Jeffrey Balagna

President and CEO, Carlson Marketing

Jeff brings an extensive and impressive management background to his role as president and CEO of Carlson Marketing. For the past three and a half years, he has served as an Executive Vice President of Carlson and is a member of the Carlson Executive Committee. He is a Board member of Carlson Wagonlit Travel, Carlson Restaurants Worldwide, and Carlson Marketing Worldwide.

With more than 27 years of experience, Jeff is a seasoned executive with broad marketing and general management expertise. His career spans multiple industries and includes stints at prominent brands including GE, Ford and Medtronic.

Before joining Carlson, Mr. Balagna served as Chief Administrative Officer at Medtronic, the world’s largest medical device company for four and a half years, where he managed global and quality operations, oversaw the creation of a shared services organization, and served as the companies first Chief Information Officer.

Prior to Medtronic, he was with GE as General Manager-Operations of its USD 4 billion Medical Systems Americas division and directed that group to greater than 20 percent per year record growth. He has also held executive roles at Ford Motor Company, and was the founder and CEO of DataComm, Inc.

Additionally, he currently serves as a board and audit committee member of Tennant Company, Inc., an Executive in Residence at The Carlson School of Management, and is a past board member of Minnesota Public Radio and the Minnesota Orchestra.

Jeff holds a bachelor's degree in computer science from Oakland University, in Rochester, MI. He is also a graduate of the GE Executive Development program at Crotonville, in Ossining, NY, and is a certified master black belt in Six Sigma and Lean operations.