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MEDA Annual Meeting
MEDA held its annual luncheon on June 10, 2008 to recognize our leaders, supporters and clients for their invaluable contributions to the economic success and development of our clients and communities.
We were fortunate to have Maury Glover from Fox 9 to emcee the event and we were overjoyed with the record attendance and overwhelming support we received for our efforts.
The honorees for 2007 made a lasting impression on everyone in the room with their inspiring speeches and personal contributions to our community.  This year's honorees are:
Cathy Cruz-Gooch
Catallia Mexican Foods
Entrepreneur of the Year
Jenny Verner, Cargill
&
Jennifer Amys,
UpNet Technologies
Mentoring Relationship of the Year
Lynn Gardin and Philip Goldman
Fredrickson & Byron, P.A.
Volunteers of the Year
U.S. Bancorp
Corporation of the Year
Steve Sanger
General Mills Inc.  Champion Award A special thanks to Peter Hutchinson, President, Bush Foundation for his Keynote speech. Also many thanks to our sponsors and to everyone who supported our Annual Meeting.
Pictures:
Top (Goldman, Cruz-Gooch, Verner, Cheung Ho, Amys)
Middle (Manney, Billups, Davis, Lutz, Jaffee)
Bottom (Steve Sanger)
Event Sponsors
     
In-kind SponsorsAsian Pages Insight News Latino Communications Network Minneapolis/St.Paul Business Journal The Circle - Native American News and Arts Unisys |
Leech Lake Band of Ojibwe and MEDA sign Memorandum of Understanding
 MEDA has signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the Leech
Lake Band of Ojibwe (LLBO), to colaborate for the benefit of LLBO members in the Twin Cities who wish to start and grow businesses.
The Leech Lake Band of Ojibwe wishes to improve the lives of its members both on the reservation and in the Twin Cities.
This Partnership will increase economic growth opportunities for LLBO members through business start-up, expansion or acquisition. "MEDA welcomes the opportunity to work with the Leech Lake Band of Ojibwe, to open doors for economic prosperity and to create a stronger collaboration between us." says George Jacobson, Director, Business Consulting at MEDA.
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Board Spotlight 
John Stout
is Vice President and share holder at Fredrikson & Byron, P.A. and a MEDA Founding Father.
Growing up in the Civil Rights period, John couldn't understand racial differences and still wonders why we have racial divisions in our communities. Though he believes things have gotten better.
"You see people of color in more leadership
roles. More than when I came here in 1967. You've got Barrack running for president and he's running for a pretty good leadership
role. The importance to me is the economic disparities that still exist. What that gap says to me is there is plenty of work to do."
For board member John Stout, being a part of MEDA means making a little contribution to a more
open accessible community.
"The community is only as good as how much effort
we put into it. It's on us. Not the government. Will the government help? Yes,
but we need all of us pitching in, too. It's got to be a community-wide effort. It
can't be just a small group of people.
"I think one of the
pleasures of serving on the board is to see the kind of commitments corporations
are making, and I think it's very warming to see the quality of
people on the board of MEDA that are committed to the things we do".
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How Are We Doing?
The Results of Our Perception Survey.
Our perception survey is intended to understand how the community at large perceives MEDA, its services and effectiveness. It was sent to 49 community partners and 97 funders with a good response rate that can help us identify gaps in perception versus reality, perceived areas of weakness and strength, and opportunities for future growth and development. Completed in April, the survey response was very positive: - More than 70% accurately understand what MEDA does
- Nearly 90% understand who MEDA serves - entrepreneurs of color
- Nearly 80% rated their overall experience with MEDA as Good or Excellent
- More than 70% rated MEDA as a very credible organization, and
- More than 80% rated our reputation as good or excellent
One respondent stated, "The staff members I've met seem knowledgeable and seem to really care about their clients." Another said "MEDA is a valuable and credible organization with excellent leadership and staff." From the result of the survey our next step is to develop a plan of action to respond to the areas identifed. Our thanks to Tunheim Partners for their expert advice and for taking on the whole project.  |
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MEDA Update
As of June 26, 474 entrepreneurs have made it their business to succeed with MEDA!
As of June 26 MEDA approved $492,000 in new loans and helped secure an additional $8,575,800 in loans from area banks.
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Client News
UpNet Technologies
MEDA Client and owner of UpNet Technologies, Jennifer Amys recently finished the Corporate Directors Academy at St. Mary's University based on a MEDA recommendation. "Jennifer was a perfect match for the program with her corporate background and technology, but now as an entrepreneur this was a great learning opportunity to bring it all together for her own business." Kathleen Riopelle, MEDA Business Consultant.
The Corporate Directors Academy is a program that provides present and aspiring executives and business owners the tools to recognize and effectively deal with critical issues such as risk management and value analysis. Participants learn principles for dynamic and responsible leadership. The program involves some outside reading in preparation for classroom-type learning which takes place two days a week for a couple weeks on campus. "The Academy has solidified the responsibilities of a corporate director for me. I can definitely apply my learning to my role as a director for other companies as well as mine. I enjoyed the course work of the actual cases and the real life experience exchanges" Jennifer Amys, CEO UpNet Technologies.
UpNet Technologies provides for the translation and transfer of event-based data between any two disparate systems. The Event Data Exchange (EDX) technology eliminates the need for additional hardware, software, umbrella systems or staff for either the sending or receiving system. One of the EDX applications is to help companies more cost effectively manage their growing transaction volume, complexity and business pressures associated with their Electronic Data Interchange (EDI) systems.
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Upcoming Events
MEDA Gala 2008
Passage to India
Saturday, November 15
PTAC 2008
Training Series
The Basics of
Affirmative Action
Wed., July 16 - Bloomington
Introduction to
Government Contracting
Wed., July 22 - Minneapolis
2008 Procurement Conference:
Opportunities with the states of IA, MN, MO, NE, ND, SD & WI
Thurs., July 24 -
Sioux Falls, SD
Executive
Development Series
Ken Powell, chairman and Chief Executive Officer of General Mills. August 19, 2008
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2008 Recent
General Operating Contributors
● Carlson Companies
● W.C. Rasmussen -
Northeast Bank
● Tennant Foundation
● Piper Jaffray
● Ameriprise Financial
● Travelers
● Whitney Foundation
● James & Hope Scannell ● Marilyn Dahl ● Bruce Engelsma ● Sophie Bell Kelley | |
