Denise Tollefson and her brother, Richard Anderson, attended a conference in South Dakota a few years ago hosted by the Prairie Family Business Association, an outreach nonprofit based out of the University of South Dakota. Tollefson, whose family owns and operates Serenity Assisted Living in Dilworth, said she and her brother weren’t sure they really [...]
Mary Jo Minor began her journey with the family business in the early 90's when she purchased management contracts from her father, Harvey, for existing properties that were being managed by H.E. Mills Construction - a company started by Harvey in 1949 and is the roots of Mills Property Management, Inc. Since then, Mary Jo [...]
The Prairie Family Business Association has hired Stephanie Larscheid as its new executive director. Larscheid, an Iowa native, has a background in nonprofit work, and her portfolio includes active participation in the Council for Advancement and Support of Education and work with organizations such as the University of Iowa Foundation, Family Visitation Center and Principal [...]
The SIA Companies in Bismarck, ND, has some impressive stats: they've been owned and operated by a single family for 35 years, their initial business grew from a home-based location to serving 15,000+ agents, advisors, and reps in all 50 states, and in the last 5 years they have began taking the steps to make [...]
Serenity Assisted Living in Dilworth, MN is a relatively new family business, having been established in 2006, it is still owned by the first generation. Nevertheless, the company has grown remarkably in the past ten years, increasing from 10 assisted living apartments to 60. Like any family of a growing company, the Anderson family has [...]
BISMARCK, N.D. (AP) – The Prairie Family Business Association has doubled its membership in North Dakota in the past eight months. The Prairie Family Business Association was founded in 1993 as South Dakota Family Business Initiative. The association’s mission is to help long-term survival and success of family businesses. It does this through education and [...]
Deciding whether or not the family business will get passed down from one generation to the next can be one of the most crucial decisions ever made within the business. You have to decide if the next generation is the right fit, if they have the best interests in mind for the company, and if [...]
In 2009, the Brockelsby family of Reptile Gardens in Rapid City, SD, was honored by being presented with the Tom Didier Excellence in Family Business Award for their contributions to the community, as well as their integrity and growth as a family business. The award is meant to exemplify the exceptional attributes of its namesake, [...]
Matt Feickert and his brother Justin are the second-generation leaders in a business that has been expanding since the late 70's. Their father, Roger, founded Quality Quick Print in Aberdeen, SD, in 1979, and over the past 30 years it has grown from a one-man operation to employing over 40 people. Today, the family owns [...]
