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Business Innovator of the Year |
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Doug
Burgum is a senior vice president
at Microsoft and president of the Microsoft
Great Plains division. Microsoft
Great Plains Business Solutions
is a leading provider of business applications
that help small and mid-sized companies become
more agile in today's interconnected economy.
Microsoft Great Plains Business Solutions
was created through Microsoft's April 2001
acquisition of Great Plains.
Microsoft Great Plains has been recognized
as a leader in providing e-business solutions
that include financials, project accounting,
distribution, electronic commerce, human resources
and payroll, manufacturing, enterprise reporting,
sales and marketing management, and customer
service and support applications.
Doug earned top honors in the technology category
of Ernst and Young's 1997 Minnesota and Dakotas
"Entrepreneur of the Year" awards.
He has been honored in Accounting Today magazine
by being named to its "The Top 100 Most
Influential People in Accounting" list
for the past five years.
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Doug
Burgum
Great
Plains Software
Year Inducted: 1989 |
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John
Odegard, Dean of the UND
Center for Aerospace Sciences,
and President of the non-profit UND Aerospace
Foundation, is a native of Minot, ND. In 1968,
Odegard pioneered UND’s aviation program
with one other faculty member and a pair of
aircraft financed by the University’s
Alumni
Foundation.
Under his leadership, the college has grown
to become one of the nation’s most widely
respected aerospace education programs, and
a leader in atmospheric research. Beginning
with only 12 students, enrollment is now over
1,400. The Center’s flight training
facility is the largest of its kind in North
America. Odegard’s reputation for leadership
has earned him industry respect and numerous
rewards. |
John
Odegard
UND Aerospace
Year Inducted: 1989 |
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Norman
Jones began his career at Metropolitan
Federal in 1952 and was named President in
1967. At that time, Metropolitan’s assets
were $57.5 million and its branches were limited
to the Red River Valley. By 1990, it was one
of the largest institutions of its kind with
assets of $4.3 billion and a financial performance
that ranked in the nation’s top ten.
It was the first North Dakota company to be
named to the Fortune 500 list. Jones was named
Chairman of the Board in 1983 and led the
company’s conversion from a mutual to
a stock thrift. Among Metropolitan’s
innovations were the acquisition of Edina
Realty, Minnesota’s
largest home seller, and the acquisition of
seven insolvent thrifts. Metropolitan was
acquired by the First Bank System in 1995,
at which time Metropolitan had assets of over
$8 billion. |
Norman
M. Jones
Metropolitan
Federal
Year Inducted: 1990 |
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Bob
Spolum joined the Melroe
Company in 1963 as Controller;
sales at that time were $4 million. When he
was named Executive Vice President in 1969,
sales had increased to $25 million. Today,
sales of the Bobcat®
skid-steer loader total $500 million per year,
outselling the nearest competitor two to one.
All of the Bobcats sold worldwide are manufactured
in Gwinner and Bismarck, North Dakota. Fortune
magazine has twice named the Bobcat one of
"America’s Top 100 Products."
Today, Melroe is owned by Clark Equipment
Co. and employs 1,500 people. Spolum retired
as President and Chairman of the Board of
Melroe in 1992. |
Bob
Spolum
Melroe Company
Year Inducted: 1991 |
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Gary Tharaldson’s Fargo-based
company, Tharaldson
Enterprises,
is the largest developer of new motels in
the U.S. Today, his company owns and operates
225 motel properties in 21 states, including
13 in North Dakota. Carving out a market niche,
Tharaldson’s motels fall into the "economy
luxury" category and are located in mid-size
university cities. Hotel and Resort Industry
Magazine called him "the entrepreneurial
and financial guru for the U.S. motel development
and management industry." Room sales
will exceed $190 million in 1996 with a 74%
occupancy rate. |
Gary
Tharaldson
Tharaldson Enterprises
Year Inducted: 1992 |
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Gerry Groenewold became Director
of the UND
Energy and Environmental Research Center
in 1987. Under his leadership, the
EERC has grown from $6 million in annual research
contracts to over $21 million in 1996. EERC
is the world’s largest low-rank coal
research center and the leader in lignite
coal and groundwater research. North Dakota’s
largest research entity, with a staff of 260,
EERC offers technical solutions to energy
and environmental problems. |
Gerry
Groenewold
UND
EERC
Year Inducted: 1992 |
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Judy
Johnson is President and CEO of Meyer
Broadcasting of Bismarck, and under her leadership,
Meyer Broadcasting has become a national industry
leader in automated telecasting, using custom-designed
computer applications. Meyer Broadcasting
has long dominated the electronic media in
western North Dakota and purchased KTHI-TV
in 1995. As a partner in Pentor Communications,
Johnson was the first American woman to own
a business in post-Communist Poland. Pentor
Communications is a media conglomerate in
Warsaw employing 200 people. |
Judy
Johnson
Meyer
Broadcasting
Year Inducted: 1993 |
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Barry
Batcheller is the founding president
of Phoenix
International Corp. of Fargo,
which has an international reputation for
quality electronic design and manufacturing.
Phoenix supplies electronic instrumentation,
control systems, sensors, and other devices
to more than a dozen North American manufacturers
and five in Europe. Starting with three employees
in 1987, Phoenix has grown to over 450 people.
Sales have doubled every year since 1990.
Batcheller holds 17 patents on control and
instrumentation products and has authored
numerous papers on the use of electronics
in agriculture. |
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Barry Batcheller
Branic Industries
Year Inducted: 1994 |
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Darlene
Jackson-Hanson is the President and
CEO of Fisher
Flying Products and President,
CEO, and Owner of Jackson
Mfg. of Edgeley, North Dakota.
Fisher
Flying Products is North Dakota’s
only light aircraft kit manufacturer and a
leader nationally in the number of models
available. Their R-80 Tiger Moth and the Dakota
Hawk won "Best of Show" awards at
Oshkosh ‘94, the international fly-in
convention, and their bi-wing model, the "Classic,"
has won "Champion" awards for 1991,
1992, and 1993. The company is one of the
largest in sales in competition with 60 other
companies offering 500 models. |
Darleen
Jackson-Hanson
Fisher
Flying Products
Year Inducted: 1994 |
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Steve
Orr joined Lutheran
Health Systems of Fargo in 1988
and serves as its Chairman, President, and
CEO. Under his leadership, LHS has experienced
the most successful period ever in its 60-year
history. Net income increased from $800,000
in 1987 to $55.8 million in 1995. Orr’s
commitment to the historical mission of LHS
to serve rural areas has proven that rural
health care is a vital and important part
of America and serves to anchor the economic
viability of rural communities. LHS owns,
leases, and manages health care facilities
in 70 communities across 17 states and employs
14,000 people.
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Steve
Orr
Lutheran Health Systems
Year Inducted: 1995 |
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Russ
Brown joined the family business,
AGSCO, in 1956. After
three years at the Watertown, SD, branch,
he returned to Grand Forks to become Sales
Manager in 1961. He was named CEO and President
in 1978, a position he held until 1995, when
his son, Randy Brown, was named President.
Russ continues as CEO, and his father, Larry,
as Chairman of the Board. Under Russ’s
leadership, AGSCO expanded tremendously and
earned a national reputation as an innovator
in the use of seed treatments, herbicides,
insecticides, adjuvants, and chemical application
equipment.
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L.
Russell Brown
AGSCO
Year Inducted: 1995 |
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After purchasing the Grand Forks Chevrolet
dealership from his father, Leonard, in 1976,
Wes Rydell has expanded the
Rydell
organization to include nearly 30 automobile
dealerships in seven states. The expansion
of the organization has grown out of Wes's
personal philosophy rather than the desire
to simply "get bigger." Taking great
pleasure in promoting the success of his employees,
each and every dealer in the organization
used to work for Wes, or is an employee of
former employees who are now owners. In 1995,
Wes established Cartiva, a planned network
of used car dealerships, based on the concept
of enhancing the image of the car business
by taking better care of the customers. He
believes giving the customer what they want,
when they want it, is the key; profits and
market share follow.
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Wes
Rydell
Rydell
Chevrolet/Cartiva
Year Inducted: 1997 |
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Continuing
a family tradition of creativity and innovation,
Howard Dahl founded Concord,
Inc., a manufacturer of conservation
tillage farm equipment, in 1977 in Fargo.
In 1981, the first Concord Air Drill was manufactured.
Surviving the severe economic downturn in
the ag machinery market of the 1980's, Concord
emerged as a leader in seeders for wheat and
small grains. Concord was the first to manufacture
an air drill with row-by-row packing and precision
depth control, the first to put down fertilizer
below the seed at the same time as planting,
and the first to build a machine that changed
seeding and fertilizing rates on the go. After
the sale of Concord to Case Corp. in 1996,
some of the retained technology was incorporated
into Amity
Technology, a leading manufacturer
of sugar beet harvesting equipment and the
manufacturer of the Concord Air Drill in Russia,
the Ukraine, Kazakhstan, and China. |
Howard
A. Dahl
Oil
Pioneer
Year Inducted: 1997 |
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In
1986, when First Bank decided to divest 42
community banks in a five-state territory,
Donald R. Mengedoth saw the
potential of serving the smaller, mostly rural
markets. Mengedoth led a group of investors
who acquired 21 of the banks in Minnesota,
North Dakota, and South Dakota. From its unique
beginnings with 21 banks and $630 million
in assets, Fargo-based Community First has
grown under Mengedoth's leadership to become
a $6 billion multibank holding company serving
154 communities in 11 states. It now employs
604 people in North Dakota alone. True to
its community-based roots, Community First's
expansion strategy has been to grow though
acquiring financial institutions in small
and median sized markets…markets that
are typically under-served or overlooked by
other major banking organizations. |
Donald
R. Mengedoth
Community First
Banksharers, Inc.
Year Inducted: 1998 |
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A
native of Berthold, North Dakota, and UND
graduate in physics, Richard J. Lee,
Ph.D. purchased an analysis and consulting
company with six employees in Monroeville,
Pennsylvania in 1985. Through his leadership,
RJ
Lee Group, Inc. now employs a
staff of over 120 professionals at five nationwide
locations, providing contract research, analytical
services and applications development in various
fields of materials analysis and problem solving
on behalf of an international client base.
In the late 1980's, company scientist and
engineers developed an innovative personal
electron microscope, which is now produced
and sold by a new spin-off company, RJ Lee
Instruments, Ltd. (now known as ASPEX®,
LLC) located in Trafford, Pennsylvania.
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R.J.
Lee Ph.D.
RJ
Lee Group, Inc.
Year Inducted: 1998 |
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Mark
Stutrud launched Summit
Brewing as a microbrewery in
1984 and built the first new brewery in the
Twin Cities area in over 100 years when in
1995 he built his 58,000 square foot brewery
with a capacity of 70,000 barrels per year.
Summit Brewing became one of only 33 "regional"
breweries producing more than 15,000 barrels
in 1995. Summit brews - in the tradional British
style - three beers year-around and four on
a seasonal basis. Profitable since 1990, the
company has enjoyed nearly a decade of double
digit growth, ranging from 11% to 35%. Summit
is one of the nation’s leading regional
brewers of specialty beer, and is the premier
specialty brewer in the Upper Midwest. Stutrud
is a native of Wahpeton and is a graduate
of UND as well as the Siebel Institute of
Technology in Chicago.
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Mark
O. Stutrud
Summit
Brewing Co.
Year Inducted: 2000 |
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Jack
Dalrymple, a Casselton, ND durum
grower and influential state legislator saw
a changing market for pasta and recognized
that the quality of pasta the general public
was demanding could only be achieved through
complete control and integration of the grain
procurement, milling and manufacturing processes.
Dalrymple also recognized that this could
best be achieved through a grower-owned cooperative
structure, ensuring a steady supply of the
right kind of durum wheat. In its first five
years of operation,
Dakota Growers became
the third largest producer of pasta in North
America, employing 500 people with processing
capacity of 470,000 million pounds of pasta
a year and sales in excess of $150 million.
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Jack
Dalrymple
Dakota Grower's
Pasta Co.
Year Inducted: 2000 |
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Tim
Dodd is the foremost authority on
integrated pasta manufacturing. He was responsible
for the design, construction and start-up
of the Dakota
Grower’s plant and has
continually used innovations to refine the
manufacturing process. A Kansas native, Dodd
has developed three pasta plants considered
leaders in the field. Dodd quadrupled sales
of Dakota Grower’s pasta in four years,
and built the company’s clientelle to
include 30 supermarket chains and a number
of restaurant chains. Dodd led the company
to become the largest producer of non-branded
pasta in the United States, and the third
largest pasta producer in the industry.
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Tim
Dodd
Dakota Grower's
Pasta Co.
Year Inducted: 2000 |
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Patrick
H. Sweeney has been the President
of Weather Modification, Inc. of Fargo since
1992. Weather
Modification, Inc. is a worldwide
atmospheric research and cloud seeding company
conducting business in Europe, the Middle
East, Asia, South America and North America.
Since the early 1960s, the company has been
a worldwide leader in the field of cloud modification
and atmospheric research. Currently, the company
operates multiple weather radars and more
than 25 high performance aircraft staffed
by experienced pilots, meteorologists and
radar technicians on its cloud seeding and
research programs. In 1995, Sweeney formed
WMI’s sister company, Fargo Jet Center,
Inc., a full service aviation company located
in Fargo. In 1999, Sweeney formed Ice Crystal
Engineering, LLC, which is the largest producer
of cloud seeding pyrotechnics in the world.
In 2000, Sweeney was instrumental in the development
of Fargo Air Medical LLC, a professional,
on-demand, fixed-wing air ambulance service
for North Dakota, Minnesota, and the Upper
Midwest.
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Patrick
H. Sweeney
Weather
Modifacation, Inc.
Year Inducted: 2001 |
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Global
Electric MotorCars of Fargo,
started by Michael J. Hofer
in 1997, has become the market leader in the
Neighborhood Electric Vehicle classification,
the first new car classification given by
the Department of Transportation since 1929.
In November of 2000, GEM was sold to auto
giant DaimlerChrysler
and still operates in Fargo. GEM employs over
80 people and produces more than 3,000 vehicles
a year that are sold through 44 distributors.
Hofer was also instrumental in the growth
of Diagnostic Medical Systems, Inc. taking
the company from $14 million in sales in 1985
to $50 million in 1996. The company grew from
67 employees to 200 employees and became a
leader in the U.S. in both capital equipment
sales and mobile services, covering 13 states.
Hofer left DMS in 1997, and started Imaging
Solutions, Inc. Imaging Solutions bases its
business on the value of close relationships
as cornerstones in the business of selling
high-quality CT and MRI scanners and other
diagnostic imaging equipment, as well as spearheading
the development of outpatient diagnostic imaging
centers.
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Michael
J. Hofer
GEM
of Fargo
Year Inducted: 2001 |
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Sally Wold Smith, a Grand
Forks, North Dakota native and UND
graduate joined Buffalo Wild Wings as part-time
Chief Financial Officer in 1994 to establish
the company’s accounting and finance
departments. After helping the company weather
a $1.8 million loss in 1995 and store closings
in 1996, she was named President and CEO in
1996. One of the few female CEO’s in
the restaurant industry, Smith has overseen
the growth of Buffalo
Wild Wings Bar and Grill from
a small regional restaurant chain to a national
player through innovation and operating practices.
In 2001, the company posted annual sales of
more than $220 million and had over 160 locations
in 26 states.
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Sally
Wold Smith
Buffalo
Wild Wings
Year Inducted: 2002 |
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David “WhiteThunder” Trottier,
an enrolled member of the Standing Rock Sioux
Tribe was born in Devils Lake, North Dakota
and was educated at two Indian Mission Schools
and at North Dakota public schools. He received
his degree in English from Mayville
State College in 1981. Trottier
joined Chiptronics,
Inc., a Dunseith,
North Dakota electronics supplier in 1992
and was named President only six months later.
When Trottier joined Chiptronics in 1992,
the company had annual sales of about $7 million.
In less than ten years, company sales grew
570% to nearly $40 million in 2001. Chiptronics
has been very innovative in setting up local
warehousing and inventory management systems
that have allowed the company to have high
quality on-demand parts for its customers.
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David
“WhiteThunder”
Trottier
Chiptronics, Inc.
Year Inducted: 2002 |
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Thomas E. Kenville, President
and Chief Executive Officer of Mid-America
Aviation of West Fargo,
a company that specializes in overhaul and
repair of accessory drive and dynamic drive
components for military and civilian aircraft.
Mid-America was formed in 1992 when Kenville
and a group of investors purchased the assets
of SMS Investments of New York. Sales were
projected to be $5 million in 2002. In 1999
they were selected as the SBA Region VIII
Prime Contraction of the Year and the Small
Business Exporter of the Year in 2000. Kenville
grew up in Grand Forks, North Dakota and graduated
from UND
in 1963.
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Thomas
E. Kenville
Mid-American
Aviation
Year Inducted: 2003 |
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Darold Rath, Managing Partner/CEO
Eide
Bailly LLP, a Fargo consulting
and accounting firm formed in 1998 by the
merger of Eide Helmeke and Charles Bailly
firms. Eide Bailly and its affiliated companies
provide a full array of services including
tax, audit, accounting, employee benefits,
human resources, integrated financial planning,
technology solutions, fraud prevention, detection
and investigations, and business and industry-specific
consulting services. Today, it is the sixteenth
largest accounting firm with nine offices
in six states. Eide Bailly dominates the Midwest
market between Minneapolis and Seattle. The
firm, with 69 partners/principals, generated
$62 million in revenue in 2002. Rath was born
and raised in Pettibone, ND. He graduated
form UND
in 1967. |
Darold
Rath
Eide
Bailly LLP
Year Inducted: 2003 |
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Richard S. Strong is the
founder, chairman, and Chief Investment Officer
of Strong Financial Corporation, a financial
services firm with offices in Wisconsin, Minnesota,
Illinois, and Indiana. Strong Financial manages
nearly $40 billion in assets for individuals,
retirement plans, financial advisors, institutions
and foundations. Raised in Wahpeton, North
Dakota, Dick was orphaned at age 17 and moved
to Minnesota to live with relatives. Relying
on the lessons of achievement he learned from
his family, he went to college and graduate
school and began his investment career in
1966. In 1974, Dick started R.S. Strong Capitol
Management, an independent, entrepreneurial
firm with a hands-on, intensive approach to
researching the companies in which it invests.
In 1982, he launched his first two mutual
funds. Since 1974, Strong Financial has grown
into one of the country’s largest independent
financial services firms, employing over 1500
associates.
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Richard
Strong
Strong
Financial
Corporation
Year Inducted: 2003 |
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Randy R. Brown is CEO and Owner of the Brown Corporations, which include AGSCO Inc., Capital Harvest Financing, Ag Depot Service Center, AgSupplier.com, Dakota Jet, Dakota Fusion, EnDyn, and others. Randy has beaten the odds in the consolidating agricultural sector by innovating and offering more services to his farming customers. He took over as president of AGSCO, Inc. in 1995 and became sole owner in 1998. Randy expanded the existing business of providing crop protection products and services to farmers to include warehousing and distribution for the agricultural industry nationwide. In addition, he introduced several new companies which enhanced AGSCO’s business and provided more opportunities to agricultural producers. Together, the Brown Corporations employ over 250 people and produce sales revenue of over $100 million. |
Randy R. Brown
Brown Corperations
Year Inducted: 2004 |
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Dr. James D. Carlson is President & CEO of PRACS Institute, Ltd. Dr. James Carlson grew up in a small Iowa town, and came to North Dakota as a faculty member at NDSU in the College of Pharmacy. In 1983, Carlson co-founded PRACS Institute, Ltd. of Fargo to scientifically compare and evaluate drug products. The company has since expanded to two new locations, one in East Grand Forks, Minnesota, and one in San Diego, California. The three locations have over 600 research beds and 13 study units which complete over 360 projects annually with 480 employees. In 2004, 12,000 people participated in those studies, being paid a total of nearly $12 million. PRACS Institute, Ltd. is known in the North American clinical research arena as the "gold standard." |
Dr. James D. Carlson
PRACS Institute, Ltd.
Year Inducted: 2005 |
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Michael Andrew Chambers is a native of Carrington, North Dakota, and earned Bachelor's Degrees in biotechnology and microbiology with a minor in chemistry in 1997 from NDSU. He and NDSU graduate student John Ballantyne from New Zealand co-founded Aldevron, LLC in 1998. Aldevron is a prominent and rapidly growing biotechnology company whihc currently employs about 25 people. In 2004, Chambers oversaw the acquisition of Genovc, a German biotech company. With an initial $2.5 million contract, the technology from the two companies will be used to develop new vaccines for the US Department of Defense. |
Michael Andrew Chambers
Aldevron, LLC
Year Inducted: 2005 |
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Wade A. Dokken is the former President and CEO of American Skandia, Inc., one of the fastest growing financial service companies in the United States, which was purchased by Prudential Financial in 2003. Under Dokken's leadership, American Skandia managed approximately $40 billion for nearly 1 million investors. Dokken, a native of Towner, North Dakota, is also the author of the book "New Century, New Deal: How to Turn your Wages into Wealth through Social Security Choice." Dokken attended UND in the early 1980's and studied political science and journalism. Wade is married to Susi Dokken, and together they have three boys; Andrew, 14, Chad, 12 and Blake, 7. After Wade engineered the sale of American Skandia to Prudential in mid 2003, Wade, Susi and the children packed their bags and traveled around the world for the next year. |
Wade A. Dokken
American Skandia, INC.
Year Inducted: 2005 |
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Larry E. Jodsaas, Retired Chairman - PolarFab - Larry Jodsaas quit high school in Lisbon, North Dakota when he was 15 years old to work full-time to help support his family. At age 19, Jodsaas joined the Navy, where he served as an electronics technician on submarines. At the same time, he earned his GED through the United States Air Force Institute. After four years in the Navy, Jodsaas attended Wahpeton State College of Science for two years, and then enrolled at UND. He graduated in 1962 with a degree in electrical engineering. Jodsaas worked for Control Data for 28 years, before purchasing the company's semi-conductor division, VTC Inc. In 2000, Larry sold VTC to Lucent Technology, but retained the manufacturing portion of the business. A new company, PolarFab, was formed. PolarFab was a foundry to supply design processes and wafers to independent design companies. In July 2005, PolarFab was sold to Sanken, a Japanese company. |
Larry E. Jodsaas
PolarFab
Year Inducted: 2006 |
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Scott Molander, Co-Founder - The Simple Furniture Company & Co-founder - Hat World, Inc. - A native of Crosby, North Dakota, Scott Molander graduated from Dickinson State University in 1988. By 1995, he and a co-worker decided they should open their own business selling hats in malls. The company, Hat World, grew to over 500 stores before it was sold in 2004 for $177.4 million. Molander left the company following the sale and in 2005, launched his second company, The Simple Furniture Company. They manufacture modern looking ready-to-assemble furniture through retail outlets and online. The furniture requires no screws, or fasteners of any kind, and requires no tools to assemble. The furniture is manufactured using a high tech CNC router that manufactures within 1/1000th of an inch tolerances. The company targets young adults living in apartments, condos, and even dorm rooms. In addition to serving as Executive Chairman of The Simple Furniture Company, Molander has rejoined Hat World, Inc. as Director of Leasing for Canada and Airports for North America. |
Scott Molander
Simple Furniture Co. &
Hat World, Inc.
Year Inducted: 2006 |
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