Gene Nelson is a Ripley’s Believe-It-Or-Not kind of guy.
The recipe for his success has been, uh, unbelievable. He includes his dad’s failed business venture, his own deteriorating health, two terrible grain bin fires, a flippant Canadian, a $40 purchase order, and a competitor’s ugly actions as defining moments in his career.
Read More“Atwood” likely is the most “seen” surname in all southern Minnesota.
In fact, so many Century 21 Atwood Realty signs have bedecked our region’s lawns over the years that at times the signposts have looked like corn. They grow tall, align in neat rows and have hanging fruit: SOLD.
In 2003, the company was involved in sales of $78 million, accounting for an eye-arresting 25 percent of the Greater Mankato total. Its closest competitor (Re/Max) had 15 percent.
Read MoreForget your negative notions about the Defense Industry for a moment, especially your perceptions of fat contracts and shoddy quality.
Set aside your irritation at $650 toilet seats, backroom deals on supertankers, late deliveries and cost overruns. Instead, take a look at the industry from the perspective of Aerospace Systems in Fairmont and its general manager, Mike Wasmund.
Read MoreCEO Lorin Krueger of $20 million Winland Electronics is every bit Noah.
They laughed and laughed at Noah when he took on ark building. It seemed such a hopeless project, that of building on dry land so far from coast and port. But Noah had faith he was doing the right thing. After its construction, he immediately marched his tiny band inside and boy did it rain, and rain, and rain. The rain seemed as if it never would stop, cats and dogs, day and night, buckets all over. Though the storm clouds roared as pounding timpani and lightning shot its deadly arrows, and others outside the ark were lost, the tiny band never lost faith. In due time, he and his few, having survived, marched off the ark two by two to multiply profitably. It was a miracle.
Read MoreThe tour begins at the front desk. Bryan Paulsen points out the limestone laid into the wall, the brick columns stretching from floor to ceiling, the exposed concrete unearthed from layers of acoustic tile. He notes the lack of sheetrock, the minimal use of paint, the high efficiency lighting. He leads the way along a long, rounded corridor, bordered on one side by windows and on the other by handsome wood and glass walls. There, he says, is the main conference room. Here, he says, are the workstations.
Read MoreTrivia few could answer:
Name the largest business headquartered in Mankato.
Think you know? In terms of revenue, the correct answer since 2000 has been Ridley Inc., the $500 million, cash-rich corporate mammoth sitting high and dry on Riverfront Drive next to the railroad tracks and flood wall.
Read MoreLinda Kluender really gets into learning, teaching and business and the three mesh well to make her Minnesota Lake consulting business. But she doesn’t teach the finer points of business buying and selling. And she doesn’t wave a magic wand over an accounting hat and out pops a rabbit of cost-cutting measures to keep your company afloat. Her business consulting solutions are more in the interpersonal realm.
Read MoreIt seems almost aeons since your five-year run as executive director of Valley Industrial Development Corp.* ended. So much has changed since 1997. You then became national marketing director of Scholarship Management Services (SMS) before joining the Minneapolis Regional Chamber of Commerce (MRCC) in 1999. You left there in January 2003 as its chief executive officer and president. You have earned a Masters from Regis University of Denver, Colorado.
And now you’ve returned home.
Read MoreRon Wenger generally launches his workday at 6 A.M., sometimes grabbing a shovel and clearing snow off sidewalks around his physical therapy clinic in North Mankato.
Even if you know zero about Wenger, his early morning shoveling helps you make a number of reasonable assumptions: He’s one of those “morning people” who can’t wait to get out of bed.
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