LL LL AWARD WINNERS ANNOUNCED

CARRIE MCDERMOTT

This edition features our annual Leaders & Legacies award recipients. Prairie Business received a number of excellent nominations for this honor and our staff also nominated a few individuals.

Career highlights and accomplishments were reviewed, as well as the positive impact the individuals have made to not only their organizations but in their communities. This year we’ve selected seven outstanding business leaders in the region to honor with the Leaders & Legacies award.

The 2023 award recipients come from industries including health care, financial services, logistics, legal services and construction.

Throughout the year, Prairie Business recognizes top business professionals and exceptional leaders in several other contests, but Leaders & Legacies honors only top executives in the region, past and present. Each honoree has established high-level leadership throughout his and her career, influencing lives and impacting livelihoods. We are happy to celebrate and honor this year’s recipients. They are this region’s leaders who are role models for the next generation of executives.

CONGRATULATIONS TO ALL!

FORMER MANAGING PARTNER, CURRENT SHAREHOLDER, VOGEL LAW FIRM

Bismarck, N.D. • Brenda Blazer was the managing partner of Vogel Law Firm’s Bismarck, North Dakota, office for 18 years, from January 2004 to January 2023. She’s currently a shareholder in the Vogel Law Firm, practicing in the Bismarck office. Blazer works in the areas of medical malpractice defense, personal injury and insurance defense.

She earned her Juris Doctorate from the University of North Dakota School of Law, Grand Forks, in 1984. Prior to her law career, Blazer worked as a paramedic on a hospital-owned ambulance service. In her nearly 40 years as a practicing attorney, Blazer has completed and taught numerous legal education courses.

Blazer’s example of consummate professionalism in law, business and her community has inspired positive change on institutional and individual levels for more than 40 years. During her time as managing partner at Vogel Law Firm, the Bismarck office has flourished with 12 full-time attorneys and nine staff members. Her positive attitude, high standards, charitable spirit and genuine care for each client she serves and employee she leads has created an office culture that embodies the firm’s vision of “Excellence and Integrity in an Atmosphere of Respect and Cooperation.”

Her work with charitable organizations, including the MSA United Way and the Rotary Club, have produced tangible and long-lasting improvements to the lives of numerous people within her community. While serving as vice president to the