the MNCPA, holding its first meeting on December 5 in St. Paul. "We got the idea from the Indiana CPA Society, which has had a Leadership Cabinet for three years and had great success with the concept," said Adrian. "We strived to create a diverse group - taking into consideration accounting specialty, demographics and regional perspectives."

At the initial Leadership Cabinet meeting, Kirscht made quite an impression on the group, according to MNCPA Chairperson Nancy Heimer. "Ron gave such a rousing and interesting presentation, I wanted to award him a game ball," said Heimer. "We really appreciated his stimulating contributions."

About Donnelly
Founded in 1984 and based in Alexandria, Minn., Donnelly's 230 employees are dedicated to setting the standards in the custom plastic injection-molding marketplace for "How Short Run Is Done." The company's focus is on providing its OEM customers with value added engineering, manufacturing and customer support services. The company's engineering team, which is headquartered in the Twin Cities, works on-site at customer locations to ensure design for manufacturability and project management, while its agile manufacturing process allows for Just-in-Time short run production. A strong customer service orientation ensures that customer satisfaction levels exceed industry standards at every point of contact.

About Minnesota Society of Certified Public Accountants
Founded in 1904 and headquartered in Bloomington, MN, the Minnesota Society of Certified Public Accountants (MNCPA) is a professional organization that serves over 9,500 members across Minnesota. Members come from public practice, industry, government and education.

Membership in the Society is open to anyone holding a CPA certificate from any state. Associate membership is available to non-CPA owners or billable professionals of a firm.

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