Daniel Vance - Connect Business Magazine

July 1, 2006 Daniel Vance

Dr. Bill Rupp

Up North, amid emerald-green Norwegian pine forests that overlook crystalline walleye lakes and throngs of moose and bear and wolves, grew Dr. Bill Rupp, president and chief executive officer of 2,100-employee, $200 million ISJ-Mayo Health System.

He spent his first 18 years of life in 5,290-population Chisholm, a boom-and-bust mining outpost that straddled U.S. 169 seven miles north of Hibbing. There, Rupp’s father Clarence and uncle Glenn co-owned two businesses, Rupp Furniture and Rupp Funeral Home.

Cover Story

May 1, 2006 Daniel Vance

Bob Christensen

The world loves a big-screen pig.

Over the years, moviegoers have bonded with Porky Pig (“Th-th-that’s all folks!”), Piglet (Winnie-the-Pooh’s sidekick), the Muppet Show’s Miss Piggy, Arnold Ziffel (remember the wacky TV show Green Acres?) and most recently, the kindhearted movie pig Babe.

Feature Story

May 1, 2006 Daniel Vance

JB Lures

If Tom Langhoff were a fish, he’ d be a minnow at best, likely considered a tasty delicacy by sharks swallowing him whole.

He stands only 5’ 3” and from the side looks slender as a rod and reel.

Fortunately, he’s not a fish.

Cover Story

March 1, 2006 Daniel Vance

Dr. Yvonne Cariveau

The erudite and delightful woman helping transform southern Minnesotans into global adventurers has fixed her heart on other worthy causes that facilitate communication and relationships.

She is Dr. Yvonne Cariveau, but she grimaces as if stabbed when you call her that. Just plain “Yvonne” would be satisfactory, thank you.

Feature Story

March 1, 2006 Daniel Vance

Kenway Engineering

Since its 1981 genesis, $3 million Kenway Engineering in large measure has made its profits Ken Detloff’s way—by applying old-fashioned elbow grease and adapting well to changing market conditions in the U.S. off-road vehicle, air conditioning/heating unit industry. Detloff was raised on a central Minnesota turkey farm and had to fix whatever his older brothers broke doing fieldwork. It was on that farm where he learned a solid work ethic and developed a sixth sense for adapting to change.

Feature Story

January 1, 2006 Daniel Vance

Dennis Miller – Runner-Up – 2006 Business Person Of The Year

Say cheese, Dennis.

It’s easy getting Dennis Miller to smile. On November 18, 2005, $10 billion Alltel of Little Rock, Arkansas, announced it would buy Mankato-based Midwest Wireless for a bit more than $1 billion.

Happy days are here again.

Cover Story

January 1, 2006 Daniel Vance

Bob Weerts – 2006 Business Person of the Year

In Bob Weerts exist all the trappings of a folk legend.

Like Minnesota’s homegrown Babe the Blue Ox and Paul Bunyan, Weerts at times seems much larger than real-life. In a regional business climate often preferring quiet parentheses, he’s an entrepreneur with an exclamation point after his name.

Cover Story

November 1, 2005 Daniel Vance

Keith Kor

One frosty morning soon in Winnebago, Minn.—perhaps near the blazing-white welcome sign promoting the town’s annual celebration, Motofest—you might catch a local or two stretching a colorful vinyl banner above U.S. 169.

Perhaps it will say: Welcome to Winnebago. Home of Corn Plus. In 2005, first in the world to make ethanol production truly energy efficient.

Feature Story

November 1, 2005 Daniel Vance

Healthcare Academy

Healthcare Academy overlooks the city of Henderson. A homely, handmade sign showing the letters “HDD” leans into a window of this 114-year-old Historical Register site at the corner of Eighth and Minnesota. The sign faces Eighth Street, so most passersby driving up steep Minnesota Street hill never see it. Since “HDD” is no longer the company’s name, the sign, if seen, really wouldn’t help most first-time visitors anyway.