2018 Keynote Speaker -
Nancy Dahl
Nancy M. Dahl’s professional career spans five industries with sales ranging from $20 Million to $750 Million. The largest included 20,000 employees, seven manufacturing plants, over 200 field offices and in excess of 700 retail operations in North America. In addition, she serves on both corporate and nonprofit boards of directors.
Nancy has been asked to share her expertise in Leadership, Leading Change, Innovation and Professional Development across the nation for a wide range of business and educational audiences. Her blog-Lead your life-at www.nancymdahl.com reaches a global audience dedicated to leading their life with intention. Her book GROUNDED-leading your life with intention-just released in November 2017 to sell-out crowds at her book launch events. Now her work is dedicated to speaking, writing, and serving as a C-suite/Board business advisor.
She has been recognized as “one of 25 Women to Watch”, honored as a Distinguished Alumni for her career accomplishments and as a Community Leader for her dedication to mentoring others. This past January she was recognized as a “woman who leads” and was featured on the cover of MN Business Magazine.
She earned her undergraduate degree at Gustavus Adolphus College, her MBA Graduate Degree at University of St. Thomas and is a graduate of the University of Minnesota Executive Program. In addition, she has earned numerous professional certifications including Advanced Board Fellowship Certificate from the National Association of Corporate Directors.
She has been married for over 30 years to Brian. Together they enjoy life’s adventures with their boys Erik and Jorgen, both graduates of South Dakota State University.
Nancy has been asked to share her expertise in Leadership, Leading Change, Innovation and Professional Development across the nation for a wide range of business and educational audiences. Her blog-Lead your life-at www.nancymdahl.com reaches a global audience dedicated to leading their life with intention. Her book GROUNDED-leading your life with intention-just released in November 2017 to sell-out crowds at her book launch events. Now her work is dedicated to speaking, writing, and serving as a C-suite/Board business advisor.
She has been recognized as “one of 25 Women to Watch”, honored as a Distinguished Alumni for her career accomplishments and as a Community Leader for her dedication to mentoring others. This past January she was recognized as a “woman who leads” and was featured on the cover of MN Business Magazine.
She earned her undergraduate degree at Gustavus Adolphus College, her MBA Graduate Degree at University of St. Thomas and is a graduate of the University of Minnesota Executive Program. In addition, she has earned numerous professional certifications including Advanced Board Fellowship Certificate from the National Association of Corporate Directors.
She has been married for over 30 years to Brian. Together they enjoy life’s adventures with their boys Erik and Jorgen, both graduates of South Dakota State University.
George Kembel
GEORGE KEMBEL
FOUNDING DIRECTOR STANFORD D.SCHOOL, MANAGING DIRECTOR DGLOBAL.ORG
George is an entrepreneur and investor turned educator. He co-founded the Stanford d.school and led it for over a decade. Passionate about nurturing the creative potential of others, George spends his time working with students, teachers, leaders, and investors around the world to unleash the latent innovative capacity of their teams, organizations, communities, and ecosystems.
Under George’s leadership, the d.school grew from a few projects and a classroom of students to hundreds of projects, thousands of students, and a cutting edge 30,000 sq.ft. facility at the center of campus. George scaled the d.school’s impact even more dramatically. From a napkin manifesto to a widely recognized leader in innovation and education, the d.school has helped usher in a larger global design thinking movement. Schools and universities around the world are starting d.school-like programs, governments and large organizations are investing in design thinking as a fundamental capacity and the start-up companies and projects that have spun out of the d.school have impacted millions of lives.
George’s experiences as CEO, venture capitalist, and now teacher have radically reshaped his approach to leadership. George focuses on innovators, not innovations. He prioritizes learning over expertise, experimentation over planning, and collaboration over individual excellence. His personal missions includes unleashing creativity at global scale, fundamentally transforming how we educate our children, how we lead our organizations, and how we tackle some of the most significant challenges of our time.
George has since launched DGLOBAL.ORG, global non-profit focuses on unleashing the creative potential of every human on the planet. Birthed from the d.school, DGLOBAL.ORG is pioneering scalable experiential learning models, cultivating global creative leaders, advancing creative technologies and amplifying the work of leaders, parents, and kids whose hearts and efforts align with this mission.
George has three boys, considers Boulder, Colorado his home base and travels widely. He is curious about emergent systems, consciousness, the nature of reality, biologically inspired design, and environments that amplify and guide creative behavior.
FOUNDING DIRECTOR STANFORD D.SCHOOL, MANAGING DIRECTOR DGLOBAL.ORG
George is an entrepreneur and investor turned educator. He co-founded the Stanford d.school and led it for over a decade. Passionate about nurturing the creative potential of others, George spends his time working with students, teachers, leaders, and investors around the world to unleash the latent innovative capacity of their teams, organizations, communities, and ecosystems.
Under George’s leadership, the d.school grew from a few projects and a classroom of students to hundreds of projects, thousands of students, and a cutting edge 30,000 sq.ft. facility at the center of campus. George scaled the d.school’s impact even more dramatically. From a napkin manifesto to a widely recognized leader in innovation and education, the d.school has helped usher in a larger global design thinking movement. Schools and universities around the world are starting d.school-like programs, governments and large organizations are investing in design thinking as a fundamental capacity and the start-up companies and projects that have spun out of the d.school have impacted millions of lives.
George’s experiences as CEO, venture capitalist, and now teacher have radically reshaped his approach to leadership. George focuses on innovators, not innovations. He prioritizes learning over expertise, experimentation over planning, and collaboration over individual excellence. His personal missions includes unleashing creativity at global scale, fundamentally transforming how we educate our children, how we lead our organizations, and how we tackle some of the most significant challenges of our time.
George has since launched DGLOBAL.ORG, global non-profit focuses on unleashing the creative potential of every human on the planet. Birthed from the d.school, DGLOBAL.ORG is pioneering scalable experiential learning models, cultivating global creative leaders, advancing creative technologies and amplifying the work of leaders, parents, and kids whose hearts and efforts align with this mission.
George has three boys, considers Boulder, Colorado his home base and travels widely. He is curious about emergent systems, consciousness, the nature of reality, biologically inspired design, and environments that amplify and guide creative behavior.
Renee Bauman
Co-founder, graphic designer, and wedding stylist Renee Bauman started Hitch Studio with her business partner in early 2014. Her experience with event planning and design runs deep as she’s been a part of the industry for over 13 years and is getting her wedding planner certification next month in Florida. Her customer service shines especially bright while helping brides, small business owners, and retail customers every day in the stylish brick-and-mortar store on Main Ave. in Brookings, SD.
Renee is a strong believer in giving back to her community. She is involved with 1 Million Cups, a Masterminds group, the Chamber of Commerce Board of Directors, a Dakota Rising Fellowship, and the Women In Leadership & Learning (WILL) board — where she helped start the 1st Annual Women’s Leadership Conference in Brookings. In recent years, she taught at SDSU and has volunteered her time in many other ways. Beyond running a small business, mentoring her employees, wedding planning, and designing wedding invitations, she enjoys spending time with her family, her husband, and traveling the world.
Renee is a strong believer in giving back to her community. She is involved with 1 Million Cups, a Masterminds group, the Chamber of Commerce Board of Directors, a Dakota Rising Fellowship, and the Women In Leadership & Learning (WILL) board — where she helped start the 1st Annual Women’s Leadership Conference in Brookings. In recent years, she taught at SDSU and has volunteered her time in many other ways. Beyond running a small business, mentoring her employees, wedding planning, and designing wedding invitations, she enjoys spending time with her family, her husband, and traveling the world.
Chelsea Tracy
Chelsea Tracy is owner and operator of Chelsea's - a women’s clothing and shoe boutique - located on Phillips Avenue in downtown Sioux Falls. Chelsea began her business, from the ground up, at the adventurous age of 20 and March will mark 9 years in business! She is a career oriented, motivated, hard-working and passionate woman with more experience than most at her age. Chelsea specializes in personal styling, fashion merchandising, non-profit organized fashion shows, self-organized and excellently articulated marketing/social media strategies and many other aspects of personally running, owning and operating a retail business. Chelsea has been featured in the vast majority of media prints and news channels in Sioux Falls, the only South Dakota business to be featured in Google's 2014 Economic Impact Report and even highlighted in The Wall Street Journal! Chelsea has also launched another brand, Style by Chelsea which focuses on one-to-one personal styling in the greater Sioux Falls area and where she also has her own personal blog about pushing through the boundaries and comfort zones that hold us back, and of course, fashion!
Chelsea may have a passion for fashion, but her true love and devotion lies in giving back to her community and you’ll see that from the annual Style and the City charity fashion show she puts on, volunteering for Dress for Success Sioux Falls as a Client Coach, being a mentor in the Big Brothers and Big Sisters organization, being an active member in the Junior League of Sioux Falls and putting on monthly Empowerment Events and Featured Charity programs within the boutique. The constant intrigue regarding what is next to come from her keeps the Sioux Falls fashion, and business world, on her doorstep.
Chelsea may have a passion for fashion, but her true love and devotion lies in giving back to her community and you’ll see that from the annual Style and the City charity fashion show she puts on, volunteering for Dress for Success Sioux Falls as a Client Coach, being a mentor in the Big Brothers and Big Sisters organization, being an active member in the Junior League of Sioux Falls and putting on monthly Empowerment Events and Featured Charity programs within the boutique. The constant intrigue regarding what is next to come from her keeps the Sioux Falls fashion, and business world, on her doorstep.
Thad Giedd
Thadeus Giedd serves as client specialist at the Zeal Center for Entrepreneurship in Sioux Falls, SD. Zeal is an entrepreneurial hub of incubation, coworking, labs, conference, meeting space and business resources. A non-profit organization formed in 2004 as a crucial part of the Forward Sioux Falls economic development partnership, Zeal is a 45,000 sq ft multi-use facility that serves as an epicenter of business activity for aspiring, early-stage businesses and entrepreneurs.
In his role, Thad oversees membership services and makes sure that clients have all Zeal’s resources at their disposal. He also guides Zeal’s marketing efforts and enjoys sharing the stories of Sioux Falls’ growing entrepreneurial community. Thad's passions lie in community building, leadership development, team culture, mentorship, marketing & sales and consumer behavior. His favorite activity is business coaching one-on-one with business owners to develop better practices or creative strategies.
In his role, Thad oversees membership services and makes sure that clients have all Zeal’s resources at their disposal. He also guides Zeal’s marketing efforts and enjoys sharing the stories of Sioux Falls’ growing entrepreneurial community. Thad's passions lie in community building, leadership development, team culture, mentorship, marketing & sales and consumer behavior. His favorite activity is business coaching one-on-one with business owners to develop better practices or creative strategies.
Andrew Royer
Andrew Royer has been the Owner and Licensed Property Manager for GoodLife Property Management since March of 2015. He graduated in 2014 with a degree in Business Economics at South Dakota State University where he gained work experience in housing and marketing on campus. He is currently finishing up leasing contracts for the 2018-2019 school year in Brookings, South Dakota where he currently resides.