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ABOUT US

Our founder, Chuck.

If you’ve known a numbers person closely, you know they don’t make decisions, they calculate them and they always have data.

 

Charles G. Welle was calculating life before he graduated high-school in northern Minnesota. The youngest son to hard working parents, Chuck grew up with bold self-direction. By the time he was 21, he was working full-time paying his way through a four-year college degree from MN State University.

How It
All Started

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By 23 he made his first offer on a business he was doing the accounting for, and sold himself to a banker to back the offer. At 25 he and a college friend saw an opportunity in the growing demand for used computer equipment, at a time when new computers were significantly more expensive than they are today. They moved quickly from selling computers for cash at a booth in the Fargo Convention Center to a scalable franchise model, sought after and purchased in 1996 by Grow Biz, now Winmark Corp, a large Corporation that continued to scale Computer Renaissance into a thriving reseller of used IT Equipment for years to come.

 

In 1996, after earning his MBA from the Carlson School of Management at the University of Minnesota—completing his final exams the morning his second daughter was born—he founded Opportunity Distributing Inc. Open to a wide variety of liquidation opportunities, he dove into a series of unconventional ventures, from buying and refurbishing golf carts to repackaging children's clothing and reselling gas station baseball hats—and, of course, IT equipment. Over time, the IT side of the business became more consistent, and he honed in on IT refurbishment and re-sale. One of the early adopters to data security measures, ODI became NAID AAA Certified in 2015 and has continued to stay on the edge of certification efforts to regulate not only the processing of IT equipment, but the disposal and end-of-life treatment of electronics and e-waste. 

 

 

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Operating continuously for over 29 years, following the ebb and flow of market conditions, Opportunity Distributing Inc. (ODI) has grown into a thriving family-run, Minnesota based company. In 2019, Chuck’s second daughter, Sarah Nelson, joined the family business after a career in sales and marketing. Sarah spear-headed the company’s adoption of the R2v3 Standard, formalizing ODI’s commitment to people, safety and the environment. Chuck and Sarah continue to be passionate about people, the environment and how they can best serve their customers’ IT needs. Sarah, now majority owner in the company, looks forward to a bright future with happy employees and delighted customers.

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OUR MISSION

Opportunity Distributing, Inc. (ODI) is your trusted partner for end-of-life-technology and decommissioning. We enable your business to confidently achieve your sustainability and security goals. Our environmentally conscious, small-scale operation means we can offer a personalized experience and streamlined processes. Avoid completing long forms, speak to actual humans, get maximum value returned and know that ODI is always there to protect your interests. 

ODI LEGACY: IN THE NEWS

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"We were green before it was cool!"- Chuck.

 

ODI prides itself on being green to the core and from the beginning. We're proud to have helped headline the industry- literally!, especially here in Minnesota, into what it is today. 

CERTIFICATES

ODI is committed to staying up to date on all things data security and environmental compliance. To prove our commitment to such quality; ODI is certified R2v3, ISO 9001, ISO 14001 and ISO 45001.

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