Tom Dankert will be taking the lead at Minnesota public power utility Austin Utilities on October 6. Mark Nibaur, Austin Utilities General Manager for the last 15 years, retired on September 18.
Dankert is a lifelong Austin native whose journey has always been rooted in the community. After attending Minnesota State University, Mankato, he returned to his hometown and began his career at a local CPA firm.
That path eventually led him to the City of Austin as a senior accountant, and he then gained a promotion as Director of Administrative Services for 27 years. His connection to Austin Utilities started early, as the City of Austin and Austin Utilities shared the municipal building for many years.
Now part of AU, Dankert has been warmly welcomed and is inspired by the strong employee culture. His vision centers on preserving AU’s culture, strengthening infrastructure, driving economic growth, enhancing cyber security, and considering rates.
Dankert looks forward to engaging with staff across all departments and participating in employee activities.
During his career at AU, Nibaur has supported leveraging technology to create efficiencies for employees and adding value for our customers, while being responsible with rates.
He has seen employees embrace volunteering and become more active in our community. One of his proudest achievements is the reliability AU consistently provides to its customers.
A notable milestone in his career was the construction of the central facility. The completion of the building helped build the culture and foster teamwork among the departments, all under one roof.
