JESSICA HARPER T.W. BUDIG ANDREW MILLER
Baby Love brings families together 2A State employees lose in shutdown 7A Nutcracker returns to Burnsville 28A
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DATE ##, 2009 DECEMBER 8, 2011
VOLUME 30, NUMBER # VOLUME 32, NUMBER 41
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INSIDE BIZ
Owner duplicates mentor’s success
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Cornerstone’s Daniel Mahowald is Burnsville’s Business Person of the Year by John Gessner DAKOTA COUNTY TRIBUNE
When Ron and Joyce Lund sold Cornerstone Copy Center to Daniel Mahowald in 2001, Ron handed over a list of clients he hoped his successor would “take care of.” It was a long roster of civic organizations, churches, school groups and annual events the Lunds had helped over the years with free or discounted printing jobs. “He didn’t say I had to,” noted Mahowald, who had worked at Cornerstone since 1987. But Mahowald, now 50, took his former boss’ advice and continued a tradition that has helped Cornerstone maintain the Burnsville community’s high esteem for 30 years. Mahowald was named the 2011 Business Person of the Year on
Dec. 1 by the Burnsville Chamber of Commerce, 25 years after Ron Lund won the same honor. It’s the first time the award has gone to two representatives of the same business who weren’t connected by family. “Ron really started that,” Mahowald said of Cornerstone’s community involvement. “What our company has always done is we treat the customer fairly, we meet needs, and we also help out the community.” The company has also grown. Cornerstone’s annual sales were $900,000 when Mahowald and warren d. mosier — his partner in life and business — bought the
place. They expanded the business, and sales have grown to about $2.3 million — although the last couple of years were soft, with a decline of 10 to 15 percent, Mahowald said. “You just try to keep a good fiscal model going and hope for better days ahead,” the Apple Valley resident said. He grew up on a farm in New Market Township and took a printing class at New Prague High School because he thought it was cool. Mahowald completed a two-year graphics course at Dakota County Technical College (then the “votech”) and found work at Unisys making computer chips. “I really wanted to print,” MaSee Cornerstone Copy, Page 8
DANE SMITH
The rising cost of health care across the United States and Minnesota has mobilized the 99 percent in the Occupy movement. 4A
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Occupy movement has led to a double standard in how demonstrations have been instigated and carried out. PHIL 4A KRINKIE GUEST COLUMNIST
Businesses that implement sustainable practices can realize savings that will turn into prof its. BILL 5A WOODSON CAPITOL COMMERCE
Gov. Mark Dayton accepts Ramsey County judge’s decision to halt child-careprovider union vote. MARK 6A DAYTON
Photo by John Gessner
Daniel Mahowald, who began working for Cornerstone Copy Center in 1987 and now owns the business, is the Burnsville Chamber of Commerce’s 2011 Business Person of the Year.
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Edina company to move headquarters to Burnsville RT Dygert International, a 53-year-old worldwide provider of industrial parts, has moved its 35-employee headquarters from Edina to Burnsville. As of December, the company is being operated from an office/warehouse space near Burnsville’s downtown area at 12121 Nicollet Avenue S. “We started planning our
move in the throes of the recession, and, of course, we had second thoughts,” Vince Underwood, RT Dygert’s vice president-sales, said. “But our sales continued growing with new customers and greater demand. As a result, we were suffering growing pains, squeezed for space and improvising to accommodate it all.”
Tom McNearney, operations manager, said the company needed to make room for expanded services, equipment and technologies. “If we wanted to stay ahead of the pack, we needed more room to do it,” he said. McNearney said the company needed a location that had a warehouse and space for
a call center, sensitive high tech inspection equipment, and research and testing. It also sought international airport access, excellent community resources and the comfort and convenience that the best employees in the business deserve, McNearney said. “We found that in Burnsville, See RT Dygert, Page 8
Vince Underwood, vice president of sales for RT Dygert, displays one of the company’s many products — seals used on hydraulic products in the logging industry. Photo by John Gessner