Grant Niver graduated from Augsburg in 2013 with a degree in Communication Studies. He credits the decision to make the transition to Minnesota from his home state of Alaska as the top three decisions he has ever made. “Moving allowed me to experience living in a new state and I met my wife down here,” Grant shared. He also has strong family ties in the state with both his parents growing up in Prior Lake. Although he only spent two years at Augsburg, he developed lasting friendships and discovered his entrepreneurial drive through the courses he took. “In the more advanced communication classes, we talked a lot about marketing, business, and how to build your brand,” said Grant. And it was in these classes that the idea to start a business with his family began.��

Starting when he was 11 years old, Grant has fished in Bristol Bay, Alaska on his family’s boat, Surrender. “I would always get seasick growing up, so fishing was never a favorite activity of mine,” he reflected amusingly. As he found his sea legs, Grant’s passion for catching fish (specifically salmon) and educating others on sustainable fishing grew. “One year, I brought back around 200 pounds of salmon for friends and family in Minnesota and it grew progressively from there.” was established in 2017 with the goal of bringing the world’s best wild salmon to Minnesotans, directly from the fisherman. Grant’s father, Mark, runs the boat and Grant and his two younger brothers, Blake and Bryce, make up the crew on deck.����

SUSTAINABLE FISHING

Sustainability is a core tenet to the Surrender Salmon business. “We work closely with the Alaska Department of Fish and Game.” Grant said. Bristol Bay is heavily regulated since it is the world’s largest sustainable salmon run. It accounts for roughly 75% of the world’s sockeye salmon supply. “They literally count each and every salmon that escapes up the river to spawn in the lake. Once they reach the targeted “escapement number”, the fishing season is open and we are fishing around the clock.” There is a short window to catch fish, and a typical run is from mid-June through the end of July. Flash freezing the salmon within 12-24 hours of catching it is crucial in making sure it stays fresh for consumers for up to two years. “If you’re buying salmon in the Midwest, it’s best to buy frozen and even better to know who caught it,” Grant said. On top of sustainability, all of the packaging they use to ship their salmon is 100% recyclable!��

OPERATING A SMALL BUSINESS

Surrender Salmon previously worked with local businesses such as Lunds & Byerlys in 2018-2019, as well as other local restaurants, but they have since switched to e-commerce. “It was a hard pivot to make, but it has allowed us to have a more robust business where we could be in more control,” Grant said. Since transitioning to online-only purchases, they have been able to expand to nationwide shipping. “Our first shipping with FedEx is something I am extremely proud of. We’ve come a long way since tabling at farmers markets, gyms, and hand-delivering all of our orders,” Grant said. “Starting a business can feel insurmountable, but for anyone interested in pursuing this path, I recommend two things: 1) find a good mentor, and 2) find someone you can trust as a business partner. Having those resources will make a huge impact.” In fact, one of Grant’s high school friends, Stuart Krueger, moved to Minnesota in 2016 and has taken the lead on helping Surrender Salmon’s marketing and reach. “We definitely would not be where we are today without him.”��

Now that Grant’s business has grown in recent years and he has found himself shipping salmon to some Auggies, he is thrilled to share his family’s story with more people in the community. “I am so grateful to Augsburg and I’m appreciative of any opportunities to pay it forward and make more connections by raising awareness about what Surrender Salmon is all about.”��

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Growing up with an entrepreneurial father planted the seed in his mind that running his own business could make a lot of sense—and was doable. But the idea really took root in his adult life, when Frank Grazzini ’96 realized, after 12 years of working for larger corporations, that this work wasn’t a very good fit for him. He’d much rather create something new than fine-tune an existing structure. So he switched gears. In fact, starting a new business seems to have become a way of life for him, and he sees himself as a serial entrepreneur of sorts. He is now involved in his fourth early-stage business (his third technology start-up), with the potential to scale into a much larger business. The down side? He’d much rather start a new remodeling project than mow the grass!

At , his latest venture, Grazzini is working with two other co-founders and the Cleveland Clinic to commercialize a groundbreaking technology to monitor and measure the force of head impacts to athletes (both male and female) in sports such as football, lacrosse, hockey, and soccer. He says that if a concussion is treated early, it usually results in a full recovery; if not, there is a much greater risk the athlete will suffer permanent neurological damage, even CTE (chronic traumatic encephalopathy) or Second Impact Syndrome, which can cause death.

In spite of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s estimate that over half of all sports-related concussions in the U.S. (approximately 3.8 million each year) are never identified, response has been slow. But now, there finally seems to be a growing awareness that the problem must be taken seriously, as indicated by laws in all 50 states, as well as recent statements by professional sports league representatives. Though some would make the case for ending football altogether (most notably, Dr. Bennet Omalu, whose exposure of the widespread consequences of NFL injuries was dramatized in the recent film, Concussion), Grazzini believes that better monitoring of injuries, plus a few changes to the rules, would likely be sufficient to keep football a healthy sport for kids.

Prevent’s head-impact monitor, currently being tested by athletes, has been in development for six years and is expected to be officially released for sale in December 2016, though various inquiries to the company have already been made by researchers in the military and the NCAA for earlier sales.

Unable to deny the moniker of “business nerd,” Grazzini is energized by not only the strategy and process of trying to build a competitive business, but by bringing a new product to market. It can be done, he says, in a way that generates a healthy profit (essential for outside investors), while also operating as a good corporate citizen (including paying a “living wage” to your employees, mitigating the environmental impact of your products, and working with suppliers who share your values).

When asked about lessons learned as an entrepreneur, he cites first of all, the actual process of starting a business–all that one learns day to day in that experience. Secondly, he mentions the importance of having spent time with other entrepreneurs, both those who had had a lot of success, and those who were working through some of the same challenges he had encountered. He also stresses the importance of joining organizations filled with other entrepreneurs trying to build new companies. Regular opportunities to learn from, and share ideas with, peers and mentors are important as these connections give you access not only to the experience of others, but to informal best practices that can be applied to your own venture as well.

If there’s one thing Grazzini wishes he had done differently before starting his first business, it is to have spent time learning from other entrepreneurs who were willing to critique his ideas and challenge his plan. He thinks Augsburg is in a strong position to offer leadership to budding entrepreneurs–certainly in traditional classroom education, but also by connecting entrepreneurially minded students with alumni who’ve launched their own ventures. His advice to any alumni considering starting their own venture? First, talk to as many experienced entrepreneurs as you can. Second, keep your “day job” as long as possible before jumping into your venture full-time. Finally, if you have an idea, don’t be afraid to try it, especially with some outside advice.

Grazzini and his wife, Rebecca, live in South Minneapolis with their two cats. He says that since they have no children, he has filled his “free time” with volunteer work, including membership on various boards, such as the Augsburg Alumni Board and the nonprofit Soo Visual Arts Center in LynLake. He is a big fan of modern art and music, and an avid biker—as long as it’s at least 40 degrees outside.

—by Cheryl Crockett ‘89

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Auggies are everywhere, including back in the classroom!�� Last week, Bill Koschak ’91 came back to speak to the seniors in the Business and Religion Keystone class led by Lori Lohman & Josh Miller. His topic? To speak about his vocational journey, his career path, and advice he would give students today.

Koschak had much to share about his journey from entry level job to partner at KPMG, to vice president of finance at General Mills, and now chief financial officer at YA Engage (formerly known as Young America). He noted he was especially thankful for his adviser, business professor Stu Stoller who first encouraged him to look into public accounting. Koschak made sure Stoller would be in attendance so that he could personally thank him.

Additionally,��Koschak shared that he has had three strong mentors in his career��who were instrumental to his career growth. These mentors were workplace leaders��he admired for their management style, ethical behavior, and focus on work-life balance. He made a point to engage with these leaders and check in with them regularly. What started as occasional meetings turned into mentoring relationships that opened up many doors.��He challenged the students to seek similar relationships as they start their careers.

Koschak is one of many alumni who have been invited to share their experiences with current students. If you are interested in speaking in classrooms or sharing your stories, contact Volunteer & Alumni Engagement Manager Katie Radford ’12 at radford@augsburg.edu.

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That way of life was reinforced at Augsburg, where she discovered that the wide cultural swath of her classmates’ backgrounds was a significant enhancement to her education in International Relations, as was her study abroad, in Aix en Provence, France.

Later, after a four-year stint of teaching in France and South Korea, Glover decided to volunteer in the Republic of Georgia—an experience that she now views as life-changing. Armed with very little knowledge about the country, she spent about a week in foreign language training, then made her way to the home of her host family, high in the Borjomi Mountains. They spoke little English, and Glover’s Georgian was shaky at best, so early days were challenging. But transformation lay ahead.

Trips down the mountain took about an hour, and consequently were infrequent. The host family owned cows, chickens, and pigs—and they grew some crops, so the food Glover ate during that year was primarily homemade and natural. She came to an appreciation for an organic lifestyle, and felt a growing concern for the impact that eating and buying habits have on the environment. Her experience in the Borjomi Mountains would eventually inform her career choice.

When she returned to the U.S., Glover couldn’t help but notice the regularity with which we Americans waste food and materials. She could see it was incumbent upon us to improve sustainable practices, primarily by supporting companies and designers who not only work with the community producing the product, but provide a safe work environment and offer a fair wage.

Determined to make a difference, Glover created MeaMode in 2013, during her final year of graduate school. The online business helps emerging eco fashion designers around the world expand their outreach to customers interested in sustainability and the environment. By selling products on the MeaMode website that have been purchased from designers who use natural/organic materials and/or sell fair-trade products, Glover believes that MeaMode can help more people understand why sustainability is important and how global communities are affected by our choices. She hopes we will never have another tragedy like the 2013 garment factory collapse in Bangladesh.

MeaMode sells clothing and other products on its website. It is a member of 1% of the Planet (an organization that permits businesses to donate 1% of total sales each year to environmental charities), and a member of the French American Chamber of Commerce Paris (which promotes business between the U.S. and France). Visibility of eco fashion designers worldwide will be even greater soon, when MeaMode rolls out an . The rollout will include a podcast of Glover’s interview with Stephanie Boutet-Fajol, the owner of Sacre Bleu Paris, a concierge service that recently added an organic option to its customization service for international travelers planning a Parisian dream vacation. The organic option grew out of an expressed desire by many clients to use more sustainable businesses.

Glover knows that sustainable practices are essential to modifying the business model for the fashion industry, and she is especially pleased to be part of an emerging international network that takes the environment seriously.

Currently living in Lille, France, Glover enjoys taking piano lessons, spending time with friends, and watching foreign films. Brimming with ideas for her business, she works assiduously to pace herself. “I try to take it one day at a time,” she says.

— Cheryl Crockett ’89

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