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Celebrate the finalists and all the nominees at the 10th Annual BOLD Awards! Early bird ends February 8th. GET YOUR BOLD ON and JOIN US! Register Here
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Be The Match
The National Marrow Donor Program® (NMDP)/Be The Match®’s business is saving lives through cellular therapy. They deliver on this promise by managing the world’s most diverse registry of potential unrelated blood stem cell donors. Through their network of partners, they connect donors and patients, collect ion and transplant centers, researchers and physicians. When the pandemic shut down borders and crippled global logistics and supply chains, it literally put lives at risk.
BOLD MOVE: In preparation for a blood stem cell transplant, the patient’s immune system is weakened by chemotherapy and survival depends on receiving new, donated cells within 24-48 hours of collection. These cells are transported by hand by volunteer couriers from the collection site to the transplant location with roughly 50% of Be The Match-facilitated transplants involving an international travel leg. When the travel ban from Europe was issued in 2020, they saw a greater than 80% reduction in flights in and out of the U.S., a 47% drop in couriers, and a 39% probability of donor unavailability. In the face of border closures, travel bans, and flight cancellations, Be The Match secured the only known blanket program travel waiver from the CDC. The close collaboration and negotiation with numerous state and federal agencies allowed patients to continue to receive the lifesaving transplants they needed. Be The Match recruited and trained hundreds of new couriers, secured private flights, negotiated with local governments, and
fundamentally restructured the delivery model to hub-and-spoke, which had been previously deemed impossible by the global transplant community. They also mobilized the Be The Match BioBank capabilities for the cryopreservation of collected product and showed though their research study that cryopreservation is an effective method for viable cell storage, leading to a lasting change in industry practice. Through these BOLD efforts, Be The Match did not miss a single transplant and went on to have a record-breaking year for the most lives impacted.
TEAM: Amy Ronneberg, CEO, Brian Lindberg, CLO and General Counsel, Chief Policy Officer, Julie Smolich, Senior Vice President, Provider Services
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Clearfield
Clearfield, Inc. is a publicly traded (NASDAQ: CLFD) manufacturing company headquartered in Brooklyn Park, MN. We design and build fiber optic management products that enable the lifestyle that better broadband provides. We have over 700 service provider customers across America who deploy our products for economic growth in their communities.
BOLD MOVE: Clearfield achieved record growth in FY21 from $93M to $140M, a 50% increase Y-o-Y, at a time when broadband internet to homes was a must. Clearfield delivered record-setting financial performance in its fiscal year 2021 and before that, in its fiscal year 2020. This significant year-over-year growth, despite COVID-19, has generated shareholder value that is evident in the increase in Clearfield’s stock price. The continued demand for fiber-fed broadband among Clearfield’s customers was driven by community broadband, Clearfield’s largest market. Broadband plays an essential role in the vibrancy and growth of rural and suburban communities, many of which have been historically unserved and underserved. Clearfield’s products are helping grow broadband networks in communities across the country to keep them connected and bridge the digital divide. The company’s bold move came in the middle of a global pandemic. They expanded manufacturing and created distribution centers in anticipation of future demand based on the massive infusion of federal and state funds designed to help close the digital divide for all Americans. These local communities were previously unserved or underserved for broadband. Our products are the perfect fit for enabling distance learning, remote telehealth, and work-from-home over high-speed broadband connections.
TEAM: Cheri Beranek, President and CEO, Johnny Hill, COO, Dan Herzog, CFO., Kevin Morgan, CMO, Allen Griser, CCO., Skip Hansen, CIO
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Cytotheryx
Cytotheryx is a preclinical cell therapy company focused on the development of a consistent, high-quality source of primary human hepatocytes, or liver cells, and the use of those cells for multiple research and clinical applications. The Foundational Science being developed at Cytotheryx will enable the advancement of applications such as liver assist devices, cell therapy, gene therapies for rare metabolic disorders and more.
BOLD MOVE: Liver failure affects 4.9 million adults in the US annually, largely due to chronic alcohol use, Tylenol overdose and hepatitis virus infections. Aside from a liver transplant, no other treatment options are currently available, leading to more than 50,000 deaths in the US annually.
A consistent source of liver cells could lead to new treatment options; however, they are not currently accessible because the only significant source is from cadaver donors whose livers are not healthy enough for transplant. The development of a readily available, clinically safe supply of liver cells could provide opportunities to develop treatment options to address liver failure. Cytotheryx is providing a novel opportunity to solve this really difficult problem in medicine through their technology by preferentially multiplying liver cells up to one thousand-fold. Healthy human liver cells expand in the bio-incubator, resulting in access to a consistent, high-quality supply of cells at a scale that can vastly benefit research and clinical developments to address liver failure, and to support other liver-related disease research and therapeutic advances. Lives will be improved and saved through these new devices and therapies, and the bio-incubator will supply the highest quality of clinically safe primary human hepatocytes that will make them possible. The bio-incubator was initially developed at the Mayo Clinic. As Cytotheryx works through finalizing proof of concept, they have overcome many challenges and have built a multidisciplinary team of leaders to take this exciting technology from concept to commercialization, changing the game completely.
TEAM: John R. Swart, PhD, CEO, Brian Dacken, COO, Anna K. Haugo, MBA, Director of Business Development, Ryan Schulze, PhD, Director of Research and Development, Brent Pepin, DVM, MS, Director of Veterinary Medicine, Kari Allen, Production Manager, Jennifer Oberle, Business Office Manager
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Datasite
Datasite is a leading SaaS technology provider for the mergers and acquisitions (M&A) industry, empowering dealmakers around the world with the tools they need to succeed across the entire deal lifecycle.
BOLD MOVE: Between fiscal years 2019 and 2021, Datasite’s revenue increased by 37 percent. And while other companies experienced layoffs or resignations amidst the COVID-19 pandemic, Datasite has continued to innovate and grow, increasing its Minneapolis headquarters headcount by 37 percent. Datasite also invested in using new technologies and developing new products to make the management of the M&A lifecycle faster and easier for dealmakers. Following the success of its Datasite Diligence™ and Datasite Outreach™ applications, Datasite introduced Datasite Prepare™ in late 2020. The application is free for Datasite customers and improves the efficiency and effectiveness of preparing transactions for diligence. Datasite Prepare leverages AI and machine learning to automate tasks, reduce human error, and ensure greater regulatory compliance. For example, when it comes to selling a business or asset, one of the most challenging parts of the M&A process is organizing and preparing the files needed for review by potential investors or purchasers. Datasite Prepare enables the upload of thousands of files and their review by an AI engine, which reads the files and suggests categories, as well as appropriate folder locations, streamlining the process in a matter of minutes, not weeks, to free up dealmakers to focus on higher-value activities. Dealmakers can also take advantage of an embedded automated redaction tool to accelerate the process of identifying, blocking and unblocking sensitive information to different parties as the deal progresses. In just 12 months, one in five investment banking projects on Datasite’s platform begins in Datasite Prepare. This has included over 3,000 projects with over 57 million pages of content. By speeding up the deal preparation process, ensuring the right deal information is shared with the right people at the right time, the application is quickly becoming the industry standard.
TEAM: James Lehnhoff, Software Engineer, SVP R&D, Dayo Famakinwa, Product Management, VP R&D, JR Harrell, Product Design, VP R&D, Addie Cheney, Product Manager, R&D, Anil Jain, Software Engineering, Senior Manager R&D
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Durabotics
Durabotics, a robotic systems integrator that designs and builds complex systems for pharmaceutical, food, electronics and general industry has expanded its reach in the industrial markets to enter into the commercial markets. Robotic systems significantly reduce direct labor costs, improve quality and perform jobs that people can’t, won’t, or shouldn’t do. Typical projects include small parts assembly, machine tending, packaging and palletizing using both industrial and collaborative robots.
BOLD MOVE: Durabotics most recently focused on autonomous robots to provide a wider range of services that improve productivity and increase the profitability of their industrial customers. Durabotics in 2021 was to expand their reach to provide autonomous robots for the commercial sector resulting in substantial growth and profitability. In addition to Durabotics’ industrial systems that range from $250,000 to $1,000,000, Durabotics has just launched Bella Bot, an autonomous mobile robot, which sells for $15,900 and can be rented for $1,000 per month. This opens a whole new market opportunity. These bots have cheerful personalities and are used to perform functions for which the customer has difficulty hiring employees to do the work. Durabotics provides a real solution to the tight labor market and labor shortage, when the great resignation is the real thing. Autonomous robots
that can be programmed for a multitude of usages such as restaurants, hospitals, hotels, assisted living, auto parts stores, and more to perform tasks such as, distributing food to patients and used to transfer products, medicine or other items. The applications of Bella Bot to provide numerous opportunities to increase productivity and efficiencies at an affordable price with a very quick return on investment.
TEAM: Tim Hedlund, Vice President, Thean Ping Ang, VP of Engineering/Principal Engineer, Erik Peterman, Robotic Systems Engineer, Tom Alessi, Business Development Manager
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Egan
From upgrades and tenant improvements, Design/Build construction and expansions, or 24/7 service—your facility deserves the highest-quality solutions and responsiveness from an innovative team that cares. EGAN COMPANY is a local and privately-owned specialty contractor and system integrator that serves building owners and property managers, facility operators and engineers, and general contractors. For over 75 years, the Egan team of forward-thinkers and industry leaders has delivered mechanical, electrical, curtainwall/glazing (InterClad), millwrights, building technology, controls and system integration, and 24/7 building service and maintenance.
BOLD MOVE: Many successful businesses face the challenge of incremental growth. Overcoming a growth plateau takes innovation and—in many cases—a BOLD move. When Egan experienced a growth plateau with its sheet metal fabrication business (FabDuct), it was time to think differently. In the summer of 2021, Egan divested its FabDuct business unit giving up market share to a competitor, Go Fetsch Mechanical, a local, female- and minority-owned mechanical contractor. While the FabDuct business previously proved to be successful for Egan, strategically it was repositioned for acquisition by Go Fetsch allowing them to vertically integrate its own installation services with the sheet metal products it was currently buying from Egan/ FabDuct or other suppliers. Acquisition has been a growth strategy for Egan over the last decade, but in this application, Egan used
divestment as a growth strategy. In the local construction industry ecosystem, there are limited diverse-owned businesses. Egan’s BOLD move to divest its sheet metal fabrication business positively impacted the community and strengthened the industry by providing a female- and minority-owned business the opportunity to expand and capture additional market share . . . and allowed Egan to reallocate resources to its businesses with a strong ability to grow.
TEAM: James Ford, President & CEO, Ross Noak, Senior Vice President, Go Fetsch Mechanical, and FabDuct
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Free Bikes 4 Kidz
In 2008 Free Bikes 4 Kidz (FB4K) was born as a one-time hobby in a two-car garage. A group of passionate cyclists collected, refurbished, and gave away 250 bikes over a two-week period. Since then that hobby has gr own to become the largest organization of its kind in the country.
BOLD MOVE: With diabetes and obesity affecting kids at an alarming rate, Free Bikes 4 Kidz wants to turn that around and get kids outside and active. They are lobbying for physicians to prescribe the bicycle, a medical device, to proactively make kids healthy. Bx, not Rx one bike at a time. Collecting 10,000 bikes in 4 hours, they made it into the Guinness Book of World Records and today they have given away over 110,000 bikes. Now they are taking this on the road and are in 15 cities, with a 5-year BOLD goal of being in 100 cities and giving away 1 million bikes. Engaging over 35,000 volunteers, FB4K has kept 1700 tons of metal and 130 tons of rubber out of landfills, all while putting kids on bikes economically at a mere $20 each! They recently launched in Santa Fe, Albuquerque, and Phoenix where 50% of all refurbished bikes will be given to kids on the reservations of the 4-Corners region. They intend to take what they are learning there and use it as a template to bring bikes to the indigenous peoples on reservations all across the country. With 75% of their recipients being BIPOC, they are endeavoring to bring equity into cycling. In this polarized world, they believe they have created a model that invites people of every race, belief, and status to come together for the common good. To every child in America, they say, “We see you, and we have your wheels!” FB4K.
TEAM: Terry Esau, Founder & Executive Director, Deb Gordon, Chair of FB4K, Patina Solutions-Managing Director, Jeff Lundgren, Treasurer, Milissa Rick, EVP & CMO Regal Ware, FB4K Marketing Director, Chris Larson, NERC-North American Electric Reliability Corporation, Senior Standards Developer
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GenEQTY
GenEQTY is a fintech company born out of the intense desire to give financial freedom and relief to business owners and entrepreneurs working to create generational wealth by fulfilling their American dream of business ownership. At their core, GenEQTY fundamentally operates across SaaS, banking, accounting, and business analytics to create more efficient use of a business’s financial data. They build innovative data-driven financial products to help small businesses find better value from their financial partners. Their financial management tools automate manual processes like bookkeeping, receivables and expense management. The business analysis function reveals real-time health scores and over time creates a more efficient and effective way of evaluating credit worthiness. This is all done on one unified platform.
BOLD MOVE: They’re building partnerships with small-medium-sized businesses, ecosystem players, and financial institutions. There’s no one solution here so they continue to leverage every voice and resource to ensure the health and longevity of more SMEs. This has been their biggest pivot since GenEQTY was selected to the elite global MasterCard accelerator program. They expanded their purpose, revisited the digital financial needs of business owners, and expanded the purpose and use of how raw financial data is consumed to ultimately drive lending, reduce friction and expand, not limit the financial ecosystem. The majority of businesses that fail and never realize their true potential are usually the ones run by women and diverse owners. When they fail, whether through lack of capital, business savvy, or financial management tools, an opportunity for wealth creation is lost. GenEQTY believes they can play a significant role in bridging equity gaps and create a more financially inclusive world.
TEAM: Dionne Gumbs, CEO & Founder, Stevan Popav, Chief Technology Officer, Michelle Haddad, Marketing Lead, Mirko Radeka, Technology Delivery Manager, Jovan Jovanov, Financial Data Analyst, Niranj Patel, Senior Front-end Developer, Kristina Radovic, Project Manager
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Girl Scouts
Girl Scouts is the preeminent leadership development organization for girls. With programs from coast to coast and across the globe, Girl Scouts offers every girl a chance to practice a lifetime of leadership, adventure, and success. Girl Scouts of Minnesota and Wisconsin River Valleys’ work is supported by 7,000 volunteers who deliver the Girl Scout Leadership Experience to 19,000 girls in southern Minnesota, western Wisconsin, and one county in Iowa. Girl Scouts River Valleys is one of 111 Girl Scout councils that make up the national Girl Scout Movement, sharing the mission to build girls of courage, confidence, and character who make the world a better place.
BOLD MOVE: A well-known component of Girl Scouting is the Cookie Program, the largest girl-run business in the world. Running a cookie business in 2021 was like no other. It required Girl Scouts River Valley, staff, volunteers and girls to be innovative, creative and dig deep. Over 11,000 Girl Scouts in 49 counties sold 3,380,00 packages of cookies while practicing skills in goal setting, decision making, money management, people skills, and business ethics. They learned business and financial skills while earning money to fund their Girl Scouting goals— and did it all during a global pandemic. With safety as a priority, Girl Scouts customized their sale strategies participating at booths, in-person, and with online sales, which increased 500% with web-based sites, council subsidized credit card fees and shipping, and creative rewards and contests that inspired cookier-sellers. Girl Scouts also attributes success to expert inventory management and the hundreds of business partnerships that support the program including Cub and Walmart. Girl Scouts River Valleys is the tenth largest Girl Scout council but finished the season as the number one cookie program in the country, an accomplishment that powers amazing adventures and life-changing opportunities year-round—from community projects to summer camp to charitable donations.
TEAM: Tish Bolger, CEO, Chris Amundsen, CFO, Jen Thorson, COO, Sarah Kuenle, CDO, Janet Gracia, CCO, Susan Anderson, VP Volunteer Engagement and Product Program, Tammy Freese, Director Product Program and the 11,200 Girl Scout Cookie, Entrepreneurs and the volunteers who supported them
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Inner City
Inner City Tennis is a non-profit youth development organization that uses tennis as a vehicle to connect with kids through free-of-charge programming in schools, parks, partner locations, and at their 12-court indoor tennis center located on the grounds of MLK Park in South Minneapolis. They also serve the Twin Cities’ junior and adult tennis-playing community with “pay-to-play” lessons, leagues, and events at their tennis center. Their patrons, volunteers, and generous funding community work together to support and further the mission, which is “to develop and unleash the potential of youth on and off the tennis court by engaging and serving a supportive community.”
BOLD MOVE: As the pandemic forced schools to close in-person learning heading into the 2020-21 school year, their in-school and after-school programs were also forced to shut down. They quickly polled the families they serve and sensed the anxiety around distance learning. Consistently hearing about the need for students to have safe spaces to receive in-person assistance, to remain physically active, and to form meaningful relationships with their peers and mentors. With only a month to prepare, the Community Outreach team, consisting of a licensed teacher and several certified tennis coaches, quickly pivoted to establish two no-charge, in-person learning pods for families who had limited access to alternative options for their children to receive educational support. The pods were held at the Southside tennis center and at their Northside partner location, V3 Sports Center. Students attended their respective learning pods from 8 am - 4 pm, Monday-Friday throughout the school year. It was a challenge to coordinate the daily schedules of the 30 students in the program from seven different schools, but seeing the kids safely interact with each other and fall in love with tennis and learning made it more than worth it. The program ran for the duration of the 2020-2021 school year without a single known case of Covid-19 transmission.
TEAM: John Wheaton, Executive Director, Mason Bultje, Manager of Community Engagement & Partnerships, Dilcia Pederson Stromberg, Outreach Programs Manager, Jada Daniel, ICT Outreach Coach, Grahamm Kellogg, USPTA Certified Teaching Professional, Dylan Kelly, USPTA Certified Teaching Professional, Melvin Anderson and Youth & Families Determined to Succeed (YFDS)
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Luce Line
Luce Line Brewing is a 2,000-barrel craft beer taproom located in Plymouth, MN. Their brewery is quality first starting with their beer and emanating through all they do. Since launching on November 18th of 2020, their mission is to be a brewery of uncompromising craftsmanship and innovation as well as a place for family, friends, and beer enthusiasts to gather and have fun.
BOLD MOVE: Luce Line Brewing had raised its needed capital and had spent more than a year planning and obtaining needed licenses in the regulated industry when Covid-19’s impact was starting to be understood. They launched their business the day the Governor announced all taprooms would be closed until further notice. It was the culmination of bold moves made by the brewery’s owners, Platinum Bank of Minnesota, and the quality team that joined to make it happen. Investing capital into their production and taproom operations and launching with the belief that their community would engage and support them. Deciding to take down equity capital and hire their brewer and take on the lease of their building and dramatically renovate, they moved forward. Since opening the doors in November of 2020, each month has been modestly profitable in contrast to their pro-forma expectations of losing money for at least the first 12 months of operation. Eternally grateful that their customers showed up to support them through thick and thin when both they and their products were unknown. They now look forward to seeing the smiling faces at the brewery and the fun conversation with customers picking up online orders, as they continue to move safely into the future together. A year later, they have helped local charities raise more than $50,000; established their Founding Membership and added member cycling, running, and other clubs; they have provided a variety of music, festivals, and other events all while enjoying an approachable, high-quality brewery experience.
TEAM: Tim Naumann, CEO, Danny McMahon, Head Brewer, Todd Zallaps, Operations Manager, and the entire team at Luce Line Brewing
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Maud Borup
Maud Borup is a 115-year-old sustainable, woman-owned, veteran-owned confections company specializing in gourmet candy, snacks, and food gifts. The first bold move was made in 1907 when a woman named Maud Borup started the company before women had the right to vote. In 2005, Christine Lantinen purchased the brand on a Monday after being let go from her job on Friday. To achieve the exponential growth she envisioned, iconic Twin Cities stores were closed, and the company was transformed from a retail model to a business-to-business wholesale model which was the catalyst for explosive growth-from $100,000 to $2+million the first year. Today the company is on track to be at $100 million in 3-4 years!
BOLD MOVE: BOLD moves drive Maud Borup every day. They are privately held with no outside investors. An abandoned building was transformed into a certified food grade manufacturing facility in <4 months using local labor, bringing jobs to Christine’s hometown. They’ve reinvented the confections and food gift space, providing decadent experiences using organic, gluten-free, and vegan-friendly ingredients. As part of their sustainable company initiative, a 100’ wind turbine was installed to help power manufacturing, 35+ eco-processes were put in place, and they’ve achieved zero-landfill-waste. A 66,000SF manufacturing expansion was built during the pandemic and $3+millions of robotic automation was purchased. They outgrew the expansion in 9-months, purchased 7-acres of land, and started plans to build a 130,000SF expansion that they envision using solar energy. With 75% increase in sales, they are making acquisitions for real estate and automation. Over $10 million of equipment was purchased to accommodate growth. Building a childcare facility on the property is in the feasibility stage. They are in the final stages of B Corp certification, balancing people+purpose with profit. They are DEI-driven with 75% of our workforce identifying with an underrepresented group. Women lead >70% of our departments. BOLD moves have given them visibility and recognition as a company that challenges the status quo and blazes new, BOLD trails.
TEAM: Christine Lantinen, President & Owner, Randy Lantinen, VP Ops. Karen Edwards, CCO, Leroy Jones, Director of Finance
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REVocity
REVocity, an affiliate of Rebound Partners, is an organization of industry experts who have a passion for helping communities grow and thrive. REVocity partners with local community leaders to establish Community Real Estate Funds.
BOLD MOVE: Building Community, Delivering Returns is the purpose of the organization - making a difference in towns & cities through impactful real estate investments, forward thinking vision and tangible action. A Community Real Estate Fund pools capital from local investors to be deployed on community-minded real estate projects and deliver meaningful financial returns. Individuals, businesses and non-profits have the opportunity to invest in their backyard. It is locally driven investment fund, focused on enhancing the community where people live, work and play. The funds serve as economic drivers strengthening the tax base, promoting employment, providing goods and services, and stimulating business activities across entire communities. Real estate project examples include downtown historic renovations, housing, lodging, industrial, office & retail, entrepreneurial flex space and more. REVocity’s disciplined process is the framework that makes the model unique. The team believes that when two or more forces unite, the whole is greater than the sum of its parts. REVocity’s BOLD vision is to establish 1,000 Funds in 10 years. Utilizing experience from other community funds, in 2020, the REVocity team created a business model during the pandemic shutdown over Zoom. Based on this process, a BOLD decision was made to form an organization and build a team to scale funds across Minnesota and beyond. To date, the team has connected with over 30 communities with 10 active funds in process, including many planned impactful real estate investments.
TEAM: Brett Reese, Founder, CEO & Managing Partner, Lori Bonin, President & General Partner, Chris Kennelly, Founder, CIO & General Partner
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Rowland Paint
Lack of gender diversity in the building trades is news to no one. Painting, a male dominated field, traditionally doesn’t require schooling or specific raining. On the job experience is how one learns. Jessica Rowland of Rowland Paint, a woman owned painting and wallpaper installation company, is on a mission to bring more women into the building trades. Jessica Rowland is currently hiring all-women crews to staff her growing business that concentrates on interiors and exteriors of residential and commercial spaces.
BOLD MOVE: Rowland Paint has been implementing a new training process by creating partnerships and collaborating with major retailers and local businesses to educate their crews. Rowland Paint is redefining industry standards by introducing a broader base of training. In addition to technical painting skills, they also focus on strength training and safe body movement, color theory, historical architecture, team building with positive psychology practices, and more. At a time when the trades desperately need diversity attention, Rowland Paint has tripled in size, creating more jobs and increasing awareness. Poised for growth, Rowland Paint is training the next generation of the building trades one woman at a time.
TEAM: Jessica Rowland, Founder, CEO and Painter, Katie Woodling, Head of Wallpaper and Painter, Rachel Corradi, Head of Specialty Finishes and Painter, Rowland Paint, Hannah McNew, Painter, Rowland Paint, Haley Ryan, Painter, Mande Keir, Communications Manager
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Self Eco
SelfEco, a VistaTek company, was created by a 3rd generation manufacturer, Danny Mishek. Danny’s mission in creating SelfEco was to capitalize on past knowledge and technology to produce products that are Earth-friendly and sustainable – to mindfully manufacture with the intent to be able to compost, recycle or reuse all SelfEco products.
BOLD MOVE: Growing up in the industry, Danny witnessed firsthand the number of environmentally hazardous materials that are produced during the manufacturing process, and he knew there simply had to be a better way. Thus, SelfEco and their garden pots were born. Unlike traditional pots that are made from petroleum and take hundreds of years to decompose in landfills, SelfEco pots are made from plant-based materials that are easily planted in the ground or industrial composted. SelfEco’s latest BOLD move is the development of groundbreaking technology and innovative horticulture containers for which they recently received two new patents, bringing the company’s total patent count to eight. Simply plant the entire SelfEco pot into the ground. The container will break down and release nutrients to self-feed the plant throughout the growing process. By having the nutrients already in the container, they are released into the ground directly, allowing growers to avoid having fertilizers and other contaminants make their way into water sources. In a recent growth trial conducted with Proven Winners, one of the largest growers in North America, the SelfEco pots performed as good as, or better than, the traditional growing processes once transferred from a petroleum pot. The bottom line…The agriculture industry produces 4 billion petroleum pots per year. Only 5% truly get recycled and the rest end up in the landfill. The SelfEco gardening pots and manufacturing processes are BOLD because they have the ability to change an entire industry for the better. Made from plants and put back into the ground to make more plants, it truly is a closed-loop, sustainable process. Now that’s what we call BOLD.
TEAM: Danny Mishek, President / Co-Owner, Charlie Andrews, Co-Owner, Harrison Andrews, Co-Owner
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Starkey Hearing Technologies
Starkey is a privately held, global hearing technology company headquartered in Eden Prairie, Minnesota. Owned by Bill Austin since 1967, and led today by President and CEO Brandon Sawalich, Starkey has more than 5,000 employees, operates 29 facilities and does business in more than 100 markets worldwide.
BOLD MOVE: Evolv AI, Starkey’s newest full line of hearing aids, launched an entirely new hearing ecosystem that not only emphasizes hearing’s impact on overall health and wellness, but creates an effortless user experience. Evolv AI is built on Starkey Sound™, a ground-breaking technology created by years of refining Starkey’s research and science-based algorithms to power high-fidelity audio, which is modeled after the human auditory system. Like the brain, Starkey Sound is designed to automatically suppress background noise and increase speech audibility with machine learning technology. Evolv AI’s always-on and always automatic approach reduces background noise energy by 40% compared to previous models, delivering genuine sound quality in every environment without the need to do anything extra. As the world continues to wear face masks, people with hearing loss are met with a new struggle, as relying on lip-reading has become impossible. Evolv AI utilizes a feature called Edge Mode, which analyzes the environment to enhance speech and reduce background noise. Additionally, Mask Mode, a program available through the Thrive app, allows users to select when they are speaking to someone with a mask on to automatically enhance speech. These hearing devices are also compatible with Apple and Android phones for direct streaming of calls and music. With the newest Apple iOS release, Apple now supports two-way, hands-free calling with the hearing devices, giving those with hearing loss the opportunity to use hearing aids like Bluetooth headphones. Additionally, Starkey is the first in the industry to develop fall detection and alert technology onboard a hearing device. If a user falls, the hearing aid will automatically alert emergency contacts via text message with the user’s location.
TEAM: Brandon Sawalich, President & CEO, Dave Fabry, CIO, Achin Bhowmik, CTO and Executive Vice President of Engineering
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Tierra Encantada
Tierra Encantada offers quality childcare for children ranging from 6 weeks – 6 years of age. This Minnesota founded and nationally recognized business focuses on the growth of the whole child and believes children learn best by doing. Paired with their STEM focused curriculum, their bilingual education program fosters early cognitive development and teaches a respect for diversity. Tierra Encantada also strives to be environmentally friendly by offering cloth diapering for children in their care, while providing wholesome, organic foods cooked fresh daily in their on-site commercial kitchens.
BOLD MOVE: The leader in Spanish immersion early education, Tierra Encantada made their BOLD move, opening their largest childcare center in the middle of a pandemic when many facilities were closing their doors. This $5M project created over 60 new jobs for local communities and provided enrollment for 440 children in the Twin Cities. A daring choice that showcased what it takes to be the leader within the industry. Since the spring of 2020, and seeing the position many families were facing, Tierra Encantada determined that their doors would remain open to new and enrolled families. This position also reflected how Tierra Encantada cared for their employees. Not wanting to put any of their 200 employees out of work (despite many companies commencing mandatory part-time hours, furloughs and layoffs), Tierra Encantada not only retained their employees, they also implemented new training programs to enhance skills and develop their educators. Additionally, as precautions across the state continued, Tierra Encantada opened its doors to distance learning support for school age children, which supported over 45 families to continue their child’s education.
Tierra Encantada continues to live and breathe their mission for the growth of the whole child. Not only is Tierra Encantada providing a high-quality early education program through their proprietary curriculum, but they are also enriching the lives of future generations through bilingual language immersion; a competitive advantage that fuels their path for expansion and capital growth.
TEAM: Kristen Denzer, CEO & Founder, Rachel Crowley, Senior Director & Integrator, Jordan Schriener, Director of Human Resources
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Telo
Founded during the midst of the global pandemic by four undergraduate students from the University of Minnesota, Telo is increasing independence and breaking stigmas for individuals with mobility complications by launching the first significant innovation to the rollator walker in over 40 years.
BOLD MOVE: Telo’s device is BOLD through three core areas of innovation: safety, stigma, and strength. Safety: Rollator usage has come under scrutiny for the device’s ability to roll ahead of users, often leading to falls. Telo’s patented posterior design with integrated back support puts users at the center making it unable to roll ahead. This design allows the device to remain closely positioned to the user, providing more stability and control over the device while improving spine alignment, gait, and encouraging proper walking habits.
Stigma: Rollators are often perceived as purely a medical device for the frail and elderly, when, in reality, it is a device that nearly 70 million Americans could benefit from using. The false perception around mobility aid users encourages a stigma that ultimately leads to lower usage among individuals. Telo’s walker is a lifestyle device that boasts a contemporary design users can be confident in showing off. Having the device open in the front opens individuals to the rest of the world where they can show off a killer outfit or simply receive a hug from a loved one.
Strength: Physical therapists and mobility compromised individuals still rely on manual data collection and visual cues to establish patient baselines and measure progress. Telo’s device integrates electronics that continuously measure speed, distance, and weight appliance, establishing user baselines and quantitatively measuring progress. These metrics are visualized through our mobile application, allowing the device to serve as an activity tracker while PTs can use the mobile application to remotely assign exercises, monitor patient metrics and create tailored therapy routines based on real-time and quantitative data.
TEAM: Morgan Kerfeld, CEO & Co-Founder, Steven Bleau, Co-Founder and CPO, Beth Urbanski, Co-Founder and CMO, Rick Pradhan, Co-Founder and Head of Finance
Finalists will be featured in the February 11th issue of Minneapolis St Paul Business Journal special supplement. You can also find them on social media and at the BOLD Awards on 2-22-22.
CONGRATULATIONS 2022 BOLD Awards Nominees!
Event Details
When:
February 22, 2022 6 PM - 8:30 PM CST