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Congratulationsonyour 2021PrairieBusiness Leaders &Legacyaward!

Thankyouforthecontributionyou maketothecustomers,employeesand communitieswe’reprivilegedtoserve. We arehonoredtohaveanauthentic, innovativeleader likeCraigguidingusin business,banking,andin life,leadingby examplethroughStarion’svalues.

Congratulations to this year’s Leaders & Legacies Award Winners!

Prairie Business is pleased to announce 2021’s Leaders & Legacies recipients.

These are executives of the highest caliber, who have demonstrated time and again what it means to lead by example and hard work.

To each of the nine recipients, Prairie Business extends its warmest thanks for all they do to help make the region a better place to live and work. Their careers have not gone unnoticed, including those who have retired or plan to do so; their work still impacts many. Once again, thank you and congratulations!

Craig Larson was born and raised in Valley City, N.D. After graduating from Valley City High School he went on to earn an undergraduate degree in finance from Arizona State University. He also graduated with honors from the Colorado Graduate School of Banking at Boulder, Colo.

Larson began his career with Starion Bank as comptroller in 1985. He served in various capacities until being named president and CEO in 1997. In 2017, he was named chairman of the board. Under Larson’s leadership, Starion Bank has grown from approximately $200 million in assets and five North Dakota branches to $1.60 billion in assets with 13 branches in North Dakota and three branches in the Madison, Wis., area.

The financial performance of the bank consistently receives the highest ranking possible from BauerFinancial, an independent bank rating firm, and has earned recognition among the nation’s top performers by Independent Banker magazine.

Larson attributes much of this success to being a values-driven, family-owned organization with a strong culture of giving back to the communities they serve.

He has effectively positioned the organization as a “supercommunity bank,” with the sophisticated products and broad offerings of the largest banks – at the same time offering the personal service, flexibility and access to decision-makers offered by small community banks.

Living out Starion’s value of giving back, Larson has long been active in the community and region serving on a variety of boards in the banking industry, higher education, community and children’s services and conservation.

Recently, he served as the advisory board chair for the Prairie Family Business Association, an organization that builds relationships and offers high-quality educational programs that promote successful family businesses. Larson currently serves on the Board of Trustees of the Minnesota, North Dakota, South Dakota Chapter of the Nature Conservancy, in support of its mission to leverage nature as a tool to build a brighter future for all North Dakotans.

Married to his wife, Shelley, for 30 years, the couple raised two beautiful daughters, Paige, 27, and Annika, 22.

Bill Hinks is founder and chairman of the board of Furniture Mart USA, the nation’s 35th largest furniture retailer based in Sioux Falls. The three-generation, family-owned company operates 59 stores under the Ashley HomeStore, Furniture Mart and Unclaimed Freight Furniture brands in 35 communities across six states – South Dakota, North Dakota, Minnesota, Iowa, Wisconsin and Illinois.

William A. Hinks

Hinks’ first retail and customer service experiences came at the age of 12. His family operated a grocery store, open daily, connected to their home in Siren, Wis. At age 22, with $50 in his pocket, Hinks drove his old Buick to South Dakota to begin a remarkable career that spans six decades and counting.

Sioux Falls, S.D.

From route salesman for Old Home Bakery to service station owner to mobile home developer, Hinks embarked on a variety of successful business ventures in the 1960s and ‘70s that led to his ultimate entrepreneurial discovery. New mobile homes came with surplus furniture, so Hinks hosted semi-annual furniture sales from his garage. Inspired by their success, he attended his first furniture market in North Carolina and the rest, as they say, is history.

“It all started with a single store and a dream,” recalled Jim Heinitz, long-time friend and retired CEO at Furniture Mart USA. “Bill’s vision has inspired every employee to strive for success, support others, and always lead with a giving attitude.”

Hinks opened his first Unclaimed Freight Furniture store in 1977. In the 1990s, he purchased and renovated the Western Mall in Sioux Falls, anchoring it with his first Furniture Mart. In 2001, the company opened its first of what is now 31 Ashley HomeStores.

“Bill has demonstrated a high level of professionalism, business savvy and leadership ability all with an eye toward providing exceptional customer service,” said Todd Wanek, president & CEO of Ashley Furniture Industries. “In addition, Bill and his family, along with his employees, play an active role in the community. It certainly goes without saying that we are proud to be associated with Bill and his entire team.”

Today, Furniture Mart USA has grown to nearly 1,200 employees with annual sales topping $250M. Hinks is an icon in the furniture industry – a two-time recipient of the Ashley HomeStore Chairman’s Award and a member of the South Dakota Hall of Fame recognizing his legacy of professional and philanthropic leadership.

Charlie Vein, who retired this spring, co-founded AE2S in October 1991. Over his 45-year career, Vein mastered the art of forging meaningful relationships. Whether with clients or staff, state and federal agencies, legislators or local politicians, he made personal connections that benefited drinking water projects across the region.

Vein dedicated his engineering career to improving drinking water quantity and quality for residents across North Dakota, Minnesota, South Dakota, and beyond. Some of his highlights include serving as the project manager for the modernization of the city of Grand Forks Water Treatment Plant in 1984. He also led the effort in rebuilding the water treatment system after the historic flood of 1997 in Grand Forks, as well as the city’s subsequent recovery efforts.

Charlie Vein

During the height of the Bakken oil boom in western North Dakota, Vein invested considerable time working to find solutions to the problem of insufficient water supplies. He helped coordinate the infrastructure needs for the city of Williston, which more than doubled in population between 2010 and 2020. He was also instrumental in the creation of the Western Area Water Supply Authority through legislation in 2011.

In addition, Vein lists Ransom Sargent Water Users, Langdon Rural Water District, Grand Forks Traill Water District, and the Tri-County Water Treatment Plant as the career highlights of his rural water projects in North Dakota.