Off the Record

Never miss an episode of Off the Record. Subscribe today on Apple Podcasts or Spotify . Dave St. Peter, president and CEO of the Minnesota Twins, recognizes how much the experience of a game matters to sports fans — from the talented players on the field down to the malt cups in the stands.  On this episode of the Off the Record podcast, St. Peter shares the story of “the biggest break in (his car...

Never miss an episode of Off the Record. Subscribe today on Apple Podcasts or Spotify . WomenVenture CEO LeeAnn Rasachak admits she’s known for not necessarily staying in her lane. Over her career trajectory, she’s worn many hats, including those in PR, retail and financial services, she reveals in the latest episode of the Off the Record podcast.  “When you’re wearing multiple hats, you learn fas...

Never miss an episode of Off the Record. Subscribe today on Apple Podcasts or Spotify . Luke Palen, president and co-owner of Spectro Alloys, once learned some key leadership lessons from two tarps and a rope, he tells listeners in this episode of Off the Record.  At an outdoor challenge experience in the Canadian backcountry just before his first year at St. John’s University, Palen’s Outward Bou...

Never miss an episode of Off the Record. Subscribe today on Apple Podcasts or Spotify . Five years ago, Pathfinder Solutions CEO and Co-founder Dave Wellstone had an epiphany in a helicopter. He had just had a heart attack and a “weird calmness about what’s important to me” came over him as he was being transported to the hospital, he says in this episode of Off the Record.  “I’m thinking I’m goin...

Never miss an episode of Off the Record. Subscribe today on Apple Podcasts or Spotify . Pete Scherer’s family business, the Scherer Bros. Lumber Co., was started by his grandfather and his great uncle back in 1930.  “They were the two original Scherer Brothers. They started it from nothing (at) the height of the Depression and made something of it,” Scherer, now the chairman and CEO of the company...

Now the co-founders of Roers Companies, a Plymouth-based real estate developer, brothers Kent and Brian Roers had a hand in business from a young age. From power washing pig barns for the family farm to selling hockey skate sharpeners to their junior high classmates, the Roers brothers know what it’s like to work hard and take advantage of life’s opportunities.  “It was ingrained in us early on th...

A basketball player starting in childhood, Ethan Casson, CEO of the Minnesota Timberwolves and Minnesota Lynx recalled, “There was a grit, (to) outwork everybody, no matter what the circumstances, component to it,” in this episode of the Off the Record podcast. That drive shapes his approach to work today. When interviewing young job candidates, Casson said to hosts Kathy Robideau, market presiden...

Nancy Korsah founded Black Business Enterprise, a hub of resources to help minorities get ahead. She can relate to the trials of fellow people of color in the U.S. and abroad. She recalls her teenage years in Italy where, “if you’re of color there, you’re not getting a job. Definitely not that early,” she says in this episode of the Off the Record podcast.  Similar encounters have continued into a...

Today, Ravi Norman serves as the CEO and chairman of energy management services company Sagiliti — but in truth, his first entrepreneurial endeavor was his newspaper route, he says in this episode of the Off the Record podcast.  “I learned a lot about how business works inside that paper route,” Norman said to hosts Kathy Robideau, market president and publisher of the Minneapolis/St. Paul Busines...

As a student, Dario Otero didn’t love school. “I had all these other skills, (but) school didn’t necessarily rank,” says the founder and CEO of video production service Youth Lens 360 on this episode of the Off the Record podcast. But when he took a job in a St. Paul high school during a career transition, he knew he had to reframe his thinking.  “How do I do this so I don’t drive somebody away fr...

Face Foundrié Founder and CEO Michele Henry knows what it’s like to be scrappy in business. Years ago, to secure a loan for her first company, Primp, she put up her Mitsubishi as collateral. She didn’t mention to the bank that the car didn’t work — and that she planned to ride her bike to Primp’s retail buildouts, she says in the latest episode of Off the Record.  “We opened the doors at 4, we wer...

Never miss an episode of Off the Record. Subscribe today on Apple Podcasts or Spotify . When he was carrying out his medical school rotations at the University of Michigan, Dr. Mark Lobanoff thought the people working in the ophthalmology clinic somehow seemed the happiest, he says in this episode of the Off the Record podcast. That positive attitude all made sense to him one day when a legally bl...

There once was a time when Kalyn Hove — now a regional senior VP for Comcast — felt like she couldn’t bring her authentic self to work. In an earlier sales role, she was the lone woman managing a team of men, all of whom who were older than her, she says in this episode of Off the Record.  “I seldom talked about my kids or anything like that because I was sitting with men (who had) stay-at-home wi...

Minnesota is known by many as “the State of Hockey.” It’s a moniker that Matt Majka, president of the Minnesota Wild, finds beautiful, as he says in the latest episode of the Off the Record podcast.  “It’s not marketing mumbo-jumbo. It’s true. You don’t have to explain it to a Minnesotan. They know it. They’re proud of it,” Majka says. “Some sports teams have a new brand or theme every year. Our b...

Medica President and CEO John Naylor vividly remembers the rotary phone on the wall of his dorm at Drake University. As a senior in college, he used that phone to call a St. Louis-based company, Tillinghast, to inquire about a job back in his hometown — but no one picked up.  Instead, Naylor ended up taking an actuary position with Transamerica, a role which took him to Los Angeles. “Those are the...

Jen Hellman, CEO of independent communications agency Goff Public, has always managed to stand out from the crowd. In high school, for example, of all the instruments she could have played, she made a rare choice: the piccolo.     “Want to know the best thing about playing piccolo?” Hellman asked Kathy Robideau, MSPBJ market president and publisher, and Dave Faust, president and CEO of Platinum Ba...

Before David Wilson became the general manager of renowned Manny’s Steakhouse, most of his career journey in the restaurant industry seemed like a traditional one. In his youth, he worked in a restaurant owned by his family. As a young man, he took a corporate role with a major chain to learn how to establish new restaurants. Oh, and there was that one “little sidestep in Hawaii,” according to Wil...

Faced with the disheartening prospect of a summer without corn dogs and slushies, 16-year-old Margaret Murphy decided to step up. With their father’s help, Murphy and her brothers spent the summer operating their town’s local drive-in for the owner, who was otherwise unavailable that season. It was her first crack at becoming an entrepreneur, Murphy says in this episode of Off the Record.  “We mad...

When Gavin Kaysen was a teenager making sandwiches at his local Subway, the owner of the fast-casual pasta place next door came in on a regular basis. It didn’t take long for him to see Kaysen’s potential.    One day, according to Kaysen, the guy from Pasta Time told him: “You understand how to interact with customers. Your hands understand food. I would like to teach you how to cook.” Kaysen, now...

Jatin Setia did not start in the business of film. The founder and executive director of Twin Cities Film Fest has always been a cinephile with an entrepreneurial bent, but early in his career, he worked in corporate America. It was a layoff during the Great Recession that gave him the opportunity to “find his smile,” as his wife put it.  “Growing up in India, one of my first-ever memories is goin...

Growing up in South Minneapolis, Allison O’Toole, now the CEO of Second Harvest Heartland, learned the importance of community connection at her family’s store. Her dad and grandpa owned O’Toole Drug Store. It was there she shaped her early entrepreneurial spirit — by selling cigars at the counter at age 7. “(My dad) would have me run the cigar counter at the front, and he could see me from the ph...

The inception of Anytime Fitness didn’t come from CEO and Co-founder Chuck Runyon’s deep passion for health and exercise. “Still, to this day, I probably couldn’t pass a personal trainer test,” he says in this episode of Off the Record, a new podcast about the personal and professional lives of business leaders in the Twin Cities, brought to you by the Minneapolis-St. Paul Business Journal in part...

When it comes to business and making an impact in the community, Kris Lindahl, CEO of Kris Lindahl Real Estate, likes to do things differently. His signature ‘arms out” pose is one example of his unique approach to marketing his company — and his clients’ homes.  The attention-grabbing gesture exemplifies inclusion. It’s meant to show generosity and impacting the lives of others, according to Lind...

Starting this January, the Minneapolis-St. Paul Business Journal and Platinum Bank are teaming up to launch a new podcast called Off the Record. Hosted by MSPBJ's Market President and Publisher Kathy Robideau and Platinum Bank's President and CEO Dave Faust, the show will feature a deep dive with well-known business leaders in the Twin Cities. You know their names and faces — now get to...