Features Region: Midwest

A stack of metal discs sat on a workbench inside DCM Tech’s Winona, Minnesota, production facility, each polished to a finish most people would never notice. To Jen Rutz, the parts represented more than tolerances or production schedules. They represented a family company built over five decades, a team of employees (intentionally referred to as […]

Erica Seabaugh did not plan to build an 18-year career at a single organization, yet her professional life has unfolded alongside the growth and reinvention of CICOA Aging & In-Home Solutions, where she now serves as chief operating officer. What began as a frontline social work role has evolved into executive leadership shaped by operational […]

When Adam Webber joined American Adventure Holdings in 2015, he found more than just a promising business — he found an opportunity to align his passion for the outdoors with a mission to help families create lasting memories. Having grown up camping and exploring the wilderness, Webber saw in the company’s model a reflection of […]

When Todd Willett became chief financial officer of Ebenezer in 2016, he stepped into a role that blended his love for numbers with a deep, personal respect for older generations. In the years since, his financial stewardship has helped the organization not only grow into Minnesota’s largest senior living operator but also expand its reach […]

For Tarra Enoch, CEO of Tom Smith Industries, the role was never a matter of if—it was always when. She doesn’t just lead a company; she carries a legacy. “I was born into it,” she says. “If you cut me open, plastic pellets would fall out.” That may sound like a punchline, but it’s an […]

Though he’s not from Kansas, Lorenz Hasan might relate to what Dorothy encountered in “The Wizard of Oz.”  His employer isn’t just in Iowa anymore, American Equity Investment Life Insurance Company riding the winds of an ambitious expansion agenda that has broadened its offerings in the past five years and stretched its outreach from the […]

When the elderly mother of a Medica employee was having memory issues, Lisa Stahnke stepped in by coordinating assistance through Wellthy. A caregiving support service for families with complex, chronic or ongoing needs, Wellthy connected that employee with someone who could assist in tending to her mother. As Stahnke explains, it was just another indication […]

Rebecca Mohiuddin says she had no idea what human resources was when she was studying for the communications degree she earned from Mount Vernon Nazarene University in 1997. Within months after graduating, she had started her HR career, and more than 25 years later, she knows she found her calling. As chief human resources officer […]

In the summer of 2022, Terry Rybolt, a member of the Forbes Business Council, wrote about the phenomenon dubbed as the Great Resignation, a two-year period during which a record number of people left their jobs. The Pew Research Center found the top three reasons they walked out in 2021 and 2022 were feeling employers […]

Reneé Konzelman was a globetrotting human resources executive who had traveled to more than 30 different countries and lived in Singapore for nine months before a family medical crisis changed her plans. Today, she’s still a passionate HR leader, but after doctors diagnosed her father with early-onset Alzheimer’s, Konzelman, a self-described “daddy’s girl,” moved back […]