LOU DEMARS
President, DeMars Consulting
7100 Metro Blvd, Suite 222
Edina, MN 55439
Lou DeMars is currently the owner of DeMars Consulting, Inc. He has several areas of expertise including equipment lease financing for businesses and real-estate project financing. He also represents businesses by advising and lobbying for them when they deal with local units of governments. Another expertise is representing commercial/industrial property owners when they need to have their property assessed correctly by county and city government assessors in order to minimize their property taxes.
Lou was a Vice President with Carlton Financial Corporation from 1997 through 2005, and is currently serving as an independent contractor responsible for marketing the various equipment lease programs offered by Carlton’s successor, Arcola Capital. Prior to joining the company he was a Senior VP in underwriting for the investment firm Miller & Schroeder for 18 years specializing in structured project financing of municipal and private conventional bonds. He was also elected to four terms on the Minneapolis City Council where he was elected from his peers as its President.
Lou is Past President of the Minneapolis City Council, Past President of the Minnesota Institute of Public Finance, Past elected Minneapolis Park Board Commissioner, Past Chair of the Board of Artspace Projects, Inc. and Past Commodore and Board member of the Minneapolis Aquatennial. Currently, Lou serves on the Boards of Artspace Projects Inc., Minnesota Minority Junior Golf Association, Minnesota 100, the Metropolitan Lifelong Learning Center, LLC and is an active member of the North Metro Mayors Association.
Since leaving the Minneapolis City Council, Lou has stayed active with the City of Minneapolis. He was instrumental in creating the Minneapolis Common Bond Fund in 1982. This fund eventually leveraged more than $200,000,000 in revenue bond financing. As an investment banker for Miller and Schroeder Financial, he worked on many City and Hennepin County financings, including: the Target Center, Laurel Village, the Hennepin County resource recovery plant, Calhoun Square and Parking Ramp, the Ryan International Center, The Energy Retrofit financing for the 1997 and 1999 retrofits for the Minneapolis Public Housing Authority and many other city projects.
In 2007, he was appointed by Mayor Rybak to serve on the City of Minneapolis Pension Advisory Commission. In 2009, he was the designated speaker at the Minneapolis Sesquicentennial Celebration honoring all the current and past city council members.
Over the years Lou has represented various clients at Cities and Counties and currently represents clients before the City of Minneapolis, the City of Columbus Anoka County, and Hennepin County. With his background, including specifically his years as a city council member and as an investment banker he is able to lead clients through the sometimes complicated governmental processes of cities and counties. He is a consistent participant in most of the elections and re-elections both as an advisor and contributor.
In his spare time, he sings bass with the Minneapolis Commodores, an internationally-ranked Barber Shop Chorus. He also sings with his church choir. He is an avid golfer and was a member at Golden Valley Golf and Country Club for 38 years. He also loves to travel and has been to places such as Singapore, Hong Kong, France, Prague, Sweden, Spain, Germany, Scotland, Ireland, Amsterdam and (on business) Tokyo, Kuwait and London.
Lou is married to Nan DeMars, renowned Workplace Ethicist trainer and columnist. Nan is author of the book, YOU WANT ME TO DO WHAT? When, Where & How to Draw the Line at Work (Simon & Schuster). She serves as WCCO Radio’s ‘Ethicist’ and writes often for the Minneapolis StarTribune and other periodicals.
Contact him at:
lou@louisdemars.com
Cell 612-968-0720
Office 612-968-0720