CARLTON — J3 Insurance and Northwoods Credit Union were selected as the Cloquet Area Chamber of Commerce’s 2022 Small and Large Businesses of the Year during the chamber’s annual meeting and banquet dinner, Thursday, April 27, at Black Bear Casino Resort in Carlton.
Cloquet Area Chamber of Commerce President Kelly Zink introduced the award recipients, beginning with Small Business of the Year award winner J3 Insurance, located at 900 Highway 33 South in Cloquet.
“J3 has been an active member for many, many years. They are very active in both the chamber and the community. They are a blessing to have here in Cloquet,” Zink said.
J3 Insurance Principal/Sales Agent Joe Beaupre thanked the board on behalf of the entire Cloquet team.
“Whoever nominated us, thank you, and to the committee and the board for voting us for the recipient for this award. The J3 journey kind of started back in 2014 (when) Jason and Jeff McCaffrey threw me on their backs and we formed J3 Insurance,” he said.
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“Our mission at J3 Insurance has been to provide top-notch customer service to go along with top-notch insurance products for our clients. That is our mission. We are hitting it very well,” he went on to say. “J3 Insurance earns this award but those people over there (gesturing to the team), our employees, are the ones who really deserve this award.”
Zink closed out the award portion of the banquet by recognizing the Large Business of Year award winner, Northwoods Credit Union, home to three branches in Cloquet.
“Northwoods Credit Union is a great supporter of the chamber and the community. They’re an active chamber member (and) you can almost always find them at all of our events,” Zink said. “They support our leadership program by always sending multiple people to participate and help with community events.”
President and CEO Doug Wolf accepted the award on behalf of the Northwoods Credit Union team.
“Just want to thank the chamber for giving this honor to us and it’s certainly a surprise,” Wolf said. ”The credit union is very involved and very attached to the community. We’ve had a number of building projects in town and we use local vendors as much as we can.”
Wolf went on to acknowledge and congratulate Cloquet businesses USG Interiors LLC and Sappi North America, who were both recognized for their 100th and 125th anniversaries earlier in the evening.
“If you don’t know, Northwoods Credit Union started out as Northwest Paper Company Employees Credit Union … So we are forever attached to Sappi and congratulations to you guys on 125,” he said in closing.
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