Finance & Commerce, the Twin Cities-based independent daily newspaper dedicated to business reporting, sat down
with Northspan’s Shaun Hainey in November 2024 to discuss community and economic development. Reporter Dan Netter spoke with Shaun about what Northspan does, Shaun’s background prior to Northspan, and what led him to make the jump to economic development.
“One of the things that really drew me to Northspan is just that common interest in really wanting to give back to the community and really invest in the greater good,” Shaun said. “I feel like that really feeds into the comprehensive approach to economic development that we take. Outside of the economic development realm, we also do strategic planning, convening conversations, and those types of things. I feel like we’re really good at asking who’s not here, who’s not at the table, and that that’s a really important part of economic development, because if you get to the end and not everybody’s there, then you didn’t quite make it.”
Shaun highlighted the work Northspan is doing through the DAWN program to increase measures of community wealth. Providing technical assistance through the USDA’s Regional Food Business Center, and curating the region’s database of commercial real estate through Northland Connection also featured in the discussion. Shaun covered how Northland Connection provides developers with key information about unique commercial real estate opportunities in the Northland, like the Green Bean Coffeehaus in Biwabik (pictured below).
As a bonus question, Dan asked whether there’s anything that tells Shaun that he’s starting his day when he first gets into work in the morning.
“There will be days, even weeks, sometimes, where I’m not at my desk,” Shaun shared. “I’m out meeting people or, you know, at a building summit, or whatever it might be, which is one of the things I love about my job. There’s plenty of variability with it, but I would say no matter where I am or what I’m starting with, I do start the day with a cup of coffee. They’ve all got that in common.”
Read the whole article or listen to the interview from Finance & Commerce