In this issue, you will be introduced to the 2009 inductees into the Minnesota Business Hall of Fame, five of Minnesota’s most accomplished business leaders of all time.
Michael Fiterman, Dennis Frandsen, Viet Ngo, Edward Phillips, and Carl Platou join a group of 51 outstanding Hall of Fame members inducted since 1999 who have discerned opportunities unnoticed by others; pursued those opportunities with imagination and persistence; conducted their activities with integrity; and enjoyed a lifetime of achievement and service.
Each has led at least one competitively superior company while making substantial contributions to communities outside of business.
In addition to honoring them in this issue, we will do so in person—at an induction dinner at the Minneapolis Hilton hotel on July 23. They also will be permanently enshrined, along with previously inducted members, in a Minnesota Business Hall of Fame display at the University of Minnesota’s Carlson School of Management.
There, next to the skyway that connects the school’s two buildings, the accomplishments of each Hall of Fame member have been encapsulated on a plaque, and the stories of their achievements that have appeared in Twin Cities Business are available for students and visitors to read on a computer screen. Highlights from recent induction dinners also appear on screen.
Hall of Fame members inducted from 1999 through 2008 are:
1999
Elmer L. Andersen Newspaper owner, one-time governor, and long-time chairman of H. B. Fuller. Anderson, who died at age 95 in 2004, was known for setting and achieving ambitious goals at Fuller, calling for it to double in size every five years. As a newspaper publisher, his favorite task was writing editorials.
Earl Bakken The inventor of the modern battery-powered heart pacemaker and cofounder—in a northeast Minneapolis garage in 1949—of one of the world’s leading medical technology companies, Medtronic. Bakken was CEO of Medtronic, from which dozens of biomedical companies emerged, until 1976. He was senior chairman until 1989.
Curtis L. Carlson A widely proclaimed “ultra-entrepreneur” and innovator known for his salesmanship and unrelenting pursuit of opportunity. He founded and ran Carlson, one of the largest family enterprises in America, which has included Radisson Hotels & Resorts, Carlson Wagonlit Travel, Country Inns & Suites, and T.G.I. Friday’s restaurants.
Edgar Hetteen The “grandfather of snowmobiling” and creator of a winter-sports industry. Hetteen, a self-described farm kid who liked to tinker, founded the companies that became Polaris and Arctic Cat. He later founded ASV, a manufacturer of all-terrain vehicles that was named one of the best small companies in America.
