business

Talk about niche marketing. Minneapolis ad man Doug deGrood has developed an Internet retail site devoted to hockey moms called, not surprisingly, Hockey Mama (hockey-mama.com). The apparel includes stocking hats, beanies, baseball caps, jackets and fleece vests bearing the Hockey Mama logo.

According to the Hockey Mama website, the clothing line is dedicated to "the real MVP of youth hockey."

The site launched a year ago with limited marketing. As this hockey season approaches, deGrood, a principal of the GdB agency, intends to have a presence in local hockey publications this fall and winter and purchase some dasher board space in popular Twin Cities ice arenas.

No word on any endorsement by Sarah Palin, the first hockey mom to run for U.S. vice president.

Lost in the Deanna Coleman headlines last week were two appeals court decisions upholding the authority of Minneapolis attorney Doug Kelley to serve as both court-appointed receiver and bankruptcy trustee in the unwinding of the complex corporate estate of Tom Petters and his associates in their $3.65 billion Ponzi scheme.

In separate opinions, the Eighth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals denied efforts by Ritchie Capital Management to remove Kelley from the bankruptcy cases for alleged conflicts of interest and to intervene in the receivership in order to protect its investments.

Ritchie and Kelley have been at odds throughout the Petters civil case and the two appeals court decisions were the latest in a string of setbacks for Ritchie, which lost upward of $200 million.

Thane Ritchie, the fund's manager, is partly behind a documentary called "The Second Fraud," which alleges wrongdoing against creditors by the judicial system.

Veteran business attorney Pierce McNally and financial executive Duane Harris have joined the management team at fast-growing OutsourceOne, a benefits administration firm that expects big growth from implementation of the new federal health care law.

Outsource One, started by CEO Bill Mehus in 1988, uses its customized software platform to provide supplemental insurance products offered by insurers to individuals, the self-employed and people between jobs who are put into pools of applicants who don't have to go through individual underwriting and can buy at group rates.

The company expects its expertise and relationships with major health, disability and other underwriters to come in handy as increasing numbers of employers step away from responsibility for selecting health care coverage, and instead give employees a sum of money to buy insurance.

They also see opportunities as small employers buy insurance through big-group pools.

"We think we will double the size of the company in short order," said McNally, who has been an advisory board member for seven years.

McNally will join the company from the law firm of Gray, Plant & Mooty as chief strategic officer and legal counsel.

Harris, CEO of Capital Management Resources and who also has been an advisory board member, will join as chief financial officer.

For the third year in a row, Elle magazine has named the Jon Charles Salon one of the nation's top 100 salons in the United States. Jon Charles has salons in Uptown Minneapolis and Wayzata. On another note, Entrepreneur.com highlighted "the Jon Charles stimulus plan" in an article titled "Big marketing stunts, small business style."

The online publication said the promotion, in which first-time customers could reduce their bill up to 50 percent by documenting the percentage of loss in their 401(k) plan, brought in 700 new customers in two months and had an 88 percent retention rate, nearly triple the national average. The promotion began in 2009 and continues.

DAVID PHELPS, NEAL ST. ANTHONY