Premier Partners
Chris Wiener’s effortless, boyish smile never seems to fade, and neither does Lady and Champ’s enthusiasm for ear scratching, nor the autumn sunlight piercing the rear barn window to warm a deserted barn-wood chair. The idyllic setting could have been an inspiring Norman Rockwell Saturday Evening Post cover.
In her 32 years of selling real estate, Karla Van Eman seems to have done a remarkable job bonding and connecting with her clients—in an industry in which the agent-client connection is viewed as the ultimate barometer of success.
“I’ve told the story of our business many times,” says Megan Turek, sales manager and managing editor of Henderson-based Closing The Gap, her animated dialogue somersaulting forward and off her pursed lips as an Olympic gymnast from a balance beam to a floor mat. “It’s a very personal story. It’s a family business.”
From brides to businesses, Taylor Corporation has been providing communication products, technologies and services to customers over the last 33 years. Important to Taylor Corporation’s business portfolio is National Recognition Products, a company known for its state-of-the-art class ring designs, industry-leading graduation announcement designs and a selection of those tassels that adorn graduation caps.
Apparently, wealthy banker Williams Watkins Smith of Sleepy Eye had an unquenchable thirst for beveled leaded glass, meticulous red oak woodwork, exquisite stained glass, and serpentine wrap-around porches. He must have, because he swaddled himself in the Queen Anne-style finery.
They finish each other’s sentences. They answer personal questions the same way, even when one hasn’t heard the other’s answers. They’ve been making music together since they were 11 and 13—for 46 years now. They farm together and operate a tour business together. They’re Peter and Paul Wendinger, founders of the Wendinger Band and Wendinger Travel.
Listening to CEO Brad Mitteness explain what Le Center-based Camas Inc. produces can be a little like reading the mathematical equations underpinning Einstein’s theory of relativity. Tired eyes gloss over as with shellac; confused, the mind shifts from neutral to park.
The company also mirrors Einstein’s theory of relativity in a more energizing, robust fashion: the possibilities seem almost endless.
A long-shot gamble paid off, and nursing home Lake Shore Inn of Waseca remained a viable enterprise because of it.
In 1987, recent Minnesota State University MBA graduate Pete Madel III gambled when accepting a position at the nonprofit Cystic Fibrosis Foundation—Minnesota chapter. Starting at the Foundation just didn’t have the panache of being a junior executive for, say, Cargill, General Mills or 3M.
It’s that corner office with a view everyone purportedly wants. Linda Hachfeld has it. She’s convinced having a daily dose of natural sunshine and being able to gaze out onto trees and blue sky when looking up from her computer screen is good for her.
“This is such a nurturing, healthy environment,” says Hachfeld, a business owner, author and publisher. “I see birds, squirrels, deer and an occasional turkey. I’m a country girl at heart and nature is one of my powerful motivators.”
