Recent content from Neal St. Anthony
Tyson Gay running with heavy heart after daughter's death in shooting
Tyson Gay, at 35, is still sprinting, but his daughter's death is a tragedy that torments him daily.
Joyce and Todd Brenny built a trucking company they would want to work for
Joyce and Todd Brenny wanted their namesake company to be employee-centric.
Minn. business owner juggling two jobs: "I sleep from 6 p.m. to 11 p.m."
Bob Carlson, founder of Roseville-based Our Vision Recycling, is the rare CEO who works an additional 40 hours five nights a week at a second job.
Helping the rich get richer is key to U.S. Bancorp growth plan
U.S. Bancorp is doubling down on its very profitable wealth management business.
Business and owners won a few from the 2017 Minnesota Legislature
There is plenty for business and other interests to like and dislike in a $46 billion, two-year budget that touches every Minnesotan.
Former Fabcon CEO plans to duplicate big-company success with small Glass Art Design
A year ago, Mike LeJeune ran a Twin Cities manufacturer with 1,000 employees pushing sales of $300 million. Today, LeJeune owns 18-employee Glass Art Design, a glass designer and fabricator on the north edge of the Warehouse District. He hopes to make it to $5 million in sales within a couple of years.
An immigrant-owned eatery on reviving Chicago Avenue cooks again
The grill almost went cold last weekend at Best Steak & Gyros House. Cambodian war refugees Sophal Nhep and his wife, Tevy, lost their lease…
Groups hope $25M fund will preserve lower-priced rentals in Twin Cities
The pool of money, to be announced Tuesday, is expected to acquire up to 1,000 units of rental housing and make them available at discounted rents for up to 15 years.
Neal St. Anthony: Family-owned Rosenthal Interiors took a chance on hip
Owner Rosie Lebewitz will celebrate a "grand opening" of what she's renamed Rosenthal Interiors next month. The first opening was by her great grandparents in…
CEO Kashkari has Minneapolis Fed reaching deep into the community
Neel Kashkari, president of the Minneapolis Federal Reserve Bank has not tread softly in his first 16 months on the job Kashkari, who was hired…
MCCD, other growing nonprofit lender-advisers stimulate many tiny businesses
Nonprofit lender-advisers are helping small businesses get their feet underneath them.
Medical device giant Philips buys St. Paul-based RespirTech, maker of vests to assist breathing
The St. Paul company makes vests to help patients clear their lungs.
CheckNGN brings Twin Cities millennials together with auto shops
CheckNGN app is the first in Minnesota aiming to connect drivers in the Twin Cities with independent mechanics
Sun Country's performance contracted in 2016
Minnesota-based Sun Country competes in a U.S. industry dominated by the Goliath likes of Delta, United and American.
Contract manufacturer MDI expands in northern Minnesota
The firm will spend $9 million at three locations, including a new plant in Hibbing.
Minnesota employers getting creative in the hunt for good workers in good economy
The No. 1 lament of Minnesota employers has seemingly moved from taxes to finding trainable workers. It sure beats the Great Recession layoffs and losses…
Minnesota nonprofit helps build women's hospital in Afghanistan
The Bayat-Matter hospital, to be built in Kabul near two universities, boasts operating rooms and a maternity ward and provides needed medical services, particularly treatment for fistulas, a complication of childbirth that especially occurs in teen mothers.
Industry-community IT-training programs help fill industry demand for well-paid workers
Ahmed Mohamed is one of hundreds of reasons the fledgling Minneapolis-St. Paul TechHire initiative is having success training nontraditional adults with technology aptitudes who usually…
Mpls. health care company unfazed by changes to industry
Ability is a low-profile, Minneapolis-based software company of 600-plus employees that electronically links health care providers, from a solo doctor's office to multilocation hospital systems, to payers, such as commercial insurers and Medicare.
Former investment adviser sentenced to 72 months
A former Twin Cities investment adviser has been sentenced to 72 months in prison for stealing from clients.Bradley T. Smegal, 63, who moved to the…
Two Bettys Green Cleaning Co. has found a winning formula
This week, Two Bettys will be honored as the Minnesota Women-Owned Small Business of the Year by the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) at the SBA's annual awards banquet.
White Earth Tribe is sending its wild rice to France
The Minnesota tribe is a featured player at a big food festival in Tours, and officials hope that's only the beginning.
President Donald Trump's policy posturing showcases his 'dark' and 'lite' sides
Japan’s finance minister last week dismissed a proposal from the United States to pursue a bilateral trade agreement with Japan, in favor of the Trans-Pacific…
Wabash National injects new life into Little Falls' shuttered boat factory
Indiana-based Wabash National has acquired for $3 million the just-shuttered Larson Boat plant, a nearly century-old business in the Minnesota town.
Elizabeth Lilly opens her own investment shop in St. Paul
Investment manager Elizabeth "Beth" Lilly has never been shy about making a call.
Brooklyn Park-based Mocon sold to larger Ametek
The sale of the 54-year-old firm further erodes the ranks of Minnesota's public companies.
St. Paul entrepreneur is no fan of border tax
Devee McNally, the founder in 1990 of St. Paul's MadeSmart, regrets that vote last November for President Donald Trump.
Retired Toro boss credits the worker-owners with much of company's success
Mike Hoffman, who retired Nov. 1 as chief executive of Toro Co., began at the company as an equipment-service representative in 1977.
Open Arms, recovered from financial trauma, grows as meal provider
Open Arms, the Minneapolis nonprofit business that prepares thousands of meals weekly for the elderly and people with chronic diseases, has recovered from a six-figure financial fraud perpetrated by a former kitchen manager five years ago.
Minnesota small food companies growing in an otherwise stagnant grocery industry
Dozens of these companies have sprung up in homes and kitchen incubators around the Twin Cities in recent years. Not all make it.
Jim Doyle was writing a business book, then tragedy struck
Doyle started a couple of years ago to write a book drawing on 40 years of experience as an employee and consultant about how to be an engaged, motivated employee and how to deal with the almost-inevitable between-job transitions.
How TheDataBank avoided a race to the bottom
CEO Chris Hanson and Mark Paquette, the chief technology officer of TheDataBank, never planned to get rich when they formed a software firm 20 years…
Time to move ahead with need-based preschool plan
The Minnesota Legislature should, after a decade of study and promising results, finally move to fully fund the high-quality day care and preschool that will…
Robert Dunn, who balanced business with environmentalism, dies at 94
A small-business owner, conservationist and Republican legislator from Princeton in the 1960s and '70s, Dunn was an architect of landmark environmental legislation.
Chinese immigrant sisters battle for success in construction industry
Jane Yuen-Lin Mahowald is a grateful immigrant, small businesswoman and citizen.And Mahowald, 63, backed by her twin sister Winnie Yuen-Yee Crosbie, a successful Realtor and…
Aviation Charter's comeback signified in CEO's big award
CEO Shirley Wikner of Aviation Charter has built the Eden Prairie-based fly, fuel and repair business into a 10-plane, 54-employee company that has improved its…
Ousted United Language Group CEO Jeff Brink battles Northern Pacific Group
The former executive claims in a lawsuit he was unjustly fired by a private equity firm that took his ideas and defamed him to employees.
For a century, YMCA at U of M has lifted thousands to new heights
Brenda Hernandez, 22, a senior at the University of Minnesota, bumps into her dad once in awhile on campus. Her father, a once-undocumented Mexican immigrant,…
Makin Bacon inventor says business is threatened by online impostors
Makin Bacon is threatened by online peddlers such as China's Alibaba Group and eBay that they say allow counterfeiters to sell on their websites.
Ron Harris started as a fast-food worker and is now a restaurant owner
Starting out with a $3.35 per-hour job at Taco Bell is long odds for success.After all, the restaurant industry is know for high turnover, part-time…
As tipping falls out of favor, search is on for alternative
Saru Jayaraman, director of the Food Labor Research Center at the University of California, Berkeley, advocates abolishing restaurant tipping in favor of the $15-an-hour minimum…
TCF Financial touts progress, but investors remain cautious
CEO Craig Dahl acknowledges there is work to do, but the "coach" insists the bank has a winning strategy.
Securian Financial saw earnings dip in 2016
The St. Paul-based financial firm said life insurance payouts affected its bottom line.
Mpls. cafe owners charge ahead with pay changes
Two owners have decided to move ahead with front-to-back-of-the-house wage increases to at least $12.40 per hour by raising prices and discouraging tipping. And a third plans to take up the matter soon with staff.
WorkOutLoud is sold on customer collaboration
WorkOutLoud says it can help clients retain their relationships.
When it comes to immigration, business owners ahead of the politicians
Luis Fitch, immigrant artist and businessman, is co-founder of Uno Branding, the Minneapolis marketing agency with an office in Mexico City. Uno is working on…
Golden Valley-based Allianz Life tops $1 billion in operating profit and 2,225 employees in 2016
U.S. arm of the German financial services giant said net income rose 15%.
York Solutions' training program specializes in second chances
Deynn “Dee” Hampton started her IT career a few months ago and she’s already a certified “scrum master,” working on software projects at 3M Co.…
Drive-through dispute came with a side of resentment for Twin Cities man
Harry Kelley, a 30-year customer service manager, is a stickler for good service. And he says he didn't get it one day last month when he visited his St. Louis Park McDonald's.
Bill Cooper, TCF executive and ex-MN GOP leader, dies at 73
Bill Cooper, who turned a failing savings and loan into Minnesota's third-largest banking company, TCF Financial Corp., and was a dominating figure in the state's business and political communities, has died. He was 73.
GovDelivery founder leaves firm in wake of Vista Partners acquisition
CEO Scott Burns, the entrepreneur who started St. Paul-based GovDelivery in 2001 and sold it for $153 million last fall, has stepped down from the…
For fledgling bakery, sewer access fee was big surprise
"It was either pay for it or wait for the appeal that could have taken weeks," Rise Bagel owner Jen Lloyd said. "It's costly to delay."
Manufacturing executives will visit Washington to advise President Trump
President Donald Trump has announced a manufacturing jobs initiative that he said will include meetings with the CEOs of America’s largest manufacturing firms, including 3M…
Republican bakery-cafe owner in Mpls. scores with 'The Donald' sandwich
Tina Rexing is an immigrant, Republican business owner who opposed Donald Trump last year but has now found a way to make money from his election.
Minnesota corporate deals topped $50B in 2016
The St. Jude Medical blockbuster countered a slight decline from 2015.
Merchants Financial leads resurgent Minnesota bank industry
Generations-old Merchants Financial Group has grown organically and through acquisitions to 21 banks from Apple Valley to southeastern Minnesota and western Wisconsin. It also is…
Great Northern roll out looks to add muscle to local winter fests
The “Great Northern” is underway. The inaugural run of the 10-day outdoor celebration seeks to integrate and amplify the festive-to-economic impacts of the sport-to-food-to-art events…
Fridley bus company plans expansion to dormant site on North Side
The Lyndale Avenue N. site will be redeveloped into a regional operations hub for expanding school-bus company Metropolitan Transportation Network.
Thor Cos. headquarters move expected to be catalyst for near-North Side economy
North Minneapolis business owner Tara Watson was pleased to learn last week about Thor Cos. moving its headquarters from the suburbs to a new building…
Banker Paul Grangaard found calling at Allen Edmonds making shoes
Paul Grangaard spent 25 years in commercial banking, investment banking and at private equity firm Goldner Hawn Johnson & Morrison. He left in 2008 to…
St. Anthony: Hidrate Spark bottle founders work through hiccups
Young entrepreneur Nadya Nguyen and her three partners at HidrateMe, have discovered that entrepreneurship is not an easy drink of water. Nguyen, 24, a University…
Thor Construction headquarters project gets Target backing
The $36 million project will include offices and retail on the north side of Minneapolis.
Reeher LLC helps colleges polish their fundraising efforts
The big news among area higher-education fundraisers last week was the $10 million gift to the College of Saint Benedict from an anonymous donor to…
Minnesota, America turning over good economy to Donald Trump
Donald Trump is inheriting a good economy, as well as inspiring some enthusiasm with his growth plans. The National Federation of Independent Business’ (NFIB) index…
Heat turned back up on push for pre-K pact in Minnesota
We're set for the years-old argument over different approaches to solve an issue on which opponents agree: getting more kids ready for kindergarten.
Obituary: Star Tribune news editor Tom Holten was 'island of calm' despite hectic deadlines
Tolman "Tom" Holten worked into the early morning hours to produce the latest news for Star Tribune readers for more than 30 years. When asked…
St. Anthony: Hennepin County focuses on shaping tomorrow's workforce
Tonya Jordan, an apprentice electrician at Noble Conservation Solutions, is bursting through the achievement gap. Jordan, 30, a high school dropout, worked at minimum-wage retail…
The Food Group taps volunteer, business help in hunger-relief effort
Chief Executive Lori Kratchmer of the Food Group points to Sal Daggett as evidence of how Minnesota’s biggest supplier of free to low-cost food to…
Fourth-generation Mpls. furrier adapts to times, tastes
If it snowed more than 7 inches on New Year’s Day, customers who had bought a fur, leather or other coat at Ribnick Luxury Outerwear…
Book looks back on Ford Motor's glory days in Minnesota
Brian McMahon, an architect and commercial developer from Brooklyn, N.Y., moved his family to the Twin Cities more than 30 years ago amid a real…
Inside track briefs: Minnesota's hottest stock hits a turning point
TechnologyMinnesota's hottest stock hits a turning pointGolden Valley-based CyberOptics Corp., which was the hottest stock in Minnesota last year, cooled off over the past three…
2nd Swing returns to form with innovations for golf buffs
The golf retailer's revival has shown that innovation can include tapping into some tried-and-true ideas.
Human connections give job seekers a leg up beyond LinkedIn and other electronic contacts
While you might have to submit your résumé online, it's best to network, because knowing someone still gets that résumé to the top of the stack.
Tina Rexing ditched a lucrative corporate career for T-Rex Cookie and cafe
Tina Rexing owns T-Rex Cookie Co. and bakery-restaurant at 33rd and University Avenue SE. in Minneapolis. “I work seven days a week, but the business…
Investors optimistic about U.S. economy
Investors are optimistic about the stock market in the wake of good news about economic and corporate-earnings growth in the second half of 2016. The…
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