President of 500—employee New Ulm Medical Center
Eingang zur Klinik. It’s German for “Entrance to the Clinic.” New Ulm Medical Center has a healthy number of these Eingang zur Klinik signs in its hospitable hallways to help send ailing German tourists to the appropriate doctor. The signposts are fitting indicators. In heavily Teutonized New Ulm, after all, people would expect hospital and clinic signs to speak auf Deutsch.
Former Target VP and Trendmaster
In 1975, Mankato State senior Robyn Niichel looked like most other students walking across Stadium Road to their parked automobiles. Not much stood out. She hailed from small-town rural Minnesota—even attending a one-room schoolhouse for one year. Only a few years before had she begun controlling her stuttering.
Business Person of the Year 2009
John Finke, our Business Person of the Year 2009 and president of Mankato-based, $155 million HickoryTech Corporation, also accents his conversations with a choice word. It’s “certainly,” an adverb, which means definitely, positively, undoubtedly or unquestionably.
President/CEO of Greater Mankato Growth
“Once an Eagle Scout, always an Eagle Scout,” says Jonathan Zierdt, a boyish grin spreading as smeared peanut butter and jelly all over his facial features. At one time, Zierdt was more than just a highly decorated Eagle Scout. Nearly fifteen years ago, he also oversaw about 1,500 Boy Scouts in dozens of Owatonna-area troops and packs and was this close to becoming a lifelong Scouting executive. With the Scouts, he began applying lessons learned.
Minnesota Commissioner of Agriculture
Since 1995, three Minnesota governors living on different planets, in different Star Wars galaxies even—Arne Carlson, Jesse Ventura, and Tim Pawlenty—have each appointed Gene Hugoson as their commissioner of agriculture, the State of Minnesota’s top agriculture position. Anyone knowing anything about Minnesota politics can confirm the three have absolutely nothing in common except for testosterone—and Hugoson.
Disarmingly gracious and soft-spoken, Dave Neiman of Arrow Ace Hardware since 1985 has shepherded—purposefully under the media radar—the astounding transformation of a solitary St. Peter hardware store into a vibrant, money-making, ten-store group effectively competing against big-box stores.
