Laura Zabel is the Executive Director of Springboard for the Arts, an economic and community development agency run by and for artists. Springboard provides programs that help artists make a living and a life, and programs that help communities connect to the creative power of artists. Springboard is a nationally recognized leader in artist-led community development, creative placemaking and cross-sector collaboration. Springboard’s work has been featured by the New York Times, PBS, Wall Street Journal, Stanford Social Innovation Review and The Guardian and directly impacts over 25,000 artists each year in their home state of Minnesota. Through their free toolkits, training and resources Springboard’s programs have been replicated in over 80 communities across the U.S. and internationally. Zabel has been honored with numerous awards, including the YBCA 100, Gard Foundation Award of Excellence, Common Future Local Economy Fellowship and the Bush Foundation Leadership Fellowship. Zabel is on the board of directors of the Metropolitan Consortium of Community Developers and serves as an advisor to Dakota Resources, The Laundromat Project, Local Initiatives Support Corporation and the University of Kansas Department of Theater and Dance.

Alisha Vincent is a dedicated and innovative educator who cares about creating practical and relevant learning experiences that matter to her students and make a difference in the communities that students come from, reside in, and go back to. In addition to being an educator for the past ten years, she has also been a long-time small business owner with her husband. She is proud of her three children and thankful to have them attend a thriving school at Sioux Valley. She loves SD and is an outdoor enthusiast as well.

Rebecca Undem learned early in her life that people are what matters most. As the author of How Mommy Got Her Groove Back™, inspirational speaker, and community advocate, she’s helped hundreds of companies and leaders improve their people processes. Today, she inspires people to live BIG no matter their zip code through her speaking events, retreats/workshops, and podcast, The Small Town Big Talk Show, where she serves up a passionate and playful take on how to bloom where you’re planted. In 2019, Rebecca founded a non-profit organization called Growing Small Towns, which offers dynamic co-working space, entrepreneurial supports, and innovation services to the people who work and live in small towns. Rebecca believes that everyone has something positive to contribute, that if you’re not growing, you’re dying, and that anything really is possible. Her biggest champions and daily dose of reality are her 3 kids under the age of 12, Andrew, Carter, and Brynlee, along with her farmer husband, Jeremiah. They both ground her and keep her from taking herself too seriously. Rebecca and her family call Oakes, North Dakota, home, where her roots are the deepest, and her heart belongs.

Erica Stone is the Director of Future of Work Strategy for Citibank, based in Sioux Falls, SD. She oversees Citi’s Home Office Program across North America and is heavily involved in long-term roadmap activities for Operations. She also serves on the Board of Directors for Citicorp Trust South Dakota. Erica has been at Citi for decades, holding a variety of Chief of Staff and Program Management leadership roles.

Tanya is a landscape architect and co-owner of Tallgrass Landscape Architecture in Custer, SD. Our mission is to be a creative partner for inspired placemaking, helping to create flourishing communities with high quality everyday lives through collaborative place-inspired design throughout the Northern Great Plains and American West. Tanya's personal commitment to this mission extends to her volunteer activities; she serves on the Custer Area Economic Development Corporation and Foundation Board, the Rushmore Region Board, is the South Dakota section chair for the Nebraska Dakotas Chapter of ASLA and is an organizer of the annual AIA SD Design in the Hills conference. She is a past Dakota Rising Fellow and is honored to support Dakota Resources by serving on the Advisory Council.

Amy Miller was born and raised a South Dakotan. Growing up in Faulkton instilled in her small-town pride from a young age: Believing that with the right tools anything is possible. She has been a teacher and spent the last 10 years as an administrator for Webster High School. In 2020 she joined the SD Department of Education as the Assistant Director of Career and Technical. Helping students identify career paths that keep our rural life viable and connecting existing industry to our schools to keep the workforce pipeline strong are two of her greatest passions.