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SPORTS: Mustangs baseball season honors PAGE 8 2021
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City welcomes technology business with ribbon-cutting ceremony NOELLE OLSON | PRESS PUBLICATIONS
In attendance at the ribbon-cutting ceremony for Nextek are (from left) Shoreview Mayor Sandy Martin, Nextek Chief Marketing Officer Brian Lucius, Founder Chuck Lucius, Chief Administrative Officer Nikki Foley, President of Gradient Financial Group Nate Lucius and Senior Vice President Kristina Walch. BY NOELLE OLSON STAFF WRITER
What was once an old medical building on Churchill Street is now the home of financial services software development company Nextek. On a nearly perfect summer day, staff of Nextek, city leaders and members of the community celebrated the grand opening of the new Nextek building with a ribbon-cutting ceremony June 22. “All I’m in charge of today is the weather,” said Nate Lucius, president of Gradient Financial Group. Nextek’s parent company Gradient Financial Group purchased the building in the fall of 2019 for
an expansion of Nextek’s business operations. “We did not see COVID coming,” Nate said. “However, when we purchased this building, we knew it needed a little bit of love.” The new technological building has 20,000 square feet of open office space. “I truly believe this building will last a long time,” Nate said. “You’re going to see a lot of buildings like it in the future, and I hope that they’re all in Shoreview.” Shoreview Mayor Sandy Martin spoke at the ceremony and said the City Council has been supportive of this project since the beginning. “We are honored that Nextek chose Shoreview. It’s great not just economically, it’s great because it’s
a revitalization of this whole area,” she said. “You have transformed this outdated old medical office into a newly renovated building. I think that’s symbolic in many ways of the creativeness and innovation of Nextek and Gradient in that you saw value in this building and wanted to make something even better. I’m looking forward to this partnership that we’ve established with all of you, and I think the future looks very bright.” Nextek develops a sales acceleration platform for financial services professionals by providing actionable insights, data-driven processes and streamlined integrations. After SEE NEXTEK, PAGE 5
The nominations are in, and voting is set to begin on Wednesday, July 14, for the Best of the Press Readers' Choice Contest. From the best celebration festival to the best local sports team, readers can choose their favorites by voting every day until Aug. 20. “This is an opportunity for our readers to vote for their favorite burger, teacher, and so many other things. There are more than 125 categories to choose from, and the 'Vote For Me' campaign starts July 14,” said Patty Steele, Press Publications director of sales & marketing. “This is a very popular and fun contest that our readers really enjoy.” Nominations for all Press Publications Best of the Press contests grew by 24% this year. There is excitement during this second year shown by readers already. Voting is easy and available 24/7 online at Press Publications’ website at presspubs.com/shoreview/bestof. Readers can vote once per day. The winner will be unveiled on Sept. 29, along with the two finalists.
Youth baseball coach reverently remembered, sorely missed Mike Anderson was invited to a Mounds View baseball practice early in April by coach Mark Downey to pose for a group photo with Mustang players. “Mike and I frequently talked about how many players on the Mounds View teams that he had coached,” Downey explained, “and how fun that was for him, to see them develop. This spring, he commented that in looking over the rosters, he had coached well over half the players. So, we had him come to a practice early in the season.” Downey got the photo he wanted — Anderson was flanked by 28 players from the
varsity, JV and junior high. “I know it was special for him, and it was really fun for me too,” said Downey, who didn’t realize at the time how much he and others would cherish that photo. Just weeks later, Anderson was dead. The beloved Shoreview Area Youth Baseball (SAYB) coach and administrator for over two decades passed away unexpectedly on May 20 at the age of 62. Anderson is survived by his wife Liz; his son, Mikey, and his wife; and his daughter, Jessie. Mikey was one of hundreds of players coached by Mike, who was a senior vice president at Lifetouch, a photography firm. “Mike loved baseball. What he loved even more was kids, and using baseball as
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a means to helping kids develop character, teamwork, discipline and an ability to handle adversity — that was at the forefront of everything he did with the teams he coached,” Downey said. That’s an observation about “Coach Mike” shared by other longtime SAYB associates. Erik Drange met Anderson seven years ago when he joined the SAYB because he had a son, then 8, who was passionate about baseball. “I can remember Mike at my first meeting,” Drange said, “observing his leadership and command of the nitty gritty of the association and its operation from top to bottom.” Anderson was coaching the 13- to 15-year-
olds then, and seemed to have served SAYB in every possible function, including as president. Drange and Anderson were both former wrestlers and bonded by swapping “stories of our glory years.” After a few years on the board, Drange was asked to run for president. He agreed, on the condition that Mike “stick around as a mentor.” They worked together for several years, communicating every day via text, email or phone. “It was impressive how he continued to give his time for many years after his son had already been out of the game,” Drange said. “He put in countless hours into SAYB every year.”
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