Healthcare, insurance, HR and a new editor – Grand Forks Herald

Welcome to the May edition of Prairie Business magazine. This month we feature an interview with North Dakota Insurance Commissioner Jon Godfread, some creative solutions to the region’s health care worker shortage, and how human resources departments handle unlimited PTO, among other topics.

I’m Carrie McDermott, the magazine’s new editor, and I want to take this time to share a bit about myself.

I’m a southern California native, from the Riverside area, and graduated from California State University San Bernardino with a bachelor of arts degree in 1992. My goal was to work on magazines. Life had another plan.

I immediately went to work for a Pulitzer Prize-winning newspaper, The Press-Enterprise, and was bitten by the news bug. During my 17 years there, I worked in news, features, special sections, marketing and even under the business development department, where I worked on websites and special publications. Part of my job assignments included helping produce several community, lifestyle and business-to-business magazines, which satisfied my college dreams.

My heart eventually brought me to North Dakota, where I worked for a small community paper in Wahpeton called the Daily News, as well as the weekly News Monitor. After 12 years covering the ins and outs of the southern Red River Valley communities, I was ready for a new challenge.

Prairie Business called and I answered.

I’m now in Grand Forks and learning all about the large region we cover. I’m looking forward to meeting the business leaders we write about, hearing about your industries and finding out what makes your organizations successful.

Please continue sending in your employee announcements for our Prairie People section, which are also featured on our website.

If you’re new to Prairie Business, you can subscribe for free thanks to the support of our dedicated advertising partners. To get on our newsletter mailing list, visit our website,

https://www.grandforksherald.com/prairie-business

, and click on “Subscribe” in the top menu. Scroll down and select “Prairie Business Monthly e-edition” and give us your email address at the bottom of the page. It’s as easy as that, and you’ll get the digital magazine delivered to your inbox each month.

Finally, it’s time once again to send in your nominations for our annual Leaders & Legacies awards, Prairie Business’ most prestigious honor bestowed on the region’s top executives.

The award category was created to recognize executives in the Dakotas and western Minnesota for their outstanding achievements in business. Tell us about business and organization founders, owners, CEOs and presidents who you believe should be recognized for their excellent work.

Whether the great work has been done in recent years or over a lifetime, we want to hear about them. To nominate, fill out the online form at

https://gfherald.wufoo.com/forms/q146bbu19nkyg6/

. We’ll feature the outstanding leaders in our July issue.

Until next time,

Carrie McDermott

I look forward to hearing from you at

[email protected]

or 701-780-1276.

Carrie McDermott joined Prairie Business magazine in March 2023. She covers business industry trends in North Dakota, South Dakota and west central Minnesota. Email address: [email protected].