Beyond the Skyline

Jennifer Green’s construction career has taken her across a good chunk of the country. In her 20 years of experience working on the financial side of the industry, the new CFO of Knutson Construction has held high-level jobs in Illinois, Kentucky and Texas. The journey began in Arkansas, where she was raised and educated. Green added Minnesota to that list when she started with Knutson in March. B...

There’s no doubt that cryptocurrencies have risen in mainstream popularity over the past year. Still, it’s a market that is largely unregulated, which caused the Securities and Exchange Commission Chairman Gary Gensler to recently call the market the “Wild West.” Vivian Fang is an expert in cryptocurrency and blockchain, along with corporate finance and financial accounting. She is an associate pr...

Just a year after the end of World War II, George Adolfson and Gordon Peterson were onto something big when they founded a small construction business in the basement of Adolfson’s Richfield home. The business, which became known as Adolfson & Peterson Construction, has grown dramatically from those modest beginnings. Now with 600 employees and offices in 11 states, Adolfson & Peterson is a top 10...

From housing inspector to senior developer, Will Anderson brings a diverse mix of public and private sector experience to his new role as director of development at Minneapolis-based Sherman Associates. Sherman Associates, a developer of more than 8,000 multifamily units and 600,000 square feet of commercial space, tapped Anderson this month to oversee the company’s development teams. In that role...

When it comes to competing for business talent, Minnesota companies are well served to get out of their comfort zone and cast a wide net that extends well beyond their circle of family and business contacts. So says Lisa Brezonik, CEO of Salo, a Minneapolis-based company that helps businesses recruit and retain talent in finance, accounting, human resources and other fields. “If we want to invite...

Even during a year unlike any other, Minneapolis-based North Lion Capital Management found success and opportunities to grow. Chad Anderson founded the hedge fund in 2016 after spending several years at Piper Jaffray Cos., now called Piper Sandler Cos. North Lion primarily focuses on small-cap investing, allowing the fund to be flexible in its investments and address a need that Anderson identifie...

In the 1990s and early 2000s, Jena Cogswell’s prowess on the soccer field took her all the way to a collegiate national championship, a roster spot on the U.S. women’s national team, and a stint with a Boston-based professional team. These days, the Mahtomedi native is taking her competitive juices to the business world. In her new role as senior vice president and director of marketing for Bell B...

Solutions for some of the construction industry’s most pressing challenges are starting to materialize while others are showing signs that they’re here to stay. As a construction professional for decades, Peter Hilger has direct insight into what’s driving the issues and how they may be alleviated. High material prices, especially for lumber, present one of the leading challenges. Prices are just...

Landscape architect Lydia Major recently received a career achievement award from the Minnesota Chapter of the American Society of Landscape Architects. Major is LHB’s landscape architecture and planning studio leader, where she oversees a team of mainly women in the firm’s Minneapolis and Duluth offices. Her leadership and mentorship of this team — which is unique in the industry — helped Major a...

Alan Arthur, a longtime developer and advocate for affordable housing in the Twin Cities, is moving on after more than three decades as CEO of Minneapolis-based Aeon, a prolific provider of homes for low- and moderate-income households. Aeon recently announced that Arthur is “transitioning out of his role” with the company. He’s expected to stay on the job through the end of the year as he assists...

Kelly Veit took a hammer to the proverbial glass ceiling last month when she became the new CEO of Veit Cos., a Rogers-based specialty contracting firm. In announcing her new role, the company noted that Kelly Veit is the first woman CEO in the 90-plus year history of the family-owned business, and one of the few women to hold that title among big companies in the U.S. construction industry. Kelly...

Along with partners Brendan Dillon and Dan Rogers, Julian White started their company, Nokomis Energy, around four years ago when they noticed a shift in the solar energy industry — a change that came with a business opportunity. Larger solar developers were pulling out of the industry due to narrowing revenue and increasing project difficulty. White had experience doing this work on a national sc...

As president of Eagle Ridge Partners, Kristin Myhre oversees a Minneapolis-based development, acquisition and asset management company with a portfolio of more than 3 million square feet of space in the Twin Cities. Myhre joined Eagle Ridge in 2012. During her time with the company, she has completed 2.6 million square feet of acquisitions and 1.3 million square feet of dispositions. In the follow...

As brokers on Colliers’ multifamily team, Ted Bickel and Jeff Budish have first-hand knowledge of who’s investing in the Twin Cities real estate market – and, most importantly, why. Investors view the Twin Cities metro region favorably compared to other metros of its size, thanks to the region’s stability, numerous transit-oriented developments, a general pro-development climate and more. However,...

TKDA’s bridge group has a new manager and a heavy workload as the 2021 construction season ramps up. The St. Paul-based engineering, architectural and planning consulting firm recently promoted Lindsey Lawrence to lead the group. At present, the group includes 12 employees with another coming soon. A senior registered engineer and experienced bridge inspector, Lawrence is a member of the Minnesota...

Elevating and expanding diversity, equality and inclusion (DE&I) efforts is gaining prominence for many organizations, including those in Minnesota’s Medical Alley. Medical Alley companies are not only undertaking internal DE&I reflection and initiatives, but they’re also looking externally to help their communities achieve better equities in health. To ensure this DE&I work is successful and mean...

The past few weeks have a whirlwind for Karla Henderson, Bloomington’s new director of community development. Henderson joined the city in mid-March. Since that time, she has been getting acquainted with new colleagues in Minnesota’s fourth-largest city and finalizing her move from Michigan, where she had similar jobs in recent years. Most recently, Henderson worked as a department director for th...

Deb Hilmerson began her 30-year career in construction by setting precast concrete on the Mall of America parking ramps. Mortenson then recruited her to join in a safety role after funding additional education certification. During her career, she worked in numerous roles at several construction companies, learning to manage finances and operations, before setting out to establish her own company....

The CEO of Sunrise Banks, David Reiling, was recently named chair of the Global Alliance for Banking on Values — the world’s premier value-based banking organization. Reiling is succeeding Peter Blom, who founded the GABV and served as chair since its creation in 2009. It’s made up of 66 financial intuitions across Asia, Africa, Australia, Latin America, North America and Europe, the combination o...

Like offensive linemen on a football team, roofers tend to go unnoticed until something bad happens. “People only think about their roof if it’s leaking, right?” says Jason Stock, chief financial officer of Central Roofing, a longtime roofing contractor in Minneapolis. “Out of sight, out of mind. If water is staying out, it’s good. If it’s coming in, it’s the end of the world.” Central Roofing has...

After a 42-year career — during which she founded one of the state’s first women-owned architecture firms and impacted some of the Twin Cities’ most notable buildings — Linda McCracken-Hunt has retired from her architecture career. She started her career after graduating from the University of Minnesota with a Bachelor of Architecture in 1978. She spent time at Cuningham Architects; Architectural...

It may come as a surprise to some that the market for buying and selling businesses has remained strong. Are you thinking about making a change in 2021? In this special episode of Beyond the Skyline, our experts will discuss considerations for selling or buying in the current economic climate. You'll learn what to look for and what to expect in the process, including legal considerations, valuatio...

Golden Valley-based Mortenson has long played an active role in a renewable energy sector that’s been around — as the company points out — a lot longer than some people might think. For proof, look no further than Mortenson’s own experience. Just last fall, Mortenson celebrated the 25th anniversary of its Wind Energy Group, which was launched in the mid-1990s with a “single wind turbine project in...

Amy Fredregill brings ample experience to her new role as senior director of sustainability at WSB, a Twin Cities-based provider of engineering, planning, environmental and construction services. Most recently, she was managing director of the Sustainable Growth Coalition, a Minneapolis-based nonprofit that works with public, private and nonprofit clients on everything from clean air and water ini...

After spending nearly two decades working in Twin Cities real estate, Josh Budish has launched his own industrial real estate company. Budish founded Endeavor Development at the start of this year, and he serves as principal. Endeavor is solely focused on industrial properties in the Twin Cities market — a market that’s healthy and ripe for growth, thanks to limited supply and pent-up demand for t...