Speakers

Jane Oh grew up in Milwaukee, Wisconsin as a first generation Korean-American. She has been practicing medicine for over 20 years, but when she began practicing and teaching yoga, her view of healing fundamentally changed. She is currently becoming certified in SMART (Stress Management and Resiliency Training) through the Benson-Henry Mind Body Institute at Harvard Medical School, and she believes that we all have the ability to heal much of our suffering through the power of the mind-body connection.

Joy King joined Be The Match in 2016 and serves as Senior Vice President of Philanthropy and Executive Director for Be The Match Foundation. 

She is responsible for leading the Foundation staff and its Board of Directors to significantly grow revenue to advance the life-saving mission of Be The Match. Revenue raised by the Foundation is used to expand access to cellular therapy, provide support for patients and their families experiencing transplant, and fund life-saving research. 

With more than 15 years of experience in development leadership roles, King was most recently the Senior Vice President of Operations for the Midwest division of American Cancer Society overseeing 250 staff members with an annual fundraising goal of $32 million. 

In this role, she led operations for the division including community engagement, distinguished partners and health systems. King was also recently recognized by Minneapolis-St. Paul Business Journal as a 2015 Women in Business honoree.

Her career began with American Cancer Society as Field Representative for Relay for Life in Texas. She was quickly promoted to Regional Executive Director in Texas and then Regional Vice President for Nebraska, transforming the staff into a high performing successful team. In 2013, she took on the role of Vice President of Community Engagement for the Midwest division. 

King holds a Bachelor of Science degree from Tarleton State University.

This presentation provides a case study informing how a regional economy can create an opportunity rich landscape for investors.  With the state of Minnesota as our example, we will delve into how a regional business culture with self-reinforcing robust business climate evolves over time and what the drivers are for that development.  We will also examine the importance of diversity across sectors, as well as the impacts of cross fertilization of ideas and talents.

• How a regional economy can create an opportunity rich landscape for investors;
• How a regional business culture  with a self-reinforcing robust business climate evolves over time and what the drivers are for that development;
• The Importance of diversity across sectors;
• The impacts of cross fertilization of ideas and talent.

Steve Elkins, Metropolitan Council Member, District 5

Steve Elkins was appointed to the Metropolitan Council in March 2011 by Gov. Mark Dayton and reappointed in 2015.  He lives in Bloomington, and represents District 5, which includes the Hennepin County cities of Bloomington, Edina, Hopkins, and Richfield, and the unorganized territory of Fort Snelling.

Prior to his appointment to the Metropolitan Council, Elkins served on the Bloomington City Council for nine years, and the Bloomington Housing & Redevelopment Authority for five years. He has been active on committees with Metro Cities, the League of Minnesota Cities and the National League of Cities (NLC). He was chair of the NLC Transportation Committee in 2010. Elkins has served as a member of the Minnesota Department of Transportation’s Complete Streets Advisory Committee and the Mileage-based User Fee Task Force. He has served on both the I-35W Solutions Alliance and the I-494 Corridor Commission, including a year as chair of the I-494 group (2010).

Elkins has also served on three Metropolitan Council advisory and policy groups. He was a member of the Land Use Advisory Committee (2003-2011); the large cities representative on the MetroGIS Policy Board (2008-2011) and the Transportation Advisory Board (1996-2001).

On the Metropolitan Council, Elkins serves on the Transportation, Community Development, and Litigation Review Committees.

“I look forward to fostering an effective collaboration between the Council and local governments to pursue strategies that improve the region’s economic competitiveness and quality of life,” Elkins said.

“One of mytop priorities is working with local governments to effectively coordinate regional transportation plans with local land-use plans to maximize the access of regional employers to the widest array of workers.”

Elkins is a Senior Enterprise Data Architect with Optum Health. He is a member of the Bloomington Chamber of Commerce and represented the City of Bloomington on the board of directors from 2004-2011.

Elkins has a bachelor’s degree in economics from the University of California, Berkeley. He lives in Bloomington with his wife, Judy. He has two grown daughters: Michelle, an art historian, and Danielle, a transportation engineer.

Chris Dixon is a health & fitness educator and wellness consultant in the Twin Cities, MN. His list of businesses include: Insider Training, Inc., Fitness and Sports Training, LLC. and the not-for-profit, Health Is Love Organization. As Golden Gopher alum, Chris holds degrees in sport management, coaching and applied kinesiology from the University of Minnesota. As an athlete, Chris competed as a horizontal jumper for the Gophers and was a NCAA provisional qualifier in the triple jump. Being involved in the health & fitness community since 2004 Dixon has held fitness certifications from the American Council on Exercise, American College of Sports Medicine, National Strength & Conditioning Association and USA Track & Field. As an entrepreneur Dixon has been honored by the Dakota County Regional Chamber of Commerce, awarded a Buckman Fellowship for Leadership in Philanthropy and selected as a “Rising Alumni” by the College of Education and Human Development in 2014. Chris also serves as director of the National Personal Training Institute of Minnesota (Edina, MN). Chris resides in Minneapolis, MN.

From racecars to restaurants, Luke Shimp is a master in some unusual industries. He started his career as a NASCAR championship mechanic for Roush Fenway Racing, and then worked with Joe Gibbs racing from 1998 until 2001. Shortly afterwards, Luke partnered with Blue Plate Restaurant Company and founders, Stephanie Shimp and David Burley, all of whom received the Restaurateurs of the Year Award from the Minnesota Restaurant Association.

In 2013, he parted ways with Blue Plate and opened Red Cow, a burger joint with a sophisticated twist that includes craft beer, mixology-driven cocktails, and a stellar list of 30 wines. With Red Cow, Luke has won several awards including Restaurateur of the Year, the MSP Business Journal Eureka! Award for Innovation, and the Twin Cities Burger Battle. USA Today also listed Red Cow’s Turkey Burger as one of the top 10 in the United States, and Jason DeRusha named Red Cow one of the 38 best burgers in St. Paul and Minneapolis. 

Today, Luke also owns Red Rabbit, and continues to grow his restaurant empire—one burger at a time.

Van Hong, a Cambodian immigrant. Son to Leth and Kim Hong, and brother to Jenny, Ty and Sarah. He is currently working at Deloitte & Touche within the Advisory practice. Also, he is currently the President of Spam FC Scholarship Foundation, a nonprofit that helps students pay for college. His passion include soccer, volunteering and traveling the world.

Jim Nelson serves as District 5950 Rotary Foundation Chair.   He  joined the Rotary Club of Minneapolis City of Lakes in 1999, served as club president in 2009-2010, and served as District Governor for Rotary District 5950 in 2014-2015.  Jim is also active in Rotary water and sanitation projects in Honduras.

Jim and his wife Ellen live in Edina.  Jim and Ellen’s daughter is a sophomore at Fordham University in New York, and Jim has two grown kids and 6 grandkids.  The family has served as host parents to three Rotary youth exchange students, from New Zealand, South Africa and Japan. 

Jim practiced law for 43 years, the last 32 of those years with the Minneapolis firm of Briggs and Morgan, where he specialized in commercial real estate law.  His retirement activities include his Rotary work, volunteering with the Minnesota Historical Society, and service as chair of the Edina Human Rights and Relations Commission. 

Bill has served as the City of Edina’s “Economic Development Manager” for five years.  In this role, Bill works on several business-related projects. His current focus is on commercial development projects and public improvements that bring long term value to the community.

With degrees in engineering and urban planning, Bill brings experience in both the private and public sectors to the City’s staff.

For the first ten-years of his career, Bill assisted real estate developers and architects to build exceptional projects throughout the U. S. Highlights include Triangle Town Center and Streets of Southpoint (North Carolina), Country Music Hall of Fame, Peabody Place, Detroit Orchestra Hall, City Place (West Palm Beach), Miami International Airport, and Four Seasons Hotel.

After obtaining his Master’s degree from the University of Illinois-Chicago, Bill focused on economic development strategies and revitalization of established neighborhoods and first-tier suburbs. His work with the City of Chicago yielded strong experience in the use of tax increment funding and other business incentives. Later as Director of Community & Economic Development for a first-ring suburb of Chicago, he completed a Development Framework Plan to guide the redevelopment of a 78-acre mixed use neighborhood and helped broker partnerships to secure growth commitments from local businesses.

Bill and his family moved to Edina in 2010.

Mark C. Gordon is the President and Dean of Mitchell Hamline School of Law in St. Paul. Prior to his arrival in the Twin Cities in July, 2015, Gordon served as President of Defiance College, a small, liberal-arts based undergraduate institution in rural Northwestern Ohio, and before that as Dean of University of Detroit Mercy School of Law in Detroit.

Gordon is originally from New York, where he worked as an aide to New York’s Governor Mario Cuomo in the mid-1980’s and then, during the first Clinton Administration, as Chief of Staff to Andrew Cuomo at the US Department of Housing and Urban Development.

Gordon has also served as Associate Professor in the Practice of Public Affairs at Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs. He received his B.A. and his Masters in International Affairs from Columbia University, and his law degree from Harvard Law School.

Microsoft Technology Center Site Visit

February 19^th, 2019

Location: Centennial Lakes Plaza, 3601 West 76^th St, Suite 600, Edina, MN 55435

7:30-8:30 a.m. Bagels and Coffee, Tour and Microsoft Applications/Technology

This program requires pre-registration by 1/19/19 to attend. Sign up will be at our weekly meeting starting in December.

Bio: Bart Sneary

Bart Sneary is a Business Applications Architect at the Microsoft Technology Center in Edina.  He’s a veteran of this space, having worked professionally with CRM and ERP solutions for 25 years and the Microsoft one for the last 11.  As a technical architect, although he specializes in the business applications space, he enjoys working with a robust breadth of technologies that all play a part in helping ease business challenges.

Nicholas Legeros has a Masters of Fine Arts degree from the University of Minnesota.  For over twenty years he was an Artist-in-residence and instructor at the Minnetonka Center for the Arts.  He also taught for Metropolitan State University, Breck Schools and the Edina Art Center.  Sixteen years ago Mr. Legeros left teaching to pursue a full-time career as a sculptor.  His recent large commissions include a statues that honor Donald Nyrop and the women and men of Northwest Airline at Centennial Lakes Park in Edina, MN, of Goldy Gopher for Coffman Union, Sid Hartman for the Target Center and a 17’ high statue of St. Joseph for St. Joseph’s Hospital in St. Paul, MN.  Mr. Legeros served on the board of the Northeast Minneapolis Arts Association (NEMAA) for seven years (three as President) and five years on the board of the Northeast Community Development Corporation.

Business success is about making the right moves in times of upheaval, opportunity, or threat to the organization. Will your leaders know what to do in their next high stakes situation? Terry Moore shows decision makers how to lead their teams to not just survive, but to profit from crisis. His proven Strategic Prediction method takes strategic leadership to the next level, so that your audience will discover opportunities where others see only danger. In this talk, audiences will learn the methods and tactics to turn their next crisis into gold.

They will:

• Know how to predict what everyone else will do in any crisis situation

• Understand advanced levels of strategic thinking and leadership

• Seal their success with new and winning end-game tactics

Stela Center is the Director of Development with Wallin Education Partners. As a former Wallin Education Partners scholar, Stela brings a student perspective to the team and is able to speak to the impact of the program. Stela was a recipient of the Rotary Ambassador for Peace Scholarship in 2006. With this support from Rotary, she completed her Masters degree in International Peace Studies from the United Nations Mandated University for Peace, in Costa Rica. Stela is originally from Bosnia, but her family left Bosnia during the war that took place in the 1990s. After living in refugee camps for about a year and a half, Stela moved to Minnesota with her family. Because of the support of these two programs, Stela was able to pursue a career working in the non-profit sector in Minnesota. Through her work, she has supported organizations such as Global Volunteers, American Refugee Committee, and American Red Cross before joining the Wallin Education Partners team in December of 2015. Stela recently joined the University of Minnesota Rotary Club as a member.