Bearpath is closed this Tuesday; David Hellmuth has graciously offered the use of the conference room in his office building. We will meet at
Hellmuth & Johnson
Elevator to 4th Floor
8050 West 78th Street
Edina, MN 55439
Hellmuth & Johnson is on the 78th Street frontage road on the northeast corner of the intersections of Highways 494 and 169. Here is a link to google maps so that you can find the best directions from your own home: Google Maps link
Bill Miller, Owner of J. Carver Distillery: Pioneering a new MN Industry
The idea for J. Carver Distillery began when Bill's brother Matt, an upstate New York distiller, encouraged Bill's interest in the industry. At the time Bill was semi-retired from the financial industry. When more favorable laws were enacted in Minnesota allowing the startup of micro-distilleries, Bill began to explore the concept with Gina Holman. Her knowledge of the Minnesota spirits marketplace, combined with Matt's distilling experience and Bill's desire to a fun second career resulted in the 6/13 birth of what is now the state's largest micro-distillery. J. Carver is named after Jonathan Carver, the same Minnesota River Valley explorer that Carver County is named for. The name reflects the business partners' strategy of local collaboration, exploration and discovery of different and better spirits developed from grains, barrels, and aromatics available in Minnesota. The start-up currently has nine active employees and sells 12 well-received products in liquor stores, restaurants and drinking establishments. A Cocktail & Tasting room opened for public hours and private and corporate events in 6/15, after new legislation made that possible. EPAM member Jen Loon will team up with Bill for our discussion if her legislative schedule allows.
Piper Lincoln and Carter Coughlin were the winners of Golden Eagle Awards and $1,000 scholarships at the club’s annual Golden Eagle Awards Breakfast on May 24 at St. Andrew Lutheran Church. The two Eden Prairie High School seniors were chosen from a field of 10 female and 10 male candidates who are outstanding in athletics and academics.
Piper, active in gymnastics and to a lesser extent badminton, has a 3.98 grade-point average and plans to attend the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Among other honors, she was all-state in gymnastics for three years, was a captain for both sports, was All-American in gymnastics, and led her gymnastics team to the state tournament this past year.
Carter was active in football and basketball, and will play football for the U of M Gophers. He has a 3.7 GPA and was all-state in football. He was part of two state championship football teams at EPHS, and a key in the team’s 40-game win streak.
Other female finalists were Kelly Cullen, Mackenzie Goodburn, Brianna Lupo, Kirsten Nelson, Anna Soderberg, Lauren Stich, Meghan Verkinderen, Lindsay Weliver, and Sara Woodring. Other male candidates were Griffin Back, Joel Benson, Matthew DeJong, Andrew Donohue, William Green, Kevin Jeter, Kal Lunde, Stephen McMahon, and Anthony Rosa.
Together, the 20 students have an average GPA of 3.83; two of them have perfect 4.0 GPA’s. Collectively they have 113 varsity letters, 26 team captainships, 40 all-conference honors, 20 all-state honors, and 10 academic all-state honors.
Addressing the students was motivational speaker Daniel Shannon, a graduate of Howard University who was a Division 1 track-and- field athlete and went on to find sales success at a Fortune 50 company. He told students they have unprecedented opportunity to be successful, considering the youth that is present in today’s work world, including places such as Facebook (average age 26) and Google (average age 31).
But, despite the students’ obvious success in high school, “It doesn’t stop here,” he said, urging the student to embrace the idea that they haven’t yet reached their full potential, and can add value to their employer and the world at large. If you demonstrate courage, strong beliefs, and a willingness to work, “You won’t experience anything but the best results possible,” he added.
Visitors
In addition to the students and their families, our guests included Eden Prairie News Sports Editor Dan Huss,
several Eden Prairie School Board members, and school administrators Curt Tryggestad, Conn McCartan, Mike
Grant, Nancy Schmidt, and Ricardo Jones.
