COVER STORY: Long-time businesses have impact on region

Starion Financial has been around since 1969, but was actually first chartered in 1886 in Oakes, ND; meaning the financial institution has been serving people for 125 years.

“We tried to do the best job we could to help people accomplish what they could,” states Frank Larson, who along with his wife, JoAndrea, purchased the bank in Oakes on Jan. 1, 1969. “We have always been concerned about being honest and ethical, as well as providing our customers the best service.”

Starion Financial has seen growth. When the Larsons purchased the bank in 1969, there were $4.5 million in assets. Today, that number has grown to more than $865 million in assets. In addition, Starion Financial has branches in Ellendale, Bismarck-Mandan, Fargo, and Madison, WI. Starion will add branches in Bottineau, Dunseith, and Rolla in October.

Craig Larson, who is the current President and CEO, states diversification has been the key to the financial institution’s success. “We have evolved to have all types of services that our consumers want,” he explains. “That has been critical – offering what our consumers want and keeping our core values.”

Today, Starion Financial has more than 200 employees. There has been a 20 percent growth in employees and a 30 percent growth in assets in the last five years.

“A good bank has tremendous opportunities and those opportunities include acquiring other banks,” says Craig Larson, when asked what opportunities lay ahead.

Frank Larson sums it up by saying that Starion Financial is a small bank who knows its customers, but at the same time provides the services that the customers need.

Helping people with insurance needs

Warner and Company, one of the largest independent insurance agencies in North Dakota, has been located in Fargo, ND, for 100 years, and has three branch offices: Kramer Agency in Bismarck, ND, Thompson Insurance in Grand Forks, ND, and Schiller Insurance in Detroit Lakes, MN. The agency has experts providing all lines of personal and commercial insurance, bonds, life and health, and related products to their communities.

The agency was founded by Raymond D. Warner and Alonzo Rupert in October 1911. In 1920, Rupert sold his interest to Warner and his two brothers who had joined the firm. In 1930 the name was changed to Warner and Company. Harold Hayer purchased the agency in 1974. The branch offices were acquired during the early 1980s. Brian Hayer and his sister, Denise Magness, joined the agency in the mid 1980s and purchased the agency in 2007, continuing the family business when Harold Hayer retired.

“Looking back, it is gratifying to think about all the families and businesses we have helped and provided service during the toughest times of their lives,” says Brian Hayer, President and Chief Executive Officer. “We have been there to help our clients recover and reopen businesses after tornados, move back into their homes after damaging fires, or present checks after the death of a loved one.”

Things have changed in the insurance business in 100 years.

For example, employees used to type insurance policies and drive Model Ts to work. Today, technology has changed the way Warner and Company does business with clients. “Technology has allowed us to move quickly to respond to our customers, often within minutes,” Hayer states.

Hayer adds that insurance is a personal relationship. This means working closely, developing a rapport, and trusting each other.

“Our customers have to be able to reveal information that we have to know about to help them in a time of disaster,” he says.

Another recent change in the way of doing business is the importance of the Internet. It can be a great source of information, but at the same time consumers can find insurance advice that might not be completely accurate or address all exposures they have, Hayer explains.

“This is a complex business. We really need to meet one-one-one to be sure we are addressing their unique needs, completely and accurately,” Hayer states. “Policy coverages are constantly evolving and changing, so our work with clients is never done and neither is our need as agents to study and learn.”

Heading into the future, Hayer realizes it is important to hire an innovative, enthusiastic, service minded work force that has new ideas and is savvy about current technology trends.

“Pairing those service skills with agents that are sales focused and driven to excellence are the key to providing the client experience that will be successful,” Hayer states. “Our expertise, personal attention to our client’s unique needs, and a service driven culture are what will drive Warner organization’s success into the future.”

Basin Electric prepared to build on 50-year legacy

Since 2000, Ron Harper has been leading an organization that has been serving people at the end of the electric line for 50 years.

Basin Electric is a consumer-owned wholesale electric generation and transmission cooperative, which has a resource portfolio of more than 4,000 megawatts of electrical generating capacity to supply its members,

Basin Electric has 135 member systems that distribute electricity to 2.8 million consumers in nine states spanning the North Dakota to Mexican borders, including: North Dakota, South Dakota, Wyoming, Colorado, Minnesota, Iowa, Nebraska, Montana, and New Mexico.

The cooperative has grown from $2.3 billion in assets in 2000 to $5.4 billion at the end of 2010 under Harper’s leadership.

One key component of building Basin Electric over the years has been to build alliances not only among member cooperatives, but with other organizations, according to Harper. “Basin Electric was formed in 1961 by a group of visionary leaders who saw the benefits of coming together to build power plants for long-term power supply,” Harper explains. “It was these visionaries that developed long-term generation resources to provide transmission to get the power to their local areas. Today, 135 cooperative members see the value of that continued alliance.”

Not unlike its past, however, Basin Electric also faces challenges as it moves forward.

Meeting members’ load requirements in a regulatory-constrained environment is one of those challenges. The Environmental Protection Agency is currently proposing a number of rules that have significant implications for coal-based developers. “Discussions are happening that could potentially shut down multiple coal plants by 2020,” Harper says. “We have to ask ourselves how we address those rules and how do we create a viable path for coal? Coal is responsible for 50 percent of this nation’s electric generating capacity. If we don’t have coal, then what? Also, what do these rules mean to not only our energy sources, but this nation’s electric reliability?”

Another issue many industries, including Basin Electric, are addressing is an aging work force. “Workforce issues across this country are huge,” Harper says. “Skilled labor is critical and becoming more difficult to replace. These people do a tremendous job, but there just aren’t enough of them because of an aging work force.”

Despite a lagging economy, Basin Electric has still experienced load growth. The biggest growth area for Basin Electric is development of the Bakken oil formation in northwest North Dakota. Current projections show that Basin Electric will need at least 1,320 megawatts of resources to meet that development between now and 2025. “We are going to have to look at the best way to serve this load from a transmission and generation standpoint, and we’ll have to consider a variety of energy resources, including peaking stations, gas turbines and others,” Harper says.

Despite the complex issues Basin Electric is facing, its vision has remained the same: to supply cost-effective wholesale energy along with products and services that support and unite rural America. “Cooperatives were formed by the people, for the people. As long as we always keep that person at the end of the line in mind, our priorities will be in the right place,” Harper says. We’re here to serve.” PB

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