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Thomas J. Petters
Tom Petters started a trading company in 1988 with little or no capital. Under his 18 years of management and guidance, Petters Group Worldwide has grown from a one-man operation started in 1988 into an investment company that employs over 3,200 people around the world. Petters Group Worldwide is a privately held company with ownership or investments in a dynamic collection of 60 companies with active management in over 20. These companies create, develop and invest in companies that manufacture, procure and market consumer merchandise. Petters Group Worldwide has offices in North America, South America, Asia and Europe.

In 2002, he was a partner in acquiring and restarting Fingerhut, one of the largest catalog and direct mail companies in the country. The following year he acquired uBid.com, the second largest Internet auction site. In 2005, they became a public company with Petters Group as a minority owner. Also in 2005, after 2 years of being a licensee of Polaroid for consumer electronics, Polaroid Corporation was purchased by Petters Group Worldwide. The Petters Consumer Brands division of Petters Group continues to build strong programs for other companies as a licensee for Sunbeam, Oster and Emerson. In October 2006 Petters Group and Whitebox Advisors purchased Sun Country Airlines, based in St. Paul, MN.

Tom is a leading contributor to many charitable organizations. Tom serves on the board of trustees at the College of St. Benedict and Rollins College and is on the Business Advisory council and Board of Visitors for Miami University - Ohio. He was awarded Corporate Leader of the Year in 2001 by the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation, and was presented with the Distinguished Humanitarian Award in 2003 by B'nai B'rith.

To his contemporaries, Thomas J. Petters is an innovative entrepreneur. But to the many charities and local universities he serves, Mr. Petters is a compassionate donor of resources and time; a man whose character, integrity and ethics make him a positive role model for all.

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