PBJune 2013

June 2013

A Day With GatesBill Gates shares insight with college students, community as part of Concordia College celebrationpg. 26

ALSORetention Strategies

How to hire and keep the best employeespg. 30

Check Your MoralsWhy social morals matter in business

pg. 22

North Dakota. Doing Business Better. With support from North Dakota’s entrepreneurial programs, StopSensor makes semi-trailer unloading easier, reducing waste and risk of injury for farmers and other businesses. Learn how North Dakota is doing business better at www.NDBusiness.com

4 Prairie Business Magazine June 2013

|INSIDE|June 2013 VOL 14 ISSUE 6

FEATURES DEPARTMENTS6 Editor’s Note

BY KRIS BEVILL

The little things

8 Business Advice BY MATTHEW D. MOHR

Selling from the top

10 FinanceBY JOE WITT

Banking industry consolidation continues

12 Research & Technology BY DWAINE CHAPEL

Training programs essential for workforce development

14 Economic Development BY HAROLD STANISLAWSKI

‘Talent Community’ being developed to connect workers, employers

16 Prairie News

20 Prairie People

22 Business DevelopmentEncouraging entrepreneurial values

32 South DakotaRapid City startup sets sights on safe water

34 Western North DakotaThe price you pay

36 TechnologySeeing is believing

37 Business to Business

38 Energy

42 By the Numbers

Next MonthThe July issue of Prairie Businessmagazine will evaluate the increasingly high cost of landthroughout the region and its impact on local economies and businesses. The issue will alsohighlight a unique financing approach used by a local organization to bring its project to fruitionand will provide readers with a first-hand account of a day spent touring the Bakken region.

Bill Gates discusses his passion for technology, education and philanthropyduring a question-and-answer session at ConcordiaCollege in Moorhead, Minn. PHOTO: JOHN BROSE

26 EVENTA Dedication to Remember Bill Gates speaks to students, public atConcordia College business school dedication

WORKFORCEGet Them and Keep ThemTips to finding and retaining the right workers for your business

30

Scan this with your smartphone'sQR Reader to visit our website.

Follow us on Twitterhttps://twitter.com/PrairieBiz

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Atlassian co-founder and co-CEO Mike Cannon-Brookes entertains attendees ofCultivate.you with a light-hearted look at his company’s straight-forward core values.PHOTO: KRIS BEVILL, PRAIRIE BUSINESS MAGAZINE


|EDITOR’S NOTE|

The little things

Few things are as important to a business as hiring and keeping quality employees, partic-

ularly in this region, where unemployment is low and businesses are steadily expanding

their workforces. Competition for workers is fierce and, in some cases, there simply aren’t

enough workers available to fill demand. If your business is not aggressively addressing its recruit-

ment and retention strategies, you may soon find that you’re not able to fill open positions, if you’re

not already. So how do you attract and retain the best staff possible?

There is no silver bullet answer to that question, of course. The specifics depend on your indus-

try, your location and the age of your workers. Generally, though, the most successful employers

have put in place a solid, consistent interview process to identify the best candidates and follow up

at the early-employment stage with frequent check-ins, providing identifiable and achievable goals,

and utilizing a mentoring system that ensures both the employer and employee’s job expectations

are met. From there, companies that appreciate the need for employees to manage a work/life bal-

ance and recognize their professional achievements are likely to retain the best staff. We highlight a

few examples of this in the article, “Get Them and Keep Them" (page 30). Each company is unique,

and what works for one business may not fit with another, but more often than not, it’s the little

things that make the difference between a decent place to work and a great place to work. It may be

half-day Fridays, or frequent get-togethers to celebrate work achievements, or allowing employees

free time to dedicate to community projects. It’s up to each company to determine what works with

its culture and industry, but employee retention should be a work in progress, and needs to be reg-

ularly re-evaluated to make sure it matches current employee needs.

This month’s issue also addresses several current trends in desirable workplaces. Access to tech-

nology is increasingly important to all workers, but specifically for young workers who are accus-

tomed to incorporating technological advancements into all aspects of their lives. In “Seeing is

believing,” we highlight the use of video communications to bridge the gap between dispersed

workers and allow opportunities for employees to work remotely. This month’s Business

Development article, "Encouraging entrepreneurial values," (page 22) provides insight on the

importance of moral values and social entrepreneurialism in business today. Those topics were per-

fectly addressed during a public event held in Fargo by Arthur Ventures which included inspiring

and entertaining presentations from Forbes publisher Rich Karlgaard and global technology firm

head Mike Cannon-Brookes.

Finally, our cover story offers an overview of Bill Gates’ recent visit to Concordia College in

Moorhead, Minn., to commemorate the college’s newly renovated business school. Gates spent

more than an hour on stage answering student questions on nearly every topic imaginable, from

technology to agriculture and vaccine distribution in third-world countries. I think everyone was

impressed with the poise and intelligence of the youth who shared the stage with the man recently

named the richest person in the world. In turn, Gates was engaging, surprisingly funny, and gen-

uinely enthusiastic about answering each question he received, leaving little doubt that he truly

believes in the innovation of youth and the next generation’s potential to positively impact the

world. It’s up to the business world to embrace them and let them shine.

KRIS [email protected]

7www.prairiebizmag.com

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MIKE JACOBS, PublisherRONA JOHNSON, Executive EditorKRIS BEVILL, EditorBETH BOHLMAN, Circulation ManagerKRIS WOLFF, Layout Design, Ad Design

Sales Director:JOHN FETSCH701.212.1026 [email protected]

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Editor:KRIS BEVILL701.306.8561 [email protected]

Editorial Advisors:Dwaine Chapel, Executive Director, ResearchPark at South Dakota State University; BruceGjovig, Director, Center for Innovation; LisaGulland-Nelson, Vice President, Marketing andP.R., Greater Fargo Moorhead EDC; Tonya Joe(T.J.) Hansen, Assistant Professor of Economics,Minnesota State University Moorhead; DustyJohnson, Chief of Staff for South Dakota Gov.Dennis Daugaard’s office; Brekka Kramer,General Manager of Odney; Matthew Mohr,President/CEO, Dacotah Paper Company; NancyStraw, President, West Central Initiative

Prairie Business magazine is published monthlyby the Grand Forks Herald and ForumCommunications Company with offices at 3752nd Avenue North, Grand Forks, ND 58203.Qualifying subscriptions are available free ofcharge. Back issue quantities are limited andsubject to availability ($2/copy prepaid). Theopinions of writers featured in Prairie Business aretheir own. Unsolicited manuscripts, photo-graphs, artwork are encouraged but will not bereturned without a self-addressed, stampedenvelope.

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|BUSINESS ADVICE|

Selling from the topBY MATTHEW D. MOHR

Most individual business owners believe

strongly in the products and services they

provide. Businesses are started and usually

operated by the people who believe in what they are

doing, which often makes the work a “labor of love.”

Along with believing in what you provide, a busi-

ness owner is often placed in the position to sell what he

has. Customers will question the business owner in ways

which put the owner in the position necessary to prove

or sell the business.

Some business owners are great sales representa-

tives for their businesses, others lack sales skills.

One of the criticisms I had early in my career was

not selling enough. It was hard for me then, and still is

today, to understand why anyone would choose to pur-

chase any product from my competitors. I knew, and

believe my business entities treated customers the very

best and acted fair and honestly in all dealings. Why

would someone consider any competitor when we are

the best? My beliefs were obvious and as a result I

appeared arrogant, so I was critiqued as not selling very

well and was told to learn to sell better many times.

An early Internet start-up asked me for funding to

get his enterprise going, but upon meeting him I could-

n’t see how he could sell his product. I did not invest, he

attracted sales talent and has been very successful. His

investors must have advised him he needed sales talent.

His product and company are well known and his angel

capitalists were well-rewarded for their advice and

investment.

A business owner should believe in his organiza-

tion, but needs to develop skills to present his products

and services in a manner which entices people to want to

deal with the business. PBMatthew D. Mohr

CEO, Dacotah Paper [email protected]


|FINANCE|

Banking industry consolidation continuesBY JOE WITT

Many industries have seen significant con-

solidation over the past few decades. Look

at the airline industry. In the Midwest we

had lots of carriers that have now merged out of exis-

tence. Republic Airlines was taken over by Northwest

Airlines. TWA was purchased by American Airlines.

Both Western and Pan Am became part of Delta.

Northwest and Delta then merged to create the

world’s biggest airline. Later, Continental and United

merged to become the world’s new biggest airline.

Now, US Airways and American Airlines might

merge, which would create the latest version of the

world’s biggest airline.

That same type of industry consolidation is also

hitting the banking industry. In 2000, Minnesota had

502 bank charters. That is not the number of bank

branches; it was the number of separate financial

institutions. As of year-end 2012, the number of

Minnesota charters had dropped to just 379. In those

12 years, 25 percent of the Minnesota charters were

merged out of existence.

The percentages in South Dakota and North

Dakota are similar. South Dakota saw a 22 percent

reduction, from 101 in 2000 to 79 in 2012. North Dakota

saw a 20 percent reduction, going from 113 in 2000 to 90

in 2012.

What are the main factors driving banking indus-

try consolidation, and is it likely to continue? There are a

couple main drivers. First, banking is a heavily regulated

industry. Bank owners, bank boards of directors and

bank senior management all understand that they oper-

ate within an intense regulatory environment. But the

current regulatory burden on banks, and especially on

small banks, has become extremely difficult to manage.

Over the past 15 years, there have been dozens of new,

extremely costly regulations with which banks must

comply. Most recently, Congress passed the Dodd-Frank

Act, which was originally intended to reign in Wall Street

abuses and prevent future federal government bailouts.

While the small community banks dotted across the

Midwest were never the intended targets of this law, they

now must comply with thousands of pages of new, cost-

ly regulations. Small banks have an especially difficult

time absorbing these new costs.

The second driver of banking industry consolidation

is unfair competition. Two entities which the banks direct-

ly compete against, credit unions and the Farm Credit

System lenders, have significant marketplace advantages.

Credit unions are completely exempt from both

federal and state income taxes, and federal credit unions

do not pay state sales taxes. That’s an incredible advan-

tage. Credit unions are also exempt from several impor-

tant laws with which banks must comply, saving them

additional overhead expenses. A mutually owned feder-

al savings bank just completed a conversion to a credit

union charter. The president of the new credit union

estimated that changing from a tax-paying, more heavi-

ly regulated bank to a credit union would save the credit

union over $2 million in tax expenses and operating

costs per year. The institution did not change its cus-

tomer base or its products and services in any way. The

savings simply came from changing its charter.

Farm Credit System lenders also have significant

advantages over banks. They, too, have tax advantages.

They pay federal income taxes on just a small fraction

of their operations, and they are exempt from state

income taxes and state sales taxes. They and their bor-

rowers are exempt from state mortgage registry taxes.

Farm Credit System lenders also have funding and

regulatory advantages.

The combination of increasing regulatory burden

plus intense pressures from competitors that have signif-

icant competitive advantages will mean that further

banking industry consolidation will occur. I do not like

the idea of further consolidation, as it limits choices for

consumers, small businesses and farmers. But it is easy to

understand why consolidation is happening. At this

point, Congress is picking winners and losers in the mar-

ketplace through tax and regulatory policy decisions.

And the local banks are clearly not the winners. It is sad

to see, but you can understand why the owners of sec-

ond-, third- and fourth-generation family banks are

deciding to get out of the business. PBJoe Witt

President/CEO, Minnesota Bankers [email protected]


|RESEARCH & TECHNOLOGY|

Training programs essential for workforce developmentBY DWAINE CHAPEL

Workforce recruitment is an ongoing con-

cern for our growing economy. In South

Dakota, local, regional and statewide

programs have been developed to provide workforce

training and development.

Dakota Seeds is an internship and assistantship

program established to create a pipeline of employees.

The internship is directed at undergraduate students

whereas the assistantships focus on creating opportu-

nities for graduate students. The program has had

excellent success, creating 384 opportunities for stu-

dents since its inception in 2008.

The Governor’s Office of Economic

Development has also created a training program that

encourages wage increases for employees through

skills enhancement training. The application is

extremely user friendly, allowing the businesses to

partner with the state in a dollar for dollar match for

its training program. The training is available for new

and existing employees. The state may provide up to

$1,000 per employee.

Regional community colleges and tech schools

have also provided accessible development opportuni-

ties for business and industry. As an example,

Madison, S.D., partnered with Lake Area Tech Institute

to develop a community welding lab. This lab has been

responsible for certifying over 100 welders, enhancing

their skills and increasing their wages.

Looking into the future, communities may need

to look at a combination of different industry sectors to

develop its workforce. A community may need to gath-

er its business and industry leaders to determine com-

mon skill sets needed across industry sectors. The

process can help determine what skills the available

workforce may be lacking and how to raise the skill sets

above industry standards. Once the common needs are

determined, a baseline of those skill sets can be estab-

lished. As the data is collected over time, trends can be

monitored to assist in continued improvement of the

process. Initially this may appear to be an overwhelm-

ing task. However, if data is systematically gathered, the

workforce needs of the community can be monitored

and aggressively developed. For example, occupational

skills training and educational skills training are two

key areas of need for most communities. Technical

skills to operate computerized equipment are another

priority skill set. Workforce software programs exist to

assist in the development of this process.

One way to understand the workforce develop-

ment process is to compare it to baseball’s minor league

development system. The minor leagues provide edu-

cation, skills training and development of its players

(employees) so that they perform more effectively and

efficiently in the major leagues. The minor leagues are

divided into several classifications: Triple-A, Double-A,

and Single-A. Each classification depicts a level of

knowledge and ability to play the game. Each classifica-

tion may represent a progressive increase in responsi-

bility and pay for business and industry employees.

A community would also be able to classify its

skill set needs accordingly. Training and education can

be developed to adhere to each defined classification.

The baseline can be developed by business and indus-

try. Community economic development corporations

can assist by systematically collecting the data. This

type of strategy would provide a clear path to success

and long-term recruitment processes.

Workforce recruitment is a continuous work in

progress for communities. Taking a lesson or two

from different industry sectors can enhance a com-

munity’s ability to develop long-term plans, and uti-

lization of existing training programs, such as Dakota

Seeds, can help provide processes to develop a work-

force pipeline. PBDwaine Chapel

Executive directorResearch Park at South Dakota State University

[email protected]


|ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT|

‘Talent Community’ being developed to connect workers, employersBY HAROLD STANISLAWSKI

The cities of Fergus Falls, Brainerd, and

Crookston, Minn., are the recipients of a

“Talent Grant” being administered by the

Minnesota Department of Employment and

Economic Development (DEED) with financial

support from the Otto Bremer Foundation. With

the ongoing challenge of connecting job seekers

and employers, the grant will be used to develop

and house a Talent Community. The key to this

community is using the National Career

Readiness Certificate, an on-line method of

assessing individuals’ reading, math and problem

solving skills and connecting those skills to iden-

tified occupations.

John Newhouse, president of Lakeland Mold,

saiys his company understands the importance and

value of the NCRC in assessing current and future

employees, adding that it is a tool which can be used

to assess potential employees’ skills and focus on

what is right for the employee in terms of growth

and support.

Lona Bach, human resources director at

PioneerCare in Fergus Falls, says the health care organ-

ization uses the NCRC, along with job shadowing, to

assess certified nursing assistant candidates before they

enroll in PioneerCare’s training program. “Not only do

we have a measurable outcome of their reading, math

and problem-solving abilities beforehand, but we

believe candidates who earn their certificates are more

serious about starting their careers with us,” she says.

Job seekers who have earned their NCRC can

market that asset to businesses that recognize the cre-

dential. The Talent Community project will benefit

both employers and job seekers around the west-cen-

tral Minnesota region. Future workforce for the region

is critical to the success of our communities and the

Talent Community concept is an attempt to define the

existing talent better for our employers. For many

there is a very real lack of understanding about what

type of skills that exist in our communities, available

local workforce and how to close the gap between the

skills needed by businesses and our local labor supply.

Understanding this problem is our first challenge, fol-

lowed by growing our local supply of labor to meet

our future workforce needs.

Goals of the Talent Community include:

- Identify talent and build on the assets of the

local area by connecting job seekers with employers

- Warehousing the project with local organizations

to allow for flexibility and agility as technology changes

- Allow job seekers and employers to have two-

way, real-time communication

- Give local economic development organiza-

tions the ability to identify the talent available in their

communities, giving the community a unique tool to

expand or attract new businesses.

- Allow individuals and employers to brand

themselves

- Build consumer confidence for job seekers and

businesses for employment opportunities and the

opportunity to live and succeed in their regions

- Include all job seekers, high school students,

college students and individuals from the community

In future columns, I will keep you posted as these

three communities initiate the “Talent Community”

model and relate our experiences with NCRC. In the

meantime, job seekers who want to educate them-

selves on which jobs are in demand can consult iSeek

Solution’s overview of West Central Minnesota careers

at www.iseek.org/westcentral/index.html. PB

Harold StanislawskiExecutive director,

Fergus Falls Economic Improvement [email protected]


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Prairie News Industry News & Trends

Fargo software technology firm opens

Stoneridge Software, a technology firm sell-

ing and servicing Microsoft Dynamics business

software, recently opened in Fargo. Led by

founder and president Eric Newell, the firm sells,

implements and services Microsoft Dynamics AX

and CRM products for mid to large businesses.

Prior to founding Stoneridge Software,

Newell was employed at Microsoft in Fargo for

13 years, serving most recently as a premier field

engineering manager for Dynamics. He spent the

last three years focusing on Dynamics AX and

has extensive background working with

Dynamics GP and Dynamics CRM. He founded

Stoneridge Software after discovering a gap

between customer expectations and what was

being delivered in the market, he says.

Other principal owners in the company are

Cody Marshall, chief financial officer, and Becky

Newell, chief technology officer.

ND delegation visits Iraq to discuss agribusiness

A small group of North Dakotans visited

Kurdistan, an autonomous region of northern

Iraq, in April where they met with Iraqi and

Kurdish leaders to discuss agribusiness coopera-

tion, according to the North Dakota Trade Office.

“Kurdistan wants to replicate North

Dakota’s farming operations, complete from

farm to market,” Dean Gorder, NDTO executive

director, says. “The collaboration will provide

fantastic opportunities for our state’s exporters

and training facilities.”

While there, the North Dakota delegation

met with sheikhs from the Barzani tribe, one of

the oldest and most prominent Kurdish tribes.

The sheikhs plan to visit North Dakota this

month and tour facilities in all aspects of

agribusiness. The Iraqi and Kurdish delegation

will return to North Dakota in September for the

Big Iron Farm Show in Fargo.

G & R Controls expands to Bismarck

G & R Controls, along with Balancing

Professionals, has opened an office in Bismarck,

N.D., to better serve new and existing customers

in the area. The companies provide temperature

controls, building automation and testing and

balancing for commercial heating, ventilation

and air conditioning (HVAC) systems. Trent

Jongetjes will serve as the Bismarck division

manager and sales engineer. A Canton, S.D.,

native, Jongetjes holds an electrical engineering

degree from the South Dakota School of Mines

and Technology and has worked for the compa-

ny for more than eight years. He previously

served as a project engineer in the company’s

Sioux Falls, S.D., office.

G & R Controls serves as an independent

field office for Siemens Industries. Balancing

Professionals is certified by the National

Environmental Balancing Bureau. Both compa-

nies are locally owned and operated. They also

have offices in Sioux Falls and Rapid City, S.D.,

and Fargo.

Northwest MinnesotaFoundation backs local fish market

The Northwest Minnesota Foundation

recently approved a loan through its business

development program to support a unique local

fish restaurant and market concept in Bemidji,

Minn. The Marvelous Fish House and Market,

owned by Marvin Hanson, is a casual dining facil-

ity and market serving products from the Red

Lake Fisheries and Red Lake Nation Foods, owned

by the Red Lake Band of Chippewa Indians. It will

specialize in the sale of walleye and wild rice.

“This restaurant is a win-win for Red Lake

and The Marvelous Fish House and Market

because we are buying product from Red Lake

Nation Foods and, in turn, helping my people in

every way possible,” Hanson said in a statement.

“It’s a dream come true.”

NMF is a public, charitable foundation

serving 12 counties in northwest Minnesota.

Sanford launches centralizedclinical trials website

Sanford Health has created a website —

Fixes for Kids Inc. has developed a system designed to treat broken elbows in children,dubbed the E-Fix, which eliminates the current practice of manually pulling on the arm,thus reducing additional risk to the patient. PHOTO: FIXES FOR KIDS INC.

Medical device manufacturer attracts ND investorsFixes 4 Kids Inc., a Salt Lake City-based developer of products to treat pediatric

orthopedic fractures, is relocating its manufacturing operations to Wahpeton, N.D., to

work with Wahpeton-based ComDel Innovation after receiving financial support from a

number of local investors, including Linn Grove Ventures and the Bank of North Dakota.

The state also provided economic development incentives to the company. In early April,

the company had already hired 10 people to work in its Wahpeton location and intends to

continue to grow, according to a company spokesperson.

“We invested in Fixes 4 Kids as a group of North Dakota investors because we saw

significant common values, especially a strong respect for cash efficiency, a strong man-

agement team that had a clear understanding of the path forward and the ability to exe-

cute, and an opportunity to add value through North Dakota manufacturing and prod-

uct development at ComDel Innovation as well as employment in North Dakota,” says

Dan Hodgson, managing director of Linn Grove Ventures.


www.sanfordhealth.org/clinicaltrials — to help

potential participants identify trials they may

enroll in to gain access to innovative treatments

and help advance research surrounding their dis-

ease. Website users can search trials by category,

read a description of each trial and see who the

principal investigator is.

Sanford has more than 150 open trials and

more than 350 ongoing clinical studies at its loca-

tions throughout the Midwest. The organiza-

tion’s network currently includes 35 hospitals,

140 clinic locations and 1,360 physicians in 81

specialty areas of medicine.

IDEA competition announces 2013 winners

The IDEA competition, a northwest

Minnesota entrepreneurship award program

funded by the Blandin Foundation and the

Northwest Minnesota Foundation with contri-

butions from several local partners, named its

2013 award recipients at an awards banquet held

April 24 in Thief River Falls, Minn.

Winners include: Brian and Coreen

Berdahl of Red Lake Falls, for Spot-Knot — a

first-of-its-kind slip knot tie device for the fishing

industry; Jack Lundbohm of Roseau for Stand

Alone Game Calls — a remotely operated elk

hunting call; Tim and Jenny Slukynsky of

Warroad for Lamplighter Hockey — a hockey

stick weight meant to offer an improved hockey

stick training tool compared to other tools on the

market, and Jerry Titera of Bagley for Hubmaster

Inc. — a tool that helps remove the tapered

wheel hub from Bobcat skidsteers for routine

maintenance and repair.

Each winner receives $10,000 in cash to

advance their business idea, plus additional spe-

cialized technical assistance.

Paper examines onlinereviews’ influence on rural buyers

Paulsen Marketing, an agri-marketing firm

located in Sioux Falls, S.D., has released a thought

paper reporting the results of a survey recently con-

ducted to gauge the level at which online reviews

impact rural lifestylers’ purchasing decisions.

Of 500 acreage owners surveyed who recent-

ly made a major purchase, more than 42 percent

ranked online reviews or testimonials as “least

influential” while about 36 percent of respondents

said they were influenced to some degree by online

reviews. However, the survey found that the

importance of online reviews increased to 58 per-

cent when reviews are attributed to peers, and 51.6

percent when attributed to experts.

To see the survey results and complete

thought paper, visit www.agribranding.com/cat-

egory/thought-papers.

Bank of ND records 9th consecutive year of record profits

The 2012 annual report of Bank of North

Dakota shows a ninth consecutive year of record

profits with $81 million in net earnings. Total

assets increased to $6.1 billion in 2012, up from

$5.3 billion in 2011. BND ended the year with

capital of $463 million. The state’s return on its

investment at the bank was 17.6 percent.

BND is the only state-owned bank in the

nation. It is overseen by the Industrial

Commission of North Dakota, which consists of

Gov. Jack Dalrymple, Attorney General Wayne

Stenehjem and Agriculture Commissioner Doug

Goehring.

SBDC assistance results in$100 million capital infusion

North Dakota Small Business Development

Centers provided complimentary one-on-one

consulting to 284 small business owners in 2012,

resulting in more than $104 million in capital

infusion, according to a recently completed

annual report.

North Dakota SBDC representatives spent

more than 8,500 hours assisting entrepreneurs

with loan applications, cash-flow management,

business plans, government contracting and

other needs at seven regional service centers and

17 sub-centers located throughout the state. As a

Northland Community and Technical College automotive instructors Norman Halsa, left,and Mark Johnson with the plaque received from the National Automotive TechniciansEducation Foundation in honor of the program’s master level accreditation. PHOTO: NORTHLAND COMMUNITY AND TECHNICAL COLLEGE

NCTC auto service techprogram receives master accreditation

Northland Community and Technical

College’s automotive service technology pro-

gram has received the National Automotive

Technicians Education Foundation master

automobile service technology accreditation.

The master level accreditation is the

highest level of achievement recognized by

NATEF. Northland’s program is the first in

Minnesota, and second in the nation, to

receive this level of accreditation from

NATEF under its new standards.

|PRAIRIE NEWS|


|PRAIRIE NEWS|

result, small businesses created and retained more

than 1,500 jobs and 145 new firms were estab-

lished, according to the report.

The SBDC is primarily funded by the U.S.

Small Business Administration, with matching

funding in North Dakota provided by the state

commerce department and local economic devel-

opment groups, colleges and other partners.

Border States Electric to open Duluth branch

Border States Electric, an employee-owned

electrical distributor headquartered in Fargo,

recently opened a branch in Duluth, Minn., bring-

ing the company’s total number of branch loca-

tions to 57. The Duluth branch will operate out of

a 16,400 square foot facility and will employ eight

people initially. The branch will serve construc-

tion, industrial and utility customers and will be

managed by Marc McLennan.

“We are delighted to bring our innovative

product and supply chain solutions to northern

Minnesota,” CEO Tammy Miller said in a news

release. “Our expansion in Minnesota will allow us

to fully serve our customers and provide opportu-

nities for our employee-owners.”

AGCO to expand Minnesotamanufacturing facility

AGCO has begun a three-year $42 million

expansion project at its Jackson, Minn., manufac-

turing facility to increase production capacity and

efficiency in order to help meet growing demand

for the tractors and application equipment built

there. The first phase is scheduled to be complete

this fall and includes a 30,000-square-foot expan-

sion of the component manufacturing area, which

will increase capacity by 20 percent and improve

efficiency. The entire project is expected to create

75 jobs, bringing the total number of employees to

more than 1,200, and will increase production

capacity by 25 percent.

USD gets $1 million donationThe University of South Dakota College of

Arts & Sciences and the USD Foundation have

received a $1 million gift from alumnus

Lorraine Hart, which will be used to create three

funds in the College of Arts & Sciences — a stu-

dent enrichment fund to help students gain

learning experiences outside of the classroom, a

student and faculty fund for the department of

mathematical sciences and a named professor-

ship in the psychology department.

Currently a resident of Minneapolis, Hart

was raised in Vermillion, S.D., and received a bach-

elor’s degree in mathematics from USD. She also

serves on the USD Foundation board of directors.

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|PRAIRIE PEOPLE|

Wilson to lead SD School ofMines and Technology

Heather Wilson, a former member of

Congress, Rhodes Scholar and small business

owner who has worked with large defense and sci-

entific companies, has been named the 19th presi-

dent of the South Dakota School of Mines and

Technology. She is the first female president in the

school’s 128-year history.

Wilson will assume her duties on the Rapid

City campus this month. She succeeds the late

Robert Wharton, who passed away in September.

Duane Hrncir, provost and vice president for aca-

demic affairs, had served as acting president over

the past several months.

Finken re-elected to U.S. Chamber board

Patrick Finken, majority owner and president

of Odney, a full-service marketing firm with offices

in North Dakota and Idaho, has been re-elected to

the U.S. Chamber of Commerce board of directors

for a second three-year term.

“I’m honored to serve a second term on this

board,” Finken said in a statement. “The U.S.

Chamber is taking a lead role in the country’s eco-

nomic recovery, and I’m looking forward to work-

ing with them to strengthen the business environ-

ment, allowing businesses to create the jobs

Americans need.”

SBA names Warberg Block NDsmall business person of year

Kari Warberg Block, CEO of Earth-Kind Inc.

in Bismarck, N.D., has been selected as the U.S.

Small Business Administration’s 2013 North

Dakota Small Business Person of the Year.

Nominated by The Center for Technology &

Business, Warberg Block was selected following a

statewide competition. The award recognizes excep-

tional small business owners who demonstrate the

entrepreneurial spirit in starting and growing a suc-

cessful business, according to the SBA.

Warberg Block 's business began selling earth-

friendly rodent repellent products in 1995. In 2007,

Earth-Kind’s Fresh Cab rodent repellent gained

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency registration

as the first rodent repellent certified for indoor use.

Earth-Kind now occupies a 7,000 square foot facil-

ity and achieves $5 million in annual revenue.

Warberg Block will be among the nation’s top

entrepreneurs honored at SBA’s National Small

Business Week events June 17-21 in Washington, D.C.

SBA hires ND economic development specialist

Brittany Sickler has been selected as an eco-

nomic development specialist for the North

Dakota District Office of the U.S. Small Business

Administration in Fargo.

Sickler is a returning Peace Corps volunteer

with her most recent assignment as a volunteer

leader in the Sustainable Community Tourism

program in Guatemala. Prior to serving a three-

year term with the Peace Corps, Sickler worked as

a marketing and outreach specialist for ACCION

USA in Miami, Fla. Her duties at the SBA will

include marketing and outreach in southeastern

North Dakota.

Thomas joins Cornerstone BankJeff Thomas recently joined Cornerstone

Bank, Fargo as senior vice president and business

banking manager. In this role, he will oversee the

overall operations and management of the busi-

ness banking department, including maintaining

and generating new business.

Thomas has more than 26 years of experience

in the financial services industry in the Fargo area.

He currently serves as the 2013 United Way

Campaign chairman, board member of the

American Diabetes Association and serves on the

investment committee of the Friends of Chimbote.

He is a past chair of the Fargo Moorhead West

Fargo Chamber of Commerce.

NDITC recognizes outstanding achievers

The Information

Technology Council

of North Dakota rec-

ognized three of the state’s IT providers for out-

standing achievements during the group’s 13th

annual awards program, held May 1 in Fargo.

Fargo-based Sundog received the Premier IT

Business award for its success in developing and

providing IT business solutions to its clients.

Minot-based Eid Passport Inc. received the

Technology Innovator award for its use of innova-

tive technology to serve its primary customer.

Randall Thursby, chief information officer

for the North Dakota University System received

the North Dakota IT Champion award for his use

and development of IT in the academic realm.

Heather Wilson Brittany Sickler

Patrick Finken

Kari Warberg Block

From left: Jim Robell,president and chiefoperating officer, EidPassport Inc.; SteveCarrigan, generalmanager, EidPassport; JohnathonRadamacher, chieftechnology officer,Sundog; ITCNDPresident GaryInman and RandallThursby, NorthDakota UniversitySystem chief information officer.

Jeff Thomas


|PRAIRIE PEOPLE|

Bismarck-Mandan YP elect new leadership

The Bismarck-Mandan (N.D.) Young

Professionals Network recently elected Heather

Welle, a Bemidji, Minn., native who has lived in

Bismarck for 10 years, as its next vice president.

Welle will serve one year as vice president before

assuming the role of president. Joe Fink, a

mortgage consultant at Wells Fargo, currently

serves as president. Angil Wanner of SIA

Marketing/Schmidt Insurance moved from

president to chairwoman of the network.

Heather Welle

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|BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT|

Arthur Ventures Growth Fund LLC co-founder Doug Burgum, left,Forbesmagazine publisher Rich Karlgaard, center, and Atlassian co-founder and co-CEO Mike Cannon-Brookes answer attendee ques-tions during an event held April 26 in Fargo to inspire and encour-age entrepreneurship in the community. PHOTO: KRIS BEVILL,PRAIRIE BUSINESS MAGAZINE

Rich Karlgaard is on a bit of a self-described rampage

about jerks. The Bismarck, N.D., native, Forbes mag-

azine publisher, entrepreneur and investor says he’s

been noticing a trend that young people, particularly in the

Silicon Valley, think they must be jerks to succeed in business.

The problem, he says, is that they don’t realize their early jerky

Encouraging entrepreneurial values Event brings community together to inspire entrepreneursBY KRIS BEVILL


behavior will come back to haunt them in later years.

“People will work for a hard-nosed CEO if it’s not

about his ego, but about maintaining value of the com-

pany, serving customers, innovating, keeping on a hard

pace,” he says. “People will work for [those kinds of

CEOs]. They won’t work for the ego-driven jerk. I’m

just shocked at the profound misunderstanding people

have about that.”

Karlgaard was in Fargo to take part in

Cultivate.you, a public event hosted by local venture

capital fund Arthur Ventures Growth Fund LLC on

April 26 with the goal of inspiring and encouraging

entrepreneurship in the community. In a conversation

prior to the event, Karlgaard spoke at length about the

factors paving the way for Midwest communities like

Fargo to stake their claim as leaders in returning the U.S.

economy to acceptable annual growth rates. He noted

that not only is Fargo less affected by the egotistical

behavior on display among young entrepreneurs else-

where, it also boasts available startup capital through

firms like Arthur Ventures, a solid base of existing role

models with a history of successful business experience,

and a density of technological talent supplemented by

thousands of new prospects at nearby universities. Add

to that the fact that technology development tools are

now widely available and affordable, and that the cost of

living in places like Fargo is ridiculously low compared

to cities in Silicon Valley, and the potential for a technol-

ogy hub to emerge in Fargo is supreme.

“All the forces are lining up for a community like

Fargo,” Karlgaard said. “You can have the best software

developers in the world and you can have access to bil-

lionaire venture capitalists, but if the playing field has

been leveled and you can develop technology cheaper,

you don’t need billion-dollar venture capitalists. What

matters is domain expertise.”

The technological transformation of health care,

manufacturing, agriculture and education will be key in

returning America to a 4 percent annual growth rate,

compared to its current lackluster 2.9 percent econom-

ic growth rate, and the Midwest holds domain expertise

in all of those areas, according to Karlgaard. But it will

take more than domain expertise to succeed in what he

says is the most binary economy he’s ever seen. “Average

doesn’t cut it anymore,” he says. “You have to be good,

striving for great, or you’re going to be in trouble.”

Karlgaard believes the most successful companies

will continue to be those built upon strong moral values

with a deep sense of purpose — characteristics which

also help retain the best employees. “I’m a huge believ-

er in the value of culture and that culture springs from

a profound purpose – not a purpose that is written as a

corporate mission on a wall but something deeper,” he

says. “If you don’t get that right then you’re off on a

wrong track and you will never be able to attract the

right kind of people.”

Arthur Ventures co-founder Doug Burgum

echoed that sentiment and said the fund is focused on

supporting companies with the right combination of

values and ideas. “If the CEO and the founder don’t

have the right values, then it’s a nonstarter no matter

how good the idea is,” he says.

About 750 people attended the morning-long

event, which included speeches from Karlgaard and

Mike Cannon-Brookes, co-founder and co-CEO of

Australian software development company Atlassian, as

well as a question-and-answer session with both speak-

ers and Burgum. Attendees included Arthur Ventures

partner companies, college students, young profession-

als and entrepreneurs of all ages, including 100 eighth

graders from West Fargo’s STEM center, who were wel-

comed by Burgum as being “future entrepreneurs.”

Cannon-Brookes, likely unknown to many in the

crowd prior to his speech, captivated the audience with

an entertaining look at how he and fellow company co-

founder Scott Farquhar grew Atlassian from a startup

launched on a shoe-string budget a decade ago by two

young 20-somethings to the 700-employee global soft-

ware development firm that it is today. He, too, stressed

the importance of values and innovation in the work-

place, but through a slightly different approach, reflect-

ing that of the young professional generation. He drew

laughs from the crowd with a slide displaying

Atlassian’s five straight-forward core values: Open

Company, No Bullshit; Build with Heart and Balance;

Don’t #@!% the Customer; Play, as a Team and Be the




Change You Seek.

Cannon-Brookes offered several examples

of Atlassian’s innovative approach to the work-

place, including company-wide “ShipIt” days

held every quarter, which consist of a 24-hour

period given over to brainstorming and deliver-

ing pitches for anything related to company

products.

Some of the ShipIt ideas become new fea-

tures for company products, but the true moti-

vation behind the activity is simply to foster cre-

ativity and make the workplace a little more fun.

Atlassian also gives employees five work days

each year to devote to nonprofit projects. Cannon-

Brookes said the nonprofit work allowance wasn’t

created as a public relations strategy, but it has

proven to draw in employees, reducing Atlassian’s

recruitment and training load. “So if you need a

P&L [profit and loss] reason to do good, that’s

one,” he told attendees.

During the question-and-answer session,

one of the eighth-graders asked for advice for stu-

dents interested in starting a business. The trio

advised that the first rules of entrepreneurship are

to break the rules, be curious, be passionate and

challenge the status quo. Karlgaard then suggested

that would-be entrepreneurs ask themselves to

identify and utilize their unfair advantage.

“Passion and stick-to-itiveness can be unfair

advantages,” he said. “An unfair advantage can be a

good thing. It means the thing that you do that no

one else can do.” PB

Kris Bevill

Editor, Prairie Business

701-306-8561, [email protected]

Atlassian co-founder and co-CEOMike Cannon-Brookes entertainsattendees of Cultivate.you with alight-hearted look at his compa-ny’s straight-forward core values.PHOTO: KRIS BEVILL, PRAIRIEBUSINESS MAGAZINE



A Dedication to RememberBill Gates speaks to students, public at Concordia College business school dedicationBY KRIS BEVILL

Anticipation was high on April 27 as nearly 4,000 people

buzzed about the campus of Concordia College in

Moorhead, Minn., awaiting a question-and-answer session

with Microsoft co-founder and philanthropist Bill Gates. Outside the

auditorium, ticket holders milled about, soaking up the sun on one of

the first 70-degree days of the spring before heading through tight

security at the building’s entrance and making their way to their seats.

All of the auditorium’s 3,800 seats were spoken for, filled with stu-

dents from Concordia, Moorhead State University at Moorhead,

North Dakota State University and the University of North Dakota,

Concordia faculty and staff and quick-thinking citizens who were

able to snap up complimentary tickets in their short time frame of

availability. Hundreds of others watched the event via live stream at

various locations.

Gates was on campus as part of a daylong dedication event for the

newly renovated Grant Center, home of the Offutt School of Business.

The school’s namesake, Ron Offutt, chairman and CEO of R.D. Offutt

Co. and RDO Equipment Co., is a Concordia alumnus and provided a

substantial donation for the $16.2 million project, which included the

addition of a new story to the Grant Center and the installation of envi-

ronmentally friendly features to qualify the building for LEED

Microsoft co-founder and philanthropist BillGates speaks to a crowd of about 4,000 people atConcordia College in Moorhead, Minn., as part ofa dedication celebration for the school’s renovat-ed business school. PHOTO: JOHN BROSE

|EVENT|


(Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) certification. The

project also included the construction of a 200-seat auditorium,

named the Barry Auditorium in honor of alumnus D. John Barry,

founder and chairman of MidAmerica Capital Partners.

Concordia’s business program is liberal arts-based and focus-

es on global understanding, entrepreneurship, ethics and leader-

ship, fundamentals which dove-tail well with Gates’ history of lead-

ership, innovation and a philanthropic focus on global issues with a

goal of improving lives around the world. In his introductory

remarks, Offutt said the dedication event was an “epic” day for him

and for the college. “[Gates’] creativity has opened doors to the

world,” he said, adding that it would now open the doors to the

Offutt School of Business.

Prolonged applause welcomed Gates to the stage, after which

he addressed the crowd for about 10 minutes, offering a brief histo-

ry of what he called his “two careers” — Microsoft and philanthro-

py. He noted that the two paths are different in that Microsoft focus-

es on selling software to people who can afford computers while phi-

lanthropy focuses on providing for those in need, but they also share

a common underpinning. “At its core, it’s basically the same thing,

which is finding innovators, be willing to back them, understand

what they’re working on, measure what they’re coming up with, try

to make sure that when it’s delivered it really has the impact it’s sup-

posed to have, and getting into a feedback loop, driven by very pre-

cise measurement,” he said. “I feel like all of the things I learned at

Microsoft really just prepared me, as well as providing the resources,

to do the work that I do now.”

Gates commended Concordia for its efforts to send students

out into the world as part of the higher education learning experi-

ence and said that being aware of global issues will help students bet-

ter decide which area of work to pursue. He also noted the ability of

technology to assist in providing richer learning experiences. “I envy

kids growing up today,” he said. “When I was young, I had to read the

World Book [Encyclopedias] alphabetically. It didn’t have any videos

you could click on. It’s weird to learn things alphabetically. The

empowerment now, the opportunity to see what’s going on, has

never been so great.”

The first student to pose a question to Gates asked for his input

on which global issues are the most critical for students to address.

Gates settled on three: the economic divide between the rich and

poor, energy and health care in the U.S. “We have a [health care]

model in the United States that’s an unaffordable model,” he said,

adding that determining solutions for each of those three complex

issues will require “all of the ingenuity that all of you have.”

Several of the questions presented to Gates related to his dedi-

cation to philanthropy through the Bill and Melinda Gates

Foundation. Concordia President William Craft, who joined Gates

on stage for the duration of his 70-minute appearance, asked how

the couple decides where to focus its funding efforts. Gates said he

and Melinda determined that education is a key issue in the U.S. and

therefore have dedicated about $1 billion each year, which amounts

to one-quarter of the foundation’s annual philanthropic budget,

toward improving education in America. The remaining three-

fourths of the foundation’s financial contributions are dedicated to

The Grant Center at Concordia College in Moorhead, Minn., is home to the Offutt School of Business. PHOTO: JOHN BROSE

|EVENT|


helping improve the lives of poor people, often through the

invention and distribution of vaccines. He said the cost of

essentially saving a life through deploying those types of health

care improvements is surprisingly low, often less than $1,500

per person, and yet prior to the Gates Foundation, many of

those research areas were not being adequately funded. “That

was kind of stunning to me,” he said. “I thought when I came to

philanthropy that all of the really ‘good’ stuff, the really high

impact stuff, somebody would have done and we would just get

to do the next marginal thing. Unfortunately for the world,

some of these great opportunities weren’t being worked on.”

As an example, he said that when the foundation con-

tributed $40 million for malaria, it equaled just 10 percent of

the amount that had been donated by others to research a cure

for baldness. He also pointed out that the treatment for most

types of worms in humans today is derived from a treatment

developed in the U.S. for dogs. “Somebody just said, ‘Let’s try it

on the humans in Africa,’ and it happened to work perfectly,” he

said. “It was donated, which is a fantastic thing, but it never

would have been created except for these rich dogs that needed

to be de-wormed.”

The free market often overlooks worthy issues, such as

malaria, because their consumers are poor and don’t have a

voice in the marketplace, he said. Therefore, he believes philan-

thropy should be willing to take on those types of risky projects.

“It has to pick things that the market won’t do for some reason

and the government won’t do for some reason,” he said.

Philanthropic ConnectionsConcordia was able to obtain Gates as a speaker for the

event through connections made via the college’s Global

Leadership Council. Harold Hamm, CEO and chairman of

Continental Resources and member of the council, introduced

Gates at the event and said he came to know Gates through the

Giving Pledge, a group comprised of billionaires who have

publicly committed to giving away the majority of their wealth

to philanthropy.

According to Gates, the idea of the Giving Pledge, which

was developed by the Gateses and Warren Buffett, was to bring

together people who were already doing philanthropy or think-

ing about doing philanthropy, so that they could share their

knowledge on how best to contribute their wealth. He said the

public pledge to commit the majority of one’s wealth ensures

that Giving Pledge members have “some skin in the game” in

terms of philanthropic contributions. Currently, 105 people are

members of the group, which has recently been expanded to

include billionaires outside of the U.S. who may be interested in

joining. Gates said that while it’s hard to measure, he believes the

Giving Pledge is having a positive impact and that it will contin-

ue to have an impact for generations.

Eye Toward Education Regarding education reform, Gates noted that one of the

key differences between countries that are doing well in K-12

education and the U.S. is a feedback system for teachers. “They

invest in having other teachers sit in the classroom or training

the principals,” he said. “They have career ladders where at an

early stage as a teacher you are given a lot of guidance and if you

achieve a certain level of skill you move up. Our system has fall-

en into a mode where teachers basically get no feedback. I think

it’s important that we build that feedback system. Exactly how

you do that, how much you connect that to the pay system …

we need experimentation and we can look at these other coun-

tries that have done it.”

As for higher education, Gates said the largest issues facing

the U.S. are the cost of higher education and student graduation

rates. He cited technology as a possible solution to the current

high costs of higher education. “There’s a lot of excitement

about this,” he said. “There’s these massive online open courses

(MOOCs) that various people are doing and our foundation is

the biggest funder of those.” However, he added that it is not yet

clear how online education can be best blended into brick-and-

mortar curriculums.

Gates’ vast knowledge of world issues was apparent

throughout the event as he easily addressed questions relating to

concerns over vaccine distribution in parts of the Middle East,

agricultural education in India and China’s view toward person-

al wealth. He also displayed a rather unexpected sense of humor,

responding to a question on the negative impacts of great wealth

by saying, “As far as I can tell it’s had no negative effect on me.”

He followed that statement with a display of humility, by noting

that he believes any kind of success has the potential to be dan-

gerous. “You can think that whatever your success was, [it] was

because you were magically gifted in understanding things,” he

said. “Whereas of course any success, particularly a gigantic suc-

cess, is a huge number of factors, including hard work and

understanding, but timing, other people who came to work with

you, people who might have done the same thing but somehow

messed up in doing it. Often you have too much confidence

about what you understand.” PB

Kris Bevill



|EVENT|



|WORKFORCE|

Get Themand KeepThemTips to finding and retaining the right workers for your businessBY KRIS BEVILL

Have you taken time recently to thank your employees for a job well done? Is company

culture a top priority for your company? Does your leadership team value work/life

balance for all employees? Would you want to work for you?

If you were able to answer these questions affirmatively, chances are good that you have a satisfied

staff. If not, you may be finding it difficult to recruit and retain workers. And considering the region’s

enviably low unemployment rate, business owners must place new emphasis on not only recruiting the

right employees for the jobs but also on providing an atmosphere that makes them want to stay.

Because recruitment and retention has been a recurring concern among area businesses, the

Minnesota Department of Employment and Economic Development recently held workshops in

six northwest Minnesota communities to provide employers with advice related to those issues. Ted

Schick, corporate trainer and owner of Schick Corporate Learning, offered participants tips on hir-

ing, early-stage employment review processes and long-term motivation and retention strategies.

Schick pointed out that despite the high cost of employee turnover many organizations don’t

keep track of those expenses or even know how to calculate the cost. Multiplying the employee’s

salary by 1.25 factors in expenses associated with lost productivity, temporarily filling a vacant posi-

tion and time spent hiring and training a new employee, he said.

RecruitmentOrganizations should of course strive to hire the right person for the job the first time in order

to lessen the likelihood of turnover and provide a solid base for a successful retention strategy. In

Minnesota, the DEED collaborates with employers to evaluate their interview process and provides

job profile data to help identify the skills needed for workers to fill a position. The department active-

ly promotes the use of ACT’s National Career Readiness Certificate by employers to evaluate a poten-

tial employee’s skill set and compatibility for a position within the company. Schick, who likens the

interviewing process to a first date, recommended that a test such as NCRC be one part of a com-

prehensive interview process that includes thoughtfully prepared questions to effectively screen

Gov. Dennis Daugaard promotesSouth Dakota job opportunities toa visitor at the state’s recruitmentkiosk in the Mall of America inMinnesota on May 13. PHOTO:SOUTH DAKOTA DEPARTMENT OFLABOR AND REGULATION


|WORKFORCE|

applicants. Adequate skills for the job are important, but possessing

the ability to learn — aptitude and attitude — can be the most

important quality in a new hire, he said.

In this region, sometimes simply locating potential applicants to

interview can be a struggle. South Dakota, which currently has more

than 10,000 job openings in various fields, recently took its statewide

recruitment efforts on the road, enlisting Gov. Dennis Daugaard to

serve as a job recruiter during an hour-long visit to the Mall of

America in Minnesota. Minnesotans have shown the greatest interest

in moving to South Dakota and the trip was meant to create aware-

ness of the state’s ample job opportunities and to provide informa-

tion so that people could make educated decisions regarding reloca-

tion, according to Dawn Dovre, director of public affairs at the South

Dakota Department of Labor and Regulation. She says the trip gen-

erated media interest and boosted traffic to the state’s job recruitment

website, DakotaRoots.com, by more than 86 percent.

“Many people the governor visited with had ties to South

Dakota and were interested in the area,” Dovre says. “Active

Minnesota job seekers who had already registered with

DakotaRoots.com received a special invite and were thrilled the gov-

ernor wanted to visit with them.”

RetentionLike MN DEED, the South Dakota labor department also pro-

vides job retention advice to businesses in the state, and tries to set

an example through its own high worker retention rates. The

department employs about 450 full-time workers and boasts one of

the highest longevity rates among the state’s offices, but like many

businesses in the state, South Dakota’s labor department employs an

aging workforce. Almost one in three staff members are eligible for

retirement within the next five years, according to Dovre. Knowing

this, the department launched an initiative last year to further

improve upon its retention strategy, beginning with an employee

satisfaction survey. “We learned departmental pride, teamwork and

meaningful public work ranked high,” she says. “However, there was

room for improvement as far as equipment, resources, career

advancement and training.”

The department took action by developing a list of strategies to

focus on improving internal communication, and providing

employee recognition and professional development opportunities.

Smaller items were addressed immediately, such as updating office

furnishings, allowing for additional casual-dress days and emphasiz-

ing employee recognition efforts by supervisors. The initiative is an

ongoing effort and will include regional meetings to provide updates

to staff on the initiative’s progress. Additionally, a workgroup has

been formed to identify ways to best train new staff members.

Culture and RecognitionJustin Welk, talent coordinator at Sundog, a marketing and tech-

nology firm headquartered in Fargo, says the company enjoys an

extremely low turn-over rate, in part because the firm conducts a

comprehensive hiring process but also because the firm emphasizes

work/life integration and company culture. “We spend a significant

amount of time in our interview and selection process to make sure

that we’re hiring for not only the right skill set and technical ability, but

we also want to find a person who is going to be a culture fit in our

company,” he says. “We want to avoid at all cost hiring culture misfits.”

Culture is so important to the firm that it has established what it

calls a “culture club.” The club includes representatives from every

aspect of the company and exists to organize activities and events for

employees as a way to encourage camaraderie and recognize compa-

ny and employee achievements. “One thing we found is that while the

big events we do are exciting, they’re surprising, they’re fun, it’s the

small, frequent activities and recognition pieces that are really critical

to our culture and our retention,” Welk says. One example of small

but appreciated measures is a peer-to-peer award which allows

employees to nominate co-workers for a job well done. “It’s been

amazing to see how receptive people have been to that award and how

excited they get for each other when people do good jobs,” he says.

An atmosphere of camaraderie is also a key component of

Basin Electric Power Cooperative's employee retention strategy. The

organization, which employs more than 2,000 people in various

skilled and professional trades, has a 2.3 percent turn-over rate, com-

pared to a national average of about 3.5 percent. It was also recently

selected by the Bismarck-Mandan Young Professionals Network as

one of the Top 10 places for young people to work. About 35 percent

of Basin Electric’s current staff members are under the age of 40.

Daryl Hill, media relations supervisor, says that while the salary and

benefits are important, camaraderie among co-workers plays a key

role in the cooperative’s workforce retention rates. “Coming to work

with my friends, people who I trust, that is a big factor,” he says.

Basin Electric also readily supports employee participation in

community events, which simultaneously promotes team building

and social awareness. Employees serve meals at a local homeless

shelter once a month and participate in other community activities

as needed, such as clean-up after river flooding. “Those kinds of

things are not uncommon around here,” Hill says. PB

Kris Bevill



Basin Electric Power Cooperative sponsors an annual childhood cancerresearch fundraiser called “Brave the Shave," during which volunteerssolicit donations in exchange for shaving their heads. This year’s shaveesincluded CEO and General Manager Andrew Serri, shown here. PHOTO: BASIN ELECTRIC POWER COOPERATIVE


|SOUTH DAKOTA|

CalxAqua LLC received thisyear’s top honor at theannual South DakotaGovernor’s Giant Visionawards, held during theGovernor’s Office ofEconomic Development con-ference April 16 in SiouxFalls. From left, David Owen,South Dakota Chamber ofCommerce and Industrypresident; Mat Peabody,CalxAqua LLC president andGov. Dennis Daugaard.PHOTO: CHAD COPPESS,SOUTH DAKOTA DEPART-MENT OF TOURISM

Since 2005, the state of South Dakota, the South

Dakota Chamber of Commerce and Industry and

private industry members have come together once

a year to reward innovative new business ideas with the

Governor’s Giant Vision awards. Created to honor ideas

that will spur economic growth, create employment and

spawn opportunities for future entrepreneurs, the awards

program offers entrants the opportunity to compete for

seed money provided through public and private funds.

Twenty-two applicants entered the business competition

this year, of which 12 were selected to compete for prize

money. A total of $47,000 was awarded to businesses and

students whose ideas met judging criteria for innovation,

uniqueness, market potential and solid management and

financial planning.

Mary Anne Boyd, vice president of program services

at the South Dakota chamber office, says Gov. Dennis

Daugaard committed $40,000 in public funds for the pro-

gram this year, to be used in prize money as a match to pri-

vate funds raised by the chamber for the program.

Citibank N.A. of Sioux Falls served as the corporate spon-

sor for the program. Other sponsors included Black Hills

Power and Black Hills Corp., Christiansen Land & Cattle

Ltd., Dacotah Bank, Daktronics Inc., South Dakota

EPSCoR, Toshiba America, U.S. Bank, Wheeler

Manufacturing and Xcel Energy.

“The goal of this program is to encourage people to

explore being a business owner and to create an exciting

future while also expanding South Dakota’s economy,”

David Owen, president of the South Dakota Chamber, says.

“While the prize money will help the finalists, the contacts

and rigor required to be a qualifier will prepare each entre-

preneur to advance their business idea.”

This year’s top prize, $20,000, was awarded to Rapid

City-based CalxAqua LLC, a South Dakota School of Mines

and Technology startup focused on providing an affordable

and environmentally friendly system to remove hazardous

heavy metals from drinking water.

Rapid City startup sets sights on safe waterCalxAqua receives Giant Vision award to help commercialize water treatment system BY KRIS BEVILL


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“Potable, safe water is paramount to good health worldwide,

and there are regions of the world where arsenicosis (arsenic poison-

ing) is endemic and a huge health issue,” CalxAqua President Mat

Peabody says. “The problem has been around for quite awhile and the

current solutions tend to be quite expensive. Our system is consider-

ably less expensive and just as effective, if not more effective, than cur-

rently practiced technology.”

CalxAqua’s proprietary technology uses limestone as well as

limestone coated with iron to remove arsenic and other unwanted

heavy metals from water. The company utilizes technology originally

developed by SDSMT and Rohm and Haas in 2005. SDSMT’s first

effort to commercialize the technology, a startup known as

Hydrotech Engineering, focused on using pure limestone, but it failed

to gain traction. Last year, after the school brought in SDSMT alum-

nus Peabody, a chemical engineer and serial entrepreneur, to serve as

its entrepreneur-in-residence and commercialize some of the tech-

nologies created at the school, it was determined that the limestone

technology deserved another chance. CalxAqua was born as the

result.

Peabody says the technology’s cost effectiveness when com-

pared with similar technologies and ability to provide safe drinking

water worldwide made its potential for commercialization very

interesting. However, rather than focus on pure limestone, as

Hydrotech did, CalxAqua’s focus will be on using treated limestone.

After determining to move forward with CalxAqua, Peabody negoti-

ated an exclusive worldwide license

from Dow (owner of Rohm and

Haas) for the patented technology

to use treated limestone. He also

formed a partnership with Rapid

City-based mining company Pete

Lien & Sons Inc. “They have the

limestone and they know how to

process and handle limestone in

industrial commercial situations,”

Peabody says. “They are an ideal

partner because we’re adding con-

siderable value to limestone and

certainly we will benefit from their

expertise in this area.”

CalxAqua’s offices and lab will

be located at Pete Lien & Sons’ site in

Rapid City. The company is also

moving ahead fairly rapidly with

plans to build a manufacturing

plant at the site and will complete

the project by later this year, accord-

ing to Peabody. The company is

expected to initially employ about

15 people and will market its tech-

nology to municipalities, homes and

businesses. Pilot sites have been

identified in South Dakota, Arizona, Michigan and Texas. The com-

pany is also looking for sites in California, Colorado, New Mexico and

Wyoming. In the future, the technology could also be used in the

remediation of mine tailings and fracking fluids. “My initial thought

is to leverage the [award] money along with the Dakota Seeds pro-

gram, and matching funds from industry and SDSMT to sponsor one

or two Ph.D.-level students to do some additional studies to continu-

ally improve on a good thing and make it even better,” Peabody says.

Because arsenic poisoning is a worldwide issue, Peabody envi-

sions CalxAqua becoming a global provider of water treatment sys-

tems from its base in Rapid City. He credits the state, SDSMT and Pete

Lien & Sons for providing support to launch the company and says

the result is an example of what can be achieved when academia, gov-

ernment and industry cooperate and communicate. “It has really

been a collaborative effort,” he says.

Boyd says the chamber will begin promoting next year’s Giant

Vision program in September. The deadline for applications will be

sometime in February 2014. Winners will be selected during the

Governor’s Office of Economic Development conference, scheduled

to be held April 15, 2014, in Sioux Falls. For more information on the

program, visit www.southdakotagiantvision.com. PB

Kris Bevill




The price you payProperty values continue to climb in oil patchBY KRIS BEVILL

The active construction market and high selling prices for

properties in western North Dakota continues to impact

the value of both residential and commercial properties

in the area, some more than others.

In Williston, residential property assessments increased by up to

35 percent this year, while commercial properties values were deter-

mined to be up to 10 percent higher than last year.

Meanwhile, Dickinson’s commercial property assessments sky-

rocketed. The average increase for existing commercial properties in

Dickinson this year was 42 percent, according to city assessor Joe

Hirschfield. When including new construction, the assessed value of

commercial properties in the town increased this year by a staggering

108 percent compared to 2012.

Building permit data illustrates the frenzied rate of growth in

Dickinson over the past year compared to other western North Dakota

communities, offering an explanation for the jump in property assess-

ments. The value of residential and commercial building permits

issued by Dickinson last year topped $400 million, representing a near-

ly 200 percent increase over the prior year. The city issued 120 new

commercial building permits in 2012, triple the number issued in

2011, which accounted for nearly half of the total permit values.

To compare, Williston’s building permit valuations last year came in

at $470 million, compared to about $358 million in 2011. The city issued

106 new commercial permits in 2012, valued at about $209 million.

Hirschfield says that because assessed values reflect the previ-

ous year’s sales and must remain between 90 and 100 percent of

median sales prices, if market values continue to climb, property

owners can expect increased assessments again next year. That sce-

nario appears likely as the city prepares for an extended period of

growth, driven by oil and gas-related activities. Eighteen new com-

mercial structure building permits had been issued by the city

between January and April this year, compared to 14 during the

same time frame the year prior. The number of new single-family

home permits is down significantly so far this year compared to

2012, however, with 76 permits issued during the first four months

of 2013 compared to 209 last year.

The downside of higher property values is seemingly inevitable

tax increases, but Hirschfield says he doubts whether assessed values,

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and potentially higher taxes, will have a neg-

ative impact on new business projects in

Dickinson. “I anticipate that increased valua-

tions will have minimal, if any, effect on

potential business owners,” he says. “Any

potential buyer will weigh property taxes as a

cost of doing business.”

It’s not yet known how much

Dickinson’s commercial property taxes

might increase as a result of this year’s high-

er assessment values. Hirschfield anticipates

there will be an increase, which he says is due

to commercial properties being undervalued

historically, but the actual amount will not

be determined until the city undertakes its

budget process in the fall. He says the most

concerned property owners are those with

long-term lease agreements in place because

they may not be in a position to increase

rental rates in order to recoup additional

property tax expenses. PB

Kris Bevill



|WESTERN NORTH DAKOTA|


|TECHNOLOGY|

Seeing is believingVideo conferencing as an alternativeto travel, phone meetings BY KRIS BEVILL

There’s a lot to be said for the value of face-to-

face conversations when interacting with co-

workers and business associates, but hectic

schedules and distances between offices can some-

times make in-person meetings difficult to arrange.

But as technology has improved and expanded to

include more options for video communication at

more affordable prices, a growing number of compa-

nies are turning to visual communication systems to

bridge the gap between workers and replace the stan-

dard conference call, according to Mike Werch, presi-

dent and CEO of video conference systems and serv-

ices company Video Guidance.

“As the technology has evolved, we find that it’s a

logical extension to have video anywhere,” he says.

Video Guidance is headquartered in Bloomington,

Minn., and has offices and video demonstration facili-

ties in Wisconsin, Fargo and Bismarck, N.D., and Sioux

Falls, S.D. The company provides services for a variety of

entities, typically with multiple locations and a dis-

persed workforce, including banks, educational institu-

tions, government offices, manufacturers and health

care providers. It currently serves more than 50 mid- to

large-sized customers in the Dakotas, according to

Werch. While the company has done business in South

Dakota for years, it expanded its focus there last year

through a strategic partnership formed with informa-

tion technology (IT) solutions provider Connecting

Point Computer Center, which has locations in Sioux

Falls, Watertown and Pierre, S.D., and Bismarck. Video

Guidance expanded to North Dakota last summer as

well and has a strategic partnership with Fargo-based IT

solutions provider Network Center Inc. Werch says he

expects the company’s cloud-based video services and

strategic partnerships in the Dakotas will allow for con-

tinued growth in the small- to mid-sized markets, par-

ticularly in the “explosive” vertical markets of health care

and education.

Essentia Health began using a Video Guidance-

supported video conferencing system in 2011. Brett

Baker, manager of desktop support and mobile technol-

ogy, says the concept of video conferencing has been

growing in popularity ever since. “We get requests on a

daily basis to be added to our video conferencing capa-

bilities,” he says.

Essentia’s 12,000 employees are spread throughout

many locations, so the ability to connect via video rather

than drive somewhere for a meeting is a major attrac-

tant, according to Baker. “[Demand] is going to contin-

ue to grow and at the rate we’re seeing it, we’re going to

Video communications systems offer a solution for face-to-face meetingsfor businesses with widespread workforces. PHOTO: VIDEO GUIDANCE


|TECHNOLOGY|

continue to expand our system,” he says. “Video technology

allows us to be much more flexible. It doesn’t matter where the

other person is as long as they have Internet capabilities.”

In the past, the cost of installing a video conferencing system

has been a deterrent, but Werch says that organizations can now

utilize the cloud to use systems without purchasing equipment

up front, which drastically reduces costs. For example, before

cloud services were available, a company utilizing five conference

room systems could expect an average three-year total cost of

about $200,000, he says. With cloud services, that same company

would now pay half that amount.

With the increasing popularity of BYOD (bring your own

device) and use of video in daily lives, Welch says he believes video

will eventually replace phone calls, driven in part by young work-

ers who seek to incorporate video into their professional lives the

same way that they are already incorporating it into their person-

al lives. “A lot of organizations are very nervous that if they don’t

have a platform and a strategy around video there will be rene-

gades — the younger people will bring in video in some fashion

— and organizations want their communication to be secure,

encrypted and with a logical plan around video and usage of the

network so it doesn’t bring the network down,” he says. “Keeping

up on the best way to get this technology into the end-users hands

and getting them comfortable with it is what we do.” PB

Kris Bevill



|BUSINESS TO BUSINESS|PRAIRIE BUSINESS

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Technology recently tested at the Energy & Environmental

Research Center in Grand Forks, N.D., could prove to offer

a cost-effective method to reduce nitrogen oxides (NOx)

and sulfur oxides (SOx) from flue gases at North Dakota’s lignite-

fueled power plants.

Yuval Davidor, CEO of Israel-based air pollution control com-

pany Lextran Ltd., says his company’s technology is unique in that it

can remove both pollutants simultaneously. Conventional systems

substantially remove only one pollutant, thus requiring multiple

processes and infrastructure to support each process.

To achieve simultaneous NOx and SOx removal, Lextran’s tech-

nology replaces the lime emulsion typically used to absorb SOx with

an organic catalyst mixed with water, which enables the absorption

of both SOx and NOx at the same time. Next, a base material such as

potassium hydroxide or ammonia is added to the oxidized gases to

convert them to a nitrogen-rich fertilizer. Davidor says other pollu-

tant removal methods either convert the gases to lower-value gyp-

sum byproducts or simply dispose of the gases.

Lextran’s technology was initially developed in 2000 and went

through several years of research and pilot testing before its first com-

mercial deployment in 2009 at a 25 megawatt treatment facility in

Romania. Since then, the technology has also been applied at two

commercial facilities in China.

While the technology has been applied at various types of

industrial facilities, Lextran had not tried it on lignite flue gas until a

series of connections resulted in a weeklong test conducted in

January at EERC’s demonstration facility. Davidor says the test was

the result of a meeting between Lextran and Great River Energy exec-

utives at an air quality conference.

“Great River Energy is a very innovative company,” he says.

“They initiated the contact with the vision that this technology is

promising to North Dakota lignite particulars, which make it very

difficult to control NOx emissions with conventional technologies.”

EERC’s testing demonstrated Lextran’s technology is capable of

removing at least 85 percent of both pollutants from lignite-fired flue

gas, with the potential for higher removal efficiency. Davidor says the

results, which showed lower removal levels than at other test site

applications, were likely due to the small size of the facility and the

fact that the test window didn’t allow for facility optimization. Other

tests have shown Lextran’s technology to be capable of removing up

to 99 percent of SOx and up to 90 percent of NOx.

Great River Energy operates North Dakota’s largest power

plant. Coal Creek Station, located near Underwood, N.D., about 50

miles north of Bismarck, has a total generation capacity of more than

1,100 megawatts and uses up to 8 million tons of lignite coal per year.

According to the company, it has invested about $200 million in envi-

ronmental equipment since the plant was built in the late 1970s to

ensure it uses the best available technology to control emissions and

continues to seek ways to further reduce emissions, including testing

novel methods.

Davidor says he is unsure when Lextran’s technology will be

tested at a commercial scale at a North Dakota lignite-fired plant

and that it will likely require either a visionary owner who sees the

potential financial benefit of implementing the technology or a con-

sortium of plant owners willing to share the risk and investment

costs. He noted that research conducted by the Electric Power

Research Institute suggests an operator of a 500-megawatt boiler

could save an estimated 40 percent in combined capital and operat-

ing costs over 10 years by using Lextran’s multi-pollutant control

technology compared to base-line pollution control methods. PB

Kris Bevill



Technology offers coal plants simultaneous pollutant controlGreat River Energy teams with Israel-based firm to test method at EERCBY KRIS BEVILL

Lextran Ltd., an Israel-based air pollution controlcompany, has developed technology to simulta-neously reduce nitrogen oxides and sulfur oxidesat coal-fired power plants. IMAGE: LEXTRAN LTD.


An analysis recently released by the U.S. Bureau of Labor

Statistics takes on the complex task of evaluating

employment and wage changes in the Bakken region

over the past few years as a result of the area’s ongoing oil and

gas boom. The report, released in April, compares employment

and wages in specific sectors from 2007, before the boom signif-

icantly ramped up, until 2011, which is the most recently avail-

able annual data.

Analysts found overall employment in the region increased

by nearly 36 percent during that time frame, with Williams County

experiencing the greatest amount of growth. The number of work-

ers in Williams County, which includes the towns of Williston, Ray,

Tioga and Epping, increased by more than 12,500 from 2007 to

2011, more than doubling the county’s employment, according to

the report. As expected, about half of the jobs added were in min-

ing, quarrying and oil and gas extraction.

Report authors Paul Ferree and Peter Smith noted that while

Ward County had just one oil-producing well as of March 2011, that

county also experienced significant job growth from 2007 to 2011.

About 3,200 jobs were created during that time. Ward County, which

includes the city of Minot, holds the largest number of jobs in the

Bakken region and accounted for more than 31,000 jobs in 2011. New

jobs created in the county during the timeframe analyzed for the report

were spread across several sectors, including mining, quarrying and oil

and gas, as well as construction, transportation and hospitality.

Region-wide, the mining, quarrying and oil and gas extrac-

tion industries experienced a 276 percent increase in employment

from 2007 to 2011, accounting for about 14,500 workers in 2011.

However, the report found that other industries actually experi-

enced higher percentages of growth. Employment in the profes-

sional and technical services and transportation and warehousing

industries each grew by more than 300 percent from 2007 to 2011.

The professional and technical services industry employed just 521

workers in 2007, but grew to include more than 2,400 workers in

2011. Meanwhile, the transportation and warehousing sector

increased from 1,465 workers in 2007 to nearly 6,350 in 2011.

Real estate and rental leasing salaries experienced the greatest

increase during the four-year period. Salaries in that sector dou-

bled from 2007 to 2011, up to an average annual pay of about

$72,000 in 2011. The report found that the professional and tech-

nical services industry experienced the second largest increase in

pay, increasing by 85 percent over the four-year timeframe. In

2011, the average annual pay in that industry was about $64,500.

The report also found that while the region’s overall employ-

ment increased, some sectors experienced a decrease in employ-

ment. The health care and social assistance sector lost about 1,350

workers from 2007 to 2011. Administrative and waste services,

which already had a lower concentration of employment in the

area compared to the national average, experienced the second

largest decline, with 727 fewer workers in 2011 compared to 2007.

“These two decreases had an offsetting effect on the region’s

employment growth equal to about 7.4 percent of the size of the

region’s net job increase,” the authors said in the report. The over-

all result of the Bakken energy boom, according to the report, is a

regional economy dominated by oil and gas-related employment,

with a lower percentage of jobs in industries that have not experi-

enced the same amount of rapid growth, including government,

health care and retail trade. PB

Kris Bevill



Breaking down Bakken jobsReport examines employment, salary shiftsBY KRIS BEVILL

|ENERGY|

An analysis conducted by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics highlights thechange in employment levels in counties with Bakken shale oil wells from2007 through 2011. SOURCE: U.S. BUREAU OF LABOR STATISTICS


National Perspective.

Regional Expertise.

Trusted Advisor.

kljeng.com


Employment UNEMPLOYMENT RATE EMPLOYMENTFeb-13 Feb-12 Feb-13 Feb-12

North Dakota 3.30% 3.00% 384,327 377,654Bismarck MSA 3.7 3.8 57,690 58,534Fargo MSA 4.2 4.4 114,372 113,805Grand Forks MSA 4.8 5.2 51,183 52,252Dickinson MiSA 1.9 1.9 20,780 19,223Jamestown MiSA 4.5 4.3 9,723 10,287Minot MiSA 4 3.7 34,674 33,802Wahpeton MiSA 5 5.1 10,897 11,216Williston MiSA 0.9 0.9 40,308 31,146South Dakota 4.40% 4.40% 427,634 426,551Rapid City MSA 5.1 5.1 62,143 62,921Sioux Falls MSA 4.4 4.9 126,891 124,476Aberdeen MiSA 3.9 4.1 22,051 22,203Brookings MiSA 3.7 4.2 18,410 18,441Huron MiSA 4.6 4 9,423 9,336Mitchell MiSA 4.4 4.2 12,622 12,557Pierre MiSA 3.7 3.8 11,523 11,588Spearfish MiSA 4.9 5.3 12,064 12,134Vermillion MiSA 4 3.8 7,511 7,596Watertown MiSA 5 4.9 18,079 18,177Yankton MiSA 4.5 4.4 11,273 11,171Minnesota 5.50% 5.70% 2,821,356 2,800,719Minneapolis-St. Paul MSA 5.5 6.1 1,759,979 1,733,113Alexandria MiSA 5.7 6.2 19,345 19,204Bemidji MiSA 8.1 8.5 20,004 20,084Brainerd MiSA 9.6 10.5 39,925 40,162Fairmont MiSA 6.1 6.2 10,091 10,712Fergus Falls MiSA 7.4 7.6 27,543 27,968Hutchinson MiSA 7.7 8.4 17,444 18,021Marshall MiSA 5.6 5.7 13,901 13,984Red Wing MiSA 6.5 6.7 24,097 23,750Willmar MiSA 6.3 6.3 22,274 23,334Winona MiSA 5.3 5.7 27,702 27,411Worthington MiSA 4.8 5.1 10,770 11,013

Jan-13Jan-12

185181

87.8988.09

Average RigCount Price

Feb-13Feb-12

8,4926,726

778,971558,558

218170

ProducingWells

Average DailyProduction

Total Permits

Oil Production

|BY THE NUMBERS| | SPONSORED BY |

Jan2000 Jan2002 Jan2004 Jan2006 Jan2008 Jan2010 Jan2012 Jan2014

1.6

1.5

1.4

1.3

1.2

1.1

1

0.9

Cana

dian

Dol

lars

to O

ne U

.S. D

olla

r

Jan2000 Jan2002 Jan2004 Jan2006 Jan2008 Jan2010 Jan2012 Jan2014

7

6

5

4

3

2

1

0

Percent

E ective federal funds rate10-year treasury constant maturity rate

Mining M anufacturing Transport

700,000

600,000

500,000

400,000

300,000

200,000

100,000

0

# Em

ploy

ed

Regional Employment and Projections

20102020

Jan2005 Jan2007 Jan2010 Jan2012 Jan2014

70

60

50

40

30

20

0

-10

-20

Perc

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hang

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em

ploy

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ear a

go

Regional percentage change in employment, three sectors

MiningMnfgHealth

Data provided by David Flynn, chair of the University of North Dakota Department of Economics. Reach him at [email protected].

Exchange Interest Rates

Employment

NOTE: S.D. mining data not available

NOTE: S.D. mining data not available

Documents

PBJune 2013