Today, Conrad Nguyen is the owner of Kortech, a facility management and contract staffing firm. He achieved that goal after spending more than 20 years in various business leadership roles with 3M and other large organizations. But it wasn’t a smooth ride. His story...
Cover Story
Hard time help
During uncertain times, there may be no such thing as overcommunication. Lakeview Industries employs about 100 employees, 20 in the office and the rest working on the manufacturing floor in shipping and receiving. It’s a diverse workforce with people from different...
Survive & thrive
Shifting on the fly gives business owners a chance to pull through difficult times In early 2020, things were looking good at Andy’s Garage, an American food diner at the Midtown Global Market in Minneapolis. Following a strong 2019, the company was off to another...
Surviving COVID-19
When COVID-19’s arrival in Minnesota started forcing the closure of schools, restaurants and bars, it sent Minnesota small businesses reeling. Doom and gloom, ranging from layoffs to closings, dominated the headlines. Sarah Quickel, owner of Enchanté in Stillwater,...
FInding financing
Mercedes Austin was a photography and psychology student 23 years ago. She was taking an art class for her sanity’s sake, but wasn’t planning on it providing a career. But a sign she regularly drove by advertising a high-end tile company kept catching her eye and one...
Eyes on the prizes
At an awards dinner in early November, StemoniX was named by Singularity University’s Exponential Medicine one of five companies to claim a 2019 MEDy Award. The MEDy awards recognize companies that are creating new solutions to redefine health and medicine and are on...
VETTING Vets
Weathersafe Restoration is a general contractor that focuses on commercial and residential roofing, windows, siding and roofing for commercial and residential buildings, The company has around 25 employees at any given time with a commercial division that is...
Cover Story – Surviving a cyber attack
One Sunday night a colleague of Eileen Manning at her event planning company was dialing in remotely to do some work but was finding the connectivity slow. When she couldn’t get on to the company’s network she called Manning and described a scenario that just seemed...
Cover Story -Be Prepared
In mid-2008, Owatonna-based General Equipment Co. was going gangbusters. The construction equipment maker had a 12-week lead time on projects and life looked good. President Dennis Von Ruden remembers going into a staff meeting around that time and sharing his plans...
Getting involved
Candidate for the Legislature. Todd Mikkelson has had a varied career. Musician. Videographer. Graphic designer. Inventor. Business owner. Currently he owns the RM Group LLC, which sells the Rain Maker Spray Rack and other products for water and air testing of windows...