2021, Change Agent: Sondra Samuels and other leaders started NAZ in 2008 to address racial and educational inequity in opportunities. The organization focuses on supporting children in north Minneapolis so
Pioneers
2021, Rooted: Since she took over Graywolf in 1994, Fiona McCrae has turned the press based in Minneapolis’s North Loop into a worldwide cultural powerhouse, its books and authors snagging
Nobody knew much about “eatertainment” before Steve Schussler. The boy-who-never-grew-up designer of nostalgic and fantasy environments has long employed a kid’s sense of wonder to conjure dining and entertainment environments
Twenty years ago Tracy Singleton opened Birchwood Café in Minneapolis. Before food was a movement. Before issues of labor ethics and sustainability dominated discussions of what to eat. Before family
After leaving a long government relations career at Target in 2010, Garvis has built one of the most creative and influential business development practices in Minnesota. Along with longtime friend
Minnesota certainly is not a black-owned business hotbed: It has only one of the nation’s top 100 such businesses as ranked by revenue. So it’s probably understandable that CEO Ravi
Mike Veeck was back in the news this year, basking in the glory of a Saints playoff run and ringing the cash registers at the new CHS Field, which not
Business owner, community leader and event facilitator, Maya Santamaria is building a burgeoning media/event empire focused on the Twin Cities Latino community. The owner of six businesses, Santamaria operates La
Fast-growing retailer Evereve began with a single store in Edina—known as Hot Mama—where the privately held company is still based. Today, the business, renamed Evereve in 2014, has grown to
Marty Weintraub opened this all-purpose digital media and display marketing shop in Duluth in 2006, and he’s a key reason why the Zenith City is on the map as a
As a longtime technology development manager for defense contractor BAE Systems and later as a senior program manager with RTI Remmele Engineering, Mark McNitt gained deep experience in R&D. Now
Kim Bartmann is one of the more prolific and visible of Twin Cities restaurant royalty. Since 1991 she has opened and operated a diverse array of restaurants (Tiny Diner, Barbette,
Kyle Coolbroth and Don Ball call their collaborative co-working space, CoCo, a “dream accelerator.” The concept behind it? That ideas and innovation flow freely when great minds pursue their passions
John Colasanti was CEO of Carmichael Lynch before going out on his own in 2011 to start Solve. It’s a much smaller agency, but that’s what Colasanti wanted—an agency with
Julie Snow had never designed a baseball stadium, but CHS Field in downtown St. Paul has drawn rave reviews for its impressive design. That’s no surprise to anyone who’s followed
Damola Ogundipe—the 26-year-old co-founder and CEO of St. Paul-based start-up Civic Eagle—first attracted attention as a Minnesota Golden Gopher football player who also scored a degree from the Carlson School.
David Burley and Stephanie Shimp founded Highland Grill in St. Paul in 1993 and have not stopped, building on a vision of a restaurant company rooted in eateries with a
The Dayton brothers might come from one of the state’s wealthiest families—and with a sitting governor as a father to boot—but they’re determined to make their own mark in the