- Engage Leaders: Meet Bremer Bank’s Tom Rickers
- Grow Business: GSDC congratulates gBETA alumni Boozy Jerky and Live.Give.Save
- Expand Talent: CareerOne – Preparing our future workforce through career exploration
- Shape Tomorrow: GSDC 2021 Innovation Awards – Apply or Nominate Today!
- Insights and Inspirations: Minnesota Ranks #7 in America’s Top States for Businesses
- Other: ParkMobile Notifications
Engage Leaders: Meet Bremer Bank’s Tom Rickers
Tom Rickers is known by many for his work as Executive Vice President Mortgage and Consumer Banking for Bremer Bank. During his 32 years there – he started with Bremer right after graduating from North Dakota State University in Fargo – he has also served as Region President and Region CFO.
Beyond his day job, Tom is also a GSDC board member and Chair of our Finance Committee. But that’s just one aspect of his dedicated involvement. He served for eight years with the U.S. Army National Guard/Reserves. For the past 25 years, he’s been a member of the Rotary Clubs in St Cloud, serving as president for one of the clubs. Tom has also served on the Boy Scout Board, United Way Board and the Reach-Up/Head Start board.
“Everyone I have interacted with while volunteering at the GSDC has been very focused on making the St. Cloud area even better. It is great to see so many focused leaders have such a passion for our community,” says Tom, who lived in San Diego for three years after high school before attending college.
“The GSDC brings great value to the Greater St. Cloud community by taking a long view of how our community can get even better. They help businesses grow and expand. They partner so well with many organizations to help in developing, retaining and attracting talent.”
Thank you, Tom, for the kind words and your commitment to Greater St. Cloud.
Grow Business
GSDC Congratulates gBETA alumi Boozy Jerky and Live.Give.Save
GSDC congratulates two gBETA Greater MN St. Cloud alumni as their recent accomplishments: Boozy Jerky who has raised $100K and Live.Give.Save on their recent acquisition. Boozy Jerky completed the program in Fall 2019 and Live.Give.Save was part of the Fall 2020 cohort.
gBETA accelerates the growth of early-stage companies through its network-driven program. gBETA supports five teams per cohort and requires no fees and no equity. Since launching in 2015, gBETA program alumni have raised $111M+ in capital and created 1,000+ jobs across the US and Canada.
Contact Joe Sullivan ,Director of gBETA Greater MN- St. Cloud, with questions regarding the program and application process. Applications are currently being accepted for the Fall 2021 program.
Expand Talent
CareerOne – Preparing our future workforce through career exploration
As a community we are blessed with several well organized, engaging, and interactive hands- on programs to assist our youth in preparing for the workforce.
One such program is CareerOne created 20 years ago by Career Solutions, a partner in Career Force St. Cloud.
CareerOne teaches St. Cloud area youth the skills needed to join the workforce, how to apply for a job and plan a career. In addition, they also work on community projects. Experiences gained are making a huge impact in the lives of these students.
“The Career One program has been a very positive experience for our daughter – she was hesitant to sign up at first and now is wishing it wasn’t almost done! As a parent I love that it has kept her active physically and mentally during the days this summer and I can also see how her confidence has grown both through the knowledge she has gained and the job-related experiences she’s gotten to do. Addi has loved meeting new friends, her job shadow experience at Vye, and of course earning money. I’ve been impressed with how all aspects of the program are designed to intentionally develop a strong work ethic. I’m so glad Gail shared this opportunity and we will definitely recommend CareerOne to other teens and their families.”
“CareerONE has doubled in student count and is now in three locations due to the support Career Solutions receives from CentraCare, area businesses, educational institutions and community- based organizations. Thanks to the increased support received every year from local businesses, Career Solutions can continue to improve and grow the program. We all have a common goal – to prepare the next generation of our workforce”, Tammy Biery, Career Solutions Executive Director.
Read more about this exceptional growing program here
https://saintcloudtimes-mn-app.newsmemory.com/?publink=4d984d8bf_1345e
To learn more about CareerOne visit https://careersolutionsjobs.org/job-seekers/youth-programs/careerone/
Other career exploration programs available in our area are Boys and Girls Club of Central MN Career Start , Boy Scouts Exploring along with Exploring Potential Interests and Careers (EPIC) – a career exploration opportunity for high school students coming to St. Cloud Technical and Community College on February 25, 2022. Bigger. Better. Broader.
Together we are preparing our future workforce to enable our community to continue to grow.
Shape Tomorrow
2021 GSDC Innovation Awards
The GSDC is taking nominations for our 2021 Innovation Awards. Do you know a business or organization doing innovative work in our community? Apply or nominate a business today.
Since 2012, the GSDC has recognized 30 area organizations for their innovative approaches to problem solving and creating opportunities. At our All Investors and Partners meeting on November 4, 2021, we will honor four organizations: an emerging for-profit company, an established for-profit company and two non-profit organizations. Each will also receive a $1,000 award, an attractive trophy, and be featured in a professional video produced to showcase their innovation.
Information about nominating candidates and applying for the awards can be found at www.GreaterStCloud.com/innovation. Organizations are also encouraged to nominate themselves.
Applications and nominations are due by the end of the day on Friday, July 30, 2021.
Take a look at two of our award winners in 2020 – Sartell Family Medicine & Pathways 4 Youth.
Insights & Inspirations
Minnesota Rants #7 in America’s Top States for Businesses
Minnesota ranked number 7 for the top states to do business in the United States based on 85 metrics and 10 categories of competitiveness. Read more about CNBC’s rankings here.
Other: ParkMobile Notifications
Based on the ParkMobile App’s recent issues of not allowing payment at the end of June, the City of St. Cloud staff developed an alert/”notify me” for text/email notifications in order to let businesses and other parking system users know about any current issue or change as soon as possible. These notifications will be sent out if there are mobile app issues, pay station mechanical issues, enforcement schedule changes, parking permit release dates, etc.
If you are interested in receiving this notifications, please sign up with the link below.
Notify Me: https://ci.stcloud.mn.us/list.aspx
Notify Me (top category) > Parking Alerts (5th one down on Notify Me list)
Contact Our Staff Team
Patti Gartland, President
pgartland@greaterstcloud.com | 320-260-2442
Leslie Dingmann, Business Development Director
ldingmann@greaterstcloud.com | 320-493-9003
Gail Cruikshank, Talent Director
gcruikshank@greaterstcloud.com | 320-260-6775
Amelia Barkley, Communications & Program Specialist
abarkley@greaterstcloud.com | 320-292-9296