Service Team

Gary Weiers

Gary Weiers leads our service team. Since joining DDA, Gary has completed over 50 executive searches, mostly in greater Minnesota. Recently, search services were expanded into Wisconsin as well. Prior to joining DDA, Gary served as the Rice County Administrator for over 10 years which included overall management of the County’s human resource services. Prior to being a County Administrator, he was a department head for four years and a mid-level supervisor for over six years.

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Throughout his career, Gary has worked closely with local government elected officials on a daily basis. As a result, he understands the needs and wants of local government leaders and will approach each search process with those considerations in mind. Gary understands this is a very important decision for elected officials, and he will honor and respect their objectives throughout the search. 

Liza Donabauer

Like all DDA HR consultants, Liza has a background in Public Administration at both the city and county level, most recently in Kansas and Minnesota. Liza worked in Wright County providing administrative support to the Commissioners, Coordinator, and Human Resources Department. This path led her into city management for Clearwater, Kansas, and Arlington, Minnesota. During her four years as City Administrator in Arlington, Liza completed a reorganization of the administration department, developed an orientation and capital planning process for two new Councils, conducted compensation studies for several departments, and engaged in a strategic planning session. 

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Liza received her MBA with an emphasis in Public Administration from the College of St. Scholastica. She is also a Certified Diversity and Inclusion Recruiter through AIRS.

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Bart Fischer
Bart joined DDA HR in 2023 as a Management Consultant that focuses on mentoring/advising, organizational work, strategic planning, and executive search work. He has over 20 years of experience as a public sector leader/manager in local government organizations as well as most recently working as a consultant with public sector clients.

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Bart's experience has taken him from being the Assistant City Administrator in the Cities of Newport and Chaska, Minnesota, to being the City Administrator in the Cities of Falcon Heights and Oakdale, Minnesota. As a consultant, Bart has fostered existing client relationships. supported business development, helped mentor staff, and managed strategic client pursuits and partnerships. He is a strategic leader known for relationship development and connecting people around common themes and goals. Bart obtained his Master's in Public Administration from Metropolitan State University in St. Paul.

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Pat Melvin

Pat joined DDA HR as a Management Consultant specializing in Executive Search Services. He has a Government and Management Degree from Saint John's University and a Public Administration and Urban Regional Studies master's degree from the University of Minnesota - Mankato which he earned while working for the City of Edina, Minnesota. He grew from being the Special Projects Administrator in Wright County to become the Administrator in McLeod County and has city experience serving as City Administrator in the cities of Arlington and Minnetonka Beach.

While working in county and city government, Pat has been involved in numerous aspects of local government including policy development, budgeting, human resources including recruitment, payroll, benefits, and workplace investigations, capital improvement plans, contract negotiations, grievance settlements, and managed a group self insured health insurance plan. Pat enjoys working with a team of individuals to establish goals, address concerns, and build upon success.

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Liz Foster

Since joining DDA in 2015, Liz has been involved in numerous executive searches and other HR related projects. As a Certified Professional Recruiter, Diversity and Inclusion Recruiter, AI Recruiter, and Internet Recruiter through AIRS, Liz performs Recruitment Only search services for clients looking for assistance hiring those hard-to-fill positions. 

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In addition to recruitment, Liz provides support and assistance to the Management Consultants within the Human Resources Division. While assisting our Management Consultants, some of Liz's duties include community research, creating position profiles and advertisements, posting position openings, assembling interview materials for our clients, and providing other general administrative support to our Management Consultants.