Inside track briefs: Accounting firm alumni step up for Courage

And it's only getting better, 15 years after the national accounting firm shut down as a result of federal charges against Andersen's Houston office and headquarters that resulted from the financial fraud that brought down energy-trader Enron.

About 160 former Minneapolis employees of Arthur Andersen, who still gather for social and charitable events, quietly raised about $1.5 million of the $4.75 million capital campaign to build the new fitness and wellness center for folks with disabilities at the Golden Valley campus of the Courage Kenny Rehabilitation Institute, the merged Courage Center and Sister Kenny Institute.

Fittingly, it's called the Arthur Andersen Minneapolis Alumni Fitness & Wellness Center. People with disabilities have difficulty finding accessible facilities and exercising at the level expected for the general population, said Jeanne Olson, manager of aquatics and fitness at Courage Kenny.

And the 6,300-square-foot facility, twice the size of the one it replaced, is one of only six in the nation that are part of the Christopher and Dana Reeve Foundation NeuroRecovery ­Network that also focuses on exercise for improvement in the lives of people with spinal cord injuries.

Relationships among Courage Center, Sister Kenny and Andersen date back 50 years, said Duane Kullberg, retired Andersen Minneapolis managing partner. CFO Steve Polacek of Capella Education, the last Minneapolis managing partner of Andersen, said the former Minneapolis partners and staff who organized the effort "wondered if we could raise a million bucks and we ended up with over $1.5 million."

About $500,000 will go to a scholarship fund for people who need financial assistance to use the facility.

Polacek, Kullberg, Jack Jasper and Jerry Schwalbach, also prominent former partners, were among the ringleaders of this effort.

Neal St. Anthony

The Minnesota Agricultural Utilization Research Institute (AURI) points to small, growing food companies such as Amazing Chickpea and its chickpea-based, gluten- and nut-free spreads, and Lou Lou Foods' protein and energy bars, as demonstration that it's doing its job to help Minnesota's food-producing entrepreneurs develop and market innovative products.

AURI CEO Shannon Schlecht said in the most recent report to stakeholders that companies assisted by AURI invested $89.9 million and realized sales of $76.9 million between 2010 and 2016 as they created or retained a total of 603 jobs.

The feedstock for the growing list of local food companies is provided by Minnesota farmers. AURI, based in Crookston, worked on more than 200 projects, including 114 initiated in fiscal 2016, particularly in the food industry. AURI also works with farmers and food makers on uses for agricultural byproducts and wastes, and alternative energy products through its laboratories and business consulting.

AURI, which last year received $3.64 million of its $4.4 million in revenue from state appropriations, also operates facilities in Marshall, Waseca and St. Paul.