The VHEDC Board of Directors elected its 2018 officers and approved the ballot results of its new Board of Directors at their 2017 Annual Meeting held on December 6, 2018. Directors are elected to two-year terms, and they meet monthly to foster, develop and implement creative networking, business development and positive outcomes for the business community as a whole.

The following officers begin their terms January 1, 2018 and serve until December 31, 2018.

  • Debby Gustafson, President, is Vice President and Senior Loan Officer for Twin Cities Metro Certified Development Company.
  • Eric Johannes, Vice President, is Director of Corporate Marketing for I.C. System.
  • Marguerite DeFore, Secretary, is Retail Operations Officer for MidWestOne Bank.
  • Brian Deuel, Treasurer, is an Audit Senior for Olsen Thielen & Co., Ltd.
  • Becky Bjorgum, Past President, is Vice President of Human Resources at Innovize.

Gustafson graduated in 1985 with a double major in Economics and Sociology/Anthropology from Gustavus Adolphus College and immediately began a full-time position with Business Development Services (BDS). She says she knew her future was in business. “BDS was a newer company that worked with communities – including Vadnais Heights – in their economic development efforts; it expanded into providing Small Business Administration (SBA) loan packaging services. I eventually purchased that part of the business and renamed it Bridgewater Financial Group.

“In 1997, Marquette Bank acquired Bridgewater and hired me to run their SBA division.  Marquette Bank was acquired by Wells Fargo in 2002, which is when I joined my current employer, TCM.”

TCM Certified Development Company is a non-profit corporation that was established in 1990 to stimulate the growth of small businesses by providing access to SBA loan programs. TCM has grown to become one of the largest CDC’s in the country by successfully partnering with business owners and financial institutions throughout Minnesota and Western Wisconsin.

Newly elected incoming VHEDC Board Directors are Ed Jambor, Vice President of Business Banking at Lake Area Bank, Joy Vander Heiden, Senior Human Resources Generalist at Schwing America, Cindy O’Donovan, Owner/Consultant of Right4 Your Business, and Matthew Heimann, Design Engineer from Larson Engineering.

Those elected to another two-year board term are Brian Deuel, Audit Senior at Olsen Thielen & Co., Ltd, Colette Jurek, Manager of Community & Government Relations at Xcel Energy, Larry Raddatz, Training Director at Century College, Linda Reber, Business Development Manager at All Medical Personnel, Kyle Sommer, Major Account Executive at Toshiba Business Solutions, and Sara Stafki, Assistant Vice President at F&M Bank. The VHEDC Board is comprised of 23 local business leaders from the NE Metro area.