'10 speakers

Don Jorgensen, a Parker native, graduated from Dakota Wesleyan University in 1986 with a Bachelor of Arts degree in communication. His first radio gig took him to Winner, working as news and farm director for KWYR AM Country 1260 and FM Magic 93. This was only the beginning of his career in broadcasting. Later he took a job at 1140 KSOO AM in Sioux Falls and served as the assistant news director.

He made the switch from radio to television in 1990, when he joined the KELO TV news team. Jorgensen has served in various capacities at KELO, including anchor of Good Morning KELOLAND, helping to initiate After Nine, and then news anchor for Midday in KELOLAND.

Arel Moodie, widely known as “America’s Top Young Speaker,” is an award-winning entrepreneur, published writer, and professional speaker. Arel has been featured in USA Today, Essence, Young Money Magazine, ABC, NBC, and Fox News affiliates, and is the best-selling author of “Your Starting Point for Student Success.”

From starting his life on welfare in the projects of Brooklyn, N.Y., to starting two businesses, Arel shows students how to proactively create the life of their dreams.

As a professional speaker, he has spoken to more than 60,000 students in 37 states and two countries. It’s no wonder why he is named one of the “Country's Top Generation Y Leaders” in the book “Millennial.” Arel is also featured in the No. 1 New York Times Bestselling book “Who's Got Your Back?” Always the entertainer, he likes to dance and has opened for the Grammy Award winning R&B group “112.”

Sheena Lindahl is the co-founder of The Extreme Entrepreneurship Tour, whose mission is to help students plan, prioritize and pursue their own vision in life by utilizing the entrepreneurial mindset.

Before co-founding Extreme Entrepreneurship, Sheena worked as a senior associate at GreenHills Ventures, where she managed the due diligence process, providing recommendations for investing $1.5-$5 million dollars in early stage, high-growth companies.

Financially independent by the age of 17, Sheena paid NYU’s $30,000+ yearly tuition, excelled in school, worked full-time at a job she loved, co-founded a business and wrote a book.

In 2006, she was named by BusinessWeek as one of the country’s top 25 entrepreneurs under 25. She has been featured on the AOL homepage, as well as appearing on CBS, NBC, and ABC News and in USA Today.

Dr. Kay Palan, the associate dean for undergraduate programs in the College of Business at Iowa State University, coordinates the university-wide entrepreneurial studies minor and chairs the university’s Entrepreneurship Supervisory Committee which oversees entrepreneurship academic issues at Iowa State University.

She is also an active case writer in the areas of marketing strategy and entrepreneurship. Iowa State University was honored with the National Model Undergraduate Entrepreneurship Program Award at the United States Association for Small Business and Entrepreneurship (USASBE) Annual Conference earlier this year.
 

Chris Miller, founder of Delta Real Estate Portfolio, LLC, discovered that after many failed attempts to keep a regular 9-5 career, owning a business was fate. ADD prevented the next great invention and growing up in a small farm town in Nebraska limited the odds of success with a high-tech startup (to this day operating without a cell phone and business suit is still preferred). Becoming a real estate entrepreneur was the last safe refuge.

He obtained a real estate broker’s license and a small management portfolio of more than $2 million-worth of property before graduating from the University of Nebraska-Omaha with degrees in real estate and finance.

Today, Chris is working on his MBA in entrepreneurship at the University of Tampa while continuing to raise private capital for his real estate business in Omaha.

In 2003, Frank Klesitz started The Final Rep Fitness (www.thefinalrep.com) as a personal trainer to help people live healthier lives. At 20 years old, Frank led the company in doing more than $225,000 in sales and his top personal trainer made more than $80,000. Frank’s passion is now marketing and sales – with social media, blogging and e-mail marketing being his strengths.

With his friend since second grade, John McMillan, Frank started Vyral Marketing to offer the same marketing services for professionals that he had successfully offered his personal fitness trainers at The Final Rep Fitness.

Frank graduated Magna Cum Laude from University of Nebraska-Omaha in 2007 with an entrepreneurship major. He was named UNO Entrepreneur of the Year in 2006 and 2007 and is a HubSpot.com Certified Internet Marketer.

Vonnie Barnett of Hartford, S.D., serves as assistant director for the Enterprise Institute. In that capacity, she supervises market research and competitive analysis for clients. Vonnie also works with clients as an entrepreneur coach, encouraging the development of their products and businesses.

She serves as a community ambassador for the West Central Junior Achievement and as the chairman for the SIOUXLAND RSVP Advisory Council. Previously, she worked as a marketing consultant and director of marketing for a corrugated box and display manufacturer in Minneapolis.

She held administrative positions in financial, construction materials, vending and hospitality industries. She received her bachelor of science degree in business administration from Northern State University in Aberdeen.

Belinda Engelhart is the regional director of the Watertown SBDC office, one of six Small Business Development Centers in South Dakota. She provides professional, confidential business consulting services to clients in 10 northeastern counties.

Before taking this position in 1996, she was an assistant professor of business at Mount Marty College in Yankton. Her experience includes ownership of several small businesses.

Engelhart holds a master’s degree from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, and an MBA and EdD from the University of South Dakota. She is a certified economic development financial professional.

Matthew Smart is the founder and CEO of Smart Software Solutions, Inc. The company was started in 2004 while Matthew was attaining his master’s degree in computer science. With an initial budget of $3,000 and a basic computer, he grew Smart Software into a consulting firm with two offices and 20 employees.

The company strives to foster a nontraditional corporate work environment that employees find compelling and rewarding. Smart Software utilizes innovative business processes and the low cost of doing business in South Dakota to provide its clients with excellent quality consulting services at very competitive rates.

Lezlie Snoozy-Kaitfors is no novice to business ownership. She is a graduate of South Dakota State University, Brookings, with a degree in biology-geriatric care management, CSA, and has used her degree to combine healthcare and entrepreneurship in Western South Dakota. She has more than 12 years of experience in the healthcare industry and opened Black Hills Comfort Keepers in June 2003. Years later she decided to expand her business and the services provided by joining forces with several partners to open Belle Fourche Senior Living at Country Place Living, LLC.

She commented in an article printed in the “Butte County News” Feb. 18, 2010, that she and her husband, Mike, wanted additional ways to help older residents – which began when her own grandmother had to move out of town because there weren’t local facilities for her. Kaitfors saw a need and worked with partners to provide that need – which is, after all, one of the foundations of entrepreneurship.