Michele Neale is a business growth consultant who works with manufacturers throughout the state to help them build a stronger company culture and develop effective leaders at all levels of their business. With an exceptional track record of implementing talent and leadership strategies, Michele knows how to help manufacturers engage and empower their employees to achieve operational excellence and drive profitable growth. 

Prior to joining Enterprise Minnesota, Michele served as a human resources leader for Massman Automation Designs, LLC in Villard, MN and as a senior leader in training and development for Tastefully Simple in Alexandria, MN.  

A resident of Alexandria, Michele previously sat on the board of directors for the Lakes and Pines Girl Scout Council. Outside of work, Michele enjoys spending time with her family, camping, golfing, boating and volunteering with numerous local organizations.

​TOUR: Beaver Island Brewing - Production Facility

Beaver Island Brewing Co. is an up and coming brewery in St. Cloud, MN.  Co-Founders Nick Barth and Matt Studer took up homebrewing together back in 2013.  After a year of homebrewing, Nick and Matt found that they really enjoyed making beer, so much so that they wanted to turn it into their profession and start up a brewery.  Nick and Matt began the process of business planning in early 2014 and finally opened Beaver Island Brewing Co. in 2015, making it St. Cloud’s only local craft brewery if you don’t count the brewery/restaurant chain Granite City.  To help them create exceptional beer recipes, they brought on Chris Laumb as Beaver Island’s Brew Master.  For their location they chose the storefront that used to house the iconic Bo Diddley’s Deli in Downtown St. Cloud.

Since opening, Beaver Island has already found great success with the community of St. Cloud and is quickly becoming one of the must stop places for visitors.  Their original thought was that they would be able to get by with the storefront brewery for 5 years before they would have to consider finding more space.  They soon found that assumption to be wrong because just after a year and a half of being open they were starting to fall behind on demand with their limited production size.

In 2017, Beaver Island opened a production brewery that would increase their brewing capacity and incorporate a canning line.   The production brewery is where they plan on producing all their beer for distribution, while they still have the Downtown location for the face of the company and more experimental brewing.  With this new facility they have expanded their distribution to the Minneapolis St. Paul Minnesota area as well as Fargo and Grand Forks of North Dakota. They produced 3,300 barrels of beer in 2017 and set a goal for 5,000 for 2018.

*Closed toed shoes and long pants are recommended for the tour.