Jay Sachetti joined Jeff O’Brien, partner at Husch Blackwell and Dyanne Ross-Hanson, president of Exit Planning Strategies talked about the market for mergers and acquisitions, exit planning opportunities for companies that don’t end up for sale and how companies can maximize their eventual sale price during an early October panel at the first Upsize on Tap event at Summit Brewing Co. in St. Paul.
When the state Legislature passed a law requiring employers to provide paid leave and safe time for employees, Justin Bieganek started hearing differing details from friends, colleagues and peers.
“Ten years ago, the Internet was just a twinkle in Al Gore’s eye,” joked Stuart DeVaan, CEO of Implex.net. Now companies can use it to deliver information to more and more targeted audiences.
How things have changed in that communications medium, as well as a half-dozen others, was the panel discussion topic at the first Business Communications Expo. The event was meant to “explore the new world of business communications,” and was presented by the Media Communications Association of Minnesota.
Steve Keller, president of ProMedia Productions, noted that high-definition video is where it’s at. “Shoot in HD,” he advised, even if it seems ahead of its time. It will become the new standard eventually.
He said more of his clients, such as medical companies, demand higher definition in video than ever before. But it’s not just for med-tech. One client, which sells cabinets, marveled at the details that stood out in HD and ordered a rush job for its next trade show.
John Soucheray, vice president of sales for the radio division of Hubbard Broadcasting, noted the change in ownership of local radio. “There used to be 16 stations and 11 owners,” he said. Now there are 23 or 24 stations, and four owners.
While the advent of satellite radio will further change the market, he said Hubbard is exploring a return to the old way of doing radio: small, targeted and local.
No matter what the medium, it’s easier than ever to figure return on investment. For example, a billboard campaign could include a unique domain name, so users could track where the inquiries came from. Insist on some tracking device, advised David Carnes, president of ArcStone Technologies.
Try to make it to: MCAI-MN is reorganizing its meeting schedule. For updates: www.mcai-mn.org
More than 45 award winners tramped across the stage at the annual National Association of Women Business Owners awards gala in the spring. The overall winner was LouAnne Reger, CEO of J&L Steel Erectors.
Her $10 million-plus company has been installing steel for highway and commercial construction projects for nearly 30 years. If you’ve ever crossed the Wabasha Street Bridge or attended an event at the Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul, you’ve seen J&L Steel’s work.
The awards went further—much further—with everyone feted from women on the way to luminaries to wise women to women of achievement.
Amy Langer, president of the three-year-old Salo LLC, was named NAWBO Emerging Business Owner of the Year.
“Two years ago our firm was young, and on top of it all I was seven months pregnant. This time, I’m only four months pregnant, this time with twins,” Langer said in accepting her award. “Believe me, I couldn’t find anything to wear.”
Most remarkable was Arlene Vernon’s tribute in song to more than a dozen winners. She runs Hrx Inc., and also creates original songs to present. She rocked the house with the chorus “Obladee, obladah…”
Vernon, who received a Wise Woman Award, even wrote and sang a tribute to herself.
Thanks to: Dee Thibodeau, CEO of Charter Solutions, for hosting the Informer at her tables reserved for the event. Amy Klobuchar, Hennepin County attorney who’s running as a Democrat for the U.S. Senate, was her guest as well.
Sorry for: Taking so long to find space to report on this event. It’s been a busy meeting season for the Informer.
Try to make it to: NAWBO’s holiday luncheon is Dec. 7: 952.929.7921;**@******mn.org“> in**@******mn.org; www.nawbo-mn.org
Ward Sutton used to draw editorial cartoons for CityBusiness, a local business publication that has since been renamed, where the Informer was the editor. Now he draws for even more famous publications such as The New York Times and Rolling Stone.
Sutton appeared at Magers & Quinn, the Minneapolis bookstore, this summer to sign copies of his new book: Sutton Impact, the political cartoons of Ward Sutton. The cover features a happy American family, sporting flag t-shirts and bland smiles while in the background the Statue of Liberty is being tortured like the infamous Abu Ghraib photographs.
Sutton described his theme: “What’s happening right now, there are prefabricated rules and if you follow them you’re a patriot,” he said. If not, you’re the evil empire. Sutton said he gets a bit of hate mail. “It’s kind of gratifying in a way,” he said, because at least it means someone’s reading and reacting.
Sutton has sublet his Manhattan apartment and is living in Bismarck, North Dakota, for a year on his wife’s family farm, in order to cut expenses so he can make an animated film.
Spotted: David Unowsky, former owner of Ruminator Books, now defunct, works at Magers & Quinn and introduced Sutton.
Warning: Republicans will hate this book with every fiber of their being.
Try to make it to: Sutton Impact is available via Seven Stories Press in New York: www.sevenstories.com; www.suttonimpactstudio.com.
Why does Rachel Hollstadt host an annual breakfast for executive women, which this year in May drew more than 150 people? When she started her company, she always appreciated the referrals, she said. She wants to connect with people. And mostly: “It’s just darn fun,” Hollstadt told the Informer.
Her project management firm is celebrating its 15th anniversary in business. She introduced keynote speaker Anne Knapp, the chief operating officer of GMAC-RFC, with 2,500 employees.
Socialization is one challenge for women leaders, Knapp said. “Girls are trained to seek acceptance, to see what needs to get done, and work together to get it done. We need to be confident and comfortable in our female skin.”
(Warning: Sexist comments ahead, often a feature of women-oriented events. The Informer believes that if men said the same types of things at their events, they’d be run out of town.)
When Knapp served in the Legislature, she was told by a male legislator: “You need to kick ass and take names, but you either, one, make them enjoy it, or two, make them think it was their idea.”
Another challenge, according to Knapp: “Work environments are largely designed by men,” she said. “How do you work in them, and how do you change the environments so they’re more comfortable for everybody?
“Get more women, or people of diversity, in there,” she urged, adding a personal plea to the mid-level GMAC women in the audience to seek the top jobs. “I’m on the executive committee. There are any number of white males over 35, and yours truly. There are days when I’m sick of guys,” she said.
Try to make it to: Hollstadt hosts a fund-raising jazz and arts event in the summer, sponsors a team in the annual National MS Society’s bike ride, and sends invites for her annual breakfast each spring. Rachel Hollstadt; 952.892.3660; www.hollstadt.com
