CEO Shirley Wikner of Aviation Charter has built the Eden Prairie-based fly, fuel and repair business into a 10-plane, 54-employee company that has improved its financial performance and deepened its purpose since she took over for her late husband in 2011.
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Wikner will be honored by the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) in May as its Minnesota business person of the year.
A court reporter by profession, she said she was wary when her late husband, Roger Wikner, a real estate financier, started a one-plane operation in 1988, in a bid to turn his love of flying into a small business in a volatile industry.
Wikner, who didn't pull a steady paycheck for the first 20 years, taught herself to run day-to-day operations. She learned accounting and finance after her husband suffered a brain injury six year ago.
The obstacles included soft revenue, high fuel prices and getting tossed into the "workout" department of her former banker. She was forced to quickly pay down the mortgage on the company's Flying Cloud Airport facility and unable to borrow more money.
"We had never been late on a payment, before or after Roger's death," Wikner said. "But I didn't fit the bank's model."
Wikner credits her longtime employees and advisers, including Venture Bank of Bloomington, which refinanced Aviation Charter in 2012, and the nonprofit WomenVenture, consultants for small businesswomen, which helped her better manage the business so she could translate lower fuel prices in recent years and more efficient operations into a more profitable business with lower debt and a robust future.
"This isn't brain surgery," Wikner said last week. "We have many great long-term employees. And we are open 24 hours for our customers. I am often on the phone late at night. We have a lot invested, and we keep that capital operating.
"We do everything on site, including our own fueling operation. There's economy to that. We get good customers, serve them well and keep them."
That includes washing cars for customers and offering them wine and treats as well as upgrading the passenger terminal.
Wikner also talks about being employee-centered and how female employees who left the company to have children returned when they were ready.
Wikner is in the middle of a successful three-year plan to reduce debt by 40 percent and increase profits and philanthropic giving.
Wikner believes another employee-engaging strategy comes from Aviation Charter's longtime relationship with LifeSource, the Minneapolis-based nonprofit organization dedicated to saving lives through organ, eye and tissue donation in the Upper Midwest.
About a quarter of Aviation Charter's business comes from transporting organs and surgeons on an on-call basis. Moreover, Aviation Charter is a fundraiser and donor to the organization.
Wikner and her employees have witnessed grateful recipients of life-giving organ transplants, as well as donor families helped through the tragic death of a loved one knowing someone would be saved.
"It all resonates with our employees," said Wikner, who said a number of corporate clients also appreciate the LifeSource connection. "It gives us more purpose in our business. Our corporate culture gives us a competitive advantage. It's difficult to copy. Every staff member takes ownership."
Wikner also is a humble, lifelong learner. And she credits WomenVenture, which caters to small female-owned businesses, with great training and inspiration for her.
"Shirley is an excellent communicator with very good listening skills and an ability to quickly understand and read people," said Kevin Doyle, Wikner's Venture banker. "She has great people skills and, at times, a self-deprecating sense of humor. You can't help but like her.
"She's also very skilled and shrewd … with a tenacious and unwavering drive to get what's best for her employees, and those who depend on her businesses success. All the while she is forthright, and operates with the highest level of integrity and moral standards that you can imagine.
"She's also a workhorse. She picks up her cellphone at all hours of the night and helps to arrange early morning flights of people, parts and organs for her clients.
"As a bank client she's ideal: responsive, reports and pays on time, and provides detailed and concise financials. She notifies us of any changes to the business, good or bad."
The funding is expected to give more than 5,000 Minnesotans, especially in rural areas, high-speed broadband access across the state and help at least 139 businesses and 368 farms.
