Granite Equity, a nontraditional private investment and holding company in St. Cloud, Minnesota, aims to find and support local, family businesses and grow them right where they are.

The firm looks for companies that value employee wellness (they want their people to be happy and healthy); a long view (Granite Equity plans for businesses, including Granite Equity itself, to be sustainable for 100 years or more); and investment in community (often businesses owners or senior officials contribute to the community financially and through volunteer positions on local boards). Founder and CEO Rick Bauerly (MBA 1996, MPA 1996) and his team know that investing in their own state will only make the state—and Granite Equity, in turn—stronger by contributing to quality jobs, community commitment, and the bottom line.

Granite Equity itself was founded in 2002 by a group of 12 family business owners who were interested in creating a local ownership vehicle for retiring business owners. “Generally, the owners’ options are to try to succeed the ownership across another generation of family,” says Bauerly. “That’s often the preferred method. But when that’s not possible, then we want to be the next-best alternative.”

(Published January 2020)

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