Nov-Dec 2012

IN MEMORIAM

The Story of Dr. Paul Gislason In 1957, 32-year-old Dr. Paul Gislason rolled into Mankato with wife Marian and two-year-old son Scott. They had an old Plymouth and plenty of medical school bills. An acquaintance from Gislason’s home state of North Dakota, Harry Mackenzie, happened to be president then of First National Bank in Mankato and loaned Gislason $5,000 to purchase the orthopedic practice of Dr. Urban Zee. Gislason started The Orthopaedic & Fracture Clinic.

Paul H. Gislason, M.D.

1925-2012

He was a storyteller, poet, excellent surgeon, and warm friend of thousands. Here is one of many stories he shared with friends: “In the winter as children, we shoveled snow off the rivers to play ice hockey.

I enjoyed it and thought I was good at it. As a freshman at the University of North Dakota, I was playing around one afternoon during the Christmas holidays with the hockey team. The coach surprised me by asking me to suit up for the first game of the season, one at home against St. Cloud State.

“The hockey “arena” then didn’t have heat. The outside temperature for that first game was about 40 below and inside it was perhaps a degree warmer. Though I had been asked to suit up, the coach didn’t seem all that concerned about playing me. It was so cold my feet nearly froze solid. I told him to either put me in so I could warm up or I would leave. He sent me in and after skating no more than ten feet on the ice I fell flat onto my backside. Five minutes of playing defense later, I vigorously checked a St. Cloud player over the wall and was sent off for a major penalty. That was the end of my collegiate hockey career.

“In the 1990s, while visiting an athletic club in Auckland, New Zealand, I was talking with a retired airlines pilot wearing a red Wisconsin hockey shirt. I shared that I had played hockey for North Dakota, which by then had won a number of national championships. He promptly fell to his knees and moved his hands from high over his head to palms down on the floor, repeating the motion several times, as if he were worshiping me. I didn’t have the heart to tell him I had played only five minutes.”

The physicians and staff of The Orthopaedic & Fracture Clinic carry on the tradition of Dr. Paul Gislason through our focus on the health and well being of our patients.

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Contents

THE MAGAZINE FOR GROWING BUSINESSES IN SOUTHERN MINNESOTA

STAFF & CONTRIBUTORS Publisher: Jeffry Irish

COVER STORY

Mutual Partners

Editor: Daniel J. Vance

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Art Director/Staff Photographer: Kris Kathmann

If a tee shirt existed that read “All I Learned About Business I Learned in Cedar Rapids,” Mike and Cathy Brennan of Mankato-based Brennan Companies likely would buy a gross. From 1991-1994, the Brennans lived in Cedar Rapids, where Mike was a project manager in a branch of Minneapolis-based Ryan Construction. While there, they saw firsthand—and in Mike’s case, actually helped begin—the process of downtown renewal.

Contributing Photographer: Art Sidner Contributing Writers: Carlienne Frisch, Robert Rector, Diana Furchtgott-Roth

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PROFILES

Coach Di

Interim Advertising Manager: Daniel J. Vance

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CIRCULATION 8,500 for November/December 2012 Published bimonthly

CORRESPONDENCE Send press releases and other correspondence: c/o Editor, Connect Business Magazine P.O. Box 452, Nicollet, MN 56074 E-mail: editor@connectbiz.com (please place press releases in email body)

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Off-The-Cuff

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CONNECT Business Magazine

Phone: 507.232.3463

ADVERTISING Call: (507) 232-3463

ABOUT CONNECT Locally owned Connect Business Magazine has ‘connected’ southern Minnesota businesses since 1994 through features, interviews, news and advertising.

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Connect Business Magazine is a publication of Concept & Design Incorporated, a graphic design firm offering print design, web design, illustration and product photography. conceptanddesign.com

IN EVERY ISSUE

Bulletin Board Business Trends Hot Startz!

Press Releases National Opinion

Web: www.connectbiz.com Fax: 507.232.3373

COLUMNS

Editor’s Letter

Printing: Corporate Graphics, N. Mankato Cover Photo: Kris Kathmann

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From day one in 1989 through today, the reputation, future, and survival—literally everything, involving printing presses to profits to people—of 285-employee Corporate Graphics Commercial of North Mankato has rested solely on its being able to adapt to and fulfill rapidly changing customer needs. In the fast-paced, high-stakes U.S. printing industry, if you snooze, you lose.

Circulation: Dave Maakestad Mailing: Midwest Mailing, Mankato

Diane Norland’s calendar is just as multifaceted as her resume. In her 69 years she has filled many roles, including Peace Corp volunteer, high school teacher, and political activist. She currently is a North Mankato City Council member, a landlord (with husband, Larry), grant writer and fundraiser for House of Hope, and certified coach and consultant in WholeLifeLeadership, a company she founded in 2000.

Graphic Edge

Production: Becky Wagner Kelly Hanson Josh Swanson

35 38 53 56 60 NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2012

44 Copyright 2012. Printed in U.S.A.

OUTSTANDING

EDITOR’S LETTER

Singin’ Downtown!

If you’re an oldies radio fan, you most certainly remember—and probably still hear occasionally— Petula Clark’s No. 1 1964 pop hit, “Downtown.” Clark’s lilting soprano praised a Manhattan neon nighttime arts and music scene that could ward off loneliness and boredom—a warm and friendly place where “everything’s waiting for you.”

Our cover story subjects, Mike and Cathy Brennan of Mankato-based Brennan Companies, have been humming Petula Clark’s praises for more than 20 years, beginning when the pair caught a vision for downtowns in general while living in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. They own Brennan Construction and Brennan Properties, and have been two voices among many trying to help transform Downtown Mankato into something special.

Also this November/December issue, we feature WholeLifeLeadership, one of Diane Norland’s many adventures, and quiet giant Corporate Graphics Commercial, which has been flexing inky biceps.

Our very best to you this joyous Christmas season—or whatever you prefer calling this time of year.

Sursum ad summum,

Daniel J. Vance Editor

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Mankato couple two of many businesspeople trying to help transform downtown Mankato into something special.

a tee shirt were made that read “All I Learned About Business I Learned in Cedar Rapids,” Mike and Cathy Brennan of Mankato-based Brennan Companies likely would buy a gross.

From 1991-1994, the Brennans lived in Cedar Rapids, where Mike was a project manager in a branch of Minneapolis-based Ryan Construction. While there, they saw firsthand—and in Mike’s case, actually helped begin—the process of downtown renewal. When moving in 1994 to Mike’s hometown, Mankato, they realized the “Key City” was perhaps ten years behind Cedar Rapids, but on an almost identical path.

Said 55-year-old Mike in a Connect Business Magazine interview, “Being in Cedar Rapids was a great education.”

Apparently so, because for years the Brennans have been trying to apply their real-world education here.

Mike and Cathy are partners in every sense. They co-own Brennan Companies, which includes Brennan Construction and Brennan Properties, with the former

By Daniel J. Vance completing such high-profile Photo by Kris Kathmann projects over the years as AgStar headquarters, The Marigold, USBank (2012), Landkamer Building, and Bolton & Menk headquarters. Besides the Landkamer Building, Brennan Properties owns and manages Old Town Center and two other commercial buildings, and has been developing the former Ember’s site that could become home for the Children’s Museum of Southern Minnesota.

In terms of community partners, Mike, who has an MBA and an engineering degree, has been a leader with Kiwanis, South Central College Foundation, Community Bible Study, and Blue Earth County Historical Society.

Cathy, a CPA, has been a leader with Twin Rivers Council for the Arts, Greater Mankato Diversity Council, and City Center Partnership.

As for that other partner, in many ways, the Brennans owe a great deal to one city in Iowa. continued > NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2012

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Fill our readers in on your backgrounds.

Cathy: I come from a middle class family of five kids. Swimming was our family activity eleven months a year and I swam from about age nine to through high school. In 1974, I competed in Minnesota’s first high school girls swim meet.

Every weekend, we kids would compete in meets and my parents would come along and play cards with other swimming parents who became lifelong friends. Besides a good AAU coach, we had a great high school coach.

In the water, Elmer put me on my back, held my head, and said, “Cathy, we’re going to take a little walk.” Before I knew it we were at the big dock and he was saying we would swim back to the shallow water. I asked, “Will you swim next to me?”

He said he would.

That’s how I got over my fear. —Cathy Brennan What did you learn from your coach?

Cathy: His name was Elmer Luke and he has been inducted into five Halls of Fame. He went 100 dual meets without a loss over a ten-year span, including the time he coached me. A big piece of who I am came from Elmer. As a little girl, I was swimming backstroke between two docks at Shady Oak Beach in Hopkins and came upon a high school group throwing a ball around. I panicked, couldn’t stand up in

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Mike & Cathy Brennan | Brennan Companies

That really must have terrified you.

Cathy: Yes. And Elmer saw me leaving.

So one time, after he brought me over to swim across the deep end, I started running toward the locker room. But he had locked the door so I couldn’t leave. I clung to the door and started crying. Clearly I wasn’t getting over my fear of deep water, so my parents bought private lessons for me with Elmer, which wasn’t something we would normally do in our family.

In the water, Elmer put me on my back, held my head, and said, “Cathy, we’re going to take a little walk.” Before I knew it we were at the big dock and he was saying we would swim back to the shallow water. I asked, “Will you swim next to me?” He said he would. That’s how I got over my fear.

He was an important man in my life.

Not long ago, we were emailing back and forth about seeing each other again for the first time in 35 years. I asked for his address and offered a time for a meeting.

He said, “Great, I won’t lock the door on you.” This was 35 years later—and was so cool. His daughter told me he tells my story all the time.

Mike: The 50-yard freestyle was Cathy’s specialty. She won’t say it, but she held a state AAU record for it back in the ‘70s.

What about you, Mike? Give our readers a taste of your experiences growing up.

Mike: Through my mother, Diane, I learned to go with the flow of life and not get too shaken when bad things happen.

She grew up rather poor in a single-parent household. My mother has inner strength and is one of the most remarkable women I know. Cathy would echo that.

From my dad, Bernie: He just liked people. He was a commercial Realtor for 20 years and before that was in the oil business, owning at one time six gas stations in Mankato, St. Peter, and New Ulm. Many people knew him and he was well liked.

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the water, and starting choking. I almost drowned. Because of that incident, when it came time for me to swim in deep water, I would leave and go to the locker room.

As an avid downhill skier, he enjoys spending time in the great outdoors. He wants to make sure that future generations have the same opportunities and he shows it through a conscious effort to preserve the land.

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Mutual Partners

Somebody just told me I’m naturally curious. I’m used to being different because I went into what used to be a man’s profession—accounting. We’re used to being different. We really enjoy being around all kinds of people with all kinds of experiences. —Cathy Brennan From him, I learned how to enjoy working hard. I would ride my bike down after school to the gas station to help him clean and paint for 25 cents an hour.

was a true entrepreneur who changed careers at midlife to enter the commercial real estate field. Through him, I grew up seeing firsthand an entrepreneur’s life.

Was there a particular challenge he had in business?

Mike: The first oil embargo hit in the early ‘70s and he worried a lot about his businesses. He eventually got out of the industry and leased out his stations except one. He

How did you two meet?

Cathy: At Grace Church in Edina, now in Eden Prairie. It’s a non-denominational mega-church and they had a “college and career” group of more than 100 singles in their 20s. We first met at a Christmas party

and married in 1985.

What did you like most about each other?

Mike: Right from the beginning, we were able to have good, long, deep conversations.

Cathy: I would say the same.

Mike: One of our first dates was a twohour dinner over pizza. We found out we could talk about a lot of things together.

Cathy: And we still do.

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Mike & Cathy Brennan | Brennan Companies

What do you like to talk about most?

Mike: Well, our faith is right up there.

Cathy and I talk about questions we have concerning our faith. Over the last couple of years we have gotten out of the cookiecutter way of expressing or defining our faith. Our faith is strong as ever, but after thirty-some years of being fairly knowledgeable believers, we have gotten more into the historical context of Scripture, what was going on back then, and how that applies to today. I want to hear the other side of arguments and don’t want to go my whole life without asking the questions.

Some people don’t like hearing the questions.

We’ve been asking each other these questions about faith the last few years, and I’ll say I’ve been able to answer some of them, but it has taken work.

Cathy: We both take our faith really seriously. We’ve been in many Bible studies, youth groups, and different ministries.

Mike’s a co-leader in Community Bible Study now. We’re questioning things now not because of any specific doubts, but just because we want to learn more. I like learning new things. We are challenging ourselves to be what God wants us to be rather than what a denomination wants us to be.

You are inquisitive.

Cathy: Yes. Somebody just told me I’m naturally curious. I’m used to being different because I went into what used to be a man’s profession—accounting. We’re used to being different. We really enjoy being around all kinds of people with all kinds of experiences.

In other words, you’re not afraid to do things differently.

Mike: I would say that’s true. It’s a challenge for us sometimes not to be fiercely independent. Every good attribute in a person

has something not so good attached.

Cathy: One thing we’ve learned is that we don’t have the answers to all of life’s questions. We continue to have plenty of questions and as for answers are going with what we know right now.

What did you two do in the time between marrying in 1985 and starting started your business in 1994?

Cathy: First, I graduated from the University of Minnesota in 1982 with a major in accounting and began working as a public accountant/CPA. In 1986, I went with Ameriprise (American Express) to write financial plans from a tax planning perspective for people with large estates, helping them save on income and estate taxes. When our first son, Joe, was born in 1987, American Express allowed me to work on a contract basis and I leased a computer to start working at home. I loved

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While there, Cathy and I thought about starting our own company, which was why we came to Mankato in 1994. When we arrived, it didn’t take long for Cathy and I to see that the issues here were almost identical to the ones in Cedar Rapids. —Mike Brennan

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the independence of it. I really wanted to be home with Joe. After our second son, Jonny, was born in 1990, my work ran out at American Express and I became a stay-athome mom. Meanwhile, Mike was working for Ryan Construction and we moved to Cedar Rapids, Iowa, where his company started a satellite office.

What happened to you after school, Mike?

Mike: After graduating from the University of Minnesota with a degree in civil/structural engineering, I worked as a structural engineer with Ellerbe Becket and with Setter Leach & Lindstrom in the ‘80s while getting an MBA from St. Thomas at night. Back then, I was trying to figure out how I could combine business and engineering because I liked both and soon realized general contracting was the way to do it. I started out as a project manager in the late ‘80s with Ryan Construction—a large Midwestern contractor/developer now doing business all over the country.

Was there a person important to your career development?

Mike: Not so much a person, but just the act of going to Cedar Rapids and becoming part of their new office. I liked their vice president and we worked well together. I saw what it was like being in a start-up office in a new market in a Midwestern city going through challenges. While there, Cathy and I thought about starting our own company, which was why we came to Mankato in 1994.

When we arrived, it didn’t take long for Cathy and I to see that the issues here were almost identical to the ones in Cedar Rapids.

Mike & Cathy Brennan | Brennan Companies

What were they?

Mike: They were the same as what was happening all over the country: big box retailers would locate on the edges of a town, and then so would large malls, which then would draw retail businesses to the outskirts. Downtown areas all across America, such as those in Cedar Rapids and Mankato, had to redefine themselves.

We saw it firsthand in Cedar Rapids, where I was involved through Ryan Construction in that city’s downtown renaissance. Being in Cedar Rapids was a great education.

You came here right before the Civic Center was built?

Mike: That opened in 1994. We were seeing many of the same challenges in Mankato. What a great time to start a construction company that would evolve into a construction and development company.

What were they doing in Cedar Rapids that worked in terms of downtown revitalization?

Mike: Ryan Construction was there as part of a development consortium of businesses and a bank that had full support from local government. They all realized they had to do something to move downtown forward. Cathy and I went to Cedar Rapids last spring and it was amazing driving through downtown. Many of the things we had talked about in the early ‘90s had become reality, including some larger buildings and commercial/office developments. There were downtown condos.

Cedar Rapids is now what Mankato will be in five to ten years. We’re on that path.

I went to the Quad Cities five years ago with an offshoot group of Envision 2020. We learned there that downtown renaissance usually goes through a four-step process.

The first group to revive a downtown usually are the arts and coffee shops. Arts alone won’t sustain a downtown. The next step involves the creation of more commercial and Class A space, followed by more diverse occupants arrive, such as nicer restaurants, a civic center perhaps, and public entities.

The last step, which we are just seeing, is downtown residential. Rob Else and

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Aggressive Funding eFForts PAy oFF CITY OF ElmOrE, mINNESOTA

Mutual Partners

Tony Frentz have started that process with the USBank building in Mankato, and Van Moody in lower North Mankato is doing it at the The Marigold project.

How did your business get off the ground in 1994 in Mankato?

Mike: Cathy and I had been talking about it for three for four years. We’ve always asked ourselves when making decisions this question: Can we live with the worst that can happen? In 1994, the worst that could happen was it wouldn’t work, and we’d find jobs doing something else.

The first thing we did here was join the Mankato Golf Club to meet people. Step two was finding an office. I remember talking with Curt Fisher over the telephone about an office. While we’re talking, in midsentence, he stopped to say, “And you’re Bernie’s son?” (Laughter.)

Instantly, we had a connection that helped us hit the ground running.

Curt and Tim Lidstrom gave us a chance on projects early on.

Cathy: So moving here, we still owned our house in Iowa while buying one in Mankato. I don’t know how that happened because we didn’t have any income. We had left our home furnishings behind to help sell that home. We had no work, two little kids, I was home, but I was never worried because I had full confidence in Mike’s abilities.

The City of Elmore’s aging water and wastewater infrastructure was at risk of failing, including deteriorating water treatment and distribution, leaking wastewater ponds and sewer backups resulting from excessive inflow and infiltration. Working together with the City, Bolton & menk, assisted the City in developing a comprehensive city-wide infrastructure replacement project.

Improvements included new water and wastewater treatment facilities, new water tower, city-wide water distribution and wastewater collection improvements, trunk storm sewer upgrades and a new water meter system.

With a total project cost of $8.9 million, aggressive efforts by the project team were successful in securing outside funding, including $5.3 million in grants from United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), minnesota Public Facilities Authority (PFA) and minnesota Department of Employment and Economic Development (DEED) and a $3.5 million low interest loan from USDA. The project was completed in the summer of 2012.

507-238-4738 | www.bolton-menk.com 219 north Main, Fairmont, Mn 56031

What was your first project?

Mike: One of Curt’s tenants needed a new doorway. My estimate was $500 to furnish and install the door. Our employee put the door in and I remember invoicing Barb Church and thinking that $500 check was a lot of money. (Laughter.)

A lot of our early growth came from connections with Curt and Tim. It snowballed. In 1994-95, we were scratching trying to build up equity to get bonded. We lived pretty lean. In 1996, we did our first $1 million project, the AgStar headquarters in Mankato, a project Curt was developing. We were low bid. That same year, we did Blockbuster and Texaco—a real breakout year. Our gross sales went from $50,000 in 1994 and about $100,000 in 1995 to $2.5 million in 1996.

Cathy: When Mike was working at Ryan in his late 20s, he managed a $6 million project. I knew he could do AgStar because he had the ability and experience. That project wasn’t any more difficult.

Mike: The biggest challenge starting out wasn’t my work but Cathy’s, which involved her setting up a cost accounting system.

Anybody in business knows the importance of what she does. Our business plan had said, “Cathy will work part-time to get the business going.” Neither of us realized the importance of the accounting function as a general contractor. My job was relatively easy those early years compared to hers. Not only were we starting a new business, Cathy wanted to be there when the kids got home from school.

In 2000, you became involved with owning and managing commercial properties. That isn’t too common for a construction company.

Mike: It was a natural segue. We had two good opportunities come (continued page 18)

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Mike & Cathy Brennan | Brennan Companies

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up at one time. I wanted to do both Old Town Center (on North Riverfront Drive) and CarX (adjacent to Walmart). We bought the Old Town Center building from Bolton & Menk. We later added a small strip mall on Belgrade Avenue in North Mankato and then the Landkamer Building in 2004.

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What was there about the Bolton & Menk building that appealed to you? Did you have a vision for it?

Mike: The building had good bones, a willing buyer and seller, and we had just built Bolton & Menk’s new headquarters up in the industrial park. I have some personal history with them, too. I surveyed for them for two summers during college and liked the people there. Some of the people I knew in the ‘70s are still working there.

We renovated the building, and put our office inside. For a while, we were just about the only tenant, which was a bit stressful because here we had taken out two commercial mortgages at once. This was something new to us and it was tough seeing our debt obligations on one side of the ledger and not much income on the other.

Cathy: The CarX building was the first time we had built something from the ground up for ourselves.

Then came the Landkamer Building. With what happened with your other buildings, you should have been gun shy. Why do it?

Cathy: It goes back to our being in Cedar Rapids and seeing that whole process develop of the malls being built, the downtown drying up, and downtown revitalization starting. Mike liked the bones of the building.

We felt strongly this was the kind of building that could be renovated to create some Class A office space and bring energy downtown.

The Landkamer Building had so much potential, and we were completely in agreement on it. It filled up slower than we thought, however. We have to give all kinds of credit to Gislason & Hunter law firm for believing in downtown and establishing their business in our building. Without their decision to lease from us, we couldn’t have bought it.

Mike: I can’t say enough about Gislason & Hunter either. We went ahead and bought the Landkamer Building with little more than a handshake deal with Gislason & Hunter. We didn’t have a lease agreement beforehand with them.

You mean you purchased the Landkamer Building based on having only a handshake agreement with a lawyer?

Mike and Cathy: (Laughter.)

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Seriously. In the big city, that would never happen.

Cathy: If you knew Andy Willaert (of Gislason & Hunter), you would know you could trust him.

Mike: The Landkamer Building had a perfect storm to make it happen. First it was the City being receptive to the requested TIF and Gislason & Hunter wanting to be the first tenant. (Curt Fisher introduced Gislason & Hunter to the building.) And then David Wittenberg, our banker, believed our numbers and was willing to

Mike & Cathy Brennan | Brennan Companies

look at our proposal of building it out in phases. Dave put his career on the line for this project. Our employees see this property as the anchor of the company. Having them do work here helps us get through the slow times in construction.

Why don’t more construction companies do something like this?

Mike: I do it because I saw Ryan Construction do it. I saw the model work.

Cathy: The advantage of our being a construction company is we’ve built buildings for ourselves, so we know what an owner wants. We have seen it from both sides.

In November 2009, you offered Blue Earth County $250,000 to purchase the Nichols Office Building. They turned your proposal down and later sold the building to a nonprofit organization for one dollar. What happened?

Mike: Our involvement began with a discussion that was started at an Envision 2020 Inter-City visit over a glass of wine.

The County wanted to spend $600,000 demolishing the Nichols Office Building. I didn’t think that was a good idea because I knew the building was structurally sound and one of the few wonderfully built buildings in the city. The dialog began, and so did the development idea process. I first expressed an interest in

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NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2012

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Mutual Partners

We see that piece of property as the center of this community. If you open a map, it’s just about on the centerfold. We call it Bridge Plaza because it bridges many things: our past with the future, i.e., this is near the site of the 1862 hangings; downtown with Old Town; Mankato with North Mankato; and the Children’s Museum bridges today with our future, our children. We feel strongly something important should be on that site. making the building into condos, which fit my belief in the process of downtown renewal that involves housing returning to downtown as the last step. Rather than have the County pay $600,000 to knock it down, I suggested they pay me $300,000 and I would renovate it and place it back on the tax role. Then the idea evolved into the building being mixed-use, with the Blue Earth County Historical Society on the bottom two floors and condos I would

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construct on the upper three floors.

So you were willing eventually to pay $250,000 for the property.

Mike: My (last) proposal was for the County to give it to Blue Earth County Historical Society (BECHS), and I would have bought the upper floors for $250,000 from BECHS to help offset their renovation costs. I had two goals for the building: 1) to not have it knocked down, and 2) to

NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2012

see it developed with the idea of having mixed use.

Cathy: Again, Mike and I also were thinking of the fourth element of bringing renaissance to the City Center: downtown housing.

Mike: VINE ended up with the entire building for $1. They are a good organization and I wish them the best.

You also have had an evolution of ideas involving the development of

Mike & Cathy Brennan | Brennan Companies

the former Ember’s restaurant site near the Veterans Bridge. You own the land. Nothing is written in stone yet, but after a number of ideas fell through over the last few years, now it looks as though the Children’s Museum will be building on that site.

Cathy: The Children’s Museum has a great business plan, great people involved, and they have been thoughtful in developing their idea. We have confidence in them.

Mike: I was on the Children’s Museum facility search committee for about a year and we looked at perhaps half a dozen sites.

The Ember’s site never seriously grabbed anyone’s attention until one day when the Executive Director, Peter Olsen, called to ask about it.

Cathy: It took us two years to buy that property. Second Street hadn’t gone through yet, but we knew the plan was it would. We see that piece of property as the center of this community. If you open

a map, it’s just about on the centerfold.

We call it Bridge Plaza because it bridges many things: our past with the future, i.e., this is near the site of the 1862 hangings; downtown with Old Town; Mankato with North Mankato; and the Children’s Museum bridges today with our future, our children. We feel strongly something important should be on that site.

THE ESSENTIALS

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That’s not a place for a gas station.

Cathy: This is more than what Mike and Cathy want. It’s a community project. We are excited about the prospect for a Children’s Museum because it’s a good match with the library next door and the parking flows right through. We also feel the other building destined for the site needs to blend in with the Museum.

Mike: The second building on the site (besides the Children’s Museum) will be mixed use non-residential, which could be offices and a restaurant on Second Street.

Cathy: What we’ve learned is that development isn’t just having an idea and staying with it, but rather often it’s an evolutionary process that involves being open to improving and honing the original idea.

Which is what you are doing with your faith?

Cathy: Oh man, I’ve never realized that.

Mike: (Laughter from both.) Maybe that’s the way we’re wired.

Cathy: That’s interesting. And a side

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NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2012

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Mutual Partners

note, Mike and I are sure specific events have been orchestrated over the years by God to move us in different directions with our lives.

But as for talking about development as a process, it’s hard sometimes for us not to get stuck on one idea for a development. For example, as a developer, you have to be very persistent and keep pushing and pushing your idea and yet on the other hand you

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can’t be stuck with it. It’s a double-edged sword. Fortunately, we have each other to bounce ideas off. We enjoy working on and refining ideas from different angles and asking others their opinions.

Sell me on the City Center Partnership.

Cathy: It started out of Envision 2020.

Downtown needed a group and I was one of the original people involved. Any

NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2012

downtown is like the hub of a wheel: if you don’t have a strong hub, the spokes eventually fall apart. I’m a strong believer in downtown. That’s why we did the Landkamer Building and that’s why we purchased Old Town Center.

The idea with the City Center Partnership is if we can get business owners to join together on projects and ideas for renewal, along with the Cities of Mankato

Mike & Cathy Brennan | Brennan Companies

and North Mankato, that can help draw more visitors and make this a better place to live, work, and play. We have many independent businesses in the City Center who are independent thinkers, too. I would say we’re a group that has lots of energy.

We are encouraged looking forward to Mankato and North Mankato’s future.

There’s a lot of hard work to be done and we’re going to enjoy the process.

Where are you going to build condos downtown?

Mike: I don’t know now that the Nichols Office Building didn’t work out. But I love what Rob Else and Tony Frentz are doing at the USBank Building to get things started.

Steve Rentz owns property along Sibley Parkway and is building some town homes near the river. Revitalization happens in layers. The need for downtown housing here isn’t as great as in larger metro areas where you might have an hour commute to work. In Mankato, you can live on the outskirts and only have to drive ten minutes to downtown. So we have to create an environment where people want to live downtown.

Cathy and I have an empty nest now, and if we could sell our home for a fair price and find the right condo downtown, we definitely would consider moving. We are encouraged looking forward to Mankato and North Mankato’s future. There’s a lot of hard work to be done and we’re going to enjoy the process.

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By Carlienne A. Frisch Photo by Kris Kathmann

Certified life coach business owner, House of Hope development director, North Mankato city council member, landlord, and community leader goes full throttle to help others improve.

Diane Norland’s calendar is just as multi-faceted as her resume. In her 69 years she has filled many roles, including Peace Corp volunteer, high school teacher, and political activist. She currently is a North Mankato City Council member, a landlord (with husband, Larry), grant writer and fundraiser for House of Hope, and certified coach and consultant in WholeLifeLeadership, a company she founded in 2000. In all her activities, Norland focuses (and helps others focus) on determining what needs to be done, setting goals, choosing among possibilities, and achieving the desired results.

Encouraging others to talk about themselves is innate for the coach.

Sitting on the deck of Norland’s North Mankato home, a reporter who has known her more than a decade finds the interview veers off several times into a conversation about the reporter’s activities and goals. It’s standard operating procedure for Norland to encourage introspection and retrospection, as evidenced in her perspective on hiring a new city manager.

Although she originally felt the strongest of three finalists should be chosen, she soon favored the reopening of the search for candidates.

“It’s one thing to manage a city well,” Norland said, “and it’s another to have the ability to handle economic development, as former city manager Wendell Sande had. I asked myself if I saw that kind of insight and knowledge in the candidates we had interviewed and decided we should open the search again so we might find someone with that skill and ability.”

Norland began serving on North Mankato City Council in January 2007 because, she said, “I’ve always been interested in politics, and been active in working for candidates and a political party and in writing letters to editors.

I ran for City Council because I thought I had good insights and instincts. I believe in building community and am an optimist.”

Norland favors North Mankato continuing with its Port Authority over merging with Mankato in an Economic Development Authority. “A Port Authority and an EDA are two different structures,” she said. “The Port Authority is essentially an economic development committee that reviews proposals and has resources such as loans, grants, and bonding powers.

(An EDA has fewer resources available to it by law.) The Port Authority has created more than 250 jobs in the last three years.” continued > NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2012

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Norland’s early career plans did not include politics. She read biographies as a child, including those of pioneering nurses Florence Nightingale and Clara Barton. These inspired her to consider a nursing career.

“When I’d been in college for a year, it struck me I wasn’t sure of my ability to handle sick and dying people,” she said, “so I majored in secondary education, with double majors in English and social studies.”

Norland’s activism began in the midSixties, when she and her husband joined the Peace Corps. She met Larry the summer after she graduated from high school, when both were packing corn for Stokely-Van Camp in Fairmont. They married two years later, and she transferred from the University of Minnesota to join him at Minnesota State in Mankato. While completing their degrees, they worked for Bill Carlson at Carlson Craft, where Glen Taylor was already in a leadership position.

“We consider ourselves friends of Glen,” Norland said. “He has been skilled in growing his business and providing hundreds of jobs.

He donates widely outside of North Mankato, and to the North Mankato Taylor Library.”

In December 1965, when the Norlands graduated with teaching degrees, the war

in Vietnam was heating up. She explained, “We were anti-Vietnam War. The Peace Corps was a way to make a difference, and focused on peace and growth rather than on war and destruction. One week after our acceptance into the Peace Corps, Larry received his draft notice. Instead of going to war, he was in the Peace Corps.”

The Norlands were sent to Iran, where she worked with Home Extension and taught English, and he taught with the Agricultural Extension Service.

“I learned that no matter where the culture is, people are not that different from one another,” Norland said. “We want to work, build a good life, and to take care of our kids. I saw that people have the ability to make good decisions, grow, and change.”

Upon returning to Mankato in 1968, Norland began teaching English and history, first at Mankato High School (now Mankato West), then at Mankato East. She became a victim of teacher layoffs in 1975.

She did the usual substitute teaching, but did not get back into full-time education with the school district. Although you can take the woman out of the classroom, you apparently cannot take the classroom approach out of the woman. After working as the Blue Earth County Aging Services

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Diane’s Diary Current Involvement: Women Executives in Business, Business and Professional Women—past president, program director; Greater Mankato Growth; League of Women Voters.

Former Involvement: American Heart Association Heart Walk, chair and industry leader; Challenge 2001, past chair; American Association of University Women, local president, state VP; Volunteer, Committee Against Domestic Abuse, CADA House; Minnesota Business & Professional Women Foundation, trustee; Business Network International, Business Connectors, past president; Southern Minnesota Human Resources Association.

WholeLifeLeadership | North Mankato

“I learned that no matter where the culture is, people are not that different from one another,” Norland said. “We want to work, build a good life, and to take care of our kids.

I saw that people have the ability to make good decisions, grow, and change.” director for a couple of years, she became education and outreach director for Sioux Trails Mental Health Center in Mankato in 1979. Along the way, she picked up a Master of Arts degree in Speech Communication from Minnesota State in 1993 and a Human Resources certification from the University of Minnesota in 2001.

“My work with Sioux Trails was primarily prevention and education, working to reduce addictions and abuse of alcohol and drugs,” Norland explained. “That was broadened to mental health education.”

Funding cuts in 1994 resulted in another layoff. “The following year I began developing a consulting business that focused on leadership training, stress management, and team building. In my work with businesses, non-profits, and other groups, I

could see that when individuals did not function well, the organization or group they worked in suffered as well. I became a proponent of systems theory—like a mobile you hang in the corner of your room, when one hanging piece moves, the others move, too.”

Norland began networking with acquaintances in the Chamber of Commerce, Women Executives in Business, Business and Professional Women, and other professional groups. Her success did not keep her from accepting the position of community development director at Southern Minnesota Initiative Foundation in Owatonna in 1998, a position she held through 2000. That year her direction shifted back to chemical dependency issues

when she became development director for House of Hope, a chemical dependency treatment center where her husband was employed as executive director from 1982 through 2009.

“I had assisted him unofficially,” Norland said, “but in 2000 I became the grant writer, and I officially began making funding solicitation calls and visits.

The House of Hope on Third Avenue in Mankato includes a women’s facility and a sober house for post-treatment (formerly called a halfway house). We’re in the midst of a growth spurt again and developing an overall plan for long-term fund-raising.”

That year Norland also enrolled in the Coach’s Training Institute of San Rafael, Calif., attending five sessions in the Twin

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keep them healthy and happy. occupational medicine services

My goal when I began, and which is still true now, is to use my skills, abilities, and insights to help organizations and individuals to become healthier and happier, which results in their being more productive.

Cities. In 2003 she underwent the certification process. “I then put the word out that I was a certified coach, and I set up a website,” Norland said. “I did much networking through groups and placed some advertising in several publications. My goal when I began, and which is still true now, is to use my skills, abilities, and insights to help organizations and individuals to become healthier and happier, which results in their being more productive. I’ve had some clients from the Alfred Adler Institute in

Minneapolis—therapists and social workers who are required to interact with a coachmentor. I no longer advertise because I have word-of-mouth promotion. I have clients from financial services, attorneys, therapy or social work students who are looking for how to step it up a notch, or people in transition who want to move from one career to another, but they’re scared.”

Norland typically works with eight to ten individual clients and 10 organizations

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Looking Back

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2) Favorite subjects: English was my favorite. I also enjoyed history, geography, and music. I sang alto in school and church choirs, played piano and oboe, and played drums in the marching band.

3) Least favorite subject: Art, because we always had to do some specific art exercises and learn techniques. I found it boring and limiting because I like to draw and putz around.

4) Early jobs: I walked corn and beans for my dad, and then did corn detasseling for a seed corn company. I worked the Stokely-Van Camp corn pack in Fairmont the summer before college. During my college years in Minneapolis, I was a dorm janitor and worked in food service. In Mankato, I worked for families as a nanny and housekeeper, and for Carlson Wedding Service.

each year, scheduling phone meetings up to seven hours a week. She spends another 10-20 hours on House of Hope activities (“when I’m on a roll, I don’t stop”), and commits up to ten hours weekly to city council work. Because of serving on the council, she’s active in organizations such as Region Nine and District 77 Community Education and Recreation.

“I also get calls and emails from North Mankato citizens about their concerns,” Norland said. “There will be a situation such as the concern over playground structures at Benson Park. I’ve had four or five emails, both pro and con, about constructing them. The council is still considering putting the equipment on the property of a school to be built in the future, but the soccer fields are going in.”

Norland has made it a personal rule not to work on weekends, because, she said, “Many self-employed people don’t take weekends off, and I don’t think that’s a good idea. Having WholeLife Leadership and working for the House of Hope, I do not consider myself semi-retired. Two years ago, I did cut back on the number of coaching clients during Larry’s illness, which is now under control. To keep myself healthy, fit, and energized, I exercise three to five times a week with aerobic exercises and weights. I’ve always tried to eat well. I fully intend to die in my sleep at age 100.”

Norland schedules WholeLifeLeadership coaching clients throughout the day (and very occasionally in the evening) to phone her on her landline. She explained,

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Here And Now 1) Family: Husband Larry, who has degrees in elementary education and community counseling; son Daniel, owner of a flooring company, who with his wife, Emily, has a 12-year-old daughter and one-year-old twins.

2) Hobbies: I enjoy reading about history and politics, and spy and intrigue novels; my next goal is to read a four-book series by Winston Churchill about WWII, after I finish a 12-book Life magazine series about the history of America. I play piano and sing in the choir at Grace Lutheran Church, and I enjoy redecorating our 1,800 sq. ft. home. The most relaxing activities are yoga and meditation, and dancing around the house to various kinds of music.

3) Accomplishment of which most proud: Raising nearly $400,000 for the House of Hope building in Mankato.

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7) If you weren’t in this business: I’d be volunteering with kids at a school.

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NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2012

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“Cell phones interfere with the depth and strength of personal relationships. Studies show that people don’t multi-task as well as they thought. Tasks are completed better and faster with focus.”

To instill client commitment, Norland requires clients to prepay for two or three coaching sessions each month and to phone her at a specific time. With a new client, Norland explains client-coach confidentially and describes what coaching is and is not. (It’s not a substitute for psychotherapy, but can work in conjunction with it.) She reviews her background and qualifications, then requests permission to ask tough questions, to interrupt when the client is launching into a story that is off topic, and to assign homework that she expects will be done. She learns clients’ values (how they live and how they don’t), who their gremlin is (the inner voice that tells them negative things), and what their vision, mission, or life purpose is.

The client also tells me what he or she wants from a coach, where he or she hopes to be in three to five months, such as having a better relationship with a boss.

“The choice of which of those three we discuss depends on the client’s input and desires,” she said. “The client also tells me what he or she wants from a coach, where he or she hopes to be in three to five months, such as having a better relationship with a boss. I ask, ‘If your relationship with your boss improved over the next two weeks, what would that look like?’ The client begins to create problem-solving scenarios in her head, like writing a play.

Then we consider how the client can make

WholeLifeLeadership | North Mankato

It’s gratifying when I see people get a grip, when they are proud of themselves for making changes and they feel more in charge and powerful. The idea of education that energizes and motivates folks—it’s what I’ve done with all of my jobs. That’s self-evident.” a scenario happen. The client is mentally practicing a positive scenario. The positive thinking movement isn’t all wrong, but it’s not, ‘If you think it, it will be so.’ It is, ‘If you take steps, it may become so.’”

Norland may ask an overweight client questions such as, What benefit are you getting from your excess weight? Is there something unhealed? What can you do?

Can you exercise just this week, maybe four times?

“There’s a big trend toward wellness and healthy activities, reflecting society’s interest,” Norland said. “I began noticing

the wellness aspect a couple years ago. If it continues, I will guide those clients into using resources and will motivate them to set goals for their desired change. With each phone call, each client, I ask, ‘What do you want to get done today?’ Most clients hit a dip three to five months into coaching, when the client realizes the change he or she wants will be much more difficult than anticipated. It’s gratifying when I see people get a grip, when they are proud of themselves for making changes and they feel more in charge and powerful. The idea of education that energizes and motivates

THE ESSENTIALS

WholeLifeLeadership Email: diane@wholelifeleadership.net Web: WholeLifeLeadership.net Telephone: 507-387-1304

folks—it’s what I’ve done with all of my jobs. That’s self-evident.”

Carlienne A. Frisch writes from Mankato.

Comment on this story at connectbiz.com

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CONNECTING BACK

1 YEAR AGO

NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2011

EXPERIENCED IN:

• Residential • Commercial • Apartments • Vacant Land • Agricultural Land

Full-time, experienced professionals • State Licensed Appraisers • FHA Approved

Marty Davis of Cambria (Le Sueur) was our cover story. Our introduction to his story included these words: “In his hilltop Le Sueur office, Davis feels right at home surrounded by dozens of cheery photos, colorful Leroy Neiman prints, and media clippings marking company milestones. Rather than stage fright, Marty, his family, their management teams, and employees all seem to have acquired a healthy dose of stage might, i.e., the strength of character to make the seemingly impossible possible and to please difficult-to-please audiences.”

Companies profiled: ABC Services (Le Center) and Fostering Professional Development (St. Peter).

Memorable quote: “A down economy often is the right time to build and look at niche growth opportunities. My dad has always said that and it’s true.”—Marty Davis.

5 YEARS AGO

NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2007 Our cover story was Sarah Person of Exclusively Diamonds (Mankato).

Companies profiled: Hermie’s (St. Peter) and Linder Enterprises (Wells).

Memorable quote: “When I turned 40, I wanted a Rolex watch and I didn’t have a Rolex dealership. So I went to a jeweler friend, loved the watch, and wanted the line. So I went after it.”—Sarah Person.

10 YEARS AGO

NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2002 Cover interview: Al Fallenstein of Taylor Corporation (North Mankato).

Profiled companies: Whittler’s Lady (Truman) and Resource Connections (North Mankato).

15 YEARS AGO

NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 1997 Cover interview: Gary Hopfenspirger of Kentucky Fried Chicken (Mankato).

Profiled companies: 3M (New Ulm) and Hilltop Florist (Mankato).

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BULLETIN BOARD

Local Chamber & Economic Development News

Any chamber of commerce, convention and visitors bureau, or economic development organization in our reading area—large or small, from Amboy to Waterville—can post on our free bulletin board. For details, email editor@connectbiz.com.

Blue Earth Cindy Lyon, Blue Earth Chamber

Madelia Karla Grev, Madelia Chamber

Holiday season celebrations start early in Blue Earth! “Holiday Sampler on the Town” occurs November 9 (3:00-8:00) and November 10 (9:00-4:00). Main Street and Side Street businesses host the holiday shopping preview along with musicians and hors d’oeuvres.

The Faribault County Court House will be decorated. Also, the Town & Country Players Dinner Theater production “A Tuna Christmas” is November 30-December 2, along with a meal and the BEAHS Madrigals. Tickets available at the Chamber.

Thirteenth Annual Razzle Dazzle Parade of Lights happens November 16-17. Friday Main Street activities include Santa, Tour of Trees, Crystal collection, reindeer appearance, holiday open houses, Hope & Faith Floral & Gifts open house, Fontanni signing of figurines/ collectables, Madelia High music, shopping, wine tasting, good food, entertainment, potato bake supper, and 6:30 Parade of Lights. Saturday includes Parade of Trees, shopping, Santa photos, holiday expo, free Santa movie at Madelia Theater 2:00 p.m. See visitmadelia.com.

Fairmont Bob Wallace, Fairmont Area Chamber

Mankato Christine Nessler, Greater Mankato CVB

Attend the 23rd Annual Fairmont Glows Parade November 16 beginning at 6:00 p.m. The parade of lights begins at Ward Park and winds north through Downtown Plaza to Lincoln Park to mark the beginning of holiday festivities. Come early and enjoy the preparade activities including Santa’s arrival on the North Pole Express at Fairmont Airport at 4:05 pm. This is an event for all ages. If you have any questions contact the Chamber at 507-235-5547.

A festive celebration for the Greater Mankato area, Kiwanis Holiday Lights at Sibley Park builds on past tradition while raising food donations for people in the community. From Friday November 23 through Monday December 31, Kiwanis Holiday Lights includes over one million bright LED lights, including animated and choreographed lights. There will be a skating rink, warming houses, Santa, live reindeer, a tribute to American troops, and nonprofit decorated trees. To learn more, see kiwanisholidaylights.com.

Lake Crystal Julie Reed, Lake Crystal Chamber Get into the holiday spirit by coming to “Christmas in Lake Crystal.” You won’t want to miss this year’s event on Saturday December 1 from 10-2 at LCARC. Enjoy fun activities, food, Holiday Gift and Craft Fair, silent auction, and pictures with Santa from 10-1 (don’t forget your camera). Drop-in daycare for fair-goers. Stay for the Annual Scavenger Hunt at 3:00 and the Christmas tree lighting in the park at 5:00. For more, telephone 507-726-6088.

Mankato Shelly Megaw, Greater Mankato Growth Join Greater Mankato Growth along with our affiliates, Greater Mankato Convention & Visitors Bureau and City Center Partnership, in honoring some of our region’s most outstanding businesses and professionals.

The Greater Mankato Business Awards and Hall of Fame presented by Charter Business will be held the evening of November 13 at Verizon Wireless Center. Learn about this year’s award recipients and register to attend the event at greatermankato.com/business-awards-hall-fame.

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BULLETIN BOARD

Local Chamber & Economic Development News

Mankato Julie Nelson, SC MN Small Business Dev Center Driving financial performance in your business is crucial. Do you know how to avoid cash crunches in your business or manage growth? Sign up for “Profit Mastery: Creating Value and Building Wealth.” This four-session course takes place December 3, 5, 10, and 12. Normally $595, we are offering it at no cost to veterans and/or their spouses and at $249 to the public, thanks to a grant from USBank. Register online at mnsbdc.ecenterdirect.com/ Conferences.action.

Region Nine Nicole Griensewic, Region Nine Dev Commission

With November 23-24 comes the 24th Annual “Parade of Lights” in downtown New Ulm. Top off your day of shopping with a meal and a parade at 6:00pm. There are more than 50 lighted units—fun for the whole family. New this year, on the same day, will be an authentic German “Christ Kindl Market.” It’s on the street alongside the Visitor Center and features tented vendors, music, exotic animals, and more running from 11:00 a.m.-8:00 p.m.

Region Nine Development Commission hosts on November 15 a free, open to the public “Grant Opportunity Forum” at South Central Service Cooperative in North Mankato from 8:30-2 p.m.

Topics covered include downtown revitalization, hazard mitigation, legacy funding, and entrepreneur support. Speakers will discuss grant funding resources and local success stories. Business and community members are encouraged to attend to deliver information back to local governments. For full agenda or more information, contact Isaac@rndc.org.

Nicollet Alesia Slater, Nicollet Chamber of Commerce

Sleepy Eye Julie Schmitt, Sleepy Eye Chamber

New Ulm Terry Sveine, New Ulm CVB

The Chamber holds its annual Wine & Beer Tasting event Friday November 16 from 6:30 to 8:30 at the American Legion. On Sunday November 18, the Chamber hosts the Mankato Riverblenders’ “Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious! A Disney Convention in 4-part Harmony” at 3:00 p.m. in the Nicollet Public School Theater.

Hotdish and salad supper fundraiser in the Nicollet Public School Commons follows the concert, with proceeds benefiting the NPS Music Department. All events open to the public. See nicollet.org for more information.

North Mankato Michael Fischer, North Mankato Port Auth Cemstone Products Company has recently entered into an agreement with the North Mankato Port Authority to purchase six acres

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of land with an option for four additional acres in the Northport Industrial Park. Cemstone offers a full line of ready-mixed concrete, decorative concrete, high performance concrete, aggregate products, concrete masonry units, brick and decorative slate. The company plans to begin construction of a showroom in 2012 and construction of the main plant in 2013. When completed, the project will provide 15 new full-time positions.

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Our 2012 Manufacturer/Technology Award recipient is River Region Cooperative. (A date will be determined to present the Governor’s certificate and Mayor’s Proclamation to their staff.)

Also, Lucas Bryce recently filmed a number of businesspeople for a DVD that will promote the Sleepy Eye Area Chamber of Commerce.

Businesses participating in the DVD are Joyce Krenz—Century 21, McCabe’s Ace Hardware, First Security Bank, Mark Thomas Co., Chuck Spaeth Ford, W.W. Smith Inn, and Miller Sellner.

Sleepy Eye Kurk Kramer, Sleepy Eye EDA Sleepy Eye EDA—along with business and individual donations— have completed the first phase of Veteran’s Park. The pentagonshaped focal point has been finished. Flags from all five military

Local Chamber & Economic Development News

branches, and a POW flag, are flying. Maples have been planted.

Phase Two will include a KIA Memorial, benches, and informational donor board/kiosk. Also, an on-the-job training program by Sleepy Eye EDA and area high schools is being finalized and should be implemented starting next semester.

Springfield Marlys Vanderwerf, Springfield Area Chamber Owner Amanda Petersen of Petersen Photography expanded her business out on the family farm 1.5 miles west of town. You can reach her at 276-0903. Also, Springfield Area Chamber of Commerce and CVB host the annual Jingle Bells ticket promotion, which involves $2,000 in Springfield Bucks giveaways. Our annual Holiday Preview beginning on November 7 should fill the business district with festive retail shoppers. For more, see springfieldmnchamber.org.

St. Peter Emily Peck, St. Peter Area Chamber The Chamber assisted in a “Celebrate St. Peter Day” at Gustavus Adolphus College September 15. The event was held to give St. Peter community members an opportunity to experience and gain awareness of the many amenities and events available through Gustavus Adolphus College. Other recent events included Oktoberfest Sept.

28-29 and the annual Girls Night Out Oct. 4.

Waseca Chuck Brenner, B.E.S.T of Waseca

The B.E.S.T of Waseca (Business & Entrepreneurial Support Team) opened an office in Waseca and hired Chuck Brenner (a longtime resident and retired banker) as executive Director. B.E.S.T. has contracted with Small Business Development Center in Mankato to offer free business and entrepreneurial consulting services at our 300 North State Street office. The office serves as the contact for the local SCORE chapter.

B.E.S.T. can serve as a conduit to both public and private financing.

Waseca Kim Foels, Waseca Area Chamber

Wells Andrea Neubauer, Wells Area Chamber

Waseca Area Chamber is a partner in the Grow Minnesota! program. To better serve business people and entrepreneurs, this Minnesota Chamber-led initiative has been working to upgrade the BusinessConnection website. Business visitors to the restructured website can locate contact information and seek assistance by topic or geographic area sorted by county. The site provides visitors a link and contact information to the nearest Grow Minnesota! county chamber partner to assist with local information. See mnbizconnectib.com.

November 2 is the annual “Las Vegas Night” Chamber fundraiser starting 6:30 p.m. at the Community Center. It will include a costume contest, and raffle with silent and live auctions. Friday November 16 is “Wells Does it Bright,” which starts the holiday shopping season. Many stores will remain open until 7:00 p.m.

Family events include free movie, ambulance soup supper, horse drawn sleigh rides, lighting of city holiday lights, Santa pictures, and great retail deals.

NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2012

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ECONOMICS 101

The libertarian-leaning Manhattan Institute unveiled an exhaustive study in September on reasons why Californians and California businesses since 1990 have been leaving their state in droves. The reasons foreshadow what could happen to America as a whole within the next 20 years.

Since 1990, Californians have been like waves from a stone tossed into a pond, moving primarily to Texas, Nevada, and Arizona, but also to Oregon, Washington, Colorado, Idaho, and Utah, in that order. California has lost 3.4 million residents through migration over the last 22 years, with about two-thirds coming from Southern California. More people are moving out than in, not unlike a Rust Belt state. The state has grown in population since 1990 only because of a higher-than-average birthrate and foreign immigration, but both of these have rapidly declined in recent years.

California’s out-migration has been staggering, averaging 225,000 people annually over each of the last ten years, which is equivalent to that state annually losing a city the size of Reno, Nevada. In the 2000s, California led all states in numbers of people leaving, while only New York, Michigan, Illinois, and New Jersey had a higher out-migration rate.

The study cited three main reasons for this out-migration: chronic economic adversity that includes higher than average unemployment, population density in the Los Angeles area that tops the nation, and chronic fiscal instability causing reduced government services and higher taxes.

Wrote the Manhattan Institute: “The data also reveal the motives that drive individuals and businesses to leave California. One of these, of course, is work. States with low unemployment rates, such as Texas, are drawing people from California, whose rate is above the national average. Taxation also appears to be a factor, especially as it contributes to the business climate and, in turn, jobs. Most of the destination states favored by Californians have lower taxes.

States that have gained the most at California’s expense are rated as having better business climates. The data suggest that many cost drivers—taxes, regulations, the high price of housing and commercial real estate, costly electricity, union power, and high labor costs—are prompting businesses to locate outside California, thus helping to drive the exodus.”

As for businesses leaving California for greener pastures, just the last week in September alone, Campbell Soup closed a 700-employee Sacramento soup plant and shifted those jobs to plants in Texas, Ohio, and North Carolina, while Comcast closed three California call centers and moved those 1,000 jobs to Colorado, Washington, and Oregon.

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years running to fewer than four million annually, matching 1998 levels. The U.S. had 4.3 million births as recently as 2007 until an anemic economic kicked in.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which crunched the data, said the changes in general could be attributed to fewer single, black, and Hispanic women having babies, with these groups from 2010-2011 falling three, two, and six percent, respectively.

The rate rose one percent for married women, stayed the same for white women, and increased slightly for Asian-American women.

Perhaps the most startling decreases were seen in teens and women in their early 20s. With the former, the number of teen births fell eight percent to its lowest level since 1946. The latter group had 5 percent fewer babies from 2010 to 2012, which, wrote the Washington Post, was “the lowest mark for women in that age group since 1940, when comprehensive national birth records were first compiled.”

The Washington Post cited Columbia University professor John Santelli as attributing the recent trend among teens to a decline in the number of 15- to 17-year-olds saying they’ve had sex, and to “larger percentages of sexually active teenage girls” using birth control.

This trend has direct implications to the thousands of businesses, groups and types of professionals involved with providing products or services to children, such as clothing, food, and toy manufacturers, and school districts and teachers.

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An October Washington Post piece using government data reported on birth trends. Overall, U.S. births have fallen four

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The Manhattan Institute opined: “Migration choices reveal an important truth: some states understand how to get richer, while others seem to have lost the touch. California is a state in the latter group, but it can be put back on track.”

In the 20th century, California was the destination of choice for many Americans, similar to America being a destination of choice for many people around the world. It has changed for California.

Could that change for America, too? Although the Manhattan Institute doesn’t draw parallels between California and America, the casual observer can’t help but notice the similarities. Today, the U.S. (according to CNNMoney) has the world’s highest corporate tax rate. According to tradingeconomics.com, the U.S. has the second highest unemployment rate among a peer group of France, United Kingdom, Canada, Germany, Australia, Japan, China, and India.

As for chronic fiscal instability, per the same source, the U.S. has the world’s sixth-highest Debt-to-GDP rate, trailing only Japan, Greece, Italy, Ireland, and Portugal.

BUSINESS TRENDS

RESTAURANT INDUSTRY

Most U.S. restaurant chains have been thriving the last few years, growing and becoming more profitable in the face of a sputtering economy.

Take for example two restaurant chains only a block away from each other in Mankato and owned by the same parent company, Darden Restaurants: Olive Garden and Red Lobster.

The Washington Post reported late September that Orlando-based Darden had yet another solid quarter, with revenue up five percent and earnings four percent. A typical Olive Garden or Red Lobster, wrote the Post, can employ up to five managers and between 50 and 185 hourly employees.

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The reasons offered for mid- and higher-level restaurant success, in particular, make perfect sense. For one, Red Lobster and Olive Garden—or for that matter, McDonald’s, Burger King or Capital Grille (Darden’s upper-tier brand)—don’t have to worry about Chinese-owned restaurants or food manufacturers shipping competitive product for consumption to southern Minnesota. A hamburger or steak would be cold and old by the time it arrived, so a Chinese knock-off of a U.S. restaurant chain would have to play on our turf and by our rules.

The second reason? Given high unemployment nationally and the glutted labor market, Darden and other chains have been able to pay less to attract labor and many employees simply don’t have the leverage to ask for big raises. It’s all about supply and demand.

With Darden, for example, overall company revenue rose “4.8 percent in the third quarter compared to a year earlier, while restaurant labor expense rose only 2.2 percent,” wrote the Post. It continued: “It’s part of a trend: in the 2010 fiscal year, labor costs represented 33.1 percent of sales; labor costs fell to 31.3 percent in the 2012 fiscal year and down to 30.4 percent in the first quarter of the 2013 fiscal year.”

Connect Business Magazine

10TH A N N U A L

Business Person of the Year Award Look for the winner on the cover of the January 2013 issue!

PREVIOUS WINNERS: 2012: Dan & Angie Bastian – Angie’s Kettle Corn 2011: John Roise – Lindsay Window & Door 2010: Pamela J. Year – MRCI 2009: John Finke – HickoryTech 2008: Jeff Thom – All American Foods 2007: Roxie Mell-Brandts – Jensen Transport 2006: Bob Weerts – Blue Valley Sod 2005: Milt Toratti – Riverbend Center for Enterprise Facilitation 2004: Lorin Krueger – Winland Electronics

IN ASSOCIATION WITH:

OFF-THE-CUFF

We heartily thank our readers who nominated their colleagues or friends for our Tenth Annual Connect Business Magazine/ KEYC-TV Business Person of the Year Awards. After Minnesota State University College of Business professors finish their judging, three worthy winners will receive crowns in our January issue, with the top vote getter appearing on our cover. So get excited. As for this issue, buckle your seat belts and away we go….

On the day this issue of Connect Business Magazine went to the printer for publication, the winner of the Presidential race wasn’t yet known. I’m sure someone won. As for elections in general, I voted for the first time in 1976.....

Back then you could best describe me as a budding socialist interested in politics who was quickly coming around to believing that greedy businesspeople were collectively no better than a worminfested Beelzebub. I remember quite clearly my conversion to socialism happening one evening while reading a persuasive Time or Newsweek article about Jimmy Carter’s explosive popular appeal. My diverse high school—25 percent Jewish, 33 percent Black, and students spanning literally every inch of the socioeconomic spectrum—produced ‘60s radical Jerry Rubin, one of the Chicago Seven, and recent General Mills CEO Stephen Sanger. One of my

favorite activities then was driving around Cincinnati with friends Tim and Bob—and often the Benz twins—while inhaling and talking smart about politics. This was the ‘70s, you know.....

After high school, I went one way and they another. Liberal Tim developed a polyglot career that included being an avant garde musician (his band briefly made one of the British charts with an ‘80s single) and a Salvadore Dali-inspired artist. Bob embraced liberal politics and, after being a Columbia University graduate student and teaching assistant during Barack Obama’s college years, eventually became a journal editor and freelance writer. In contrast, my life veered from theirs in nearly every respect....

This summer, Bob mentioned over Facebook he was bicycling cross-country to sate some vague mid-life crisis and in August would be pedaling Mankato.

The last time we had been face-to-face was 27 years ago only weeks before a burglar set fire to his New York City apartment. By 1985, we were already poles apart in nearly every respect, yet in meeting had what I would call congenial conversations. Our meeting this Daniel J. Vance August went the same. He’s still a Blue Team Editor Lefty. What I enjoyed in part about our time this summer was hearing again his depth of political conviction and sensing in him a generous tolerance for my opposing views. As for Tim, he and I have had friendly meetings and shared positive experiences, too....

Due in part to having been psychologically desensitized by these two, I have felt comfortable over the last 16 years in Connect Business Magazine featuring just about any flavor of businessperson—just so that individual represents a certain segment of our magazine demographics. Before scheduling an interview, I first learn about the person and sometimes find out he or she is ultraliberal

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or ultraconservative or has close associations with Republican, Democratic or Reform politicians. If meeting my basic business and magazine demographic criteria, I will feature that person anyway.

In that vein over the years, I have knowingly featured huge pork and beef producers, Hispanics, feminists, Catholics, atheists, people with disabilities, billionaires, ex-military, outspoken Christians, gays, Masons, Mormons, farmers, media and business competitors, green advocates, Rotarians, Chamber members and non-Chamber members, cat lovers (with some regret), people I like and don’t like (although liking makes the process easier), non-advertisers and advertisers, men and women in exact proportion to magazine demographics, and one now-deceased Mankato business legend who owned a gold Rolls Royce, donated heavily to Democrats, had been tight with Hubert Humphrey, and became a personal friend. Really, the only things besides breath the members of this mongrel menagerie held in common before being featured was having an involvement with business and representing a segment of our demographics....

Looking back, I’m thankful for having attended culturally diverse public schools. If you have an idea for a feature in Connect Business Magazine involving a person or business you think I wouldn’t feature in a million years, think again—I just featured Tim and Bob. I try offering readers fare that mirrors our demographics rather than my own personal likes and dislikes, and relish receiving detailed information from people proposing feature stories on businesspeople of any make or model....

One last thing to mention before wrapping up: I would be remiss not noting the death in September of Happy Chef co-founder Sal Frederick. He was a gentleman, legendary businessman, state representative, hard worker, husband to a wonderful woman, father of six girls. I can only speculate, but my guess is his only life regret was not living long enough to cast a Presidential ballot this

year. As a state representative, he helped create the North Mankato Port Authority, and, at one point, he and his brothers owned 56 Happy Chef restaurants. Having ghostwritten his autobiography, I remember him best as a man of his word....

Finally, be sure to read our January issue for the unveiling of our Connect Business Magazine/KEYC-TV Business Person of the Year 2013 Awards, which are chosen by a knowledgeable panel of Minnesota State University College of Business professors.

Thanks for reading southern Minnesota’s first and only locally owned business magazine, the one established in 1994 that grows businesses and reaches 8,500 business decision makers in nine southern Minnesota counties.

Editor Daniel J. Vance self-syndicates the newspaper column “Disabilities.” Email press releases and letters to the Editor by December 1 for the January/February issue. We may edit for space and clarity.

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By Daniel J. Vance Photo by Kris Kathmann

285-employee North Mankato business continually adapting to changing market conditions sees annual sales growth.

From day one in 1989 through today, the reputation, future, and survival—literally everything, involving printing presses to profits to people—of 285-employee Corporate Graphics Commercial of North Mankato has rested solely on its being able to adapt to and fulfill rapidly changing customer needs.

In the fast-paced, high-stakes U.S. printing industry, if you snooze, you lose.

The company began as a virgin ink-on-paper printer. When customers began asking for in-house binding, Corporate Graphics Commercial added in-house binding. When customers asked for design and creative, it added design and creative. When book manufacturing, better printing presses, warehouse and fulfillment, lower costs, digital printing, e-books—you guessed it, and so on.

“If we had stayed just a general sheet-fed printer and nothing more, I’m not sure the lights would be on in the building today,” said 49-year-old Dan Kvasnicka, the current potentate of this whirling dervish of a company occupying 200,000 sq. ft. of manufacturing and warehouse space in upper North Mankato. A Mankato Loyola graduate, he has been company president since 2007. Corporate Graphics Commercial has more than 2,500 active U.S. and international customers, and prints everything from children’s books, hard and soft cover books, and glossy magazines to yearbooks and cookbooks as a four-color, sheet-fed printer mainly targeting higher-end, higher price-point customers.

Leading Corporate Graphics Commercial must be trying, but if anyone can, Dan can. Especially from his father, Don, who owned Mankato-based Realty World until 1988, he inherited and developed disciplined organizational skills without which this whirling dervish would be overcome by dizziness and collapse. It hasn’t—and won’t.

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Graphic Edge

The Kvasnicka family had six children, with Dan fifth in the pecking order after two older brothers and two older sisters. They moved from Gaylord to Mankato early on.

Said Kvasnicka, “There were definitely pros and cons of growing up in a large family, but the most challenging aspect at times was our financial situation. My dad started up a real estate company in 1970 (Kvasnicka Realty, which later became Realty World) during a very tough time economically and he fought through the wars.

He sold the company to Atwood Realty in 1988, after which he worked for Atwood Realty.”

His father was “very, very disciplined in his business approach,” said Kvasnicka, emphasizing a real estate office “meticulously” managed with a Realtor checklist of moving a home from listing to sales that had to be followed on every point. There were no exceptions.

It was the way his father ran their home, too.

From an early age—he was seven when his father started Kvasnicka Realty—Dan began helping clean his father’s office on Sunday nights and doing other odd jobs like mowing the storefront lawn and shoveling the sidewalk. He eventually helped haul trash from foreclosed property and placed realty signs around town. The entire family participated as a team and everyone pulled their weight. The work ethic developed combined with family expectations eventually led to all six Kvasnicka children graduating from high school and college, with Dan passing through Mankato Loyola, then one year at Minnesota State, and in 1986 finishing up at the College of St. Thomas with an accounting degree.

It would take him ten years to pay off his college debt, he said, but “the whole process paid life dividends.” His older brother Dave had pointed him towards accounting.

“(Accounting is) the language of business,” he said. “My accounting background certainly helps when I look down a profit and loss statement. We run a business here. We have to make money.”

“It’s the language of business,” he said. “My accounting background certainly helps when I look down a profit and loss statement. We run a business here. We have to make money. We have to continually reinvest our profits back into the company to hire new employees, expand market channels or buy capital equipment.”

In 1988, Kvasnicka’s career path went off on a tangent. He was 25 years old by then, had been working two years as a public accountant for Wolf Etter in Mankato, and had thoughts of pursuing taking over Realty World from his father. That is, until his father sold Realty World. The sale hadn’t come as a complete surprise because father and son had hashed through the difficult decision on many occasions.

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Corporate Graphics Commercial | North Mankato

“Some people I worked with back then are leading Taylor companies today. I learned not only about Taylor Corporation accounting, but also about how Taylor Corporation worked and the mechanics of working with a holding company like Taylor Corporation. My goal with the company was to get to the operational level—like where I am now.”

It was the result of a number of different factors, including Dan not being ready to take over and unsure about what he wanted out of life. It was a difficult situation because Dan and his father had to detach from their feelings and logically do what was best in terms of the employees and the business. Dan had literally grown up with the company, had an emotional bond, and with his mother and father had been through the ups and downs.

“One thing I’ve learned over my life and business career, is that the quicker you can move personal feelings away from a business decision, much of the gray areas in it can be removed,” he said. “I never want to get rid of the personal side of evaluating business situations because in business relationships are king, whether that’s

with an hourly employee on the floor or a hard-charging manager pushing for change or a customer challenged by our services. But you have to make sure you control your emotions and personal feelings in order to make good, fundamental business decisions for the long-term good of the company. And it’s tough to do that at times.”

His first two years at Wolf Etter, Kvasnicka was assigned to the annual Taylor Corporation audit and during this time was introduced to Taylor CFO Bill Kozitza. Kvasnicka went on to join corporate accounting at Taylor Corporation.

“At that time in corporate accounting (at Taylor Corporation), there were people like me who were pushing hard to be outside

Graphic Edge

the accounting department,” he said. “Some people I worked with back then are leading Taylor companies today. I learned not only about Taylor Corporation accounting, but also about how Taylor Corporation worked and the mechanics of working with a holding company like Taylor Corporation. My goal with the company was to get to the operational level—like where I am now.”

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Corporate Graphics Commercial itself didn’t have to fuss with accounts payable, accounting, legal, taxes, and treasury—all those services and more Taylor Corporation provided.

Kvasnicka said having Taylor Corporation as a holding company gave leaders at companies like Corporate Graphics Commercial (which had just began in 1989) the time to focus on day-to-day manufacturing operations and create a vision for taking the company into the future. Corporate Graphics Commercial itself didn’t have to fuss with accounts payable, accounting, legal, taxes, and treasury—all those services and more Taylor Corporation provided. All they had to worry about was pleasing customers, taking a business from point A to B and on, and meeting certain financial metrics during the fiscal year.

While with Taylor Corporation, Kvasnicka was assigned to the Corporate Graphics Commercial account and developed a business relationship with then-President Joe Keenan, a fellow Mankato

Graphic Edge

Positive Feedback CONNECT: What else do you enjoy about your job?

KVASNICKA: What’s near and dear to our employees is hearing positive comments. Taylor gives us a monthly report card and our employees hear portions of it. OSHA was in here last month for the second time in three years and gave Corporate Graphics zero violations. That’s unheard of in the printing industry.

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Corporate Graphics Commercial | North Mankato

Loyola graduate. In 1995, Kvasnicka accepted a position under Tom Holmstrom as controller of a Taylor marketing and distribution company, St. Paul Book & Stationery. (“Like Joe Keenan, Tom was a great mentor,” he said). He temporarily left the Taylor Corporation umbrella when Corporate Express bought out the business in the late ‘90s. But it was Joe Keenan who wooed Kvasnicka back to Corporate Graphics in 1999 as vice president of operations—and in 2007, Kvasnicka was named president.

When Keenan retired in 2011 after overseeing six different Taylor commercial print companies around the U.S., including Corporate Graphics Commercial, Taylor Corporation realigned the commercial print division. Corporate Graphics Commercial was taken out of the mix and now stands alone reporting to Greg Jackson at Taylor Corporation. The realignment made sense because Corporate Graphics was the only print company of the six specializing in

Graphic Edge

What They Do According to its website, Corporate Graphics Commercial offers a wide range of printingaffiliated services, such as: 1) Graphic design services, which include designing logos, mailers, brochures or any marketing piece; 2) Prepress, which includes proofing using a number of color-accurate, hard and soft copy proofs, and computer-to-plate; 3) Offset press, which can involve five-, six-, eight- or ten-color Heidelberg presses or HP 7000 or HP 5500 digital presses, with all six presses capable of “printing a wide range of stocks, allowing multiple choices in sheet sizes, special colors, finishes, and coatings; 4) Finishing services that include binding, die cutting, embossing/debossing, foil stamping, folding, hand binding, lamination, and trimming; and 5) Warehouse and fulfillment services, with fulfillment up to 50,000 books per day.

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Graphic Edge

QUALITY CONSTRUCTION

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deichmanconstruction.com 507-625-7861 | MANKATO, MN

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book manufacturing, which included children’s books, yearbooks, and cookbooks.

One revenue stream comes from photography studios that visit schools to sell yearbooks printed at Corporate Graphics. A growing business for years, children’s books, involves taking publisher content and reducing it to ink and paper. The company also has entered the emerging digital age and e-book services. Print-on demand books will be the next wave.

The company has faced unique competitive pressures the last ten years or so. It began with the emergence of the Internet and certain Internet-based companies that would buy open printing capacity and sell that capacity online to print buyers seeking inexpensive printing. Said Kvasnicka, “The big threat with this was that it was a race to the bottom going through these large organizations. The print buyers would go through them to spot buy on open capacity and take the price point way down. We couldn’t compete with them on price.”

Then overseas printers began low-balling children’s books, which affected the company. But overseas printers, though low-priced, have had challenges matching U.S. service levels and physically delivering product on time.

Kvasnicka said, “We do more than just place ink on paper and

Corporate Graphics Commercial | North Mankato

have differentiated ourselves from most domestic and overseas competitors. What makes us different is we listen to customer needs and try to understand their markets and where those markets are heading. And then we respond. With children’s books, for example, we started out as a printer only. Then we had customers asking for in-house binding services, which we added. Then they wanted design and creative, which we added. Now when the finished book is done, we can ship it to their warehouse or our own. Customers wanted shipping and fulfillment services. The trend now is for e-books and we now help clients create them. Print-on-demand services will be next. We are investing in digital presses. Short run one-off equipment is definitely part of our future.”

He said the whole digital world has changed. The Internet is now a pipeline to transport books. For yearbook customers, the company offers easy-to-use, cloud-based software to help clients build their own books. All these changes and adaptations to changing market conditions and more have been the driving force for sales doubling over the last ten years and sales growth each year since 2007, when Kvasnicka became president.

“The education I get from the floor is unbelievable. I talk to employees and run into customers or see their projects on the floor. There are so many ahas! I catch on these walk throughs.”

He maintains a footprint on operations by walking the plant floor up to half an hour daily. “It’s one of the best parts of my day,” he said. “The education I get from the floor is unbelievable. I talk to employees and run into customers or see their projects on the floor.

There are so many ahas! I catch on these walk throughs.”

Much of what he learned from his family growing up and their family business, Realty World, has carried over to Corporate Graphics Commercial. For one, he learned growing up how to work with others and how to share the success—and also the importance of everyone carrying their own weight.

“The biggest difference between my family growing up and here is that here we are a much larger family,” he said. “We aren’t blood related, of course, but our 285 employees are a family. Our culture is different from that of other manufacturing facilities in the Mankato area. We have a lot of long-term employees dedicated to doing their best for our company and customers.”

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Graphic Edge

THE ESSENTIALS

Corporate Graphics Web: corpgraph.com Location: 1750 Northway Drive North Mankato, MN 56003 Telephone: 800-729-7575

And those employees have a say in the company. Kvasnicka especially likes and respects managers who aren’t afraid to challenge the status quo. For example, he has opinions about what certain employees can accomplish on various pieces of equipment and his supervisors have theirs.

Ultimately, he has the final word, of course.

The company has an “open door” policy that allows any employee the right to come talk over any issue. Firing an employee, he said, has been one of the tougher aspects of his job and occurs only after going through a detailed checklist to determine exactly what occurred—a checklist similar to what his father had at Realty World.

Given the chronic company condition of always having to adapt to and fulfill rapidly changing customer needs, Kvasnicka, looking inward, realizes he doesn’t have the ability to handle everything himself.

“I’ve surrounded myself with great leaders,” he said. “I think I have a strength in accounting, but I need help in other areas, for example, in human resources. I’d like to know everything, but I’m realistic enough to know I don’t.”

What he enjoys most about his job has been his personal ties with customers and employees, and, oddly enough, receiving his monthly financial statement. He said, “I’m here to make sure we’re driving profits to the bottom line. I thrive on the monthly financial statement. We have to drive profitable sales through—and we have a long history of growing sales and growing them profitably.”

Editor Daniel J. Vance writes from Vernon Center.

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HOT STARTZ!

Very New or Re-formed Businesses or Professionals New To Our Reading Area

ST. PETER

Lucas Kay Photography

SUBMITTED PHOTOS

After discovering a need in the real estate market after moving from Ohio to St. Peter in 2009, Jordan Powers began his niche real estate photography business in St. Peter just within the last year.

“I grew up in Toledo, Ohio, and was always into art,” said 32-year-old Powers in a Connect Business Magazine telephone interview. “I did a lot of portrait drawing and always paid attention to the smallest details, such as the hair lines, distance between the eyes, negative spaces, and angles. I also dabbled in graffititype lettering, and building the letters into geometric shapes and experimenting with that type of art, but mostly on paper.”

In his early 20s, he became interested in photography and eventually built up a part-time wedding and portrait business.

Toledo had lots of cathedrals and old architecture, and Powers especially enjoyed shooting his subjects in creative ways around those buildings. In 2009, he and his wife relocated to Mankato for his job, and in the process of moving he found a new career.

While working with a Realtor to buy a home here, he noticed he and his wife were skipping looking at certain homes because the photos weren’t appealing—and they were choosing to view homes with appealing photos.

“So I asked our Realtor if he had any interest in having a professional photographer do his listings,” he said. “And we have been working together ever since. The photography definitely upped his business from the very beginning. My

Realtor was one of only a few using professional photography as part of their (home) marketing program. Since then, I’ve worked with other Realtors and also some homeowners who then give my photography for agents to post.”

He has also discovered another niche: business owners that would like a professional photograph of the outside or inside of their business. He said, “My goal working with businesses is to create images they can post online or use in marketing materials in order to attract customers.”

What does he like best about his part-time work? “I like being able to help others make their business more successful.”

LUCAS KAY PHOTOGRAPHY Facebook: Lucaskayinteriors Telephone: 507-933-0411 Web: lucaskay.com

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HOT STARTZ!

Very New or Re-formed Businesses or Professionals New To Our Reading Area

MAPLETON

Heritage Place said other advantages include Heritage Place being adjacent to a park, the small-town feel of Mapleton, and the relatively small size of the business that enables employees to provide more personal service to residents.

HERITAGE PLACE Website: mapletoncommunityhome.com Phone: 507-524-3315

ART SIDNER

This community-owned, nonprofit business opened in January 2012 as a significant expansion to Mapleton Community Home. “(Heritage Place) is a combination of independent living and assisted living services in one building,” said 50-year-old administrator RoxAnne Gosson. “The benefit of combining the two is that a person can move in as independent and receive more services (such as assisted living) when or if their needs change, all while staying in the same apartment. It has 20 full bedroom apartments.” The facility is adjacent to the 65-bed Mapleton Community Home, a nursing care facility.

As for Gossen herself: “While going to MSU in the early ‘80s, I worked at a bank,” she said. “Many of the people that had money to put into bank accounts then were the elderly population that I totally fell in love with.” She realized banking wasn’t the “nurturing and caregiving” work she wanted for the rest of her life, so she returned to MSU to earn a master’s degree in gerontology, which she completed in 1987. After working for the Good Samaritan Society for about ten years, including stints in Mountain Lake and Waterville, and then at an assisted living facility in Mankato, she jumped at the opportunity to become administrator at Mapleton Community Home.

She said, “I had always had my sights set on working here, but they had a long-term administrator in for years. It has such a great reputation and was near my home in Mankato.” She

Comment on Hot Startz! at connectbiz.com

MANKATO

Fore Seasons Golf Brothers Josh and Kyle Blackman virtually grew up on the fairways and greens of Mankato Golf Club. In August 2012, they purchased Tee 2 Green, and renamed the full-service golf store “Fore Seasons Golf.”

“Our dad was a member of Mankato Golf Club,” said 40-year-old Josh Blackman, brother of 34-year-old Kyle. “For both of us, our earliest summer memories are of going to the Club, swimming at the pool, golfing all day, and going back to swimming. Our dad was really open to us tagging along with his friends to watch them all play golf on the weekends. They had a lot of fun playing.”

Blackman said golf became his focus one day at age 13, when he made the conscious decision of choosing playing a round of golf over going to baseball practice.

He and his brother aren’t hackers. Josh has won the Club championship four times and the 2005 Minnesota Golf Association Mid-Amateur Championship. Kyle has won the Loren Krugel Invitational, nearly ten professional “mini-tour” wins, and played in the U.S. Open in 2000 and 2001.

As for the latter, said Josh, “I caddied for my brother and being there at the U.S. Open was kind of surreal. Here we were just a couple of North Mankato kids showing up at Pebble Beach and the U.S. Open.”

As for their business, said Josh, “It’s a perfect fit for us. I like the fact that being a golf nut I get to see the latest greatest technology before anyone else. It’s all in the store. I get to see and touch it every day. And it’s fun helping customers wanting to get better, either through equipment or through lessons.”

The business sells golf equipment and apparel, and has two golf simulators, which many area golfers in organized leagues use to “play” some of the world’s best golf courses throughout the winter, including Pebble Beach. Fore Seasons Golf carries name brand lines such as Taylor-Made, Adidas, Under Armour, Callaway, Adams, and Cleveland. It also sells used equipment.

FORE SEASONS GOLF Location: 201 North Victory Drive (next to MGM Liquor) Phone: 507-386-7383

ART SIDNER

To be considered for one of three spots in the January Hot Startz!, email the editor at editor@connectbiz.com.

Businesses considered must have started—or changed greatly in form—within one year of our publishing date.

Professionals chosen must be new to our reading area.

Giving Back At I&S Group we place a strong emphasis on giving back to our communities, both as an organization and as individuals. We are proud that six of our employees serve on volunteer fire departments for their communities. This is just one example of the hundreds of civic and religious organizations that our firm and employees donate their time, talents, and money to.

I&S Group —a proud partner in our communities. Learn more at www.is-grp.com.

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PRESS RELEASES

To submit a press release for publication:

Email: editor@connectbiz.com Fax: 507-232-3373

Blue Earth

Madelia

From Express Diagnostics Int’l (EDI): EDI hosted Southern Minnesota Initiative Foundation (SMIF) President Tim Penny and SMIF board trustee Jean Burkhardt, through which the company received initial start-up support; and EDI began occupying a second building on a 10-acre campus in the Blue Earth Industrial Park.

Family physician Dr. Owadini Bandara joined Madelia Community Hospital & Clinic.

Fairmont From the Chamber: New members include Sauck Media Group (Truman).

The Joint Commission, the leading accreditor of health care organizations, named Mayo Clinic Health System Fairmont one of the nation’s “Top Performers on Key Quality Measures.”

Aging is an Honor

Lake Crystal From the Chamber: new members include Jackie Graham (ResCom Realty); and the Chamber will host candidate forums at LCWM Secondary School that will include Julie Rosen and Paul Marquardt, and city council and school board candidates.

Mankato From Minnesota Soybean: Minnesota Soybean Growers Association and Minnesota Soybean Research & Promotion Council named Thomas Slunecka as executive director of Minnesota Soybean; soybean farmers Lawrence Sukalski of Martin County and Brad Leiding of Blue Earth County hosted a 29-person trade team from China, with the event hosted by Minnesota Soybean Research and Promotion Council and United States Soybean Export Council.

Oleson+Hobbie Architects celebrated two years in business.

Mankato City Center Hotel named Mattie Eggimann as general manager.

From Paulsen Architects: Tami Paulsen was elected to the Minnesota Chamber of Commerce Board of Directors for 2012-13; the Paulsen Architects-designed Blue Earth Nicollet County Humane Society Riverside Regional Pet Shelter was awarded LEED Silver by the U.S. Green Building Council and verified by the Green Building Certification Institute.

www.pathstoneliving.org • 507-345-4576

Call Karla VanEman today!

(507) 345-4040

Think differently about work.

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Capstone Literacy Center, a holistic literacy instruction program to boost Mankato-area student reading skills, began a new partnership with St. Clair Schools.

From Eide Bailly: the firm promoted Adam Benson, Braden Wesley, Devon Soule, Nathan Mittelstadt and Rachael Pelzer to senior associates; Ryan Spaude, CFP, joined the Mankato office as a financial advisor; and Cory Merrill earned Certified Anti-Money Laundering Specialist certification from Association of Certified AntiMoney Laundering Specialists.

DuPont Pioneer announced a $2.5 million expansion of its Mankato corn research center.

Minnesota Precision Manufacturing Association held a manufacturing job fair at Verizon Wireless Center on October 22.

Snell Powersports & Equipment became a Stihl franchisee.

Marco assumed responsibility for the voice and data sales of Five Star Telecom, which services La Crosse, Eau Claire, and Madison.

Josh and Kyle Blackman purchased Tee 2 Green and renamed it Fore Seasons Golf.

MANKATO

Reitan Law Office Philip Reitan of Reitan Law Office was named a 2012 Minnesota Super Lawyer for workers’ compensation law.

Incentives for Job Creation SHOVEL VEL READY DY LOTS S

New Ulm Economic Development Corporation

507-233-4305 • www.nuedc.com nuedc@newulmtel.net

From Orthopaedic & Fracture Clinic: Joan Benoit Samuelson was headline speaker of the OFC Speaker Series at the Scheels and New Balance Sport & Health Expo; Dr. Kyle Swanson was recognized by FOCOS for carrying on his brother Andrew’s work in Ghana; and Andy Meyers became CEO. New Greater Mankato Growth members include Jackson Properties, American Family Insurance—Leah Hansen, United Commercial Upholstery, Ameriprise Financial—New Ulm, Courtyard by Marriott Hotel & Event Center, Davis Family Holdings/New Sweden Dairy, Cambria Sales & Marketing, Davisco Foods International, Sun Country Airlines, and The Friendly Confines Cheese Shoppe.

Educare Foundation approved Ed Waltman Mini Grants to enhance student educational opportunities at Kennedy, Hoover, and Washington Elementary Schools.

Joseph Bluth, of Manahan and Bluth, was named a 2012 Minnesota Super Lawyer.

Pioneer Bank held a series of “Kasasa” Around Town Getaway giveaway events at Maverick Bookstore, Jake’s Stadium Pizza, and Kwik Trip Monks Avenue.

From Leonard, Street and Deinard: Douglas Peterson and Wade Davis were named 2012 Minnesota Super Lawyers, and Peterson was named to “The Best Lawyers in America”; and Tammie Ptacek and Barbara Portwood were named “Top Women in Finance” by Finance & Commerce.

Schwickert’s Tecta America received Carlisle SynTec Systems’ 2012 Perfection Award, which goes only to the top five percent of Carlisle contractors.

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From Mayo Clinic Health System: Patty Ahl, regional manager of volunteer services, was named the “2012 Outstanding Volunteer Resource Professional” by the Health Care Auxiliary of Minnesota; emergency responders from Mankato completed Center for Domestic Preparedness training offered through the Department of Homeland Security Federal Emergency Management Agency; and Minnesota Bridges to Excellence recognized the Eastridge and Northridge primary care clinics for high-quality outcomes for patients with diabetes, vascular disease and/or depression.

Minnesota Coaching Association recognized Professional Certified Coach Diana Gabriel with the Gaston Award.

From HickoryTech: The board of directors declared a $0.145 dividend, a 3.5 percent increase; subsidiary Enventis achieved Cisco Master Managed Services Certification.

Farrish Johnson Law Office and Murphy & Young of Madelia merged effective October 1 and the combined firm will practice under the Farrish Johnson Law Office name.

VINE Faith in Action has a new website, vinevolunteers.com.

Three Eagles Communications hosts the public-invited, free, 50-booth, annual Southern Minnesota Christmas Festival on Friday November 16 from 3-9 at Verizon Wireless Center, and donations will benefit Toys for Tots.

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NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2012

The YWCA Women’s Leadership Conference November 7-8 at Verizon Wireless Center features speakers Margaret Anderson Kelliher, Patti Kelly, Dorothy Bridges, Rebecca Driscoll, and Sonia Choquette.

See mankatoywca.org.

New Ulm Dr. David Dorn of Noran Neurological Clinic sees neurology patients at New Ulm Medical Center.

From the Chamber: New members include Strategic Wealth, A to Zinnia Floral and Gifts, Volt Workforce Solutions, New Ulm Event Center, and Window and Door Co./Gutter Cutters; new board officers for 2012-13 include Eric Bode (New Ulm Real Estate), Betsy Pieser (New Ulm Furniture), and Brian Serbus (SouthPoint Federal Credit Union); new manager of Wells Fargo is Kelly Craddock; Connecting Point Technologies was renamed Thriveon; Kari Linbo of Route 1 Interiors completed ProKitchen Software training; August Schell Brewing Company debuted Schell’s Emerald Rye; George’s Fine Steaks and Spirits was recognized by the Minnesota Beef Council as providing a “Great Beef Eating Experience”; Ameriprise Financial moved to 15 S. Minnesota and advisor John Holmquist earned Chartered Financial Consultant designation; Laraway Roofing earned the 2012 Firestone Building Products Partner in Quality Award; KNUJ-AM was a National Association of Broadcasters

Marconi Radio Award finalist in the small market category; United Prairie Bank promoted Katie Nosbush to Personal Banker III; and Mary Ellen Domeier was honored at the 17th Annual Outsanding Directors Awards banquet for her board work with Bank Midwest and New Ulm Telecom.

North Mankato Three Eagles Communications named Denise Dose as sales manager and Cheryl Olson as account executive.

Junior Achievement of the Upper Midwest named Glen Taylor of Taylor Corporation a Business Hall of Fame Laureate.

Pioneer Bank broke ground on a 3,100 sq. ft. North Mankato branch office expansion, with Wilcon Construction and I&S Group involved.

Southern Minnesota Surgical added hair, vein, sunspot, and freckle removal to its aesthetic menu.

Designing architect Brunton Architects held a groundbreaking ceremony for the 45-unit Woodside Apartments project on Adams Street.

St. James From Mayo Clinic Health System: new hires include Lori Nusbaum as administrative assistant and Pepper Etters, physician assistant.

New businesses include Super Mercado Las Americas, JJ Smart Savings, and Tienda Mexicana.

President/CEO David Krause of Pioneer Bank named Brenda Beltz as chief technology officer and Kate Monnens as vice president operations.

Sleepy Eye From the Chamber: Julie Schmitt now hosts the “Community Accent” radio show heard on SAM 107.3 weekday mornings from 8:45-9:15 a.m., which includes happenings in Sleepy Eye, Springfield, Comfrey, Morgan, and other areas.

WASECA

Team Academy Charter School Te am Ac ad emy C har ter School was recognized as a “Reward School,” one of the top 15 percent highest-performing Title I schools in Minnesota.

Waseca La Pre’Chel Salon & Spa attended the fall hair show in Council Bluffs, Iowa.

From the Chamber: Waseca Lakeside Country Club celebrated 90 years in business and Kiesler’s Campground 40 years; Plant Source International purchased Shady Oaks Nursery; Waseca County News named new regional editor Suzanne Rook; Berry Pallets relocated to the industrial park and will build a 25,000 sq. ft. manufacturing plant; Colony Court was named Waseca’s 2012-13 “Business of the Year”; and new Chamber members include Out to Lunch, Danielle Androli Photography, and Family Tree Creations.

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Envision: Design That Works created a new brand and website for Muhammad Ali’s international cultural center.

From the Chamber: New members include IN-EX Communications (Le Sueur) and Inspire Bridal Boutique.

From the Chamber: Jeff & Kim Giese held an open house at their new business, Broadway Auto Repair; Cory Refrigeration and Heating relocated to Wells; and the City of Wells hired Stephen Bloom as city administrator.

www.agri-realty.com FOCUSED ON AGRICULTURE

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NATIONAL OPINION

In September, we learned an alarming fact from the U.S. Census Bureau: 46.2 million Americans are poor, a record high that’s unchanged since 2010. Some say the dismayingly high poverty rate, stuck at 15 percent, is just the latest sign of a weak economic recovery from a recession that created high unemployment. Clearly there is some truth to that, even though the Census Bureau mismeasures poverty by failing to include most welfare payments in calculating income. But the official poverty numbers tell us that something far more basic than the economy is profoundly sick: namely, the American family.

The fact is, the child poverty rate—one in

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five children, we’re told—was high before the recession and will remain so after it ends. And the most important cause of childhood poverty is the continuing collapse of marriage, including a dramatic rise in births to single women.

In New York state, for example, more than seven of every 10 poor families with children are headed by a single parent, most of them mothers.

Only about 7 percent of married couples with children in New York were poor in 2009, compared with over one-third of single-parent families (36 percent). In New York, marriage drops the probability of a child’s living in poverty by 81 percent. Such state numbers on marriage and poverty mirror the national ones. Ignoring the positive impact of marriage on children isn’t just unwise. It’s tragic.

In 2010, four of every 10 children born in New York were born outside marriage.

Sadly, the women most likely to have children without being married are those with the least ability to support children financially on their own. More than twothirds of births to women who are high school dropouts occur outside marriage.

Among women who are college graduates, only 11 percent of births are out of wedlock.

America is splitting into two economic castes: In the top, children raised by married couples with a college education; in

NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2012

the bottom, children raised by single mothers with a high school diploma or less. Remember this the next time someone tries to portray poverty as a purely economic Robert Rector phenomenon that tax policy, education and job training can solve.

What does it all mean in practical terms for the way we attack poverty?

The nation wisely spends billions of dollars a year to educate low-income children and billions more for means-tested welfare aid for single mothers. These are good investments.

But despite the massive, clearly demonstrated impact of marriage in reducing poverty, government does little or nothing to discourage births outside marriage—and nothing to encourage healthy marriages.

We need to develop new policies that nurture positive attitudes about marriage.

We need to provide clear and compelling facts about the value of marriage to at-risk youth. For instance, government ought to connect low-income couples with community resources to help them learn, or relearn, skills needed to build and sustain healthy, stable, long-term relationships— before they bring children into the world.

It’s also imperative to reform the welfare system to encourage rather than penalize marriage.

While we’re at it, we need to brush away many common misconceptions. Our biggest problem isn’t with teen pregnancy: Most non-marital births occur to women in their early 20s. In New York, girls under 18 account for only five of every 100 births outside marriage.

Nor is lack of access to birth control a significant factor.

Some claim unmarried fathers just aren’t “marriageable.” In fact, the overwhelming majority of fathers have jobs and, on average, higher earnings than the women with whom they have children. If they remained in the home, child poverty would drop dramatically.

Just as government discourages young people from doing drugs or dropping out of school— or, increasingly, eating unhealthy foods—it should expose the severe shortcomings of the “child first, marriage later” philosophy.

And are low-income single mothers culturally hostile to marriage? No. Research shows most look quite favorably on the institution. They simply don’t see marriage as something that should come before the baby carriage. That is the terrible misimpression we must correct.

Just as government discourages young people from doing drugs or dropping out of school— or, increasingly, eating unhealthy foods—it should expose the severe shortcomings of the “child first, marriage later” philosophy. Then and only then will we begin to lift millions of children out of poverty.

Robert Rector is senior research fellow in domestic policy at The Heritage Foundation. He is author of the report “Marriage: America’s Greatest Weapon Against Child Poverty.” The column first appeared in Daily News.

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NATIONAL OPINION

Recently, Apple rolled out its iPhone 5 to the eager anticipation of consumers, some of whom waited up all night for the bragging rights to own it first. Apple, whose share price of around $700 (in early October) makes it the world’s biggest corporation as measured by market value, has been on a tear—without government assistance.

Last week also brought news that yet another government-funded electric vehicle maker is having difficulties. Smith Electric, which produces electric trucks in Kansas City, withdrew its initial public offering of stock. CEO Bryan Hansel said, “We were unable to complete a transaction at a valuation or size that would be in the best interests of our company and its existing

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shareholders.”

In other words, financial markets didn’t esteem Smith Electric nearly as much as its founders would have liked.

Sm it h E l e c t r i c , Diana which received a $32 Furchtgott-Roth million Energy Department grant in March 2010 under the stimulus bill, is short on cash and has lost $128 million since 2009. It planned to produce 620 trucks in 2012, but rolled out just 79 in the first 6 months of the year, it told the Securities and Exchange Commission.

President Obama visited the company in July 2010, a year after it opened, and gave it—and the kind of industrial policy that has supported it—his personal endorsement. He said, “What you are proving here at Smith Electric is the promise of a brighter future.…You are setting a model for what we should be doing all across America. Congratulations.”

No matter that of the 33 energy loan guarantees made under the Energy Department’s programs, 26, or almost 80 percent, have shown signs of trouble. “Trouble” ranges from missed production goals to bankruptcy filings.

A report by the House Government Reform and Oversight Committee pub-

NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2012

lished in March reported that of the 27 loans issued under the Energy Department’s 1705 program, with commitments of $16 billion, 23 loans were judged by ratings agencies as “junk” because of their low credit quality.

The remaining four were rated BBB, a low investment grade.

Smith Electric might yet survive with private funds, but prospects look dim. It joins a list of many troubled companies that received government financial assistance.

To hear some politicians speak, you might think that the only way an American company can employ Americans is with help from Washington. Reasonable but uninformed people might conclude that Apple’s enormous success comes from the largess of the federal government: subsidies here, tax breaks there, and winks and promise everywhere. Apple demonstrates otherwise.

In remarks in Kansas City, the president mentioned Abound Solar, a solar panel company in Colorado “that’s going to create 2,000 construction jobs and 1,500 permanent jobs.”

Mr. Obama did not mention Apple, or any number of other successful American companies. Politicians rarely praise companies that create jobs without government subsidies.

Abound Solar filed for bankruptcy in July 2012 citing aggressive pricing by Chinese competitors. Abound had received a $400 million loan guarantee, and spent about $70

million before the Department of Energy halted its credit line. The company suspended operations and dismissed its 125 employees.

Both Republican and Democratic administrations have practiced green “industrial policy,” a phrase for the government’s deciding which new industries or startups to support with federal money or loan guarantees or tax benefits. “Green,” now in vogue, means renewable, non-carbonbased energy or energy conservation.

The authority for the Energy Department to issue loan guarantees, the Energy Policy Act of 2005, was passed by a Republican House and Senate and signed into law by George W. Bush. It authorized the issue of $4 billion of loan guarantees, a ceiling Congress later lifted in 2009 to $47 billion, to encourage the development of new technologies.

No Energy Department loan guarantees were issued by the Bush administration.

The Department wanted to make a loan to Solyndra, a Fremont, California solar company, but career officials at the Office of Management and Budget did not approve it, on the grounds that the project was not financially sound. As most people now know, the Obama White House was less cautious, and therein lies a cautionary tale.

The Obama Energy Department rushed loan guarantees to Solyndra, with influence from campaign contributor George Kaiser, according to emails made public by the

House Energy and Commerce Committee, so that Vice President Biden could appear at the factory in September 2009. Solyndra declared bankruptcy in September 2011 after receiving $528 million in federal loans.

It’s not just Solyndra and Abound Solar that have gone bankrupt.

In August 2010, Beacon Power Corporation received a $43 million federal loan guarantee to build a $69 million, 20-megawatt flywheel energy storage plant in New York. After receiving $39 million of the loan, the company filed for bankruptcy in October 2011 and was subsequently bought by a private equity firm.

Ener1, a rechargeable batteries maker for the transportation, utility grid and industrial electronics markets, declared bankruptcy on January 26, 2012 after spending $55 million of a $118.5 million Department of Energy grant.

Evergreen Solar closed its doors and moved operations to China in January of 2011 after receiving $58 million in grants from the State of Massachusetts. It filed for bankruptcy in January 2012, citing lack of financing.

Failures are not limited to American companies. In December 2011 the first publicly traded German solar company, Solon, declared bankruptcy, citing competition from low-cost Chinese imports.

A myriad of other German solar companies followed suit, including Solar Millenium

(December 2011), Odersun (March), and Inventux, Soltecture, and Sovello (May).

Solarworld had to renegotiate terms of a $459 million loan in August, following announcements on June that it plans to layoff 10 percent of its workforce.

Some Chinese solar companies are also in difficulties. China’s photovoltaic solar manufacturing industry is now facing a crisis caused by industrial overcapacity, according to Xianping Lang, professor of finance at the Chinese University of Hong Kong.

The Chinese company LDK Solar, the world’s second largest polysilicon solar wafer producer, defaulted this summer on $95 million owed to suppliers. The local government of Xinyu City in Jiangxi Province bailed out the company to stop it from going bankrupt. If LDK were to collapse, according to reports in the China Business Journal, it would lead to a collapse of hundreds of photovoltaic related enterprises and destroy Xinyu City’s economic development plans.

Right now, many Americans are pondering which mobile phone to buy from manufacturers that don’t take government handouts. Few Americans are buying government-subsidized electric cars, solar panels, or wind turbines. It’s time for these government subsidies to end.

Diana Furchtgott-Roth is a senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute.

She is a contributing editor of RealClearMarkets.com, where this column first appeared.

NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2012

CONNECT Business Magazine

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