Nick Kortan '03

Calling:

CFO and Vice President of Corporate Operations, SDN Communications

Graduated:

2003

Majors:

Professional Accounting and Business Administration

His Life Today:

Nick Kortan is CFO and Vice President of Corporate Operations at SDN Communications. After USF, he obtained his Certified Public Accounting (CPA) license, and he worked in public accounting at Eide Bailly for nine years before taking his current role. He is on the board of directors for the Special Olympics of South Dakota and Junior Achievement. Kortan married 2006 USF grad Chelsey Nelson, a PA at Sanford Health. They have two boys.

Football More Than a Game

He says playing football for Coach Bob Young helped him grow. "Not only is he an amazing man of faith and a great father figure, he gave me a chance to play when many others would not have," he says. "For that I am forever grateful. But it was as much about how he shaped me as a young man off the field."

Led Down the Right Path

He credits USF Associate Professor of Accounting Jill Whitley with giving him direction, plus instilling him with courage and confidence. "Accounting is something I would have never anticipated pursuing," he says. "Now I wouldn't trade this path for anything."

Standards Remain High

Today, he appreciates that as enrollment grows at USF and athletic teams become more successful, there is still a high academic standard. Plus, he says, the high level of caring and commitment has remained. While at USF, Kortan was an Academic All-American and Purple Feather Award winner.

USF is Friends

Kortan says USF teammates and friends became like family, and professors and staff care, too: "People I met at USF were genuinely vested in helping me succeed at that time," he says. "Now, 15 years later, they still are interested and care about me."