By CJ Hines

Sports were central to Kip Elliott growing up. He played football, basketball and baseball, and family vacations included going to Minneapolis to watch a Twins baseball game. However, he never dreamed he’d work in athletics and become part of the Twins organization.

“Baseball was probably my favorite sport, and I was an avid Twins fan. It wasn’t like I said, ‘I’m going to have this job.’ A lot of this was luck. When the job came around, it was pretty cool,” said Elliott, who is the senior vice president of business administration for the Minnesota Twins.

Right out of college, Elliott worked for Coopers & Lybrand (now Price WaterhouseCoopers) in Minneapolis. He started with the Twins in 1992 as accounting manager, worked his way to controller and then CFO. He was promoted to his current position last year, and now oversees the club’s finance, technology, human resources and operations departments, as well as being integrally involved in the construction of a new stadium slated to open in 2010.

“This stadium should change the paradigm for the team. The new stadium is on the west end of downtown, just west of the Target Center. We will be back to playing baseball how it should be played: outside,” he said. “The Twins had kind of a disappointing season, but we’ve had a pretty successful run in this decade. This new ballpark has us very excited, as it will allow us to become fiscally competitive within Major League Baseball.”

Elliott also serves as chief financial liaison between ownership and Major League Baseball and is part of the team’s strategic planning process.

“It’s a sexy job with a lot of intangible benefits: access to things like tickets to the World Series, concerts and other major events. On the flip side, it is an extremely hourly intensive job. I work a ton of hours, which is pretty typical in pro sports. A lot of people would love to work here, so I don’t take it for granted,” he said.

In addition to the hours at his job, Elliott also spends a lot of time commuting from work in Minnesota to his home in Hudson, Wis., across the St. Croix River. Growing up on a farm in rural Fredericksburg, Iowa, Elliott wanted his children to grow up in a similar environment.

“If we didn’t have kids, we probably wouldn’t live this far away. It’s a 34-mile drive, but we’re able to have more space. It allows the kids to stretch out. Hudson is more of a community than a suburb; it makes you feel like you’re away from the cities.”

While the daily commute is sometimes “staggering,” Elliott places a high priority on family and family activities, such as attending his children’s baseball and hockey games. He also is a member of the Special Olympics Minnesota Board of Directors and serves on the UNI Accounting Advisory Council.

At least a couple of times a year Elliott and his family visit his parents, who live on the family farm near Fredericksburg. His father still operates the farm, and his mother recently retired after teaching for more than 30 years.

Although Elliott’s mother received her degree from UNI, Elliott says there was no pressure to attend UNI.