Patrick Bettenburg
Vice President; Account Supervisor
Hired: April 2006
Education:
- Cardinal Stritch University; Bachelors of Management in Business, with minors in Sales and Marketing Management and Human Resource Management. Patrick also studied Mass Communications and TV production at the University of Minnesota.
Before Risdall:
Combining positions in marketing and operations, Patrick has worked in the food industry for 30 years (he started working in restaurants at the age of 13 at the original Pontillo's Pizzeria, now Davanni's) and has held positions with some of the top food agencies in the Twin Cities. Most recently, he was Senior Business Development Manager at The Aristos Group where he worked on product development and introductions, sales support and collateral, operator support programs, advertising and promotions, market research and analysis.
Patrick was also a freelance video producer and created and produced a local cable sports program that won Best Sports Program from the MN Community Television Awards.
Life beyond the office:
When not hunting for the best pizza in town, Patrick can often be found in the great outdoors, camping, taking adventure trips or trying to cut out the middleman for his own kitchen with a rod or rifle in hand.
"My dad and all my five brothers and I learned to hunt pheasant as soon as we were old enough to get our NRA safety permits, and we still do a family hunt together every fall." Patrick jokes that when it comes to getting feedback for his sporting goods clients, he already has a built-in focus group.
Patrick is a great cook who loves to have dinner parties. (In his own words, he's a total "foodie".)
Proudest moments:
"Buying a house for one. There's something to be said for biting off more than you can chew, and then chewing it. Also, taking a six-day wilderness kayaking trip in Alaska's Kenai Fiords National Park. It was unbelievable to kayak near glaciers melting into the sea, paddle past sea lions, see bears on the shore and eagles in the sky."
Favorite candy at RAA:
I love the M&M's, but I'm still looking for the jar of Good'n Plenty (*note to John R.)
You'd never guess:
Patrick collects rare carnival buttons and has a complete set of St. Paul Winter Carnival buttons that was started by his grandfather. He has also earned several Zero Hero awards for camping outdoors in below zero weather.
What's the big deal?
Patrick worked with Ecolab to develop a new branded selling program for the Food & Beverage Division (food and beverage manufacturers) that leverages value-added technical services with high-performance branded products and systems. EcoShield? was so successful it was extended from two segments to all five, making it the first division-wide marketing platform, and resulted in greater product penetration with existing accounts and achieved significant increase in sales volumes.
He also worked with Cargill's Sunny Fresh Foods to reposition their brand to focus on several newly developed, fully prepared breakfast entrées. This shift in positioning enabled them to dramatically improve margins and establish themselves as leaders and innovators in a whole new product category.
Additionally, Patrick served as president of the board of directors for Cable Access St. Paul where he successfully led the organization through the restructuring of the cable franchise arrangement with the city which led to over a million dollars in capital funds and more than triple the annual budget.