Hopefuls

Joe Pohlad

Joe Pohlad

2024: Joe Pohlad is the first Pohlad to occupy an office at Target Field. He is still more of a listener and asker of questions than a decider, but he
Adam Duininck

Adam Duininck

Adam Duininck joins MDC at a pivotal time in its history. Charged and funded by downtown businesses, the council has long been the frosting on the cake built on the
Julie Sullivan

Julie Sullivan

2021, Builder: After marking her seven-year anniversary as president, Julie Sullivan is driving a major growth trajectory. Minnesota’s largest private university is on a path to leap from Division III
Zygi Wilf

Zygi Wilf

The Vikings owner has shown he can accomplish gargantuan feats, such as shepherding approval of the team’s new stadium and landing the 2018 Super Bowl. He also is prone to
Steven Rosenstone

Steven Rosenstone

As baby boomers retire, many Minnesota employers are looking to the MnSCU system to supply them with the next generation of workers. Steven Rosenstone, who became chancellor in 2011, is
Steve Cramer

Steve Cramer

2022, Overachievers: Steve Cramer took over the Minneapolis Downtown Council eight years ago, with an eye toward reinforcing downtown’s renaissance, but has spent much of his tenure advocating for basic needs—initially

Rene Sanchez

Being the editor of a major-market daily has not been a great title in recent decades, as it has involved presiding over endless budget cuts and series after series of

Scott Leitz

Despite the revelation that Leitz was on probation following a drunken driving conviction, his probationary period as the leader of the MNsure health insurance exchange ended in May when the

Mark Dayton

From birth, Mark Dayton was expected to carry on his family’s tradition of leadership. But the Blake School goalie chose government service over retailing as a career path. After inheriting
R.T. Rybak

R.T. Rybak

After serving Minneapolis as mayor for 12 years, R.T. Rybak has moved to the nonprofit sector to tackle the most vexing problem in his city—the education achievement gap between whites

Mark Bozek

Bozek landed his new job amid controversy, after a bruising proxy battle waged by activist investors against the previous management of Eden Prairie-based ValueVision. The home shopping TV operation is

Kevin Smith

Smith assumed interim leadership of the Minnesota Orchestra after the longest labor lockout in American symphony orchestra history and immediately reeled in $13.2 million in private donations, including an extraordinary
Jon McTaggart

Jon McTaggart

The affable, low-profile successor to the polarizing Bill Kling, McTaggart—an MPR lifer—has the challenge of guiding APMG through the decline of terrestrial radio and the growth of internet broadcasting. His

Michael Langley

Langley, a former Westinghouse exec and U.S. Navy pilot, succeeded in raising $15 million from dozens of private-sector investors and partner organizations to fund the regional economic development and marketing
Dave MacLennan

Dave MacLennan

MacLennan, named Cargill’s new CEO last year, has a fight on his hands to bounce back from a rough fiscal 2014, which saw a 19 percent drop in earnings to
Brian Cornell

Brian Cornell

2021, Alumni: Brian Cornell remained calm and steady in the face of unprecedented challenges and supply chain shortages, while an agile response to constantly changing conditions drove soaring Q2 profits,
Bernadeia Johnson

Bernadeia Johnson

Being in charge of the Minneapolis schools has never been easy. The job carries very high turnover and your primary constituent groups are often at odds with one another. One
Bill Pohlad

Bill Pohlad

The highest-profile of banking legend Carl Pohlad’s dynamic but low-profile sons, Bill Pohlad has built a reputation as a producer (financier, really) of high-quality Hollywood films, and as an occasional