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Delta's new CEO keeping ties here
Richard Anderson, who has lived and worked in the Twin Cities for 17 years, soon will be moving to Atlanta to become Delta Air Lines' CEO.
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Richard Anderson, who has lived and worked in the Twin Cities for 17 years, soon will be moving to Atlanta to become Delta Air Lines' CEO.
But Anderson, 52, will not be vanishing from the Twin Cities business scene. He said he plans to remain on the boards of Medtronic and Cargill.
Since 2004, Anderson served as an executive vice president at Minnetonka-based UnitedHealth Group Inc. He was the CEO of Eagan-based Northwest Airlines from 2001 to 2004, and joined the health care industry after 14 years at Northwest and three years at Continental Airlines.
A Texas native, Anderson and his wife, Susan, are bound for Atlanta.
"I don't think you can underestimate the fact that he is a Southerner going to a great Southern brand," said John Dasburg, a former Northwest CEO who splits his time between his native Florida and Minnesota.
All in the family
Medtronic's Bill Hawkins was accompanied to his first shareholders' meeting as CEO last week by three family members who have benefited from advances in medical technology.
First, there was his father, Jim, who has eight coronary stents implanted in his chest (several made by Medtronic).
Then there was his uncle, Alan, a World War II vet who suffered from an essential tremor disorder because of a shrapnel wound incurred at the German front in 1945. Two years ago, at the age of 89, he was implanted with Medtronic's Activa deep-brain stimulation device to restore control to his right hand. And, there was Hawkins' father-in-law, King Doyle, a "bionic man" who has a Medtronic heart valve and pacemaker, plus a new hip.
What's in a name?
Four months after first landing on the Minneapolis business landscape, and one false start concerning its name, the marketing arm of Bonfire Partners is now known as Denali, in honor of the Alaskan mountain peak that's part of a national park.
Denali, whose clients include Geek Squad, DSW shoes, Life Time Fitness and Sun Country Airlines, specializes in branding and loyalty programs.
Its managing partners are seasoned Twin Cities marketing pros Peter Brennan, Greg Heinemann, Mark Lacek, Mark Lenss and Margaret Murphy.
Bonfire Partners originally was going to call it -- what else? -- Bonfire. But the decision was made to keep Bonfire for the corporate name and select another for the marketing arm.
LIZ FEDOR, JANET MOORE, DAVID PHELPS
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