Brian Kern named Trojan Days parade marshal

September 23, 2022

Madison businessman Brian Kern struggles with accolades.

With his latest honor -- parade marshal for the Dakota State University Trojan Days parade -- he has decided to accept it as an honor and be thankful for that, he said.

Kern, the owner and president of Rosebud Wood Products in Madison, is a long-time supporter of Dakota State. He created an endowed scholarship in memory of his late wife, Leslie Grayson Kern, and provided program support for the athletics department’s weight room. Most recently, he donated $5 million for the new athletics facility. This is the largest donation from a member of the Madison community.

It's this community, he said, that can draw prospective students to Madison.

“It’s a great community and a great university, no matter what major a student may be looking to study,” he said.

In addition, if the students want to participate in athletics, they will have a great opportunity to see success, given what the teams are accomplishing within their conferences.

Dakota State also offers students a unique opportunity to study at a university that has a small-town flavor, but where the sky is the limit with academics. This is true in many areas, but particularly with cyber studies, pointing out that the Madison Cyber Labs is “a ‘big school’ feature in a small town.”

He noted that successes for Dakota State mean successes for the Madison area, and vice versa. “Both need each other,” he said.

Kern attended Dakota State in the late 1980s, studying business administration, and playing football. In addition to Rosebud, he is a local developer, expanding Madison’s Lake Area Townhomes in 2020. He is also branching out to hotel development, with nine facilities, including the Sioux Falls Best Western GLA at Dawley Farms that opened in 2020. Also in 2020, he was named Developer of Year by Best Western Hotels.

Dakota State’s homecoming parade begins at 10 a.m. on Saturday, Sept. 24, on Egan Avenue.