Lisa Kro, managing director and chief financial officer of Goldner Hawn Private Equity, a Minneapolis-based equity investment firm, has been named to Famous Dave’s of America’s (NASDAQ: DAVE – News board of directors.
Mary Jeffries, a board member since 2003 and chair of the audit committee, announced her resignation from the board in order to focus on the day-to-day operations of Minnetonka-based Polaroid Corporation, where she is CEO.
“We are thrilled to have someone of Lisa’s experience and caliber join our board,” says K. Jeffrey Dahlberg, chairman of the board at Famous Dave’s of America. “Lisa brings a level of financial expertise and industry experience that will serve our company well as we move forward in this difficult operating environment and return to our historic growth rates when conditions improve. I also want to thank Mary Jeffries for her service to our company. She was an excellent board member, and we thank her for her passion, wisdom and insight.”
Kro, 43, joined Goldner Hawn as its CFO in 2004, assuming responsibility for investor relations, fund management and oversight of the firm’s internal operations. She was named a managing director of Goldner Hawn in 2005. Over the past five years Kro has been involved with the acquisition, monitoring and sale of various Goldner Hawn portfolio investments. Prior to Goldner Hawn, Kro spent 17 years at the accounting firm of KPMG LLP, where she served as partner in charge of the firm’s Minneapolis consumer and industrial business practice. In that role, she was responsible for developing new client relationships with food, consumer product, and retail companies throughout the Upper Midwest.
“In Lisa, we believe we have found an individual with the breadth and depth of financial expertise needed by a company such as ours,” Dahlberg says. “Her audit experience and her experience in the food, consumer product and retail industry will add a high level of accounting and industry-specific knowledge to our board.”
The company indicated that Kro, who qualifies as a ‘financial expert,’ would serve as chair of the audit committee and would also serve on the company’s strategic planning committee.
