Heather Beaner
Retired U.S. Air Force Lawyer and Farmer
waldi@nvc.net
Moderator
Mellette, SD

Lieutenant Colonel Heather Beaner is a retired United States Air Force attorney and a farmer near Mellette in northeastern South Dakota.  After serving as a military attorney on active duty for 12 years, she transferred to the Reserves in 2011 and moved home to take over her father’s 2,300 acre farming operation.  While her husband has a full-time non-farm job in town, Heather manages the corn and soybean farm, conducts the input buying and grain marketing, does all the planting and harvesting, and tries to keep up with their 4-year-old son.  She is also an active volunteer, including serving on the board of directors at the regional domestic violence shelter, delegate for the local grain cooperative, American Legion and Auxiliary leadership, and her church worship coordinator.

Stacie Suedkamp
Fig Tales
figtales@gmail.com
Flandreau, SD

Stacie Suedkamp creates custom desserts and enchanting stories. She turned a hobby and love for baked goods into her full-time sugar cookie business, Fig Tales. With a background in sales, marketing and training combined with a family history of hard work she doubled down on her strengths and works her dream job. She firmly believes you are one Google search away from learning any new skill. In addition to baking beautiful cookies, she’s a phenomenal idea generator and connector of people.

Carly Pochop
Colorful Creations Art Studio
carly@thecolorfulcreations.com
Aberdeen, SD

Carly Pochop was an elementary Art Teacher in the Aberdeen School District for two years. She studied Art Education in college for five years at Minnesota State University Moorhead and specialized in Ceramics. Though she loved teaching kids, the idea of making her dreams become her reality couldn't wait any longer and here is why: In March of 2015, she found out her sister has breast cancer and five months later dad was diagnosed with Prostate Cancer. They are very close and the news of this ignited a fire in her soul. See here is the thing, there is no family history and Carly’s sister is only 38 and her dad is 62. She looked at her life and realized she needed to start listening to that little voice inside her head. You know, the voice that tells you to do something. The voice that says "Wow, that would be cool if..." Well that little voice had been talking to Carly for over a year and a half, and it was time she started to listen. Only one month after her sister’s diagnosis, Carly started Colorful Creations. By starting this, she vowed to help those in need. She may not be able to help medically, but Carly’s promise is to put a smile on your face and help you create a masterpiece you never thought possible. Life is too short not to smile and embrace every single moment. Not waiting for the future, but embracing the current. That is Carly’s mission. To give back. This is an amazing community filled with remarkable people and everyone has a story, no matter how big or small. We are all unique and need to celebrate that.

Kathy Meland, 
KM Consulting
katmel62291@gmail.com
Wallace, SD

Kathy Meland started her own consulting firm, KM Consulting, LLC to assist farmers/ranchers with preparing and understanding the financial side of their business. She also manages their own farm finances and has been actively involved in all phases of its operation during the past 30 years. Kathy considers raising their children and working together as a family her most valuable career. Her past experience included such roles as a bank examiner, credit analyst, commodity broker, and farm management instructor. Kathy started her own venture in 2017 with the intention of having a "side-line" business but it has grown over a short period of time as there is a greater focus on the financial aspect of farm operations.

Susan Evans
NebTray
Aberdeen, SD

Susan is a registered occupational therapist who has worked variety of settings during her twenty-eight year career. The last twenty years, of which have been in the home health arena. During this time, Susan discovered that a lack of medication adherence leads to poor functional performance, declining general health and an increase in re-hospitalizations. Susan would arrive at the patient’s home to do therapy only to find that their oxygen saturation levels were low and they were short of breath at rest due to poor adherence to their breathing treatments. Susan would then need to cancel occupational therapy and at times send patients to the emergency room for assessment. To combat this problem, Susan developed a rudimentary nebulizer medication organizer made out of shoebox tops. Susan found that once the nebulizer medications were placed in the organizer, patients could easily follow the daily medication program. Thus the NebTray was formed.

Kae McNeil
Assistant Vice President, U.S. Bank, Wealth Management
Moderator
kae.mcneil@usbank.com

Kae is a graduate of South Dakota State University, a SCORE volunteer who mentors new and existing businesses and is on the Board of Directors for the SCORE branch in Aberdeen, The South Dakota Center for Enterprise Opportunity Advisory board and South Dakota Education Access Foundation. Kae has volunteer experience on a number of community boards such as, Aberdeen Development Corporation, Chamber of Commerce, NSU Foundation, Education Assistance Corporation and Avera St. Luke’s Home/Hospice to name a few. Kae has previous job experience with SD Job Service, Mutual of Omaha-Claims Center and Avera St. Luke’s. Since 2003 Kae works at U.S. Bank as an Assistant Vice President in Wealth Management with a passion to help customers meet their financial goals.

Kimberly Dorsett
Partner, Richardson Law Firm
kdorsett@rwwsh.com

Kimberly graduated Summa Cum Laude from the University of South Dakota in 1992, and Order of the Coif from DePaul University School of Law in Chicago, Illinois in 1999. Prior to joining the Richardson Law Firm in 2009, Kimberly had been practicing law with Harvey Oliver and Carlyle Richards since moving to Aberdeen in 1999. During that time, she also served as the Brown County State’s Attorney for six years and a Special Assistant United States’ Attorney for three years under US Attorneys Marty Jackley and Brendan Johnson. Kimberly has volunteer experience on a number of boards, including the YMCA of Aberdeen, East River Legal Services, and the Bethlehem Lutheran Foundation Board. Kimberly’s practice areas include employment law, business law, general civil defense litigation, estate planning, and workplace investigations. Kimberly and her husband Marshall have a son, Jackson, and a daughter, Taryn.

Marcia Hultman
Department Secretary, Department of Labor & Regulation
605.773.5395

Marcia Hultman was appointed Cabinet Secretary of the South Dakota Department of Labor and Regulation by Governor Dennis Daugaard in 2014 and reappointed by Governor Kristi Noem in 2019. Prior, she had served in various DLR leadership roles for 17 years. Throughout her career, Hultman has been involved in the delivery of workforce training, employment, adult education and literacy, and unemployment insurance services, as well as state specific wage and hour, workers’ compensation, and human rights programs. Hultman received a bachelor’s degree from Black Hills State University and completed the Council of State Government Henry Toll Leadership program in 2016.