Alumnus works to inspire next generation of leaders

Dustin Goslin has centered his career on improving the world around him.

“I think my north star is how do I make the world a better place? The institutions and the organizations I've been involved with are all extensions of that north star,” he said. “Whether I'm building affordable housing or working with entrepreneurs, or if I'm a trustee with the Blandin Foundation — I'm trying to find ways that we're innovating, trying to test new entrepreneurial ideas, and just make the world a better place and bring hope in whatever role I'm in.”

The St. Cloud State University alumnus grew up near the Red Cliff Band of Lake Superior Chippewa community and belongs to the Prairie Band Potawatomi Nation of Mayetta, Kansas. When considering going back to school to get his bachelor’s degree, Goslin looked at colleges in the Midwest. Wisconsin universities would offer him in-state tuition, and Minnesota universities offered tuition reciprocity for Wisconsin residents. When considering schools in the Twin Cities, he was unsure of studying in an area so densely populated.

“As someone who grew up in a town of 611 people, a city the size of Minneapolis was like, ‘Do I want to go to a city that big?’ And St. Cloud was this bigger city, but it but it had more of a community feel. So I selected St. Cloud State for reciprocity tuition, because it was a bigger city and it was still relatively close to my hometown,” Goslin said. “I also knew some people from high school and people within my network who all had good things to say about St. Cloud.”

He graduated from SCSU with a bachelor’s in geography in 2008. He then entered the workforce in the midst of the Great Recession, before deciding to pursue his master’s degree in management after experiencing the nature of the economy and the job market at that time. He worked in the tourism and hospitality management industries as well as the health care world, before taking a position with Grand Casino as its vice president of hotel operations.

“Throughout my time in operations in hotels, I've always had the spark of entrepreneurism, and I like finance and investment,” Goslin said. “So the organization (Mille Lacs Corporate Ventures) recruited me to lead the economic development function of our enterprise.”

During his time working in economic development, he essentially was able to be an entrepreneur while working in the world of finance and community development. Throughout his time in the position, Goslin was an affordable housing developer, built different real estate assets for business incubators, and recruited millions of dollars worth of investments for a high-speed broadband line that spread over 200 miles across rural central Minnesota, among a number of other projects.

“I think the metric I used for that time of my life was — I think it was $245 million worth of capital that we recruited in, that we managed, and that we deployed into investments that directly contributed to the vitality of a local tribal economy,” he said.

Goslin said he has been a goal-setter since his St. Cloud State days. The goals through his 30s were to start a family and achieve complete economic freedom — no debt, no student loans, no credit card debt, no home mortgage. Goslin and his wife accomplished those goals, which led to Goslin thinking about his 40s.

“We don't owe anyone anything, which is a different feeling. It didn't change what I was doing with my life, but it was like, I can choose to do whatever I want at this point. I have savings, I have a 401(k) — what am I going to do with my life now?” he said. “That led into what do I want to do in my 40s?”

Goslin considered multiple goals to pursue: leading a company or nonprofit as CEO, pursuing a PhD in economics or starting his own business, to name a few. With children who are now 8 and 11 years old, respectively, Goslin ultimately decided to focus all that available time on his family, whether it’s coaching his children’s sports teams, volunteering on the school board or serving in some type of parental advisory capacity.

“They're only 8 and 11 for a certain amount of time, and 10 years from now, they'll be 18 and 21,” he said. “As a part of that, I also took a different role within the organization I work for, and I left economic development — which was highly stressful. There's a lot of money moving through that office and a lot of complex things that maybe weren't always the best family mix for me.”

Goslin is now chief talent officer with Mille Lacs Corporate Ventures, a role he said is somewhat like being a teacher.

“My goal is to inspire people within our organization to do great things, and show them the tools I've used and developed over time to help inform and build the next generation of leaders for the organization,” he said.

Goslin encouraged students, graduates and those in the workforce to lean into the relationships they’ve built.

“People say it all the time: relationships matter. It was like those relationships — when there was an opportunity, I just leaned in and took advantage of it,” he said. “I think in any role, I continue to think about the value of relationships and I think of everything from those professors at St. Cloud State; they were some of my biggest cheerleaders.”

It’s important to Goslin to be an effective and optimistic leader. He enrolled in the Obama Foundation's Leaders program through which he virtually met President Barack Obama in spring 2025.

“He talked about leading in times of uncertainty and he talked about how the leaders he's seen in his life — the most successful ones are the ones who lead through uncertainty and they get knocked down, but they get back up and they keep getting back up and they find purpose,” Goslin said. “It was really impactful hearing his words. Ever since then, I try and integrate his words in different circles.”

In one example, Goslin shared the message with a colleague who built a nonprofit centered around redeveloping economies around the people living in them instead of bringing in large corporations to reinvent an economy. When that colleague was struggling with some of the national changes and hurdles, hearing those words helped him “get back up.”

“I’m trying to bring this message across all of my circles of hope and optimism, because I think that's maybe one of the gifts that I bring with me,” Goslin said. “One of my colleagues calls me an eternal optimist.”