When Dan Niese’s goal of becoming a golf professional wasn’t working out, he changed his game plan.

Niese graduated with his accounting degree from Ferris State University in December 2002, after earning a degree in marketing/golf from the same college in Big Rapids, Mich., in May 2001.

“I started doing the internships and realized I didn’t enjoy it at all,” Niese said of his golf internships.

Niese found himself behind the counter selling golf merchandise.

Dan Niese

“When you work in the business, you don’t play golf,” he said.

So, Niese returned to his childhood love of numbers. He had become distracted when he saw the golf course, and “it looked cool,” he said.

It was a mulligan that would bring the Ottawa-Glandorf graduate to Toledo and make him one of the few CPAs also certified by the PGA.

When Niese graduated from Ferris with his accounting degree, he worked for the Kneuven, Schroeder and Company in Findlay from January 2003 through August 2003. He was sending out resumes, but “at first nobody would talk to me because I only had golf on my resume,” Niese said.

When he was hired at Plante & Moran in Toledo in September 2003, he knew the city only for its shopping and family visits.

Greg Taylor, one of the partners at Plante & Moran, said the firm was named to FORTUNE Magazine’s list of “100 best companies to work for” for the 11th consecutive year. He said the certified public accounting and business advisory firm is attractive to young people because it offers a good career, a good life and it is demanding.

“Dan is a very hard worker,” Taylor said. “He also brings one of the most positive attitudes to work.”

Taylor moved from Detroit to Toledo. He said Northwest Ohio is a good place to raise a family and is easy to get to other big cities.

“There are new challenges every day,” said Niese, who mainly performs audits of financial statements for a variety of clients. “When we do our audits, we will look for any ideas on how to make the company become more efficient and stronger.”

The plan is to remain in the area. He is marrying Toledoan Lindsay Lyden on July 4.

This entry was posted on Thursday, May 7th, 2009 at 8:56 pm and is filed under Brain Gain, Sports.
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