Board of Directors

I was born in England so long ago I can’t remember where or when. On my circuitous journey to the state of Minnesota I have worked with Fortune 500 companies such as Coca-Cola, Philip Morris, McDonald’s, Intel and Wrigley across five continents and have travelled to over 80 countries.

During my global leapfrogging my primary roles included general management, strategic marketing and client services and I often cite that my diverse experiences is the number one reason I am able to help clients to quickly adapt to changing cultures, economies and situations.

In 2012 I left my corporate career and started my own consulting practice in Chicago called ConnXN Consulting. Fortunately my business took off quicker than the understanding that ConnXN was a creative way of saying ‘Connection’. In 2013 we moved to Minnesota and I now work with business owners and leadership teams who feel their original strengths have been diluted by all the other things it takes to run and lead a business and they start to feel overwhelmed and unhappy. I am their your guide that helps them get back to doing what they enjoy and bringing the fun back to them and their business.

As a lifelong sports nut, I follow practically all sports except ice fishing (is that even a sport?) but soccer is my passion. I’m very happily married and have 2 sons and a daughter.

My entrepreneurial journey began in 1996 while living in Southern California where I became one of the top sales reps selling apparel lines to many US Military branches and bases in California and the East Coast.

Eventually I became the manufacturer of my own novelty apparel line I sold to my U.S. Military contacts and I started a local marketing company with my husband where we worked with local business clients helping them establish a presence in the market through a variety of strategies and promotions.

In 2005 I experienced a major life-altering event – my husband/business partner died following a tragic accident. I continued to run the business for another two years alone and eventually decided to downsize my business & life and relocated to my hometown of Minneapolis, MN.

In 2008 I gained new skills in what was termed ‘internet marketing’ and the start of social media. I once again decided to start a new marketing business. I was an early adopter of LinkedIn and favored the platform over all other social media and became well-known for my expertise.

I continue to work with business owners, salespeople, entrepreneurs and corporate leaders who want to leverage LinkedIn along with their relationship building strategies to gain more exposure for themselves and their business, so they ultimately have more credibility, impact and income.

I have spent my career as a Business Banker working with Entrepreneurs to provide the tools and capital they need to grow their businesses. With over 20 years of commercial banking experience, I have worked with a wide variety of businesses to structure a deposit and loan relationship that fits their specific needs. I view my role as an advocate and consultant to my clients, building long-term relationships. I specialize in working with privately held businesses from start-up to revenues of $30+ million, deposit relationships of all sizes and lending relationships from $250k to $5 million.

As part of Minnwest Bank’s Commercial Banking Team, I strive to create banking relationships that are as unique as the businesses and business owners that I work with. Minnwest Bank offers a full range of financial services including cash management services, business loans and lines of credit, SBA Loans and many online and mobile services.

As a type A graphic designer, I help solopreneurs and non profits save time and money on their logos, websites and visual elements. It delights me to create and elevate brands doing what I do best so that others can do the same.

When I’m not aligning elements just so or analyzing fonts, I can be found with my husband, daughter and son, reading, outdoors and/or dreaming about the Minnesota State Fair (Team Pronto Pup).

I started my career working in a mid-size manufacturing company. It is the best education I could have received. I learned that the best way to improve the work being done in a company is to go to the people doing the work. They know what the problems are and they know how to solve them. We just need to ASK them and then give them the tools to make the improvements.

I spent 20 years of my career in manufacturing. In 2016, I started my business, Gayle Noakes Supervisor Success, working with manufacturing supervisors to develop their leadership skills.