Two Minnesota executives recently received a nod from Advertising Age by being named to the magazine’s annual “40 Under 40” list.
 
Dustee Tucker Jenkins, vice president of public relations for Target Corporation, and Michele Vig, senior director of retail marketing for Caribou Coffee Company, were recognized on the list, which honors “innovative, young marketing leaders who have made their mark in the client, agency, and media realms—all before their 40th birthdays.”
 
Jenkins, 34, has an impressive resumé. Past jobs include press secretary for U.S. Senator Kay Bailey Hutchinson and director of communications for the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development—a position to which she was appointed by former President George W. Bush.
 
Jenkins—who says she wears a Target clothing item or accessory every day—consulted for the Minneapolis-based discount retailer before joining it full time in 2010. According to Ad Age, she helped to cultivate a field team in order to better serve local Target communities, and the company’s online magazine—A Bullseye View—became a go-to resource for consumers and journalists under her watch.
 
Target is Minnesota’s second-largest public company based on revenue, which totaled $68.5 billion in its fiscal year that ended in January 2012. It operates 1,782 stores across the United States and plans to open 124 stores across Canada beginning in March.
 
Meanwhile, Vig, 39, joined Caribou in 2007. Since then, she has overseen the introduction of new products such as carbonated beverages, revamped breakfast sandwiches, and fruit and yogurt smoothies.
 
Prior to joining Brooklyn Center-based Caribou, Vig spent four years as senior director of marketing at another local company—Golden Valley-based Buffalo Wild Wings.
 
According to Ad Age, Vig has a big job as Caribou works to expand its footprint. She says her greatest challenge in the coming year is ensuring a “steadfast commitment to delivering our customer promise at every single touch point.”
 
Caribou, which last month agreed to be taken private in a deal valued at $340 million, is now one of Minnesota’s 60-largest public companies based on revenue, which totaled $326.5 million for the fiscal year that ended in January 2012. As of September 30, it had 610 coffeehouses, including 202 franchised locations, in 22 states, Washington, D.C., and 10 international markets.
 
To see Ad Age’s full “40 Under 40” list, click here.