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Recent content from Neal St. Anthony
UnitedHealth Group's new CEO will get a raise in September
Executive Compensation Revamped pay revealed at UnitedHealth The management succession plan announced at UnitedHealth Group on Wednesday also comes with corresponding changes in compensation to…
Faced with big loss, Verna Price practices what she preaches
"I gained, by refusing to give up and doing something positive," the Twin Cities author, consultant and speaker said.
Employee ownership is secret sauce at rapidly growing Burns & McDonnell
Gene Sieve, a native of Adrian in southwestern Minnesota and an engineering graduate of South Dakota State University, spent his first decade in business working…
Former Ecolab tower in St.Paul gets a major makeover
For St. Paul, the redevelopment of one of its tallest buildings is viewed as a way to spearhead growth downtown.
St. Paul taking steps to grow its businesses in the downtown area
Vibrant as it has been for 50 years, downtown St. Paul still has a problem and an opportunity: There's not enough business.
Sunday Conversation: Merchants CEO Greg Evans talks about need for regulatory changes
Winona-based Merchants Financial Group has seen its business- and consumer-loan portfolio profitably grow by more than 10 percent annually since 2012. CEO Greg Evans, a…
Compatible Technology gets key grant to promote use of automated thresher in West Africa
Two subsistence farmers in Senegal in West Africa, Dibor and Sophie, and dozens of others, are improving their product, their productivity and the economy of…
Rêve Academy trains next generation of workers in north Minneapolis
The couple behind a consulting firm have bankrolled a north Minneapolis academy to help students gain business, technology and design skills, and it's taken off.
Ralph Colby, minister, entrepreneur and nonprofit exec, dies at 85
Ralph Colby, son of a laborer from Quincy, Mass., moved to Minnesota as a young Congregational minister in the 1960s. He went on to success…
Amazon growth is real, but Bezos gets heat while Foxconn plans gets cheers
The Minneapolis-based Institute for Local Self-Reliance (ILSR), which champions independent small businesses, has been bashing Amazon lately — as has President Donald Trump. Very strange…
Junior Achievement of Upper Midwest to move headquarters to refurbished St. Paul site in Midway
The organization will spend about $17 million on the move.
Innovative IrriGreen looks for a strategic partner to help it conserve as it waters lawns
CEO Gary Klinefelter of Edina-based IrriGreen has won innovation and green-tech technology awards and earned patents for the water-saving software built into his IrriGreen Genius…
Alzheimer's is very often a workplace issue
Sally Mainquist, a veteran accountant and small business owner, recently learned through an informal employee survey that seven of her 39 workers have a parent…
Having an owner who listens to his employees pays off big for Eagan skin-care business
Bell Labs, with fewer than 100 employees only three years ago, started to focus increasingly on the lucrative natural-ingredient market for skin care.
Minnesota venture capital take in first half nearly topped last year's entire funding
Minnesota companies, thanks partly to a huge take by digital-health firm Bright Health, took in $291.2 million in venture capital from 14 transactions during the first half of 2017.
Low-key Leisure Hotels & Resorts revives tired lodging brands
Steve Olson has built an eclectic hotel-and-resort management outfit over three decades. “I was a busboy,” said Olson, 61, from a fishing boat near…
Tactile Medical Systems' surging success is 12 years in the making
The stock topped $30 per share at one point last week, a market value of $500 million.
Eden Prairie-based Arcserve buys Silicon Valley cloud company
The data-security firm in Eden Prairie boosts cloud offerings with deal.
Strong first half for stocks, though Minnesota index lagged
State companies were paced by smaller players like Tactile Systems, Graco.
SBA small business technology seed fund to visit Minnesota
A U.S. Small Business Administration seed fund that has helped a few national technology giants, as well as dozens of Minnesota companies get traction in…
Restaurant owners say Mpls. at the beginning of minimum wage odyssey
The progressive owners of downtown's popular Hell's Kitchen restaurant have an interesting case study.
Jim Paulsen moves from Wells Capital to the Leuthold Group
He said he looks forward to working for a smaller shop after a 20-year career with the asset management group of Wells Fargo.
Sunday conversation with Mouli Vaidyanathan of solar firm Mouli Engineering
Electrical engineer Mouli Vaidyanathan is getting national traction with his SolarPod modular solar panels. His company, Mouli Engineering, has installed systems in 33 states. Vaidyanathan…
Nearly 30 years later, Dunwoody College's diversity program hitting its stride
Hundreds of minority and female Dunwoody graduates have gone on to good technical careers since the launching of a career program in 1988 that sought to diversify the mostly white male ranks of Dunwoody students.
Dale Klein's Parallel Technologies becoming the company he envisioned
Veteran software technologist Dale Klein concedes that the last 12 years at his Parallel Technologies, particularly during the Great Recession years, were not all fun…
Former Northwest Airlines executive Brent Baskfield was leader in media, customer relations
Brent Baskfield, an executive who served Northwest Airlines under three chief executives, died on June 18 at the age of 74.A son, Tyler Baskfield, said…
Business heats up for Burnsville-based building control firm 75F
75F is one fairly hot small business based in often-chilly Minnesota.Founder Deepinder Singh, a software engineer by training, started brainstorming 75F a decade ago after…
St. Paul-based Genesys Works provides business with diverse, disadvantaged interns
It's proving a great addition to the growing group of effective mentoring and internship efforts targeting disadvantaged kids.
Cosmetics maker Bell Labs expands again in Eagan, adding 50 jobs
The company's growth is spurred by demand for natural and organic skin-care products.
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…
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