Alumni Achievement Award

Jantzer’s roles as Minot Air Force Base honorary commander and chairman and chairman of Task Force 21 Minot, which educates the community and state legislators on national security issues, helped his city earn the Air Force Global Strike Command’s prestigious Barksdale Trophy for outstanding community support. He won the North Dakota National Guard State Meritorious Service Medal for his work to assist North Dakota’s efforts to become more supportive of military personnel.  

On the national level, the Air Force Civic Leader program awarded him its highest non-employee civilian honor, the Secretary of the Air Force Distinguished Public Service Award, in 2023. Jantzer’s desire to provide informed civilian advice to Air Force leadership knows no boundaries, taking him on missions as far as Kunsan near North Korea.  

Liebhard practiced family medicine in Shakopee for 20 years before moving to an emergency clinic. He won the Minnesota Medical Association’s Community Service Award, given annually to one physician in the state, in 1996 and was named an “Everyday Hero” in the University of Minnesota’s Minnesota Magazine for his leadership in medicine and the community.  

Liebhard practiced family medicine in Shakopee for 20 years before moving to an emergency clinic. He won the Minnesota Medical Association’s Community Service Award, given annually to one physician in the state, in 1996 and was named an “Everyday Hero” in the University of Minnesota’s Minnesota Magazine for his leadership in medicine and the community.  He won national awards and attention with his first book, 1997’s Elephants in the Exam Room: The Seven Things You Need to Know About Today’s Health Care ‘Crisis’ and followed up with 2009’s Elephants in the Exam Room: The Big-Picture Solution to Today’s Health Care ‘Crisis’ and 2022’s Walking The Tightrope – Trusting Your Life To Telemedicine. He released his first novel, The Vortex Effect, in 2016 and recently finished his second, Remember My Face.  

Liebhard, a member of the Solid Gold Band, wrote music for all three of its albums, produced its first and wrote the music for his first solo album, 2021’s Reflections.  

Sinner, president and board member of BankNorth, serves on the boards of member community bank associations and has helped develop bank branches in North and South Dakota communities that other banks were leaving. He looks for progressive opportunities for small towns and was instrumental in introducing high-speed internet to Casselton, North Dakota, before many people knew what it was. Agricultural technology initiative Grand Farm is building its Innovation Campus in Casselton thanks in part to Sinner’s efforts. 

His significant impact on his community through volunteer service in a wide variety of initiatives and organizations earned Sinner the Casselton Business Association’s Bradley J. Burgum Community Service Award in 2010. 

Sinner began his banking career after graduating from Saint John’s University, returned to the family business and farmed with his brother-in-law for a few years and then went back to banking, bringing with him the Benedictine values of service, hospitality and community. 

Kueppers, who founded healthcare IT and document design company Apex Information Technologies in 1995, started his first venture as a student when he opened a video rental store in Mary Hall. 

He grew Apex to 185 employees and $122 million in annual revenue and imbued it with Benedictine values, earning honors including being named to Minnesota Business Magazine’s 100 Best Companies to Work For and Minneapolis/St. Paul Business Journal’s Healthiest Employers. He was SJU and CSB’s Donald McNeely Center for Entrepreneurship’s Entrepreneur of the Year in 2016. Kueppers stepped down from Apex after merging with RevSpring in 2018 and now puts his business acumen to work as the principal of BWK Advisors, a partner in MY SALON Suite of Minnesota and a board member for a variety of companies. 

He personally supports non-profits such as St. Jude Children’s Cancer Research Hospital, Wounded Warrior Project and CROSS Catholic Relief Services.

Kueppers is a McNeely Center mentor who shares his expertise to help current Johnnies and Bennies developing business ventures of their own.  

On the national level, the Air Force Civic Leader program awarded him its highest non-employee civilian honor, the Secretary of the Air Force Distinguished Public Service Award, in 2023. Jantzer’s desire to provide informed civilian advice to Air Force leadership knows no boundaries, taking him on missions as far as Kunsan near North Korea.  

Bellin, a biology professor at the College of the Holy Cross in Worcester, Massachusetts, has served as co-director of the biochemistry concentration most of his 20-plus years there. In addition to his official campus work and considerable research, he fosters Holy Cross’s ties with past and current students through the Bellin Lab Annual Reunion Dinner, better known as BLARD, which he has hosted for two decades. He is a highly regarded professor known for setting high expectations for students while teaching with humility and care.

Bellin is a dedicated Worcester community member and devoted father who served as a Boy Scout leader for both of his sons’ troops.  

A Johnnie through and through, Bellin helps keep his Collegeville friends connected as a founding member of the “Baseballapalooza” Class of ’94 group that has gathered annually since 2009 to visit a different Major League ballpark.  

Husain has spent more than 20 years leading the charter school, which gives teens in grades nine through 12 at risk of dropping out of school a chance to get their education back on track. Face to Face exposes students to educational opportunities traditional schools might not — for example, its award-winning Wilderness and Outdoor Program — with a 12-month calendar and 8:40 a.m. start. 

Husain’s quietly confident, humble, passionate and empathetic leadership has cultivated a safe, supportive culture that offers students different ways of learning and inspires them to show up, learn and ultimately graduate. His positive impact shines through in graduation rates and math, reading and science scores that are higher than state, district and local school averages.  

Face to Face has been lauded for its role in closing the achievement gap, and Husain’s contributions have earned him status as a valuable resource in Minnesota education.  

Eder started as an intern at Northwestern Mutual in 2005 and now serves as partner and CEO of wealth management firm Voyage Wealth Architects, a founding member of the Northwestern Mutual Private Client Group. He has earned Forbes recognition as a Best in State Security Professional and Best in State Wealth Advisor and is a 12-time recipient of the FORUM award recognizing the top 5 percent of Northwestern Mutual’s 7,000-plus financial advisors. 

Eder put his passion for golf to work in the Birdies4Brains, the nonprofit he founded in 2011, which has raised more than $1.5 million through golf-centric events to support brain injury survivors. Eder was recognized with Northwestern Mutual’s Community Service Award, and he and his Voyage Wealth Architects partners have been on MSP Business Journal’s Corporate Philanthropist List two years in a row. They recently committed $250,000 to M Health Fairview Masonic Children’s Hospital to fund the first Child Life Specialist in its Pediatric Kidney Dialysis Unit.