This edition features our annual Leaders & Legacies award recipients. Prairie Business received a number of excellent nominations for this honor and our staff also nominated a few individuals.
Career highlights and accomplishments were reviewed, as well as the positive impact the individuals have made to not only their organizations but in their communities. This year we’ve selected seven outstanding business leaders in the region to honor with the Leaders & Legacies award.
The 2023 award recipients come from industries including health care, financial services, logistics, legal services and construction.
Throughout the year, Prairie Business recognizes top business professionals and exceptional leaders in several other contests, but Leaders & Legacies honors only top executives in the region, past and present. Each honoree has established high-level leadership throughout his and her career, influencing lives and impacting livelihoods. We are happy to celebrate and honor this year’s recipients. They are this region’s leaders who are role models for the next generation of executives.
Congratulations to all!
2023 Leaders & Legacies award winners
Joel Bird
Private wealth adviser and CEO, Legacy Financial Partners, Bismarck, N.D.
Since the start of his leadership at Legacy Financial Partners, Joel Bird’s focus has been on mentoring and facilitating employee and organizational development, as well as creating an extraordinary internal office culture. Under his guidance, LFP continues to track 20% annual growth in assets under management during the 10 years since its founding.
A graduate of the University of North Dakota with a bachelor’s degree in accounting, Bird has led LFP to be ranked in the top 100 private wealth management teams in the nation by Barron’s for the past three years, improving in ranking each time. Bird has been recognized individually by Barron’s as one of the top 1,200 advisers nationwide since 2018 and as Forbes’ Best In State financial adviser in North Dakota since 2020. He has also been selected as an Ameriprise Chairman’s Advisory Council member annually since 2018 and has earned the Ameriprise Client Experience award.
“While these are exciting honors, helping my clients achieve their financial goals is the greatest reward,” Bird said.
Within the community, he shares his passion for fostering financial literacy in a number of areas, including educating youth on financial decisions through the Junior Achievement program, lecturing to UND students and providing educational materials and events for his clients.
Bird has been instrumental in the Bismarck-Mandan Chamber, Bismarck-Mandan Leadership program, Century High School student finance curriculum and the Western Dakota Estate Planning Council. He champions youth-focused programs including YMCA, Bismarck Parks and Recreation, Good Shepherd Church, Century Sports Boosters and Jump Start Real World Camp.
Bird is mindful of how being involved with charitable and civic organizations impacts the LFP team and is driven to provide staff and clients with opportunities to volunteer and participate in donation drives throughout the year.
Bird and his wife, Jennifer, have four children – Skylar, Gabriella, Lylianah and Oliver – and two grandchildren, Isla and Jay.
This profile was compiled by Prairie Business staff, based on nomination forms and biographical information provided by the winner’s company.
Brenda Blazer
Former managing partner, current shareholder, Vogel Law Firm, Bismarck, N.D.
Brenda Blazer was the managing partner of Vogel Law Firm’s Bismarck, North Dakota, office for 18 years, from January 2004 to January 2023. She’s currently a shareholder in the Vogel Law Firm, practicing in the Bismarck office. Blazer works in the areas of medical malpractice defense, personal injury and insurance defense.
She earned her Juris Doctorate from the University of North Dakota School of Law, Grand Forks, in 1984. Prior to her law career, Blazer worked as a paramedic on a hospital-owned ambulance service. In her nearly 40 years as a practicing attorney, Blazer has completed and taught numerous legal education courses.
Blazer’s example of consummate professionalism in law, business and her community has inspired positive change on institutional and individual levels for more than 40 years. During her time as managing partner at Vogel Law Firm, the Bismarck office has flourished with 12 full-time attorneys and nine staff members. Her positive attitude, high standards, charitable spirit and genuine care for each client she serves and employee she leads has created an office culture that embodies the firm’s vision of “Excellence and Integrity in an Atmosphere of Respect and Cooperation.”
Her work with charitable organizations, including the MSA United Way and the Rotary Club, have produced tangible and long-lasting improvements to the lives of numerous people within her community. While serving as vice president to the MSA United Way Board of Directors, Blazer contributed to the establishment of a permanent emergency homeless shelter which now provides year-round food, shelter, safety and services to the most vulnerable members of the community.
Her volunteer service in the legal field includes the State Bar Association of North Dakota, where she worked to improve the fairness, credibility and professionalism of the state’s legal system and those working in it. Starting in 1996, she served as a member of the State Pattern Jury Instructions Commission and was chairperson from 1999-2000. In 2008, Blazer was appointed to Inquiry Committee West and served as chair from 2013-2014. She served on the Joint Committee on Attorney Standards in 2014-2016 and in that capacity reviewed the American Bar Association Report on the lawyer discipline system within North Dakota. Blazer has also served on the North Dakota Supreme Court Disciplinary Board from 2014-2020, serving as chair from 2018-2020. Her extensive volunteer leadership roles have helped to elevate the professionalism in the practice of law across the state and will have a lasting impact on the State Bar Association of North Dakota.
Blazer has inspired those in her orbit to elevate their personal and professional contributions to selflessly serve the greater good.
With three grown sons and six grandchildren, she enjoys spending time with family, reading and traveling. She’s also an avid angler and a member of the Whopper Club.
This profile was compiled by Prairie Business staff, based on nomination forms and biographical information provided by the winner’s company.
/Courtesy Jeremy Albright
Jon Bogenreif
President/CEO, Noridian Healthcare Solutions LLC, Fargo, N.D.
Jon Bogenreif is committed to helping people in the region achieve their potential. He grew up in Kent, Minnesota, attended Breckenridge High School and went on to earn a business administration degree from the University of North Dakota.
As the CEO at Noridian Healthcare Solutions, he provides executive leadership and direction, advocates for a life of engagement and leads a workforce of nearly 2,000 employees to strive daily to solve complex health care challenges in order to serve people behind the claims.
Noridian’s services include claims processing, review, contact center and provider administrative services at a large scale. Under Bogenreif’s leadership, the company processed more than 266 million Medicare and Medicaid claims in 2022.
Bogenreif grew up in a rural environment and has driven a national conversation on supporting rural health care providers. Under his leadership, Noridian has led the company to have a real impact on the financial health of rural providers by processing claims swiftly and ensuring deserved and expected cash flow. The company has added a new contract to support the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs in implementing a nationwide suicide prevention grant program. This diversified the company’s offerings as well as serves Bogenreif’s people-first vision of engagement. The grant program is for local organizations to develop and implement strategies to support veterans. Noridian has a role as a subcontractor, sharing training expertise with grant awardees.
Bogenreif’s leadership has allowed the company to launch two mentoring programs, one aimed at helping high-potential leaders at Noridian level-up and ready themselves for executive level leadership, and one aimed at high-potential individual contributors who are interested in pursuing leadership roles. Volunteer paid time off was also doubled in 2022, which grew from Bogenreif’s people-first philosophy, allowing paid volunteer time to include 16 hours.
He has found that being engaged in the community and the work makes both the employee and the company better. Bogenreif encourages employees to ask questions about why the organization does certain things, know how their role fits with Noridian’s goal to make access to health care services easy for those served by programs the company supports, and suggest ideas to improve the way things are done.
“When we are engaged, we find a richness in our work experience, and we are better for it – both personally as a company,” he said.
This profile was compiled by Prairie Business staff, based on nomination forms and biographical information provided by the winner’s company.
Wayne Gadberry
President and CEO, Magnum Companies, Fargo, N.D.
Wayne Gadberry created a company that specialized in hauling farm products across North Dakota and built it into a national, world-class multi-million-dollar logistics company with a network of terminals throughout 10 states.
Gadberry started the first truckload company under the name Gadberry, Inc., in 1978. He and two other local farmers then created Magnum, Ltd. as a trucking outfit in 1981 in Fargo, North Dakota. Over time, Gadberry and two associates realized more people wanted to be served other than farmers, and so they created Magnum LTL in 1990 to serve less-than-load (LTL) customers.
Subsequent divisions of Magnum were opened, including Magnum Logistics Inc. to serve as a logistics and brokerage company, and Magnum Warehousing to provide inventory organization and logistics functions.
In a bold move, Gadberry’s company expanded in 2008 to create another entity, Magnum Dedicated, while other companies were cutting back. This sub-division was created to handle the consumer market that wants quick freight delivery.
Today, Magnum Trucking companies are the pioneers in the transport and logistics industry.
Magnum has more than 1,500 employees, nearly 700 drivers and operates 31 terminals/offices in 10 Midwest states under Gadberry’s leadership. The veteran-owned company focuses on sustainability for the environment and community. Magnum has also completed two acquisitions of trucking companies in the last two years.
Gadberry says part of the secret to his success is letting people take on responsibility for their position and to not micromanage them. Employees have opportunities to expand their knowledge base and move up in the organization.
“It’s establishing what’s expected and helping them to be successful,” Gadberry said.
He also credits Magnum employees and the company’s dedicated, expanding customer base for the company’s success year after year.
“We provide a service that others can’t or aren’t willing to provide,” Gadbery said. “We provide innovative solutions for them.”
Strategic planning for the future and setting achievable goals are the foundation of Gadberry’s success.
“I believe you have to be growing or you’re falling back, and through that, you grow, you support your employees,” he said. “Success is what can happen when you strive for that and people in the organization believe in it. Everyone is working toward the same goal.”
In the community, Magnum has supported Madison Elementary School as part of Fargo’s Adopt-a-School program for the last 20 years. Employees today continue to support the school.
“We believe it’s important to be active in the local community,” Gadberry said.
Gadberry and his wife, Cherie, have four children and 15 grandchildren. His sons David and Matthew are both in leadership roles at the company.
This profile was compiled by Prairie Business staff, based on nomination forms and biographical information provided by the winner’s company.
Phil Gisi
Founder and Chairman, Edgewood Group of Companies, Grand Forks, N.D.
Phil Gisi was raised on a farm near New Rockford, North Dakota, and is a graduate of the University of North Dakota with a Bachelor of Science in business administration and accounting.
He first served as the CFO for an oil field service and construction company from 1982-1985 in Dickinson, North Dakota. From 1986-1996, Gisi served as the vice president/CFO and president/CEO for St. Joseph’s/UniMed Medical Center, a 200-bed regional hospital in Minot, North Dakota.
Gisi, an entrepreneur, real estate developer and innovator, is a founder and chairman/CEO of the Edgewood Group of Companies which spans the upper Midwest. Edgewood Healthcare is a vertically integrated assisted living and health care services company with 64 senior housing facilities and over 4,100 beds in Idaho, Minnesota, Montana, Nebraska, North Dakota, South Dakota and Wyoming. Over the past 30 years, Edgewood has grown into the largest privately held senior housing and home-based health care provider in the upper Midwest.
Gisi’s other merits include co-founder and board member of Edgewood Real Estate Investment Trust, a $2 billion private REIT with real estate holdings in 14 states, and he’s the founder and chairman/CEO of Senior Healthcare Innovation Consortium Inc., a nonprofit education and scientific research company dedicated to enhancing the quality, safety and cost effectiveness of home-based health care services provided to seniors.
He has served as a board member for a number of organizations over his career, including INREIT Properties (now Sterling Multifamily Trust), East Grand Forks Chamber of Commerce, and the Alumni Advisory Council of the UND College of Business and Public Administration. Gisi served as a community board member and secretary of Altru Health System of Grand Forks from 2009-2020, and as a board member of the UND Alumni Association Foundation from 2009-2021.
Gisi continues to be active on local boards, including as board adviser for Red Trail Energy LLC, and ethanol plant located in Richardton, North Dakota, board member and chair for the UND Center for Innovation Foundation in Grand Forks, and adviser to the Dakota Venture Group, a UND student-run venture capital company.
Gisi and his wife, Patricia, have two children and reside in Grand Forks.
This profile was compiled by Prairie Business staff, based on nomination forms and biographical information provided by the winner’s company.
Dick Muth
Founder, Chairman and former CEO, Muth Electric
Mitchell, S.D.
Dick Muth is the founder and chairman of the board of Mitchell, South Dakota-based Muth Electric. As a young man in Ethan, South Dakota, Muth enlisted in the U.S. Army. He served two years, with one of those years served in Vietnam during the Vietnam War. After returning home, he enrolled in the electrical construction and maintenance program at Mitchell Technical Institute in Mitchell. This sparked his dream of owning his own business.
He and his wife, Darlene, were a motivated young couple with a determined work ethic and an entrepreneurial spirit. What began as an electrical contracting company in nearby Ethan, South Dakota, with two employees has grown over the past 53 years into the Midwest’s premiere electrical contracting company, with nine locations and over 500 employees.
Muth credits most of his success to great employees. From the beginning, his theory was to hire the best people, treat them well, get out of the way and let them do their job. He believes superior customer service is also an important component of a successful business.
Under Dick Muth’s leadership, the company’s scope of work has evolved into large commercial and industrial work including hospitals, water and wastewater treatment facilities, wind energy, correctional facilities, airport runway lighting, roadway lighting, motel complexes, industrial plants, military facilities, school, medical clinics, office buildings and major retail stores.
The goal of the company has never changed – to provide electrical services to all customers in a safe, timely and professional manner. Following Muth’s leadership, a team of employees carries out that mission when serving their customers.
Over the years, Muth has accomplished many professional achievements, including sitting as a member on numerous professional boards. He has been named South Dakota Electrical Man of the Year, was honored with Prairie Family Business of the Year, has served on the South Dakota Electrical Commission and was inducted into the South Dakota Hall of Fame. Muth is passionate about serving his community by supporting economic development, Ducks Unlimited, Pheasants Forever, Honor Flights and other veteran organizations, such as the American Legion. He is a member of Veterans of Foreign Wars, the Mitchell Rotary Club, and Lions Club.
Dick and Darlene are both very involved members of the Catholic church and have been members of the Catholic Foundation of Eastern South Dakota board for more than 30 years. The two are also legacy donors and proud supporters of Mitchell Technical College.
A recent community support effort by Muth Electric was donating more than $28,000 earlier this year for a new scoreboard at Drake Field, a baseball field in Mitchell.
“We just think Mitchell baseball is a pretty neat deal,” Muth told the Mitchell Republic newspaper in April. “We just want to help the community when we can, especially when it’s something that we’re passionate about.”
Muth loves the outdoors, hunting and fishing. He is a dedicated Christian, business owner and family man of four children, 10 grandchildren and one great-grandchild.
This profile was compiled by Prairie Business staff, based on nomination forms and biographical information provided by the winner’s company.
Jeff Thomas
President and CEO, Cornerstone Bank
Fargo, N.D.
Jeff Thomas is a leader in the business community who has come from working in banking for 35 years as well as being a successful business owner in the Fargo community. He is CEO and president of Cornerstone Bank, Fargo, North Dakota, and has hired and mentored many bankers and leaders during his career. Thomas has an incredible industry knowledge and is often looked to by others for his input and advice.
Thomas encourages his Cornerstone team to get involved, volunteer and to give back.
He embodies the Cornerstone Bank values, which include valuing their role as neighbors and contributors.
Thomas previously led the start-up of Starion Bank in the Fargo-Moorhead-West Fargo (FMWF) market upon joining that organization in 2008. He joined Cornerstone in 2013 after serving as vice president of Starion. Thomas worked as regional retail banking president for Wells Fargo Bank, overseeing North Dakota and northwestern Minnesota, while also serving as market president for Fargo-Moorhead and West Fargo.
Thomas earned a Bachelor of Science degree in banking and finance from the University of North Dakota and is an honors graduate of the American Banking Assocation’s Stonier Graduate School of Banking.
He serves on the board of directors for the YMCA of Cass Clay, the board of Resonate, the North Dakota Development Board and serves on the FMWF Chamber Flood Task Force and Military Affairs Committee.
Thomas’ roles and leadership expertise make him an asset to his community. The various roles in which he has served have given him an expansive knowledge base about the financial industry, which has developed his career over time.
In addition to his profession, he gives of his time to community organizations, including United Way and Chamber of Commerce boards. Thomas has spent many years as a hockey coach, giving back to a sport he loves. His volunteer work includes the Diabetes Association and Special Olympics.
Thomas has had involvement in the financing of many economically beneficial projects in his community, and even opened a successful bar in south Fargo, creating a place where neighbors can gather and build community.
Thomas and his wife, Sue, have six children and two grandchildren.
This profile was compiled by Prairie Business staff, based on nomination forms and biographical information provided by the winner’s company.
Credit: Source link
