Lifeis about leaving alegacy

Four Generations Of Living First

Our histor y begins with Farmer ’s State Bank in Arnegard, North Dakota The bank was issueda char ter and opened for business on May 1, 1910 In 1911 , Odin Stenehjem became thefirst Farmer ’s State Bank cashier, hisbrother, Gerhard Stenehjembecame itsfirst President. It was theonly bank in McKenzie County to survive the Great Depressionand reopen af ter President Franklin Delano Roosevelt ordered the banks closed fora week in March, 1933.

In 1934, thebank moved to Watford City when it wasnamed theCounty Seat of McKenzie County At that time, thename was changed to FirstInternational Bank. “Never a Loss of a Depositor ’s Dollar,” wasnotonly a slogan , but a point of pride for thefamily-owned bank, as the countr y, and North Dakota’s residentsmoved forward from the Great Depression.

Today, the four th generation of Stenehjem bankers leads FIBT. With Chairmanand CEO, Stephen L. Stenehjem at the helm , the bank nowoperates28 offices in North Dakota , Minnesota ,and Arizona. Our foundationhas been builton thebondsbetween our employeesandour customers. FIBT remains committed to those relationships, while at the same time, we continue to grow our footprint and product offerings to best serve our clients . FIBT is a full-service financial institution, offering insurance*, wealth management*, and banking solutions.

John M. Kutch President and CEO Trinity Health Minot, N.D.

John Kutch leads Minot-based Trinity Health, a locally owned and operated healthcare system with facilities in nine communities in North Dakota and a workforce of close to 3,000.

Upon arriving at Trinity in 2009, Kutch led a successful transformation focusing on a ServiceFIRST culture, best practices, leveraging technology, and a rapid cycle model for improving care delivery. Under the motto “Reinventing Health,” Trinity Health positioned itself as the premier care system for northwest North Dakota, with improved patient outcomes and growth. Within six years, it was able to enter the next phase of its strategic plan of “Making More Possible” for patients, families, and communities, something that has been described as a complete rebranding that symbolized Trinity’s commitment to wellness, collaboration and compassion.

The rebranding coincided with the groundbreaking in 2018 for a $300 million-plus healthcare campus and medical district.

Further demonstrating Kutch’s leadership, Trinity established the first drive-thru COVID-19 test site in North Dakota and was the first to mandate masking in all its facilities.

David Hogue, Trinity board member, said Kutch’s leadership during the pandemic has been “outstanding,” having, among other things, “immediately established a leadership team to deal directly with operational issues that related to the pandemic, such as shortages of supplies previously taken for granted, and apprehension among the workforce about new safety issues.”

Kristi Magnuson Nelson grew up in the grocery business, having started bagging groceries and working in customer service when she was just 13 years old at the family marketplace in Grand Forks, N.D. It’s a business that has been good to her; likewise, she has been good to it.

Hugo’s Family Market was founded in 1939 by Nelson’s grandparents, Hugo and Dorothy Magnuson. Hugo Magnuson and Curt Magnuson, Nelson’s father, expanded the business to include stores in both North Dakota and Minnesota.

It would later see even further expansion under Nelson’s leadership.

After attending the University of North Dakota, where she earned a bachelor’s degree in criminal justice, she worked for a time with at-risk youth in Crookston, Minn., but the family business drew her back to her roots.

In 1998 she began working alongside her father and grandfather as the director of marketing and advertising. Seven years later, at the age 102, Hugo Magnuson died, followed two years later, in 2007, by the death of Curt Magnuson.

He also said Kutch cares deeply about his employees: “He wants to know about their personal life and what challenges they have in the work environment,” and that he “regularly reviews progress on long-term strategic goals and assigns individual responsibility for achieving those goals.”

Patrick Holien, Trinity board chair, said his leadership style is “most obvious when one is dealing with his team members, a line cook in nutrition services as they present their case on a Gemba Walk or the CFO as they present financials to the board, and you see how they own the show and clearly accept that ownership with pride. In addition and perhaps most notable, our medical staff and management team function as one and move to accomplish the same goals. It takes a special leadership style to accomplish that and Mr. Kutch has it.”

Kutch, however, is quick to attribute Trinity’s success to his employees.

“Without exceptional engagement and enthusiasm from an outstanding workforce and medical staff, we never could have completed the transition to make more possible,” he said.

But the store was not without leadership. Nelson took over the day-to-day operations, and as president and CEO she has led Hugo’s expansion to include a total of 10 grocery stores located in the North Dakota and Minnesota communities of Grand Forks, East Grand Forks, Crookston, Thief River Falls, Jamestown, Grafton and Park Rapids as well as five liquor stores in Grand Forks, East Grand Forks, Jamestown and Grafton. Most recently she led the process of developing a new store in downtown Grand Forks, which broke ground last fall.

“Kristi has carried on her family’s tradition and even expanded on that with stores in multiple communities, including with Caribou Coffee and Hugo’s Wine and Spirits,” said Barry Wilfahrt, president & CEO of the Grand Forks-East Grand Forks Chamber of Commerce. He said she’s had a significant impact on both her family’s business and the communities they serve. “She is someone who genuinely cares about her employees and customers. And she gives back to the community in so many ways, many times anonymously through charities. She really, sincerely cares and that is evident by the way Hugo’s operates.”

Randy L. Newman CEO, President and Chairman of the Board Alerus Financial N.A. and Alerus Financial Corp. Grand Forks, N.D.

Randy Newman grasped his industry early in his career and hasn’t looked back. It’s a career that has spanned a number of leadership roles and accomplishments that have earned him many prestigious awards.

He now can add Leaders & Legacies to the list.

Barry Wilfahrt, president and CEO of Grand Forks-East Grand Forks Chamber of Commerce, said there’s no doubt about it, Newman has a strong track record and pointed out that Alerus Financial is one of those successes.

“Alerus is another one of those companies that gives back to the community,” he said, noting the company has strong values of integrity because of its leadership, namely, Newman.

Newman’s journey with Alerus Financial, formerly First National Bank North Dakota, began in 1981 but his ambition, drive and expertise earned him the title of president just six years later, in 1987, and he was named CEO in 1995.

A glimpse of his leadership abilities: Newman oversees the $2.7 billion commercial bank that has a wealth management division of $6 billion assets under management, $28 billion assets under administration, and annually originates $1 billion of residential mortgages in its franchise markets.

Prior to joining Alerus Financial, he taught corporate finance and business strategy courses at the University of North Dakota, and served from 2012 to 2018 as a director of the Ninth Federal Reserve Bank in Minneapolis and as a director of the Bank Holding Company Association, a seven-state regional association. From 1998-2007, he served on the Board of Directors of the Federal Home Loan Bank in Des Moines, serving the last four years as its chairman.

His successful career path also includes serving on committees, including having been designated an audit committee financial expert while serving on the board of FHLBDM.

He received his BSBA in 1975 and MBA in 1979 from the University of North Dakota, and has served in leadership and on community boards in many civic organizations.

He has been recognized with many awards, including the U.S. Small Business Administration’s “1998 ND Phoenix Award” for leadership with small businesses during Grand Forks’ Flood and Fire Disaster in 1997. He was awarded Grand Forks’ prestigious Henry Havig award in 2007.

Wilfahrt said Newman has led Alerus to make a positive impact in the community and that for this and other accomplishments he is “very deserving” of the Leaders & Legacies award.

Gary Petersen doesn’t like a lot of attention. Any success he achieves, he told Prairie Business, is in large part due to the influence of others. But those who work closely with Petersen say he’s a standout leader who helps others achieve their own success.

“Gary is not only a leader, but he’s also a thinker,” said Deen K.J. Axtman, Cornerstone’s chief operation officer. “Conversations with him are thought-provoking as he challenges all of us to be our best. He is supportive and empowering.”

As chairman of the Board for Cornerstone Bank and Cornerstone Holding Company, Petersen brings experience to North Dakota and South Dakota banking that include metro areas, rural areas, Indian Reservations and the Bakken oil region.

He started his career as regulator, which brought a diverse perspective as he moved into leading smalltown banking, which colleagues describe as a diverse field in which even leaders fill various roles. Petersen’s experience became even more diverse as he led his small-town bank through a successful merger that resulted in growth to 11 locations.

Axtman said he has always understood the importance of industry and community involvement.

“He is a true leader,” she said. “The culture at Cornerstone is led by him, and he personally lives our nine values every day with integrity. He is not only a great leader at the bank, but also for the state and industry, serving in various roles with the Banker’s Association and the Bank of North Dakota. His roots are deeply embedded in doing the right thing, and in the role that a community bank is responsible for in North Dakota.”

Petersen, who earned his bachelor of business administration and Juris Doctorate degrees from the University of North Dakota, is a member of the State Bar Association of North Dakota. He currently is chairman of the Bank of North Dakota Advisory Board, the only state-owned bank in the country. He is a past director and chairman for the North Dakota Bankers Association Board and was previously a member of the North Dakota Department of Banking and Financial Institutions Board.

He has also served as a member of the 9th District Federal Reserve Community Depository Institutions Advisory Council and on various American Bankers Association Committees. He has served on numerous other community boards and has actively volunteered in community events.