2010 Entrepreneurs of the Year

Jay Novak’s diverse 34-year career comprises not only business journalism and publishing but also corporate communications, government service, and investment banking. He’s not only written and edited articles on entrepreneurs and their innovations—he has helped develop and support a robust entrepreneurial culture in the state of Minnesota.

At this year’s Entrepreneur of the Year award event in Minneapolis, Novak was recognized with a special Supporter of Entrepreneurship award. He acknowledges it as an especially meaningful honor.

“So many entrepreneurs are among my favorite kinds of people—tinkerers, thinkers, inventors, and innovators,” Novak says. “Stories of entrepreneurial achievement that we hear are not only compelling, but also comforting. They remind us that enterprise is enduring.”

Like any entrepreneur, Novak has taken opportunities that have presented themselves, then run with them. He began his career as a Twin Cities business journalist at a Minneapolis magazine that covered the Upper Midwest banking industry. Within a couple of years, he was writing for and editing two established Twin Cities business publications—City Business, a weekly newspaper; and Corporate Report, a monthly magazine. In fact, for a short while, he was working for both (they were published by the same company).

After a stint as General Mills’ director of communications in the early 1990s, Novak was given the opportunity to help build a new business magazine, then called Twin Cities Business Monthly. During his two-and-a-half years as its editor, TCBM became the largest and most respected business magazine in Minnesota, and a model for others across the country. In 1995, the magazine became and remains the media sponsor for the Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Awards for Minnesota and the Dakotas (Wisconsin was added two years ago). The magazine dropped the “Monthly” in its name in 2006, as it ramped up its Web site and electronic publications.

Novak entered a new phase of his career in 1995, when Governor Arne Carlson tapped him to head the State of Minnesota’s Department of Trade and Economic Development. As commissioner, Novak oversaw a department that provided funding for numerous start-ups and economic development projects, stimulating new entrepreneurial activity throughout the state.