Off the Record

Now the co-founders of Roers Companies, a Plymouth-based real estate developer, brothers Kent and Brian Roers had a hand in business from a young age. From power washing pig barns for the family farm to selling hockey skate sharpeners to their junior high classmates, the Roers brothers know what it’s like to work hard and take advantage of life’s opportunities. 

“It was ingrained in us early on that you should take chances,” Kent Roers says in this episode of the Off the Record podcast. “You should take opportunities — and take advantage of them.” 

Listen as the Roers brothers chat about their career trajectories with hosts Kathy Robideau, market president and publisher of the Minneapolis/St. Paul Business Journal and Dave Faust, president and CEO of Platinum Bank. Hear more about: 

• Why Kent and Brian went to work for companies after graduating from college, rather than starting off as entrepreneurs. 
• Starting their company with a car, a phone and a laptop — and no formally written plan. 
• Why the ability to commit is critical in any relationship, but especially in business transactions. 
• Which brother is the visionary and which is the integrator. 
• Hiring people who are “hungry, humble and smart.” 
• Conversations and challenges in today’s housing market. 

Leaders like the Roers brothers understand the value of moving quickly and acting creatively, just like Platinum Bank. Learn more about business banking with a different kind of bank.

A basketball player starting in childhood, Ethan Casson, CEO of the Minnesota Timberwolves and Minnesota Lynx recalled, “There was a grit, (to) outwork everybody, no matter what the circumstances, component to it,” in this episode of the Off the Record podcast. That drive shapes his approach to work today.

When interviewing young job candidates, Casson said to hosts Kathy Robideau, market president and publisher of the Minneapolis/St. Paul Business Journal and Dave Faust, president and CEO of Platinum Bank, he looks for “points of differentiation. Why do I feel differently about this person that I just spoke with?” That type of distinction is what Casson was determined to establish while cold-calling and faxing resumes to potential employers after college graduation. Casson’s “grit” and “points of differentiation” eventually led to his first job, in corporate sales, with the Timberwolves.

Once there, Casson’s endeavored to “do my job that I've been hired to do at a high level because nobody wants somebody that’s coming in that’s already like, ‘What’s next for me?’”

Listen to the latest episode to hear more about Casson’s career and outlook as a sports executive, including:

•Growing up as an “ultracompetitive” twin in Milford, Connecticut.

•The life lesson about work Casson’s parents instilled in him.

•The “master’s degree” in being a sports executive earned during his tenure with the San Francisco 49ers.

•His return to the Minnesota Timberwolves organization.

Leaders like Casson understand the value of moving quickly and acting creatively, just like Platinum Bank. Learn more about business banking with a different kind of bank.

Nancy Korsah founded Black Business Enterprise, a hub of resources to help minorities get ahead. She can relate to the trials of fellow people of color in the U.S. and abroad. She recalls her teenage years in Italy where, “if you’re of color there, you’re not getting a job. Definitely not that early,” she says in this episode of the Off the Record podcast. 

Similar encounters have continued into adulthood and her professional life, Korsah said to hosts Kathy Robideau, market president and publisher of the Minneapolis/St. Paul Business Journal and Dave Faust, president and CEO of Platinum Bank. Korsah – who’s fluent in six languages but spoke little English when she first arrived in the U.S. from Italy – struggled with her limited job opportunities. 

At one point, out of necessity, she began cleaning homes and eventually operated a successfully business servicing hotels and clients, with the help of employees, such as Steve Harvey and Ozzy Osbourne. 

“I really love that independence,” said Korsah, “or that being able to manage something bigger than myself.” 

Listen to the latest episode to hear more about Korsah's career and outlook, including: 

• “An extreme sense of freedom” she felt in her six-plus years as a flight attendant.
• Operating a women’s clothing shop while working at a bank in North Carolina. 
• How being denied entrance to her workplace in Minnesota led to her launching Black Business Enterprise. 
• What it means to be able to help other people of color launch businesses.
• How her mother’s words – “Everything is yours” – inspires her to “just go get it” every day.
• Maintaining passion and energy for her business despite working 18-hour days.

Leaders like Korsah understand the value of moving quickly and acting creatively, just like Platinum Bank. Learn more about business banking with a different kind of bank.

Today, Ravi Norman serves as the CEO and chairman of energy management services company Sagiliti — but in truth, his first entrepreneurial endeavor was his newspaper route, he says in this episode of the Off the Record podcast. 

“I learned a lot about how business works inside that paper route,” Norman said to hosts Kathy Robideau, market president and publisher of the Minneapolis/St. Paul Business Journal and Dave Faust, president and CEO of Platinum Bank. According to Norman, he and his cousins all had paper routes — but he did them all. 

“They didn’t like to get up and do their paper route,” Norman said. “So, I gave them a bit of money to just stay in bed, give me (their) routes, I’ll do them. It was a great model.” 

Listen to the latest episode to hear more about Norman's career trajectory, including:
 

• Finding a tangible source of “aspiration and inspiration” in a nearby mentor.
• How Norman realized he was going to have to dream big to transcend his adolescent environment. 
• Norman’s wrap-up presentation from his college internship — and where it led him. 
• The wide-ranging opportunities that came from banking and coaching.
• Sagiliti’s core mission and offerings for the 15,000 buildings it serves in North America.
• Why Norman’s whole agenda is “the synthesis of Black and green” — in other words, reducing consumption and boosting sustainability through the lens of the Black experience. 

Leaders like Norman understand the value of moving quickly and acting creatively, just like Platinum Bank. Learn more about business banking with a different kind of bank.

As a student, Dario Otero didn’t love school. “I had all these other skills, (but) school didn’t necessarily rank,” says the founder and CEO of video production service Youth Lens 360 on this episode of the Off the Record podcast. But when he took a job in a St. Paul high school during a career transition, he knew he had to reframe his thinking. 

“How do I do this so I don’t drive somebody away from education?” Otero says of his mindset at the time. “How do I inspire, motivate and create different programs students would love to do?” 

In this episode, Otero shares his career journey from teaching students about video production to the creation of his company, Youth Lens 360, with MSPBJ President and Publisher Kathy Robideau and Platinum Bank President and CEO Dave Faust. Listen to hear more about: 

• The inspiration for Youth Lens 360 — and the wild experience of the first contract. 
• How Otero balances his life as an entrepreneur and single parent.
• The value of building a roundtable of mentors and fellow business leaders to learn from. 
• Video production as a 21st-century trade skill. 
• What Otero sees as his superpower. 

Leaders like Otero understand the value of moving quickly and acting creatively, just like Platinum Bank. Learn more about business banking with a different kind of bank.

Face Foundrié Founder and CEO Michele Henry knows what it’s like to be scrappy in business. Years ago, to secure a loan for her first company, Primp, she put up her Mitsubishi as collateral. She didn’t mention to the bank that the car didn’t work — and that she planned to ride her bike to Primp’s retail buildouts, she says in the latest episode of Off the Record. 

“We opened the doors at 4, we were serving wine, we were all excited, and we sold out of every single piece of merchandise that night,” Henry says of Primp’s grand opening party. “We didn’t even have backstock. We didn’t have that in the budget.” 

According to Henry, she and her business partner ended up overnighting an order of inventory from California at 10 p.m. that night — and they kept going. 

Listen to Henry’s conversation with MSPBJ Publisher Kathy Robideau and Platinum Bank CEO Dave Faust to hear how she transitioned away from Primp and the inspiration that sparked the genesis of her facial bar, Face Foundrié. Other topics explored in the episode include: 

• Formulating Face Foundrié’s skincare line. 
• How Face Foundrié protected clients and staff during Covid-19. 
• Elements that must align for a franchisee to be successful. 
• What Henry sees as the biggest challenges with Face Foundrié’s niche concept. 
• How the Savant Aesthetics Institute aims to close the gaps in esthetician education. 

Leaders like Henry understand the value of moving quickly and acting creatively, just like Platinum Bank. Learn more about business banking with a different kind of bank.

Never miss an episode of Off the Record. Subscribe today on Apple Podcasts or Spotify.

When he was carrying out his medical school rotations at the University of Michigan, Dr. Mark Lobanoff thought the people working in the ophthalmology clinic somehow seemed the happiest, he says in this episode of the Off the Record podcast. That positive attitude all made sense to him one day when a legally blind patient came to the clinic, according to Lobanoff. 

"I got to sit in on their cataract surgery and was amazed. It only took 15 minutes. I thought it was incredible. The next day, that patient came back, and they could see,” he says. “We had restored vision to this blind patient. Here’s a field where you can make an immediate, permanent, positive impact on someone’s life.” 

Now the founder and president of OVO LASIK + Lens, which opened in Saint Louis Park in 2021, Lobanoff aims to continue that mission of making positive changes in medicine for Minnesotans and beyond. In the episode, Lobanoff shares his career journey and goals with hosts Kathy Robideau, market president and publisher of the Minneapolis/St. Paul Business Journal, and Dave Faust, president and CEO of Platinum Bank. Listen to hear about: 

• Unexpected help from an educator in Lobanoff’s undergrad years. 
• Taking a year off from med school to participate in a coveted research fellowship at the National Institutes of Health. 
• The unwritten rule that led to Lobanoff choosing to practice long term in Minnesota. 
• What it feels like to do your first surgery.
• How Lobanoff’s “best-of-the-best” mentality led to the creation of OVO LASIK + Lens. 
• The journey of creating a disruptive technology, Phorcides, to achieve better and more accurate LASIK results.

Leaders like Lobanoff understand the value of moving quickly and acting creatively, just like Platinum Bank. Learn more about business banking with a different kind of bank.

There once was a time when Kalyn Hove — now a regional senior VP for Comcast — felt like she couldn’t bring her authentic self to work. In an earlier sales role, she was the lone woman managing a team of men, all of whom who were older than her, she says in this episode of Off the Record. 

“I seldom talked about my kids or anything like that because I was sitting with men (who had) stay-at-home wives,” Hove says. “I was fearful they would view me as less committed to my role and my job. What I realize now, in hindsight, is that I put that on myself.” 

Hove dives into her career journey in this podcast with hosts Kathy Robideau, market president and publisher of Minneapolis/St. Paul Business Journal, and Dave Faust, president and CEO of Platinum Bank. Listen to the episode to hear more about:

• How authenticity became Hove’s “why.” 
• What Hove’s mother taught her about taking care of herself. 
• Offering guidance and/or resources to younger team members to help them with caretaking and family responsibilities. 
• Visiting South Dakota’s tourist attractions. 
• Comcast’s initiatives to bridge the digital divide and address inequities in internet access. 
• Hove’s mentors at Comcast and in the Twin Cities business community. 

Leaders like Hove understand the value of moving quickly and acting creatively, just like Platinum Bank. Learn more about business banking with a different kind of bank.

Never miss an episode of Off the Record. Subscribe today on Apple Podcasts or Spotify.

Minnesota is known by many as “the State of Hockey.” It’s a moniker that Matt Majka, president of the Minnesota Wild, finds beautiful, as he says in the latest episode of the Off the Record podcast. 

“It’s not marketing mumbo-jumbo. It’s true. You don’t have to explain it to a Minnesotan. They know it. They’re proud of it,” Majka says. “Some sports teams have a new brand or theme every year. Our brand has never changed.” 

Listen to Majka’s conversation with hosts Kathy Robideau, market president and publisher of the Minneapolis/St. Paul Business Journal, and Dave Faust, president and CEO of Platinum Bank, to hear more about: 

• Majka’s parents’ reaction when they thought he was going to sell roller skates for a living.
• What it was like launching the Wild franchise in 1997. 
• Why Majka’s role as a marketing leader doesn’t really involve the “product” — which is what happens on the ice.
• How the 32 NHL presidents share thinking and ideas. 
• Three things Majka always tells young people as they are starting out in a business career. 
• Why the Wild’s volunteer time off program is part of the organization’s DNA.
• Why Majka’s pickleball hobby doesn’t make him a bandwagon-jumper — and what he wants his legacy to be.

Leaders like Majka understand the value of moving quickly and acting creatively, just like Platinum Bank. Learn more about business banking with a different kind of bank.

Never miss an episode of Off the Record. Subscribe today on Apple Podcasts or Spotify.

Medica President and CEO John Naylor vividly remembers the rotary phone on the wall of his dorm at Drake University. As a senior in college, he used that phone to call a St. Louis-based company, Tillinghast, to inquire about a job back in his hometown — but no one picked up. 

Instead, Naylor ended up taking an actuary position with Transamerica, a role which took him to Los Angeles. “Those are the doors that just present an opportunity,” Naylor said in this episode of the Off the Record podcast. “If they’d have picked up, I’d have taken the job in St. Louis, and my career would have been different. But instead, I went to California.” 

L.A. was where he met “a lot of self starters,” according to Naylor. It was also where he met his future wife. “It was a great experience,” Naylor said. “But we said, ‘We’re not going to settle out here.’ Let’s move back to the Midwest.” 

In the episode, hosts Kathy Robideau, Minneapolis/St. Paul Business Journal market president and publisher, and Dave Faust, president and CEO of Platinum Bank, talk Midwestern values and more with Naylor. Listen to the episode to hear: 

• The family decision that led to his first role with Medica. 
• A framework that has been helpful in Naylor’s leadership roles. 
• Naylor’s words of wisdom when it comes to change management
• Building trust using the CRIS formula.
• How Naylor views the future of health care in Minnesota and beyond. 

Leaders like Naylor understand the value of moving quickly and acting creatively, just like Platinum Bank. Learn more about business banking with a different kind of bank.

Never miss an episode of Off the Record. Subscribe today on Apple Podcasts or Spotify.