On the Street

• RE/MAX associates with RE/MAX Lakes Area Realty in Alexandria were recently recognized for their outstanding achievements in 2010.

Lawrence Keenan and Lon Saude were each honored with the RE/MAX World Headquarters’ Hall of Fame award. The Hall of Fame award is the third highest honor given for total career sales and years of service to the RE/MAX organization.

David Linger, RE/MAX North Central executive vice president and regional director, said, “Receiving any RE/MAX award in today’s market is a great accomplishment. These achievements come from a lot of hard work and commitment to customer service throughout the year.”

• Members of Thrivent Financial for Lutherans, a not-for-profit financial services membership organization, recently voted on where to distribute $1 million among seven national nonprofit organizations that address health and human care needs. Funds were distributed to the organizations based on the percentage of votes they received.

Organizations, and the total funds they received, were: Bethesda Lutheran Communities – $136,317; Feeding America – $206,335; Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service – $50,979; Lutheran Services in America – $129,927; Orphan Grain Train – $153,182; St. Jude Children's Research Hospital – $279,941; and Wheat Ridge Ministries – $43,319.

A total of 130,681 members voted in this second Thrivent Choice VotingSM Event. The voting took place January 24 to February 28, 2011.

In 2010, Thrivent Financial and its members contributed, raised and donated more than $135 million to help congregations, communities and nonprofit organizations.

• Edina Realty, the Midwest’s largest residential real estate firm, recently announced that the following realtors from the Alexandria office have been named members of Edina Realty’s President’s or Leadership Circles:

President’s Circle: Wendy VanKirk.

Leadership Circle: Carl Kvale, Sue Palmquist and Dale Wussow.

Members of Edina Realty’s Circles are those who achieved an outstanding level of sales performance and customer service in 2010.

“Becoming a President’s or Leadership Circle member takes exceptional market knowledge, expertise, negotiation skills and a high level of customer service,” said Bob Peltier, Edina Realty president and CEO. “It’s because of these agents’ hard work, dedication and outstanding skills that Edina Realty continues to outperform the market year after year.

• Katie Petrak joined LarsonAllen in December 2010. She has three years of experience in public accounting and is specializing in audits of local governments.

Petrak is originally from Benson and obtained her bachelor’s degree in accounting from Minnesota State University Moorhead in 2007. She lives in Alexandria with her husband, Brian, and their son, Carson.

Tags: on the street, business