3 minute read
Upsize Minnesota January/February 2024
‘Help one another’ urges Charter Solutions CEO and Hall of Famer
Anyone who meets Dee Thibodeau gets an instant jolt of confidence and can-do spirit, qualities that bounce off her during a dizzying string of daily meetings that she considers routine. “I am a very social person, so I am out for breakfast, lunch and dinner. And what you do is you build your relationships.”
The fast-talking, big-laughing CEO of Charter Solutions was inducted into the Minnesota Women Business Owners Hall of Fame in November. Her world view began to form much earlier.
“I always thought I could do anything I wanted to do. That started probably when I learned to walk,”
Thibodeau told the National Association of Women Business Owners crowd when accepting her award along with four others.
“I am an entrepreneur and I started four or five businesses before this,” she said later in an interview. “I started this with a partner, and when I interviewed women, they were very interested in having a company that’s only a million dollars or a million five. I didn’t want that. I wanted to build a company that was $20 million-plus. A lot of women are kind of afraid to take the plunge and go out there.”
It is scary to think big. “You have to have the guts to go ahead and do it. I think so many are afraid that they won’t make it and that fear keeps them from going forward,” she said.
But do it anyway. “One person is not a company. You really need thoughtful and thought-provoking people.”
Thibodeau started Charter Solutions 26 years ago, with one business partner and co-CEO, Bill Leonard, who retired five years ago. “He wanted to play pickleball,” she says, but that’s not for her. “I never want to retire. Eventually the company probably will be sold because I have minority owners,” consisting of her management team. “But then I probably will start another one.”
At first Charter Solutions was a consulting company and provided staff augmentation to clients, then began getting into data analytics and related project management about a decade ago.
“That was a turning point. We decided to go into analytics and the cloud,” with an emphasis on healthcare. Artificial intelligence is a growing arena. “If you’re going to do any AI, you must have your data” in order first.
Charter Solutions has 85 employees; she declines to disclose revenue.
It hasn’t always gone smoothly; 2008 was a “really, really tough year,” she recalls, amid the financial crisis.
“This last year has been one of the toughest years I’ve ever been through, because there are so many people that are laying off people,” and deciding to trim their outside consultant costs. “It’s when the economy is rocky.”
What does she advise? “You put your head down and you work like crazy,” she says, then adds her signature command— share what you’ve learned.
“I can’t meet with absolutely everybody. But if there is any friend I know who wants me to meet with someone, I do. I think it’s important for us to do that,” she says. “Help one another. Go to breakfast, lunch and dinner and help them. Connect them to two or three people. If everybody did that, we would all be successful.”
Sounds like a worthy new year’s goal to me.
