Hall of Famers

You will be introduced in this issue to this year’s inductees into the Minnesota Business Hall of Fame™, five of Minnesota’s most accomplished business leaders of all time. Each has led at least one competitively superior business organization while making substantial contributions to communities outside of business.

››› Al Annexstad, Jill Blashack, Mark Davis, Stanley S. Hubbard, and Thomas Rosen join a group of 36 outstanding Hall of Fame members inducted in past years. In alphabetical order, they are:

››› Elmer L. Andersen, newspaper owner, one-time governor, and longtime chairman of H. B. Fuller. Andersen, who died at age 95 in November 2004, was known for setting and achieving ambitious goals at Fuller. His favorite newspaper task was writing editorials.

››› Bill Austin, founder of Starkey Laboratories, the largest hearing-aid company based in the United States. While guiding the company’s growth to more than $420 million in annual sales and 3,700 employees, he also established the Starkey Hearing Foundation, which has fitted more than 100,000 needy children with hearing devices.

››› Dale Bachman, who in 1992 became a fourth-generation president of his family’s floral and nursery company and expanded its product lines to include plant-care products, tools, and home-décor items, growing it to 1,300 year-round employees and an additional 500 during peak seasons.

››› Earl Bakken, inventor of the modern battery-powered heart pacemaker and cofounder of one of the world’s leading medical technology companies, Medtronic, where he was CEO from 1957 to 1976 and senior chairman until 1989.

››› Ralph Burnet, chairman of Coldwell Banker Burnet, which became Minnesota’s number-one residential realty company, with more than 3,000 sales associates. He founded Burnet Realty, a predecessor company, in 1973 with a personal investment of $18,000.

››› James Campbell, a leading spokesman on public policies affecting business and a former CEO of Minnesota's largest bank, which he developed into a leading commercial lender. During his tenure, the assets of Minnesota banks within the Norwest/Wells Fargo system grew from $5.9 billion in approximately 40 separately chartered institutions to $52 billion within 166 branches of one institution.