• Sovran founded December 29, 1987 by three employees of the former Control Data Corporation, a supercomputer firm based in Bloomington.
  • Operated as a third-party maintenance provider for IBM and Wang Laboratories mainframe systems.
  • Original office was located off of East Bush Lake Road in Bloomington.
  • Henry Rogers, a Sovran salesperson, purchased the company in 1990.
  • Lisa Loken joins Sovran in 1990.
  • Began a partnership with Novell, Inc., a large contributor to the adoption of local area networks (LAN) in 1992.
  • Acquired another IT firm in 1993.
  • Began partnering with Microsoft by offering Windows NT in 1993, a multi-user operating system for workstations and servers.
  • Deubener Award Recipient from St. Paul Chamber of Commerce in 1994.
  • Moved to second office off of Pilot Knob Road in Eagan.
  • Lisa Loken buys into Sovran as a minority owner in 1998.
  • Partnered with Cisco Systems, Inc. a networking and telecommunications company in 2000.
  • On September 11, 2001, Sovran moved to the current office at 2915 Commers Drive in Eagan. This space has 24,000 square feet with a seminar and lab area for customers to come for lunch and learn opportunities.
  • Survived the dot-com bust of 2000-2002, where many IT firms failed and many companies restricted spending on new technology.
  • Lisa Loken becomes majority owner in 2003. Sovran becomes a fully woman-owned business.
  • Survived the great recession of 2007-2009, started by the financial crisis which caused restricted spending among many businesses and corporations.
  • Sovran was named one of the top 25 women-owned businesses by the Minneapolis-St. Paul Business Journal in 2010.
  • Sovran was named one of the top 25 women-owned businesses by the Minneapolis-St. Paul Business Journal in 2011.
  • Lisa Loken started a New Horizons franchise in the Twin Cities in May 2011. Located in the same building as Sovran, New Horizons is a computer learning center for technology and business skills. New Horizons and Sovran work together synergistically.
  • Traci Leffner joins Sovran in 2016.
  • At peak, Sovran has employed more than 60 individuals.
​​Sovran has been proud to partner with multiple local charities, either raising funds and materials for or volunteering time at:
  • The Open Door – A food pantry in Eagan and Sovran’s main charity in 2017. Every month employees hold a competitive food drive between Sovran and New Horizons. Some employees also take a class, then teach food pantry clientele how to cook on a budget.
  • The Salvation Army – Employees volunteer as bell ringers over the holiday season annually.
  • Feed My Starving Children – Employees volunteer to pack meals at the Eagan location.
  • Ronald McDonald House – Employees volunteer to cook meals for families staying near a sick child.
  • Neighborhood House – Employees volunteer to help distribute fresh produce directly to those who need it most, and raise funds through charity golf games.
  • Toys For Tots – Employees hold a toy drive annually.

Over the past 30 years, Sovran has built partnerships with a number of excellent firms including:
  • APC – Barracuda – Cisco Systems – Citrix – Dell –  Hewlett Packard Enterprise – HP – Meraki – Nimble Storage – Polycom  – Sophos – Symantec – Tegile – Trend Micro – Veeam – VMware – WatchGuard – Zix Corp