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Dakota Entrepreneur Hall of Fame |
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George
Bull and his partners, George Clifford
and Emery Mapes, operated the Diamond Flour
Mill in Grand Forks, in the late 1880s. The
Panic of 1893 left the partners in a desperate
financial state. Thomas Amidon, the head miller,
convinced the partners to produce a breakfast
porridge made from farina (the whitest part
of the wheat). Cream of Wheat
was born, and by 1897, demand exceeded the
production capacity of the Diamond Flour Mill
and the company was moved to Minneapolis.
George Bull died prematurely in 1897; however,
his son, Daniel, led the Cream of Wheat Corporation
from 1919 to 1960, when his grandson, David,
became CEO. Cream of Wheat, "America’s
Favorite Hot Breakfast Cereal," was acquired
by the
National Biscuit Company (NABISCO)
in 1962 and David was named Vice President
of the company. |
George
Bull
Cream
of Wheat
Year Inducted: 1986 |
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Thomas
D. Campbell, the "Wheat King,"
was the owner of the world’s largest
privately owned wheat farm and an authority
on mechanized agriculture. He applied methods
which had been proven successful in the development
of American industry to farming while operating
a 95,000 acre farm near Hardin, Montana, and
a 448,000 acre ranch near Albuquerque, New
Mexico, as well as the family farm near Grand
Forks. He was UND’s
first mechanical engineering graduate (1904),
going on to receive a master’s degree
in engineering from Cornell
University. He was a Brigadier
General during World War II and was decorated
for inventing the "fire bomb" using
petroleum jelly. He married Bess McBride Bull,
daughter of George Bull and a stepdaughter
of UND President Webster Merrifield, in 1906.
They had four children. He passed away in
California in 1966.
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Thomas
D. Campbell
Wheat King
Year Inducted: 1986 |
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Andrew
Freeman, rural electric pioneer,
was the co-founder and general manager of
Minnkota
Power Cooperative from 1940 to
1982. He made Minnkota a utility leader by
having the lowest cost electrical operating
facility in the nation through innovation
in mine-mouth lignite generating plants, dual
heating, and load management with off-peak
rates. He championed the formation of the
Area Power Conference and power-sharing agreement
with Canadian power companies. He was the
inventor of the Freeman Headbolt Heater in
1947, manufactured by Five Star Manufacturing
of which he was president. He was born in
1909 in Upham, North Dakota, and died in 1996
in Grand Forks.
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Andrew
Freeman
Rural
Electric Pioneer
Year Inducted: 1987 |
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Edward
G. Melroe was North Dakota’s
first major manufacturer. With his four sons
he founded the Melroe
Co. in 1946 to manufacture an
improved windrow pickup that is still in production
today. His inventive nature surfaced early,
and he built his first "Lester Tractor"
in 1918. He often modified his farm equipment
to make it work more effectively, and sold
his first patent for a windrow pickup to John
Deere in 1939. Son-in-law, Gene Dahl, joined
the company in 1950. Today the Melroe Co.
markets windrow pickups, harroweeders, and
the Bobcat®
loader, and are the largest manufacturer in
North Dakota employing more than 1,500 people.
E. G. Melroe died in 1955.
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E.
G. Melroe
Prairie Industrialist
Year Inducted: 1987 |
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Harold Schafer founded the
Gold Seal Co. in 1942, which became one of
North Dakota’s largest home-owned enterprises.
Glass Wax, Mr. Bubble, and Snowy Bleach all
became sensational sales successes. The company
was sold to Airwick
Industries in 1986. In 1960,
Harold Schafer began making substantial investments
in Medora,
North Dakota, to
preserve the historical significance of the
old cattle town, and today it is North Dakota’s
top tourism attraction. A well-known philanthropist,
Harold Schafer divides his time between homes
in North Dakota and Florida.
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Harold
Schafer
Gold Seal
Year Inducted: 1987 |
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Gilmore T. Schjeldahl founded
five companies in the Minneapolis area: Sheldahl,
Inc., Herb-Shelly,
Inc., Gil-Tech Development, Plastic Netting
Machine Company, and the Cathedyne Corporation.
A native of Northwood, North Dakota, Schjeldahl
has made significant improvements to the world
in the areas of plastics, packaging, space
communications, coronary catheters, electronic
materials and other related products. His
inventions include the Echo
satellite balloon, the air sickness bag for
Northwest Airlines, and bag-making machines
for the packing industry. He attended
North
Dakota State School of Science
and North
Dakota State University. He is
the recipient of honorary degrees from NDSU
and UND. |
Gilmore
T. Schjeldahl
Plastics
& Electronics
Pioneer
Year Inducted: 1988 |
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Patrick
Haggerty, a native of Harvey, North
Dakota, co-founded Texas
Instruments in 1950. He was elected
Executive Vice President in 1951, President
in 1958, and Chairman of the Board in 1966.
Under his leadership, TI grew into one of
the nation’s electronic and high-tech
giants. TI’s development of compact
electronic technologies in semiconductors
and integrated circuits placed the company
in a national leadership position in the development
of pocket radios, personal calculators, digital
watches, and home computers. Fortune
Magazine called him "a star example
of the engineer-executive breed." He
passed away in 1980.
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Patrick
Haggerty
Texas
Instruments
Year Inducted: 1988 |
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C. Earl Branick founded Branick
Industries of Fargo in 1917 after
working for Firestone and B. F. Goodrich.
A Dickinson, ND, native, Branick was the holder
of 160 patents and manufactured over 35 different
types of tire-handling equipment. He was North
Dakota’s first international marketer
of manufactured products. The company was
sold to Applied Power, Inc. of Milwaukee in
1968. Branick remained active in a consulting
and development capacity until his death in
1977.
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C.
Earl Branick
Branic
Industries
Year Inducted: 1988 |
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Fred
P. Nash founded the Nash-Finch
Co. in Devils Lake, Dakota Territory,
in 1885 with his brothers Edgar and Willis.
Fire destroyed their Devils Lake store in
1887, and they reopened in Grand Forks. After
35 years in North Dakota, North Dakota’s
oldest and largest wholesale business moved
to Minneapolis in 1919 to be more centrally
located. Nash-Finch, a Fortune
500 company,
is the nation’s third largest food wholesaler
with 17 distribution centers supplying over
6,000 stores in 24 states. Fred passed away
in 1926, but three generations of Nash and
Harry Finch families have continued with the
company as directors and officers.
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Fred
P. Nash
Nash
Finch
Year Inducted: 1989 |
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Oliver
Dalrymple became the first bonanza
farmer in pioneer Dakota Territory when directors
of the Northern Pacific Railway chose him
to manage the first farm factory in 1875.
This Minnesota wheat grower had been left
penniless by the Panic of 1873. Twelve years
later, he was managing nearly 100,000 acres
of farmland utilizing professional management,
innovative large-scale machinery, and operating
in divisions of 2,500 acres. In 1876, he purchased
a complete telephone system for his farm divisions
from Alexander Graham Bell. He ordered hundreds
of new twine binders from Cyrus McCormick
sight unseen in 1878. In 1881, he organized
the driving of 100 mule-drawn grain tanks
to Duluth to prove he wasn’t a slave
of railroad rates. The best known of the bonanza
farmers, Oliver Dalrymple passed away in 1908
at Casselton, ND. |
Oliver
Darlymple
Bonanza
Farmer
Year Inducted: 1989 |
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Harris
Baukol founded the Baukol-Noonan
Coal Company in 1929 at Noonan,
ND, which grew into one of the largest coal-producing
companies in the nation. Baukol was among
the first to employ new surface mining procedures
rather than use the underground and slope
methods prevalent at the time. He was a proponent
of revegetation programs, planting trees,
shrubs and grasses for bird and game habitats
long before reclamation became popular. Baukol
retired in 1950 and passed away in 1966. After
58 years of operation, Baukol-Noonan was purchased
by Minnesota
Power, a diversified Minnesota
Electric Utility headquartered in Duluth,
in 1988. The coal company name was changed
to BNI, and
its offices were moved to Bismarck in 1989.
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Harris
Baukol
Baukol Noonan
Year Inducted: 1989 |
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After growing up and working in the family’s
general store in Oakes, ND, and graduating
with a degree in Commerce from UND,
Jim Seifert borrowed $15,000
in 1954 to buy a women’s apparel store
in Washington, Iowa -- the start of Seiferts
Women’s Apparel Chain. Active and spectator
women’s sportswear was a relatively
new fashion phenomenon in the 1950s, and it
became Seifert’s competitive edge. Seifert
recognized the managerial strength of women
and built his company on that strength. That,
plus being one of the first to use computers
for multiple store management in the early
1960s enabled Seiferts to grow to an organization
of 237 stores in 31 states employing 2,500
people. |
Jim
Seifert
Seifert
Clothing
Year Inducted: 1990 |
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Thomas
W. Leach, a surface geologist, did
more than anyone to persuade the major oil
companies to explore for oil in the Williston
Basin. He predicted oil would be discovered
on his first visit to North Dakota in 1928.
He established an office in Bismarck in 1936,
and spent 15 years proving the skeptics wrong.
Amerada Oil brought in the Clarence Iverson
well near Tioga in 1951 with Leach’s
encouragement and leasing. He formed North
American Royalties in 1952 to consolidate
his lease holdings, which went public in 1953,
and it was the first North Dakota company
listed on the American
Stock Exchange, in 1957. Leach
and his partners held 4 million of the 30
million acres under lease, making him the
largest operator in the state. He died in
1966 at age 69. |
Thomas
W. Leach
Oil
Pioneer
Year Inducted: 1990 |
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Interested
in electricity since his boyhood in Ohio,
R. M. Heskett earned an electrical
engineering degree in 1902 from the Armour
Institute of Technology in Chicago. Beginning
in 1913, he built the Chisholm Electric Company
in the Mesabi Iron Range of Minnesota, which
he sold in 1923 with plans to retire early.
In 1924, he and a few investors began buying
electric companies in Montana and the Dakotas.
They diversified through natural gas pipelines,
oil production, and lignite coal mining, thus
forming the company that would become Montana
Dakota Utilities. In 1948, MDU
became the first North Dakota company to be
listed on the New York Stock Exchange. Heskett
served as president of MDU until 1954, but
continued to serve as chairman until 1964
when he retired at the age of 93. He died
in 1965. |
Ronald
M. Heskett
Montana Dakota
Utilities
Year Inducted: 1990 |
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Gene
Dahl played a key role in farm equipment
manufacturing as a leader with the Melroe
Company, Steiger Tractor, and
Concord, Inc.
First a teacher, he joined the Melroe family
in 1950 to build the largest manufacturing
company in North Dakota. When Melroe was sold
to Clark Equipment in 1969, he joined Steiger
as CEO and Chairman. Sales increased from
$3 million to $105 million in six years, and
the company became a world leader in the manufacture
of 4-wheel drive tractors. Steiger was sold
to JI Case in 1986. He served as Chairman
of Concord, Inc., a manufacturer of minimum-till
farm equipment from 1977 until its sale to
Case Corp. in early 1996. He also co-founded
First Dakota Capital, North Dakota’s
first venture capital firm. |
Eugene
R. Dahl
Manufacturing
Entrepreneur
Year Inducted: 1990 |
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Bert
Gamble and his boyhood friend, Phil
Skogmo, opened the first Gamble’s auto
accessories store in 1925 in St. Cloud, Minnesota.
Within ten weeks, there were four branches
in the Dakotas. By 1929, there were 55 stores
in five states; by 1939, there were 1,700
stores; and in 1969, there were 4,200 stores
with sales of $2 billion. Gamble-Skogmo grew
into 26 diversified divisions including Gambles,
Red Owl, Alden, Snyder Drug, and IDS. Gambles
became the nation’s 15th largest retail
chain. The
Gamble-Skogmo Foundation remains
as a legacy supporting youth, elderly, medical,
and educational causes. A native of Hunter,
ND, he retired as Chairman in 1977 and died
in 1986 at age 88. |
Bertin
C. Gamble
Gamble
- Skogmo
Year Inducted: 1991 |
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Herman
Stern emigrated from Germany at 16
years of age to work for his cousin, M. G.
Straus, in Casselton. The Straus
Clothing store was founded in
1879. Stern moved to Valley City in 1911 for
Straus, which later branched out to six stores
across the state. Stern was the founder of
many organizations including the Greater
North Dakota Association (GNDA)
in 1925, the North Dakota Winter Show in 1938,
and the North
Dakota Automobile Club (AAA)
in 1940. In the 1930s he sponsored over 120
Jewish refugees fleeing Nazi Germany. Stern
died in 1980 at age 92. |
Herman
Stern
Strauss-Clothing
Year Inducted: 1991 |
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Tom Barger went to Saudi Arabia in
1937 to help explore for oil, and he stayed
there for 32 years. He helped to build the
Arabian
American Oil Co. (ARAMCO) into
a world-class oil-producing venture. Named
President in 1959, under his leadership ARAMCO
grew to be the largest oil producer in the
free world and the first company to produce
more than one billion barrels of oil in a
year. Profits were among the highest of any
major company. An authority and scholar on
the Middle East, he promoted social and educational
projects for the Saudis. A native of Linton,
and a 1931 graduate of UND,
Barger retired as Chairman in 1969 and died
in 1986 at age 76.
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Thomas
C. Barger
ARAMCO
Year Inducted: 1986 |
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James
Grahl became the first employee
and general manager of Basin
Electric Power Cooperative in
1962. Under 24 years of his leadership, Basin
grew to be the largest power supply cooperative
in the nation, serving 128 rural electrical
systems in eight Plains states, which in turn
provide service to more than 1.2 million rural
residents. Basin pioneered the use of lignite
coal on a large-scale basis, building a generating
station that was three times larger than any
other. They pioneered mined-land reclamation
laws, studies in dry-scrubbing technology
for sulfur dioxide removal, and the use of
economic and environmental impacts for large
construction projects. Grahl retired from
Basin in 1985.
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James
L. Grahl
Basin
Electric Power Coop
Year Inducted: 1992 |
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The Reverend August Hoeger
founded the Good
Samaritan Society in 1922 in
Arthur, North Dakota. Responding to the needs
of a child crippled with polio, $2,000 more
was raised than was needed, and the extra
funds were used to help other individuals.
In 1929, a home for "old folks"
was opened in Fargo, and by 1940, expansion
had taken the Good Samaritan Society into
27 communities in 10 states. The Society had
grown to 150 facilities caring for 12,000
residents when Hoeger died in 1970 at age
85. Today, the GSS owns and operates 240 facilities
in 26 states, caring for 28,000 residents.
Two sons, August and John Hoeger, and a grandson,
Mark Jerstad, followed Rev. Hoeger as President.
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Rev.
August Hoeger
Good Samaritan
Society
Year Inducted: 1992 |
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Ray Rude is Founder and President
of Duraflex
International,
the world’s only competitive diving
board manufacturer. A native of Stanley, North
Dakota, Rude Launched his company in Pasadena,
California, in 1947 to make tooling for airplanes.
The first aluminum diving board was made from
a rejected airplane wing panel in 1948. Duraflex
diving boards have been used in every Olympic
competition since 1960. Rude created the market
for high performance diving boards and has
dominated the world market for over three
decades. He designed, built, and maintains
the production equipment. The Sparks, Nevada,
firm has sold over 63,000 diving boards to
institutional customers.
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Raymond
Rude
Duraflex
International
Year Inducted: 1993 |
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Larry Brown co-founded AGSCO
in 1934 at age 24 to sell excess farm supplies
to area farmers. For over 60 years, AGSCO
of Grand Forks has pioneered agricultural
technologies in the four-state region. AGSCO
was the first in the Upper Midwest to have
plants for formulating and mixing farm chemicals
and blending fertilizers, and the first to
have a commercial farm chemical laboratory
facility. Although the farm supply industry
is dominated by large firms, this small independent
company flourished through innovation. A native
of Deer River, Minnesota, Brown attended UND.
He retired as President in 1978, and continues
as Chairman of the Board.
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Larry
Brown
AGSCO
Year Inducted: 1993 |
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American
Crystal Sugar is the nation’s
largest sugarbeet processor with five plants
in the Red River Valley; the lowest cost producer
of sugar; and a pioneer of technologies to
enhance sugarbeet growing, processing, and
marketing. The East Grand Forks plant was
built in 1925, followed by plants in Moorhead,
Crookston, Drayton, and Hillsboro. In 1973,
ACS became the nation’s first sugar
processing cooperative with 2,100 growers
planting 400,000 acres. ACS is the world-class
leader in the sugar processing industry, employing
2,400 people, producing one-third of the nation’s
sugar, and generating $7.1 billion in revenues
from 1973 to 1992.
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American
Crystal Sugar
Leading
Sugar Processor
Year Inducted: 1993 |
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M. W. (Bob) and Jean Kiesau founded
Home of Economy in 1939 -- selling tires,
batteries, and a few auto supplies. A year
later, they branched out into sporting goods,
furniture, and appliances. After WW II, Kiesau
originated the discount store concept by identifying
farmers to qualify as "fleet" operators.
Mid-States
Distributing Co. was formed in
1952; Bob served as President for four years
of this unique buying partnership, which includes
64 independent retailers with 475 discount
store locations. Jean became President of
Home of Economy in 1970. Under her leadership,
the five stores thrive in a very competitive
rural market, remaining the largest, independently-owned
retailer in the Midwest.
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Bob
& Jean Kiesau
Discount
Store Organizer
Year Inducted: 1994 |
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Ed Shorma bought a shoe repair
shop in 1953 and turned it into one of the
state’s largest manufacturers, Wahpeton
Canvas Company®.
He later formed six more companies, including
PrimeWood, Inc.®, which
was the first U.S. manufacturer to produce
veneer-wrapped wood products. Company-developed
technology has made it an international leader
in the industry. Mr. Shorma’s companies
manufacture products made of fabric, rubber,
metal, wood, and plastic to sell to U.S. and
international markets. PrimeBoard® a $15
million company, was launched to manufacture
WheatBoard®, a particle board made of
wheat straw. It is the first plant of its
kind in the world. Shorma’s companies
employ a thousand people. |
Edward
Shroma
Wahpeton
Canvas
Year Inducted: 1994 |
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Charles H. Robinson moved
to North Dakota and Grand Forks from New York
in 1890. Starting out as a "traveling
agent," in 1896 he branched out as a
broker of fresh vegetables and general merchandise
in the Red River Valley of North Dakota and
Minnesota and built a leading brokerage business
of his day. In 1905, he became a partner with
the Nash Bros. Wholesalers, and the
C.H.
Robinson Company was incorporated.
Robinson died in Grand Forks in 1909. In 1919,
the company was moved to Minneapolis, and
today the company that bears his name is the
largest distributor of fresh produce in North
America and the largest third-party mover
of freight in the country.
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Charles
H. Robinson
C.H.
Robinson Co.
Year Inducted: 1995 |
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Starting as a home-based business in 1973,
Gerald "Jerry" Beyers
turned ABC Seamless and Construction into
the ABC
Seamless Siding Corp., North
Dakota’s first franchiser and the world’s
largest seamless siding company. ABC Seamless
has more than 250 employees in its Fargo and
branch offices, and the franchises, spread
across 38 states, employ 3,000. More than
200,000 homeowners have been served by ABC
Seamless. The company has consistently rated
among the top franchises in the country. Success
magazine rated the company 6th in its Franchise
Gold 100. |
Gerald
Beyers
ABC
Seamless
Year Inducted: 1995 |
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George Kuhlman founded Acme
Electric Motor Inc. in 1948 in Grand Forks.
Starting as a motor repair business in a 10
foot-square shop, the company is now a major
tool and equipment distributor with five retail
store locations. Grand Forks, Bismarck (1979),
Fargo (1982), and Minot (1985), North Dakota,
and Duluth, Minnesota (1995). George's strong
work ethic and emphasis on customer service
attracted loyal customers. Many of the contractors
who came to Grand Forks in the mid-1950's
to build the Grand
Forks Air Force Base relied on
George and his company for their materials.
Many of these contractors remain Tool Crib
customers today -- even though they live in
other states and countries. Today, 200 employees
handle hundreds of product lines and provide
expert advice to customers throughout the
world. Tool Crib also has one of the nation's
largest woodworking and construction mail-order
operators. George passed away in 1995.
Today his company is known as Acme
Electric Tool Crib of the North. |
George
Kuhlman
Acme
Electric/Tool Crib
Year Inducted: 1997 |
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A
native of Fargo, North Dakota, Gerald
Van Eeckhout founded ACT
Teleconferencing in 1989 in order
to develop and expand teleconferencing on
a global basis. With operations in the United
States, the United Kingdom, continental Europe,
and Australia, ACT has evolved into the most
extensive multinational provider of global
teleconferencing products and services in
a rapidly growing $6 billion plus industry.
In 1996, the company went public and is now
traded on the NASDAQ
Exchange. Prior to founding ACT,
Van Eeckhout founded another Denver-based
teleconferencing company, ConferTech, which
he launched from start-up to a successful
NASDAQ company. |
Andrew
Freeman
Gerald
Van Eeckhout
Year Inducted: 1986 |
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A native of Tokio, North Dakota, and graduate
of NDSU,
James H. Wallace founded
Cranel,
Incorporated in 1985 as a corporation
to distribute high-performance products in
the computer peripheral area. Since Cranel's
focus is on leading-edge, high technology
products, the company continues to evaluate
and focus on both market and technology changes
of the future. Cranel, which now employs 170,
is the fourth successful independent company
started by Wallace, and is recognized as a
solid competitor in the distribution and integration
areas. Prior to its inception, Wallace founded
Microtech,
Cascade Data, and REP Associates. In addition
to owning successful businesses, Wallace devotes
significant time, energy and effort to helping
and encouraging fellow entrepreneurs, those
considering starting their own businesses,
and other nonprofit organizations. |
James
H. Wallace
Rural
Electric Pioneer
Year Inducted: 1998 |
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Dwight M.B. Baumann graduated from
NDSU
in 1955. NSF granted him a full scholarship
to MIT. In 1957, he became an instructor at
MIT at the age of 24, and upon completion
of his ScD was promoted to Assistant Professor.
In 1963, he began experimenting with teaching
entrepreneurship as a "special topics"
course. In 1970 he moved to Carnegie
Mellon University as a Full Professor,
and in ‘71 began offering the first
graduate entrepreneurship course "Design
and Entrepreneurship" in the Schools
of Engineering, Business, and Public Policy
while founding the Center
for Entrepreneurial Development, Inc.
A joint venture between the schools. Baumann
is considered the "dean" of university-based
entrepreneurship programs in the nation. He
was primary author of the 1995 North Dakota
legislation on "Tort Reform by Contracts"
for aircraft manufacturing. Baumann is a native
of Ashley, North Dakota.
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Dwight
M.B. Baumann
Center
for
Entrepreneruial
Development
Year Inducted: 2000 |
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Stanley A. Moe is one of
the six partners and founder-shareholders
of Daniel,
Mann, Johnson and Mendenhall (DMJM),
one of the world’s largest architectural,
planning and engineering firms. A leading
pioneer in his profession, Moe expanded architecture
and engineering services to an international
scale, establishing more than two dozen foreign
operations around the world. Moe’s talents
are also firmly imprinted on the U.S. space
programs, since he directed the design efforts
of such space vehicles & systems as the
Atlas, Jupiter, Thor, Titan I, the lunar excursion
module and the space shuttle. Moe received
the UND
Sioux Award in 1985, and an honorary
Doctor of Engineering degree from UND
in 1993. He is a native of Ross, ND and lives
in Los Angeles.
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Stanley
Moe
DMJM
Year Inducted: 2000 |
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Marshall V. Noecker, Owner
of Noecker companies(now Noecker
Group), which grew from a small
shop making aluminum windows to a portfolio
of 13 manufacturing companies and 7 investment
firms. During World War II Marshall worked
with the wartime landing craft industry and
realized that aluminum was the metal of the
future. He developed the program to sell tools
to small manufacturing businesses around the
world -- 164 sets were sold. Then, through
his other companies, he sold these businesses
all their materials to make aluminum windows
and doors and allied products. Noecker's goal
was always to increase his volume by 15% annually
which he achieved. Born and raised in Sanborn,
North Dakota, Marshall received his degree
in accounting from the University
of Minnesota. His first job was
on Wall Street in New York City. |
Marshall
V. Noecker
Noecker
Group
Year Inducted: 2001 |
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Bruce Gjovig founded the
University of
North Dakota Center for Innovation and Business
Development in
1984. Since then, Gjovig has become known
as a champion for innovators, entrepreneurs,
small manufacturers and seed capital causes
in the Upper Great Plains. Since it’s
inception, the Center for Innovation has assisted
over 300 business start-ups or product introductions.
The Center has received national attention
for its manufacturing start-up programs and
its success in technology commercialization,
especially in rural areas. In 1992, Gjovig
helped secure funding for the Rural Technology
Incubator, the first University-based business
incubator in the region. He has been involved
in founding the Angel Capital Electronic Network,
the 3M Patent & Trademark Depository Library,
the North
Dakota Inventors Congress,
and the North
Dakota Entrepreneur Hall of Fame
and Business
Innovator of the Year Award.
Gjovig, a Crosby, ND native, holds two degrees
from The
University of North Dakota. |
Bruce
Q. Gjovig
Center
for Innovation
Year Inducted: 2001 |
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Ralph
Engelstad came from humble beginnings
in Thief River Falls, MN. He worked from the
time he was 12 years old, and worked his way
through college at UND.
Vowing to be a millionaire by the age of 30,
Engelstad started a construction company in
Grand Forks. He reached millionaire status
at the age of 29. In 1959, he moved to Las
Vegas to work year-round construction on FHA
homes. He purchased a tract of land where
the Thunderbird Airport now stands. With profits
from the airport sale, Engelstad purchased
Flamingo-Capri Motel on the Las Vegas strip,
and acting as his own contractor, built the
site into the Imperial Palace opening in 1976.
By 1999, the Imperial
Palace was the largest privately
owned hotel-casino, and the 16th largest hotel
in the world. Engelstad introduced several
firsts in the industry, including an on-site
medical center for employees and guests, the
first drive through Race
and Sports
Book and the first to begin Airline
Baggage Check-In service from
a hotel. Engelstad operates the Imperial Palace
debt free, highly unusual in such an enterprise.
Engelstad is a quiet philanthropist to many
causes. His gift of $104 million for the Ralph
Engelstad Arena became one of
the Top Ten gifts to Higher Education in America.
Engelstad died November of 2002.
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Ralph
Engelstad
Imperial
Palace
Year Inducted: 2002 |
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Croil Hunter, a Casselton,
North Dakota native, served as the second
president of Northwest
Airlines from 1937 to 1953. Hunter
led Northwest Airlines from its early days
as a local airmail carrier into a transcontinental,
overseas and international air passenger network
of more than 20,000 certified miles. Probably
best known for his creation of the “Great
Circle” route to the Orient, Hunter
is also credited with pioneering new equipment
in the 1930s, establishing and extensive route
structure, expanding to a national airline
and in 1949 establishing coach fares. In 1953,
Hunter was elevated to the post of chairman
of the board and continued in that capacity
until his retirement in 1958, when he served
as chairman emeritus until 1965. Hunter died
in St. Paul in 1970 at the age of 77.
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Croil
Hunter
Northwest
Airlines
Year Inducted: 2002 |
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Lowell Swenson, Entrepreneur,
Arctic Enterprises - today known as Arctic
Cat. Lowell Swenson was born
and raised in Lancaster, Minnesota. Swenson
attended UND
before enlisting in the Army in 1941. Upon
his return from WWII, Swenson completed his
degree and worked as an accountant for several
companies before purchasing Arctic Enterprises
in 1965. Arctic Enterprises manufactured snowmobiles
in Thief River Falls, MN. Under Swenson’s
leadership, Arctic Enterprises became a publicly
traded company on NASDAQ,
with market capitalization of $350 million
and over 1500 employees. Swenson sold controlling
interest in the company in 1981. Swenson has
also been involved in ownership of two Minnesota
banks, and helped two of his sons establish
Mesaba
Airlines. |
Lowell
Swenson
Arctic
enterprises
Year Inducted: 2003 |
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Norman C. Skalicky, President and
C.E.O. of Stearns
Bank. Norm Skalicky purchased
Stearns County Bank in Albany, Minnesota in
1965. Since then, Skalicky has added five
rural banks in Minnesota and one in Arizona.
Skalicky is also President of Stearns Financial,
a nationwide leasing company, Stearns Agency,
National Dispatch Insurance, S & D Incorporated
and Skal-Kin, Inc. all located in the St.
Cloud area. Skalicky is recognized as an innovator
in the banking industry, and his company has
been recognized as one of the top-performing
independent banks in the nation. Norm was
born on a farm near Brockett, ND and graduated
from UND
in 1955. |
Norman
C. Skalicky
Sterns
County Bank
Year Inducted: 2003 |
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Peter Nygård is the
Founder and Chairman of Nygård
International.
In 1967, Nygård gathered his life savings
and borrowed capital to purchase 20% of a
ladies garment manufacturer, which within
a few years he owned outright. Today he operates
a women’s ready-to-wear business with
annual sales in excess of $500 million, employing
over 12,000 people worldwide. The company
began in Manitoba, Canada, but has grown to
include divisions around the globe. Nygård
continues to “raise the bar” in
the standard of excellence for North America’s
women’s fashion industry and is recognized
as a world leader in technology supply-chain
management. “Where Fashion Meets Technology”
is the company’s official corporate
slogan. In 2003, Nygård International
celebrated 35 years of Success in Business.
Nygård is a 1964 graduate of UND.
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Peter Nygård
Nygård International
Year Inducted: 2004 |
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John Miller is President
of Turtle
Mountain Corporation,
providing comprehensive contract electronics
manufacturing solutions. Miller was the founder
of the corporation in 1974. Since that time,
Turtle Mountain Corporation has grown to ship
over $1 million each week in products, and
employs over 300 people, two-thirds of whom
are members of the Turtle
Mountain Tribe.
Turtle Mountain Corporation became a wholly-owned
subsidiary of Pemstar,
Inc. in 2000. Miller graduated
from NDSU
in 1957 with a degree in mechanical engineering.
He received the Alumni Achievement Award from
NDSU in 1996.
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John Miller
Turtle
Mountain
Corperation
Year Inducted: 2004 |
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Marilyn & John Whitney, founded Gaymar Industries, which started out as a basement operation in Tonawanda, New York. Originally a manufacturer or welded products like placemats and book covers for the consumer market, the company soon entered the growing field of health care products. Over 42 years, Marilyn and John grew the company into a high-tech company specializing in products for pressure ulcer management and temperature management, with 1997 sales of $50 million. In 1999, a year after John's death in the crash of a demonstration airplane, the company was sold. Marilyn is the lead investor and Chairman of the Board for Technology Applications Group, a magnesium coatings company in Grand Forks. Marilyn is a native of Kulm, North Dakota and a graduate of UND.
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Marilyn & John Whitney
Gaymar Industries
Year Inducted: 2005 |
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Eddie R. Fischer, President & CEO of Vista Paint and Chairman of the Board for Fisher Flying Products was born and raised in North Dakota. Eddie Fischer and a fellow North Dakotan founded Grove Paints in 1957. Originally a retail paint store, Grove soon grew to include the manufacture of paints. The name of the company was changed to Vista Paint in 1966. Fischer purchased his partner's share of the company in 1975 and has been sole owner of Vista Paint since that time. With 47 stores, 600 employees, and a projected 2005 revenue of over $100 million, Vista Paint has evolved into a well-known and highly respected brand throughout California and Nevada. In 1981, Eddie Fischer purchased Fisher Flying Products, which distributes and sells ultra-light and experimental aircraft. By moving this enterprise to his hometown of Edgeley, he helped strengthen the town's growing economy. |
Eddie R. Fischer
Vista Paint &
Fisher Flying Products
Year Inducted: 2005 |
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Ronald Bergan, CEO of Fargo Assembly Company of Fargo is a graduate of NDSU. Bergan and two partners purchased a wire harness company in 1975 that had just two employees. Only 10 years later, the company had grown to 40 employees, and Bergan bought out his two partners. In 1992, Bergan purchased a Pennsylvania wire harness company with five plants in three eastern states. Operated as a seperate company, Fargo Assembly of PA employs 650 people. In 2004 sales, including the acquisitions, exceeded $100 million with 1,500 employees and 15 plants in 6 states. Seven of those plants and 700 of those employees are in North Dakota.
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Ronald Bergan
Fargo Assembly Company
Year Inducted: 2005 |
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 Ronald D. Offutt
R.D. Offutt Company & RDO Equipment Co.
Year Inducted: 2006
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Ronald D. Offutt, Founder, Chairman & CEO - R.D. Offutt Company & RDO Equipment Co. was raised on the family farm in Moorhead, Minnesota. Offutt received a B.S. in Economics from Concordia College in Moorehead in 1964. Just four years later, Offutt founded R.D. Offutt Company, comprised for a variety of businesses which now employes over 4,000 people. The cornerstone of the company is a farming enterprise that has grown to encompass farmland in 12 states totaling 190,000 acres. RDO is the nation's largest producer of potatoes. RDO Equipment Co. owns the largest network of John Deere construction and agricultural equipment dealerships in the United States with over 60 locations in 10 states. In 1978, Offutt entered the food processing business with the purchase of an Atlanta, Georgia french fry plant. Today, the company owns 8 plants and processes over 500 million pounds of potatoes. |
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