By -

The IDEA Competition announced the names of four 2013 winners on Wednesday, April 24th at the IDEA awards banquet held at the Ralph Engelstad Arena, Thief River Falls.












Keynote Speaker Jorge Prince is Chief Financial Officer and part owner of LaValley Industries.

LaValley Industries was a winner of the IDEA Competition in 2010 for its DECKHAND® pipe handling system, The DECKHAND®. The Bemidji-based company has since partnered with Pipeline Machinery International, CRC-Evans Pipeline International, and Vermeer Corporation to distribute the DECKHAND worldwide. Since inventing the DECKHAND, LaValley has continued to grow the product line into other markets and is now a multiple patent holder. 



Following the keynote address, The IDEA Hall of Fame added Mark Larson, president and chief operating officer of Digi-Key Corporation, and Ron Stordahl, founder and chief executive officer of Digi-Key Corporation.


The 2013 Winners.



Brian & Coreen Berdahl, Red Lake Falls, for Spot-Knot – a fast, easy, and economical on-the-spot slip knot tie device that is the only one of its kind in the fishing industry.



Tim and Jenny Slukynsky, Warroad, for Lamplighter Hockey – a hockey stick weight that overcomes the weaknesses of other hockey stick training tools on the market today.


                                   
Jerry Titera, Bagley, for Hubmaster Inc. – an innovative tool that helps remove the tapered wheel hub from bobcat skidsteers for routine maintenance and repair.


 

Dr. Jack V. Lundbohm, Roseau, for Stand Alone Game Calls – an elk hunting call that allows an elk hunter to hunt alone while remotely operating a call that is set up in a second location.



The IDEA Hall of Fame was established to recognize the accomplishments of the region’s legacy innovators- those within the region who have inspired others with their entrepreneurial vision, leadership and achievement.

IDEA sponsors are 360◦ Manufacturing and Applied Engineering Center of Excellence, Arvig, Bremer Bank of Crookston and Warren, Leonard Street and Deinard, Northwest Minnesota Foundation, Headwaters Regional Development Commission, Northwest Regional Small Business Development Center, and University of Minnesota Crookston. IDEA was made possible through a generous grant from the Blandin Foundation.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Frank and Marg Marvin

By -
Image
In honor of NMF's upcoming 30th anniversary and National Philanthropy Month, we want to celebrate the contributions of our donors! We will be highlighting a donor a day for the month of November. Please be sure to check the blog often to read about the wonderful stories of giving back to the northwest region.  If you are interested in making a difference through the services of our community foundation, our development officers would be happy to assist you. Please contact Caryl Turnow or Lisa Peterson at 218-759-2057 to learn more. Frank and Marg Marvin, Warroad The year is 1931 and a frustrated Dorrance Johnston has a degree in Engineering with no jobs to be found. Persistent and not willing to give up, he offered to work for a year without pay just to get a foot in the door. This is a mere glimpse at who Margaret “Marg” (Johnston) Marvin’s father was. Marg was born and raised in Warroad, and then met her husband Frank Marvin in their shared hometown. Both of their f...
Read more

NMF Working to Address the Region's Child Care Needs

By -
Image
Ensuring families have access to quality child care is a high priority task for NMF. Our region has the third largest deficit for child care needs in the state. We are faced with 41% of families not having access to child care spots for their children. This means 41% of families are struggling to find safe and affordable child care for their children so they can go to work. The Center for Rural Policy and Development recently published a fact sheet that provides insight on this issue. The main barriers that they pointed out were the following: Until more can be done to increase wages and/or profits for both center and family providers, the child care shortage will continue Low pay for workforce makes recruitment and retention a major hurdle. Providers feel they can't raise rates because parents can't afford to pay more. Under this scenario, providers can't make a profit or be sustainable. The high startup costs make for very high barriers to entry for the av...
Read more

Peacemaker Resources Paves the Way for Lifelong Learning in the Classroom

By -
Image
(Left to right) Caige Jambor, Sharleen Zeman-Sperle, and Stacy Bender-Fayette, SEL Specialists at Peacemaker Resources, work together to plan the upcoming school year. The mission of  Peacemaker Resources  is to "foster communication, compassion and connection leading to respectful relationships and healthier individuals and communities" and they achieve this by bringing their  social emotional learning  curriculum to elementary and middle schools around the state. They were also a recipient of the  NMF Quality of Place award in 2016 .  What makes their curriculum distinctive?   Barb   Houg, Executive Director, says,  " Its preventative approach, its relevance for children of all ages, and its lifelong impact." The curriculum that Peacemaker Resources is bringing into schools includes a number of programs -  STAR (Students Teaching Attitudes of Respect) ,  Girls Lead ,  Cultural Responsiveness ,  SEL (Social ...
Read more