Like his predecessor, Charlie Weaver (the partnership’s CEO for two decades), Kurt Zellers was a longtime Republican leader in the Minnesota Legislature. Since leaving office in 2015, he’d been working as a public affairs consultant until assuming his current position in September. The attraction? “It’s a unique organization in the country,” Zellers says, with a membership of CEOs of top regional companies. He believes his ability to reach across the aisle without sacrificing the partnership’s “business cheerleading” role will help him lead 2024 efforts to boost workforce development and the state’s ability to compete.

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