Please join is in welcoming our newest regional sales manager, Pino Alonzi, who will now cover all of Canada! Learn more about him below. Pino AlonziRegional Sales Manager for CanadaLocated in Toronto, Ontario Pino has been in the industry for over 20 years and has built name recognition in the Ontario market specifically. He worked with wholesalers from 2009 to 2013, then at a rep agency. He has supported the SJE Rhombus brand for the last 4.5 years and worked on major projects in the Toronto area He is passionate about providing solutions to end users and resolving problems so everyone is happy with the results. He enjoys project challenges, problem solving and being in the field. When he’s not working, Pino likes sports, nature walks, exploring new places and cycling. You can contact him at pino.alonzi@sjeinc.com. Thanks!

  SJE has been named a Top Workplace in Minnesota by the Star Tribune. Top Workplaces recognizes the most progressive companies in Minnesota based on employee opinions measuring engagement, organizational health and satisfaction. While SJE scored high enough to meet the national benchmark as a Top Workplace, it did not rank in the top 150. “I am happy for our employee-owners,” said Vice President of Human Resources Natasha Nodsle. “It is nice to be recognized and be able to showcase the great work environment, benefits and culture SJE has.” SJE is a 100% employee owned manufacturing company based out of Detroit Lakes, Minnesota. With locations around the U.S. and China, SJE has become a global leader in water and wastewater controls solutions. About 265 employee owners work at the three locations in Minnesota. SJE is an active member of the ESOP Association’s Minnesota Dakotas Chapter and the Minnesota Chamber of Commerce. In 2017, it was awarded the National Employee Owned Company of the Year. “Employees can be who they want to be,” said Nodsle. “If they want to be a volunteer, donate to a charity, earn a degree, learn a different job, take time to bond with a new baby, or have time off to go on that dream vacation, SJE has programs to support each of these and more.” Rankings were composite scores calculated purely on the basis of employee responses. A complete list of those selected is available at StarTribune.com/topworkplaces2020.

**Updated as of May 8, 2020** In early March, as the COVID-19 pandemic started to impact the US, SJE developed and implemented action plans to protect our team members, their families, and their communities across our locations in multiple states.  We moved team members to work from home as appropriate, implemented social distancing across all locations, acquired PPE and implemented scheduled sanitizing of work cells and common areas.  We entered into an agreement with a national cleaning service to be onsite to sanitize within 24 hours, if needed.  We provided all of our team members with daily updates that included FAQs, procedures, and examples of how SJE would handle various situations.  We followed guidelines from the CDC, OSHA, local and state health authorities.  Our procedures met or exceeded those guidelines. This week SJE had our first confirmed case in one of our Minnesota locations.  We followed our procedures by isolating this individual at home to recover.  We identified those team members that had first person exposure and they went home to self-quarantine.  They were encouraged to get tested and inform us of those results when available.  We immediately closed the appropriate work cells and had our cleaning service onsite to deep clean and sanitize contacted areas. These areas re-opened for production within 24-hours. We realize that closing a work cell to sanitize after a confirmed case may slow some product shipments to our customers, but we will try to minimize any potential delays. Thank you for being a valued business partner. **Updated as of March 25, 2020** On behalf of the nearly 400 employee owners of SJE, we want to share with you the steps we have taken as a result of the current COVID-19 situation.  This is an unprecedented time for us and safety of our employee owners, our communities and our customers is our highest priority. Because we are a global company with facilities located throughout the United States and in China, we are diligently monitoring this situation through credible sources such as the CDC www.cdc.gov and WHO (www.who.org), as well through state and local authorities. We are taking extra precautions to protect our employee owners.  We are encouraging team members to follow best hygiene practices, like frequent hand washing, social distancing and staying home if they are sick or have been exposed to those who may have the virus.  Employees are working remotely if their position allows.  We have also put a hold on all business travel until further notice. While we have always taken the cleanliness of our facilities seriously, we know this is more important than ever. Aligned with the recommended guidelines from health authorities, we are implementing additional measures to clean and disinfect our locations. SJE has US manufacturing facilities in California, Florida, Minnesota and Ohio.  Recently several states, including California, Ohio and Minnesota, announced executive “Shelter-In-Place” or “Stay-Home” orders.  These orders provide an exception for qualified Essential Businesses that meet certain criteria and therefore can remain fully operational. We have received numerous documented requests from our customers across the United States that have been deemed Essential Businesses, asking SJE to continue to supply the products and services they need to support critical water/wastewater infrastructure. Accordingly, SJE is an essential business and will continue to operate our manufacturing facilities subject to our ongoing monitoring and contingency planning around COVID-19 in accordance with CDC and state and local health guidelines.   We are working closely with our suppliers to define our material delivery requirements to meet the needs of our customers. SJE provides a wide range of technologically advanced solutions and services across North America.  We provide control panels, SCADA/remote monitoring, and on-site service to municipalities to support Wastewater Treatment facilities.  SJE supports municipalities across the United States that rely on our services and products to maintain critical infrastructure demands. We manufacture Float Switches, Alarms and Control Systems for residential applications; sump pumps to prevent homes from spring flooding and septic systems to ensure home sewage is processed safely according to city, township, and county regulations.  We sell our products across North America through Plumbing Supply wholesalers that sell our products to plumbers and on-site installers. We supply Embedded Controls to key OEMs that support our first responders and medical device manufacturers that provide the necessary equipment in the testing and developing a vaccine for COVID-19. This critical situation is very fluid. We are working hard to stay informed and will adhere to all governmental mandates.  

DETROIT LAKES, Minn. (Jan. 23, 2020) – Seven years ago, manufacturing company SJE Inc. set an ambitious goal: to reach a $100 share price by 2020. It was 2013—the economy was still recovering from a recession and the current share price was $32.41. Reaching this goal meant growing the company by at least 8% each year. When new President and CEO Dave Thomas presented the goal, called “Vision 2020,” employees were initially skeptical. “In my first year at SJE, I had asked dozens of employees where they thought the stock price could get to in 5 years,” Thomas said. “Most responses were $40-$45 per share. I think one person said $50.  So to throw out $100 was a big leap to make.” Yet each year as the company met its projected goals, opinions turned. Sales records were shattered, and then shattered again months later. There were some bumps in the path, such as several rounds of tariffs, but SJE still maintained its growth. “I knew when I started at SJE we had a lot of potential,” Thomas said. “$100 per share was almost 3 times the highest the stock price had ever been, but when I did the analysis on what growth we would need in terms of sales and profit, it became clear to me that we had a shot at it.” In late 2019, it was time to calculate the annual share price to see if the goal had been made. After some number crunching, it was official: SJE had met its goal and then some, with a stock price of $102.25. Thomas knew an announcement this important deserved something more special than the standard PowerPoint slides at the February shareholder meeting. He worked with Executive Assistant Christy Staab and the marketing department to come up with a plan to surprise employee owners across all 6 of SJE’s U.S. locations at the same time. “Vision 2020 really did take every single person in the company to make it happen,” Staab said. “We just wanted a chance to celebrate. It’s totally different from anything we’ve done before.” In addition to announcing the completed goal, they also wanted to share how they were going to celebrate the occasion: by gathering all employees together in the Mall of America for a weekend in April. With nearly 400 employees across six U.S. locations, this is a major event for SJE. “We knew we were going to do something big because Vision 2020 was so many years in the making, and such a huge goal—it was something that people thought was crazy at first,” Staab said. This achievement is particularly momentous for SJE as it is 100% employee owned. That means that all the profits generated by the company are divided out amongst its employees and put into a special retirement plan. The new $102.25 share price is something that will directly benefit SJE employee owners, as well as their families. “The impact on the Detroit Lakes community has been and will continue to be tremendous,” Thomas said. “In the last 5 years, the collective wealth increase in our Detroit Lakes location alone is over $50 million. It is likely that the vast majority of this wealth will be spent in and around our community. The impact on the local economy, charitable giving and educational funding will span generations.” SJE has been focused on employees and community since it was founded in 1975 by Steve Johnston in his garage. Since then, it has grown into an international company with seven locations in the U.S. and China and about 440 employees. In 1994, Johnston retired and began selling his stock in the company to his employees. By 1998, the company was 100% employee owned. Johnston is still a firm believer in the power of employee ownership, as his letter to Thomas states below. “SJE’s steadfast success confirms and strengthens my belief in the ESOP concept,” Johnston said. “The ESOP tends to bring out the best in people and it provides a mechanism that promotes a motivating and productive culture while encouraging employees to work as a team, accept responsibility and work hard to get results while fulfilling their dreams.”