August 19, 2015

On August 17, 2015, Christensen joined the Minnesota Chamber of Commerce Board of Directors in a 3-year directors term.

The Minnesota Chamber of Commerce is the State’s largest and premier business organization, representing more than 2,300 businesses of all types and sizes across Minnesota. Their vision is to strengthen the business environment to improve the lives of all Minnesotans.

I see this as a fabulous opportunity. Our business is quite small yet our footprint is global. It’s an exciting opportunity for me to share our needs and learn from other business leaders; I welcome a breadth of new information, experiences and knowledge. I hope that my participation will help keep Minnesota a great place to start, invest in and grow a business.

The Minnesota Chamber of Commerce works to strengthen the business environment and improve the lives of all Minnesotans. They are an important voice for all Minnesotan’s as they work to continue driving economic development for the entire State. With over 70% of Minnesota businesses employing 50 people or less, understanding and hearing the voice of the small business is essential to the overall success of the Minnesota economy.

I am honored to serve the Minnesota Chamber of Commerce. As a small business owner, this is a unique opportunity to present my needs and priorities to better collaborate with the needs of all businesses across the State. We have an incredibly diverse business pool in our State in relation to size, industry and make-up. In face, it is estimated that 18% of Minnesota businesses are immigrant-owned, while the percentage of immigrants in our State makes up 7% of our total population. I know that our business has access to diversity across Minnesota and the world and hope to bring that information forward.

 

Ingrid Christensen is the President and Owner of INGCO International. Started 16 years ago, they provide document translation, on-site interpreting and global marketing services in 200+ languages across the world. We’d love to hear from you and see how we can solve your global communications issues!

Joan Thompson, CFO of Minnesota Wire, Honored as Marvelous Mentor

I have the honor and privilege of having Joan Thompson as my mentor. I want to be very clear in this statement: I am the lucky one. I receive bits of knowledge and guidance from Joan, even when I don’t want it (like when she told me to get my hair cut, ASAP.) Not all advice is easy to hear, but it’s advice, and when it comes from a mentor that I respect and admire, I listen. “Joan took me under her wings. It wasn’t immediate; I had to prove that I was worthy of her mentorship, knowledge and help. But with her help, I have grown into a more confident and poised business owner.” Nominating Joan for the Marvelous Mentor award was one way for me to say thank you and show her how appreciative I am for her guidance and service.

Having a mentor is essential.

The business world can be tough to navigate. With so many things competing to pull your attention away from the tasks you need to accomplish, a guiding compass is really important to keep you in-line with your goals. As a young professional, it’s even easier to get distracted and off-course. Having Joan as my mentor is like having a compass; she’s there to guide me and set me straight when I need straightening out.

There isn’t a guidebook on how to be an adult.

You need to figure adulthood out as you go along, but you don’t need to figure it out alone. In fact, you shouldn’t. There are so many people that want others to succeed and grow. And there are a lot of people that would rather see you fail. Building a strong team will lead to a great home-field advantage and keep the naysayers at bay and the supporters on your side.

It’s who you know as much as what you know.

You can’t network yourself to business success, and you can’t just find a mentor to take you there. You need to put in the work and stay focused and strong. So yes, what you know is essential. But who you know can open doors for you.

“I am so lucky to call Joan Thompson a mentor. She has done so much for me personally and professionally. I didn’t have to think twice about honoring her with this nomination. Joan is a loyal supporter and asks the hard questions, even when I don’t want to answer them. As an entrepreneur and small business owner, it’s easy to be distracted by shiny objects get caught up in the next big idea. When I start wavering too much, Joan is like a gentle hand that pushes me back on track. When I need to make tough decisions regarding hiring and firing, or regarding financial issues, Joan always presents responses based on her professional experience.”

Joan Thompson, Marvelous Mentor.

Beyond being my mentor, Joan Thompson is the CFO of Minnesota Wire, a privately-owned, custom wire and cable manufacturer. Since 1968, the Wagner family has run and owned Minnesota Wire, transforming it from the original bulk cable manufacturer to a prosperous custom wire and cable manufacturer that excels in cable assemblies, R&D, Testing and Design Engineering.

Minnesota Wire provides custom cable to medical, defense, and commercial industries in need of a custom solution. With their EMC Chamber as well as Carbon Nanotube, mechanical and electrical labs, they have an abundance of resources at their facilities that provide answers to customers’ problems and help create high quality, custom wire and cable.

Joan Thompson was honored as a Marvelous Mentor by the Twin Cities Business Magazine in the August 2015 issue.

Justin Bieganek, founder of Mercury Creative Group, awarded prestigious “Diversity in Business” Award by Minneapolis/Saint Paul Business Journal

Mercury Creative Group is a longtime partner and friend of INGCO International

Justin Bieganek was awarded with a “Diversity in Business” award on behalf of the Minneapolis/Saint Paul Business Journal. Justin is the founder and President of Minnesota’s Mercury Creative Group. Ingrid Christensen, President of INGCO International, had the honor of nominating Justin for the award.

“I am so proud of my friend and strategic partner, Justin Bieganek. Justin brings a level of high energy and enthusiasm to every job and we are honored to have worked with his team on projects with the City of Saint Paul, Conwed and Northwire.”

“I nominated Justin for this prestigious award because quite simply, he deserves it. He works harder than most business leaders I know and because he’ll never toot his own horn, I wanted to bring him some attention and honor that he truly deserves. With over 17 years in the competitive branding and messaging business, Justin outshines many others because of his deep commitment to both strategy and design.”

Mercury Creative Group is a fun and focused group of brand strategists, designers and developers working together to create marketing solutions that are relevant and focused on their client’s objectives. They help B2B brands, associations and non-profits drive sales and engagement through strategic and memorable communications. Their clients love them because they listen, they understand, and they drive.

The Diversity in Business awards recognize some of the Twin Cities leading business leaders (owners and executives) from the GLBT and ethnic minority communities.

Related articles

• 2015 Diversity in Business honorees announced

A peek at the history of the “Land of Ten Thousand Lakes,” presents us with a rich insight of how early migration from Scandinavian nations and Germany helped shape it. The later migrations from around the world made it truly international. This has all helped shape Minnesota and the international business in Minnesota.

Minneapolis – Saint Paul metropolitan area and surrounding areas are home to many international business headquarters. Such as companies like Cargill, Carlson and Andersen Corporation, US Bancorp, SuperValu, General Mills, etc.

What about the much acclaimed Information Technology environment of the Twin Cities?  Looks like they are doing fine and the report released by CIOs of Twin City area noting positively about the prospects for growth, raises confidence. You can check the report here.

http://minnesotabusiness.com/blog/twin-cities-cios-optimistic-about-second-quarter

The policies of the State of Minnesota have always been friendly to businesses to set shop here. The “Shovel-Ready Site Certification” program puts communities of Minnesota ahead of competition from fellow communities. Financial Assistance from the state in keeping the communities stay vital and contribute to the overall economy has made Minnesota a very attractive destination for investments.

The state routinely conducts trade missions to target countries to increase its exports. The planned trade visit to Berlin, Dusseldorf, Cologne, Oslo and Stockholm somewhere in June, 2013 and to South American countries of Brazil, Colombia and Chile in the month of September, 2013, speaks volume on the seriousness of the state to promote international business and trade.

Mission Minnesota is designed to help small and medium businesses go places and aid these companies that are looking to export their products and services to such promising markets.

Interested in document translation, on-site interpreting or global marketing services for the international businesses in Minnesota? Get in touch now!