Burt Nordstrand has been in recovery from compulsive overeating for thirty years. While struggling with food and other dangerous addictions, he started SSG Corporation in 1971 and transformed the gas-and-convenience-store industry. As of 2010, Nordstrand's multimillion-dollar company employs five hundred people in forty locations in Minnesota and Wisconsin. Along with his successful ventures in real estate development, Nordstrand is also an athlete and avid sailor. He and his wife, Yvonne, divide their time between Wisconsin, Minnesota, the Caribbean, Colorado, and Venice, Florida. The couple has five children and eight grandchildren. They are active in philanthropy and in the recovery community through the Burt Nordstrand Family Fund.