ALEXANDRIA, Minn.– Matt Daniels, an Affinity Plus member advisor II at the credit union’s Alexandria branch, has been named a Top 20 Under 40 Young Professional by the Alexandria Lakes Area Chamber of Commerce and Echo Press.
Daniels and other recipients will be honored by the chamber and community newspaper at the chamber’s annual banquet and celebration. The event is scheduled for Monday, Jan. 30, at the Holiday Inn of Alexandria in the west-central Minnesota community.
Daniels, 34, of Glenwood, Minn., has 13 years of banking experience, the past five at Affinity Plus as a member advisor and doing Consumer Lending. He said he has remained with Affinity Plus because the credit union’s emphasis on helping people matches his commitment.
“I wouldn’t be the person I am today without that drive to help people,” Daniels said. “Affinity Plus has allowed me to use that passion and drive to help our members in all sorts of environments."
Prior to working at Affinity Plus, he worked for four years at BlackRidgeBANK and four at Riverwood Bank. Originally from Tracy, Minn., Daniels graduated from Tracy Area High School and attended Bemidji State University for finance and music education.
Daniels has been a volunteer firefighter for nine years with the Glenwood Fire Department, and is the Training and Safety Officer. Since 2012, he has been a fire instructor at Ridgewater and Alexandria technical colleges.
Since 2015 he has served on the board of directors for the Fire Instructors and Training Officers Association of Minnesota, and in 2016 became the District 3 representative for the Lake Region Firefighters Association.
Daniels also is an Emergency Medical Technician with Glacial Ridge Hospital of Glenwood.
“You could say improving quality of life for people is my end goal. Whether it’s emergency services or helping someone with their financial goals, seeing that look of excitement or relief is what sustains my drive to continue helping in any way I can,” he said.
Daniels said the award “definitely is a good feeling. I didn’t realize how much I was involved in! I took a look back and it was like, ‘I do have a lot of things going on’ ”.
In his spare time, Daniels enjoys fishing and pheasant hunting with Jack, his golden retriever. He also enjoys volunteering with Take A Kid Fishing, Habitat for Humanity and Special Olympics Minnesota.
Daniels and his wife, Andrea, have two children, Sadie, 6, and Oscar, nine months.