Connect Business Magazine

In 1932, the United States was in the throes of the Great Depression. Unemployment hit 24%. Franklin D. Roosevelt was elected President of the United States. Al Capone was convicted for Income Tax evasion. Indeed, these are historical events that would shape the future of our country. Events that would go down in the history books. And chances are, some of those books would be published in Mankato, Minnesota. By one of the last remaining independent publishing companies in the United States, The Creative Company.

Businesses play a vital role in cultivating a good quality of life in our communities; they provide jobs, economic stability, and charitable support for initiatives that can enrich our lives. It’s that last one that is sometimes easier said, than done.

The Fallenstein family turns their obsession with Halloween from a hobby into a business. The scene opens with mom, a seamstress named Jenice, sewing costumes and her three daughters, Julie, Lisa and Heather, renting them out from the family garage. Then the youngest sibling, Tom, starts getting involved with the business called Costumes Galore. It is a huge seasonal success in the region. Tom coming of age just as a somewhat futuristic tool known as the world wide web starts to emerge.

David Schooff grew up in a small-business environment, learning from those around him at an early age. That fostered a drive in him to pursue his own ventures. He leveraged that early foundation in his numerous business and real estate investments in hospitality, commercial property and workforce housing.

Business Person of the Year 2017
There is a well-worn path between MTU Onsite Energy CEO Todd Riemann’s big, windowed office to the production floor on the other side of the building. “Todd is a very humble leader and remembers where he started,” says John Haack, a former colleague who nominated Riemann for Business Person of the Year.

Today, he leads a team of surgeons, physician assistants, nurses and therapists at The Orthopaedic and Fracture Clinic, but Andy Meyers spent a good chunk of his early career in the jail. Don’t be alarmed, that is usually where law enforcement officers start out, paying their dues, working their way up to patrol, which is what Meyers did as a Deputy Sheriff/Paramedic with the Linn County, Iowa Sheriff’s Department.