The Minnesota North College Podcast

On this episode of the Minnesota North College Podcast, I chat with Bill Engel about his "Race Across the West" this past summer and the outlook for mens basketball this coming 2022-2023 season.

For the first official episode of the Minnesota North College Podcast, we are sitting down with our President, Dr. Mike Raich to discuss how we became Minnesota North College.  It's not often in higher education that five college merge into one, and President Raich will discuss how we got to this point and what the benefits of becoming one college are for our region, our partners, but most importantly our students.

Requested by popular demand, on this episode of the Workforce One Podcast we sit down with Roy Smith, from the Iron Range Resources and Rehabilitation Board.  Roy is the head of talent development for this unique economic development state agency and he talks about his shared position between IRRRB and the colleges of the Northeast Higher Education District where he also serves as the head of the Applied Learning Institute (ALI).  He also discusses what he is seeing and hearing from employers in our region and their challenges to finding employees, especially in light of COVID-19.

Roy also tells his very unique story about how he boomeranged back to NE Minnesota and how he started as a culinary student at Hibbing Community College, but eventually became an educator!!!

If there is one person to know in NE Minnesota for workforce development, it has to be Roy!  

On this episode of the Workforce One Podcast we sit down with Tamara Lowney, President of the Itasca Economic Development Corporation.  Tamara is a force of nature and engaged in a ton of economic development projects.  Whether it is "The Forge" initiative for increasing workforce development engagement in Itasca County, or it is "Innovate 218" providing training for underestimated entrepreneurs through ILT Academy, the Rink "Shark Tank" event, the "Build Back Better regional SPARK initiative", or attracting large scale economic development projects like Huber, IEDC and Tamara are players to be known in the region.  In addition to discussing these initiatives, we also discussed her personal journey in the hospitality industry, and how she became President of IEDC.  Oh and by the way, she is a Bemidji State University alum and current graduate student!!!  

On this episode of the Workforce One Podcast, we have on two of our own, Gail Anderson, Operations Manager for Advanced Minnesota, who is also a Master Black Belt and Executive Coach, and Angie Clark, Customized Training Representative from Bemidji State University, who is a Yoga instructor, avid marathon runner, and advocate of workplace wellness, and healthy living.  We discussed the advantages of coaching, what coaching is and is not and the logistics of coaching, and Angie discussed the practice of mindful self-compassion as well as the benefits of other wellness related offerings and workshops that are available.  

This truly was one of our favorite pod's to record, we hope you enjoy it.  

We are kicking off Season 2 of our highly acclaimed "Workforce One" Podcast where we meet with companies and individuals that help drive our regional economy.  On this episode, we are sitting down with Abi Menon, the new General Manager of Triumph/Minnesota Twist Drill, a major drill bit manufacturer, right in our own backyard of Chisholm Minnesota.  Abi discusses where Twist has been, and where it is going after a recent purchase by its parent company Walter Surface Technologies which operates in 7 countries around the globe.  In addition, Abi discusses Twist's workforce challenges and opportunities with hopes of doubling their workforce!  Abi is committed to our region and committed to creating "A Perfect Twist" employee!

We look forward to engaging with Twist for years to come!

On this episode of the Workforce One podcast, we sat down with Shari Marshik to discuss the TV/Film Production Industry and her attempt to create that ecosystem.  

Advanced Minnesota, the Customized Training and Continuing Education arm of the Northeast Higher Education District (NHED) colleges (as well as Bemidji State University and Northwest Technical College), and Upper Midwest Film Office (UMFO) have been awarded a Workforce Development grant by the Iron Range Resources and Rehabilitation (IRRR) to develop job training opportunities for individuals to obtain the skills needed to work in the Film and TV production industry in NE Minnesota.

Advanced Minnesota will partner with UMFO to plan and execute these workshops that bring technical skills to residents in and around the community. Shari Marshik, UMFO Executive Director notes, “After the announcement of the St Louis County Production Incentive, UMFO has received over 30 serious inquiries from producers, wanting to spend millions of dollars in the region. The single biggest hurdle we have in landing these projects here is the lack of workforce. We have some talented and trained crew, but not enough to meet demand and thus we are missing out on enormous economic opportunity for the Iron Range. This grant provides the essential next step to offering workforce programs and the planning for even more robust, quality programming in the future.”

“The production industry brings in new money to our region and gives locals a new career pathway that allows them to live and be creative right here in the taconite district.” Says Riki McManus – Chief Production Officer.

In addition, a nice side benefit to these workshops is allowing teams to connect. “Productions rely on crew that can work together easily and readily. Early on in the process, we realized that there was no easy way for Northland crew to connect. This is one way to connect. When the next production is hiring, they say, “Hey – I know that person, they were in this workshop and let’s see if they can work with us”.

*****If you or a loved one are thinking of suicide, you can call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-8255.

In this month's episode, we sit down with Dr. Brittany Miskowiec and Dr. Sarah Behrens to discuss Mental Health First Aid training that they are both engaged in.  In addition, we chat with Dr. Miskowiec about her background being a national leader in suicide awareness, prevention, intervention, and post-vention.

We sat down and chatted with Nick Tietz, CEO of ILT Studios and one of his big projects, ILT Academy is designed to deliver extensive – but practical – educational experiences to cultivate problem solvers, innovators, and entrepreneurs to hone their skills in order to elevate business ideas & inventions to the next level.  Nick's approach focuses on three goals, to:

Empower

Together with our Sponsors and Partners, we empower problem solvers and innovators to rethink and redesign problems, solutions, customers, and context.

Educate

As a collective support system, we equip entrepreneurs with the skills needed to commercialize ideas, develop successful ventures, and create high-growth businesses.

Mentor

Through our Mentorship Program, we provide coaching opportunities for participants to gain the necessary feedback to hone their skills on multiple levels.

As a tool for community-based economic development, ILT Academy and Nick want to build a culture around starting-up a business, and give a roadmap to underestimated entrepreneurs to follow to take their idea, validate their idea, and bring their idea to market.

For this podcast because March is Women’s History Month, we wanted to have a conversation about Women of the Environment with Erika Bailey-Johnson, Sustainability Coordinator at Bemidji State University.  You will learn about the pros of native landscaping for your home or business.  The interview is conducted by Angie Clark, Customized Training Representative at Bemidji State University.

Elissa Hansen, the President and CEO of the Northspan group has had a unique career that started running a candy store in Nisswa, Minnesota to now working on behalf of economic and workforce development in Northeastern Minnesota.  She currently has all sorts of irons in the fire to help advance our region, whether it is www.northforce.org, a job bank/HR support website that connects employers to skilled talent and students from regional colleges and universities to businesses, or her facilitation of the Arrowhead Regional Development Commission's Comprehensive Economic Development Strategy community engagement sessions, or her work facilitating diversity, equity, and inclusion training in our region, Elissa is ALL IN on making this region a better place to live and thrive!

Bud Stone is the President of the Grand Rapids Area Chamber of Commerce.  He runs what is regarded as one of the best chambers in the state of Minnesota and Bud has been an advocate of workforce development and the need to align and find talent for our businesses.  During this episode he talks about the chamber and their role in helping to drive the car for economic development in the region, and Bud shares how he came to become the President of the Chamber.

Episode 2 is an interview with Abby Randall, the Executive Director of the Bemidji Area Chamber of Commerce.  We discuss the chamber and the challenges and opportunities her membership is facing especially in light of COVID.  We discuss the Bemidji Community and its variety of amenities.  We also discuss Abby's journey to becoming a leader in the Bemidji community which all started at Bemidji State University!

In our inaugural podcast, we interview Kelly Hertling, Human Resources Supervisor at L and M Radiator in Hibbing, Minnesota.  We discuss L &M Radiator, how the global pandemic is affecting their company, what they see for the future, how they provide workforce development and training for their employees, unique ways L & M works with k12 institutions, and more!