NEW ULM — A change of leadership was one of the most noteworthy developments at the communications company Nuvera in 2019, but the company also constructed multiple overbuilds to enhance services, continued the integration of its new Prior Lake location, and strengthened customer relations through social media and other channels.

It has also planned some $2 million in new local investments in 2020.

New CEO:

In April 2019, CEO Bill Otis announced his retirement after 40 years of service. Glenn Zerbe was hired to replace him effective Sept. 3, 2019.

Zerbe most recently served as Vice President of Sales for Frontier Communications Corporation, where he held positions of increasing responsibility since joining Frontier in 2011.

Prior to his employment with Frontier, Zerbe built more than 20 years of sales, marketing and management experience in the communications industry, with companies such as Spanlink, Cisco Systems, SBC, AT&T and IBM.

Zerbe says that, looking for his next set of challenges last year, he was drawn to “a modest-sized company that’s doing well, generates good revenue, and is publicly traded, so it has access to capital”. He noted that he saw Nuvera as “well-managed” and “very disciplined fiscally.”

Zerbe adds that he is looking forward to “building upon” what Nuvera has accomplished, and sees the company moving forward, more aggressively, on new technologies.

Other developments:

Nuvera continued the integration of their new Prior Lake location, which includes Savage, Elko New Market and Webster.

While no money was authorized for border-to-border grants for broadband development by the Minnesota Department of Employment and Economic Development in 2019, for 2020, Nuvera was awarded $730,000. It is contributing an additional $1.2 million, for a total of $2 million in local community investments. Some $1.1 million will be used to build fiber connections in a rural Southwest Brown County area near New Ulm. These projects will be scheduled in the spring.

Nuvera constructed multiple fiber overbuilds to enhance customer services. As part of its commitment to investing in communities, fiber was constructed in rural areas of Sleepy Eye, Hutchinson, Mazeppa and Aurelia, Iowa. An enhanced fixed wireless solution was also installed in rural New Ulm by St. George. Fiber overbuilds were completed in four housing development areas in Prior Lake.

Commercial fiber overbuilds began in the Industrial Park areas of North Front and North Broadway Streets and downtown New Ulm for completion in 2020. Four commercial areas in Prior Lake were also targeted.

Nuvera has 11 public Wi-Fi sites in New Ulm, and 20 in all exchanges.

Connecting with

customers:

Nuvera enhanced their online chat function giving customers additional options to communicate in real time with representatives during support hours. Nuvera also launched a new Nuvera Business website and redesigned the Nuvera TechTrends and Nuvera Wireless websites.

Nuvera’s Facebook page is a way to learn about technology tips, scam warnings, community participation, job postings, up-coming events and more. This included over 20 blogs, seven new local business success stories and 24 videos in 2019. The company posts Thankful Thursdays giveaways weekly with much participation.

Corporate citizen:

Nuvera has four stakeholders in the company: customers, employees, communities and shareholders, said company officials. Employees are committed to the communities they serve and donated over $20,000 to local charitable organizations again this past year. This is different from the corporate donations made, which include a $5,000 capital donation to Brown County Historical Society with a match from CoBank, a cooperative bank serving industries throughout the rural United States.

Nuvera gave over $18,000 to schools as part of its Cash for Classrooms promotion for new customers with the following amounts in the Journal coverage areas: New Ulm schools, $1,800; Sleepy Eye, $850; Redwood Falls, $1,025; Springfield, $800; and Lamberton, $75.

Honors:

Nuvera received the following honors in the past year:

Ranked 8 in a list of Internet and Telecom service providers published by the Minneapolis/St. Paul Business Journal. To be eligible for this list, companies must provide Internet and/or local and long distance phone direct to customers.

Ranked 61 in the top 75 list of the largest Minnesota-based public companies as published by the Minneapolis/St. Paul Business Journal. This ranking was up from #63 in 2018. This is based on revenue.

Named one of the “Honor Roll” companies in The 2019 Minnesota Census of Women in Corporate Leadership conducted by St. Catherine University, in collaboration with Twin Cities Business. This elite group of Minnesota companies were recognized for 20 percent or more women corporate directors and executive directors. We have received this recognition 9 of the past 10 years.

Nuvera is a communications company with headquarters in New Ulm. It provides Internet, digital TV, voice, hosted and managed services, computer sales and computer repair services. Nuvera sells and services cellular phones and accessories and customer premise equipment.

Nuvera has customer solutions centers in the Minnesota communities of New Ulm, Glencoe, Goodhue, Hutchinson, Litchfield, Prior Lake, Redwood Falls, Sleepy Eye and Springfield as well as Aurelia, Iowa.

Nuvera also operates TechTrends, a technology retail store, located in New Ulm. In addition, Nuvera offers television and Internet services in Cologne, Mayer, New Germany and Plato.

Nuvera also holds partial ownership in FiberComm, LC, based in Sioux City, Iowa.

Nuvera will celebrate its 115th anniversary in 2020.