MN CEOs You Should Know

Kent Roers, co-founder of Roers Companies, has 25 years of experience in real estate and finance. Since its founding in 2012, Roers Companies has become a leading developer in the Twin Cities, recognized for its significant contributions to the local real estate market. The company has achieved remarkable growth, being named the top developer in the region. Roers Companies is known for its strong workplace culture, innovative development strategies, and commitment to quality housing. It's a company worth paying attention to due to its consistent success and positive impact on the community. Download this podcast to learn more about real estate in the Twin Cities and how Roers is helping improve our community!

In 2010, I received a call from the hospital that would alter the course of my entire life. The nurse on the other end of the line said bluntly: “You need to stop telling my patients about nutrition.”I was a Home Health Physical Therapist at the time and had just discovered the vast world of nutrition. More specifically, I discovered how poor nutrition was linked to many of the health issues my patients were dealing with. So of course, I started telling them about it… I explained how gluten and dairy were big inflammatory foods. How sugar plays a role in things like high blood pressure, inflammation, and chronic disease. How toxic oils like canola and sunflower oil result in inflamed, calcified arteries. So when I received that life-altering call, I knew I had to do something more...So it began…In addition to the nutrition seminars that my wife and I were already hosting, I began researching whole-food nutrition products that would make people feel better. That's when I stumbled upon this thing called collagen…And on that day—June 6, 2017—NativePath was born.

 Based in St. Louis, Michael Lazaroff is one of the most successful entrepreneurs in jazz. As the director of Entertainment Cruise Productions, he oversees The Jazz Cruise, The Smooth Jazz Cruise and the most recently added Blue Note at Sea cruise. A former attorney, the energetic Lazaroff came into the business in 2000 when Norwegian Cruise Lines discontinued its jazz cruise and his mother Anita Berry, who ran a travel agency that serviced the jazz trips, said that she wanted to start her own jazz-themed cruise. The company, which initially started with the Jazz Cruise, has grown to now host five different theme cruises, including a Star Trek cruise and an 80s music one. Since 2001, Entertainment Cruise Productions has produced more than 70 full ship theme charters, entertained more than 125,000 guests and presented thousands of artists, musicians and performers.

Courtney Lightfoot began her journey with Squeegee Squad, a window-washing company, as an executive assistant and worked her way up to her current position as CEO. Squeegee Squad was founded by brothers Jack and Joe Ruegsegger in Minnesota. Initially named Jack & Joe's Window Cleaning, the company grew from local roots to a national franchise. Squeegee Squad specializes in residential and commercial window cleaning, high-rise jobs, and building restoration services. Their commitment to quality work and customer service has helped them expand to over 60 locations across the United States. Lightfoot emphasizes the importance of trust and support within the franchise, likening it to a family

Ilan Sobel has been the CEO of BioHarvest Sciences since July 2020. Ilan has brought the company's first product, VINIA, to North America, building a direct-to-consumer machine that is now generating significant revenues. VINIA's go-to-market success has established a template for the company's near-term product pipeline of nutraceutical plant cell banks. In addition to commercial focus and planning, Ilan has scaled production capabilities from R+D up to industrial levels, and is building a biotech company with novel, and even patentable plant-based products that are based on science and backed by clinical trials.. Prior to BioHarvest, Ilan served for 6 years at Weissbeerger, as both Chief Operating Officer and then Chief Commercial Officer. In this capacity, Ilan played a major leadership role in building a disruptive BIG Data, IOT & Software Company servicing major Beverage players which was ultimately purchased by Anheuser Busch InBev. Previously, Ilan served an 18 year stint as an International Employee of The Coca-Cola Company, where he played a pivotal role in key senior leadership positions generating significant revenue and profit growth and improving brand health trends across diverse global markets including the United States, China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Thailand, Singapore, Malaysia, Vietnam, the Philippines and South Africa.COMPANY WEBSITE: https://bioharvest.com/CEO LINKEDIN: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ilansobel/

Robin Ganzert, Ph.D., serves as president and CEO of American Humane, the country's first national humane organization and the first to serve animals, whenever and wherever they are in need of rescue, shelter or protection. She is the executive producer of the acclaimed documentary, Escape from Extinction, narrated by Dame Helen Mirren, and its follow-up, Escape from Extinction Rewilding, which features narration by Oscar winner Meryl Streep. She is also the executive producer of the annual American Humane Hero Dog Awards which aired for ten years on Hallmark Channel and most recently aired on A&E and fyi networks. Additionally, she is the author of The Humane Table: Cooking with Compassion, Mission Metamorphosis and Animal Stars. Her next book, Escape from Extinction, is set to come out in 2025. Dr. Ganzert serves on the board of Loro Parque Foundation, the Lois Pope LIFE Foundation and is a member of The Explorers Club, the Palm Beach Chamber of Commerce Trustee Program, and the International Women's Forum. She has been awarded the prestigious Gorilla Prize by world-renowned zoological organization Loro Parque for her efforts in conservation. Dr. Ganzert is frequently highlighted in prominent national news and media platforms as an authoritative advocate for animals. In the recent season, she made appearances on shows like Good Morning America, Fox & Friends, Fox News Saturday Night, and America's Newsroom, among others. During her tenure at American Humane, she has been a guest on broadcast outlets such as the TODAY Show, MSNBC, World News Tonight, CNN, and Fox Business News, to name a few. Additionally, her insights have been featured in major newspapers, including The Washington Post, The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, USA Today, Chicago Tribune, Los Angeles Times, and the Boston Globe. Under her leadership, American Humane continues to earn recognition for its commitment to transparency, accountability, efficiency, and financial responsibility. Thanks to this dedication, American Humane is a top-rated charity having earned, for six years, Charity Navigator's “FourStar” rating; the “Seal of Excellence” from Independent Charities of America – awarded to fewer than three percent of charities nationwide; an “A” rating from Great Nonprofits; and is one of the few charities that meet all of the Better Business Bureau's Wise Giving Alliance 20 Standards for charity accountability

Charlie Youakim is a serial technology entrepreneur with over a decade of experience driving fintech companies to success. He is the Co-founder, Executive Chairman, and CEO of Sezzle, a leading Buy Now. Pay Later platform that empowers consumers to gain financial freedom. Previously, he founded Passport, a pioneering software and payments service that transformed the transportation industry.

Chuck Runyon - CEO, Co-Founder at Self Esteem Brands, LLC, Anytime Fitness, Waxing the City, The Bar Method, Basecamp Fitness

LeeAnn is a graduate of the University of St. Thomas where she earned degrees in Mass Communications & Journalism – Public Relations and General Business Management. Throughout her career, LeeAnn has focused on consumer retail and financial services with an emphasis on brand building and digital transformations for Fortune 1000 companies including Macy's, RBC Wealth Management, Sleep Number, and Securian Financial.In recent years, LeeAnn completed a Diversity & Inclusion certification through Cornell University and earned her MBA at Hamline University. A lifelong learner and community servant, LeeAnn is inspired by creating meaningful change in the business world and in the local communities in which she works and lives. She has served as a leader in multicultural and diverse employee resource groups and taskforces. LeeAnn is known for driving policy and cultural change to create opportunities for women and people of color in the workplace.LeeAnn joined the board of WomenVenture in 2018 and served as chair of the governance committee. She is highly passionate about the organization, its mission, and its long-term impact on the community. Supporting women business owners to thrive and solving the child care crisis is deeply important to LeeAnn.Outside of the workplace, LeeAnn is a mom to four children and a Labrador retriever. She enjoys traveling the world, cooking, and entertaining while staying active through running, yoga, and cycling.

Justin Kehrwald is President, and CEO, and serves as a Board Member for Tradehome Shoes, Inc. Tradehome is employee-owned and operates 130 retail locations across 25 states, with Headquarters in the Twin Cities. Justin began his career with Tradehome Shoes in 1999. He has served several roles within the company including Store Manager, Regional Supervisor, and COO. In 2018 he became the fourth CEO in the company's 102-year history. Justin is responsible for all areas of the company's business performance and has grown revenue by over 80%. His vision for Tradehome updated its brand image, and store experience, opened 31 new locations, and launched its e-commerce, Tradehome.com. Under his leadership, Tradehome Shoes implemented the Trade-at-Home Giveback Program and, recently, launched a wholesale footwear brand.

Michael Hund is the CEO of EB Research Partnership (EBRP), a trailblazing medical research organization focused on curing Epidermolysis Bullosa (EB), a life-threatening genetic skin disease. Under his leadership EBRP has accelerated the landscape from 2 to over 40 clinical trials and via their award winning venture philanthropy methodology funded the first FDA approved treatment for EB in 2023, the first ever topical gene therapy.

Joe Ennen is the CEO of SunOpta, a pioneer fueling the future of sustainable plant-based and fruit-based food and beverages. An expert in driving dynamic growth at scale, and building vibrant company culture, Ennen believes in the power of people to build a more sustainable future.

Josh Fox has grown Bottom Line Concepts over the past 14 years to achieve billions of dollars in savings and refunds for many different organizations. In the day-to-day operations, his strength is building relationships as well as managing employees, vendors and an international sales team. He is hands on in overseeing all aspects of the business from meetings, contracts, negotiations, implementation and follow-up. Passionate about various charities, Fox gives back to his community and is also an avid animal rights activist and enthusiast. Fox earned a bachelor's degree in business and managerial economics from the University of Michigan.

Brian Slipka is the founder and serves as the leader of True North. Throughout his career as a senior executive, Brian began investing in numerous independent operating companies, eventually forming the framework of today's True North Equity Partners. Over time, and with his own hard-earned capital, Brian began acquiring controlling interest in independent operating companies across varied and diverse industries. Among these are Sunbelt Business Advisors and True North Mergers & Acquisitions, where he serves as chairman and CEO. He also is the founder and CEO of Honour Capital, LLC, focused on equipment financing. Today, the combined family of over 20 independently owned small businesses has revenues in excess of a quarter billion dollars. Brian's experience includes building a startup, buying existing (including distressed) businesses, selling/exiting businesses, and angel investments in numerous companies, as a limited partner/investor, while serving on the boards of many. He is the owner of multiple types of commercial real estate, inducing retail, multi-tenant, medical office, and commercial. He is the very definition of “self-made”.

Mike serves as President and CEO for The Shaw Group.Prior to his role with Shaw, Mike served in several executive level roles throughout the energy industry, including President of Bernhard Energy, President and CEO of Synergy Renewables, CEO of TXU/Luminant Development and SVP, Business Development and Marketing at Saulsbury Industries. Mike also served as EVP at the former Shaw organization.Mike serves as an independent board member at Aries Clean Energy and Cypress Creek Renewables.Mike has enjoyed a long career leading and developing entrepreneurial growth companies and he has an unrivaled energy and passion for the industry.

Avenica CEO Scott Dettman is a dynamic leader with a strong track record of driving growth through transformation and innovation in the human capital arena.Scott joined Avenica in 2019 following a six-year stint with ManpowerGroup that included progressive leadership roles spanning analytics and transformation to general management and business development. Scott has a master's degree and Ph.D. (ABD) from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee and most recently completed an Executive Leadership program at Harvard Business School.

Ben Lipkin is the co-founder of Carpe Diem CBD, a Seed To Shelf Hemp To CBD Company

Clearfield, Inc. designs, manufactures and distributes fiber optic management products, helping service providers reduce the high costs associated with deploying, managing, protecting and scaling a fiber optic network to deliver the mobile, residential and business services customers want.

C.H. Robinson solves logistics problems for companies across the globe and across industries, from the simple to the most complex. With $21 billion in freight under management and 19 million shipments annually, we are one of the world's largest logistics platforms. Our global suite of services accelerates trade to seamlessly deliver the products and goods that drive the world's economy. With the combination of our multimodal transportation management system and expertise, we use our information advantage to deliver smarter solutions for our 105,000 customers and 73,000 contract carriers. Our technology is built by and for supply chain experts to bring faster, more meaningful improvements to our customers' businesses. As a responsible global citizen, we are also proud to contribute millions of dollars to support causes that matter to our company, our Foundation and our employees. For more information, visit us at www.chrobinson.com.

Neeraj Gunsagar is the CEO and President of byte®, a direct-to-consumer aligner company that is revolutionizing the orthodontic industry.  Byte was recently acquired by Dentsply Sirona for $1.04 billion to expand its DTC Aligner business to dentists across the world. Prior to joining byte®, Neeraj was the Chief Marketing Officer, Chief Revenue Officer and SVP of Finance & Operations at TrueCar, Inc (NASDAQ: TRUE). In his various roles, Neeraj was responsible for the Company's overall marketing strategy, corporate communications, consumer acquisition, research, finance and business operations (BizOps). Neeraj helped the Company go public in 2014 and played a significant role in profitably scaling the business from $70M of revenue in 2012 to over $350M in 2018. Prior to joining TrueCar, Gunsagar spent the first 15 years of his career as a Private Equity/Venture Capital Investor. He was Vice President at both Matrix Partners' India and Garnett & Helfrich Capital, and a Financial Analyst with Qualcomm Ventures.   Gunsagar started his career on Wall Street at Donaldson, Lufkin & Jenrette (DLJ), where he advised companies such as Worldcom and Iridium on complex restructurings and acquisitions. Gunsagar holds a B.S. in Business Administration from the Haas School of Business at the University of California, Berkeley.

Top Ten Liquors is one of Minnesota's fastest growing, locally owned liquor store chains. We pride ourselves on having a customer first mentality, an expansive selection of craft beer, wine, and craft spirits, and leading the local industry in innovative marketing strategies. We have taken the initiative to reinvent how consumers expect to shop for alcohol by expanding our in-store tastings to include every Friday and Saturday complimentary samples are available. We also have interactive learning courses to allow customers to engage with their favorite brands and learn new and exciting things about craft beer, wine, and/or craft spirits.

Get to know Jesse Singh, CEO the Azek Company home of TimberTech. The AZEK Company is committed to innovating, inspiring, reinventing, revolutionizing and leading our industry to create a more sustainable future. We offer low-maintenance, beautiful outdoor living products leveraging innovations in material science to offer our customers world-class, environmentally sustainable solutions. Hear Jesse's story and learn more about The Azek Company in this week's episode of MN CEOs You Should Know!

Get to know Christophe Beck, CEO and Founder of Ecolab. Ecolab is the global leader in water, hygiene and infection prevention solutions and services that protect people and vital resources. Hear Christophe's story and learn more about Ecolab in this week's episode of MN CEOs You Should Know!

Jeff is the Chief Executive Officer and President of Leaf Home Solutions and has over 16 years of industry experience rooted in project management, information technology, operations, and leadership. Hear Jeff's story and the story of Leaf Filter in this week's episode of MN CEOs You Should Know!