Kelly J. Doran (born November 22, 1957) is a

Minnesota Minnesota () is a state in the upper midwestern region of the United States. It is the 12th largest U.S. state in area and the 22nd most populous, with over 5.75 million residents. Minnesota is home to western prairies, now given over t ...

businessman. He ran for

Governor A governor is an administrative leader and head of a polity or political region, ranking under the head of state and in some cases, such as governors-general, as the head of state's official representative. Depending on the type of political ...

as a member of the Minnesota Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party, but ended his bid in March 2006, stating that the campaign was too difficult for his family.

Biography

Doran was born in

Duluth, Minnesota , settlement_type = City , nicknames = Twin Ports (with Superior, Wisconsin, Superior), Zenith City , motto = , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top: Downtown Dul ...

and is the youngest of four children. He is a graduate of the

University of Minnesota The University of Minnesota, formally the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities, (UMN Twin Cities, the U of M, or Minnesota) is a public land-grant research university in the Twin Cities of Minneapolis and Saint Paul, Minnesota, United States. ...

, and received an MBA from what is now the Carlson School of Management at the University of Minnesota in 1982. Doran was a commercial lender for Bank of America for nine years. Prior to announcing his candidacy for the 2006 election, Doran was president of the

Edina EDINA is a centre for digital expertise, based at the University of Edinburgh as a division of the Information Services Group. Services EDINA front-end services (those accessed directly by the user) are available free at the point of use fo ...

based Robert Muir Company, a construction and development company. The company has developed over 3,000,000 square feet (300,000 m²) of retail space around the

Twin Cities Twin cities are a special case of two neighboring cities or urban centres that grow into a single conurbation – or narrowly separated urban areas – over time. There are no formal criteria, but twin cities are generally comparable in sta ...

. Doran made an unsuccessful bid for Governor of Minnesota in the 2006 election, running as a pro-business centrist. Initially he had announced that he would run for the United States Senate, but he later set his sights on the Governor's office. His history of donating to Republicans became an issue during the race, and despite donating $1.85 million to his own campaign, Doran dropped out in March 2006. Since the election, Doran founded Doran Companies, consisting of three arms: Doran Development, Doran Construction, and Doran Management. In addition to suburban commercial centers, his company has developed high-end student housing, featuring rental rates 10 percent higher than anybody else in the market. Doran developed several properties in the University of Minnesota campus area, including the renovation of Sydney Hall and the Minnesota Dinkydome complex, as well as the 412 Lofts, The Edge on Oak, The Knoll and most recently, The Bridges. The company came under local fire in 2012 for subcontracting non-union labor for its projects. Pickets at Doran's offices and outside of Minneapolis City Hall in protest of the firm's labor practices began in November 2012 have continued throughout the winter.

References

External links

Doran Companies WebsiteMPR: Campaign 2006 Kelly Doran
{{DEFAULTSORT:Doran, Kelly Minnesota Democrats Living people 1957 births Politicians from Duluth, Minnesota Carlson School of Management alumni