TEDxFa
rgo 2025
Thread
July 23 + 24, 2025
Brewhalla
849 Attendees
Fargo Civic Center
Every idea, every experience, and every connection we make is a thread in the larger fabric of our lives. At TEDxFargo 2025, we brought these threads together to reveal the intricate patterns that shape our world.
On July 23rd and 24th, 2025, we had two days of thought-provoking talks and transformative ideas. This year’s theme explored the unseen connections between disciplines, communities, and individuals—showing how every story contributes to something greater.
VIEW THE SPEAKERS
Katie Chin
Katie Chin is an award-winning cookbook author, television chef, playwright, caterer, and Culinary Ambassador to the National Pediatric Cancer Foundation. A recognized expert in pan-Asian cuisine, she’s dedicated to showing that delicious Asian dishes can be made by real people in real kitchens.
After growing up in the kitchens of her late mother Leeann Chin’s acclaimed Minneapolis restaurants, Katie pursued a career in entertainment marketing before returning to her culinary roots. She has co-hosted the PBS series Double Happiness, written five cookbooks—including the bestselling Everyday Thai Cooking and Katie Chin’s Global Family Cookbook—and has been featured in top publications such as Forbes, O Magazine, and Bon Appétit. Her television appearances include The Today Show, Iron Chef America, Beat Bobby Flay, and Chopped.
AnnMaria De Mars
Dr. AnnMaria Rousey De Mars is a serial entrepreneur, educator, author and was the first American to win the world judo championships. She is president of 7 Generation Games, a tech startup she co-founded. She was one of Forbes 40 Women to Watch over 40, the first woman to serve as president of national judo organization and an AARP Purpose Prize Fellow. She authored a book on techniques for judo and MMA fighters and articles in academic journals on topics ranging from factor analysis to needs of rural educators in schools serving Indigenous students.
Vern Dosch
With a career spanning 45 years in the Rural Electric and Telecommunication industries, Vern’s leadership reached its pinnacle as President and CEO of National Information Solutions Cooperative (NISC) from 2002 to 2020. Under his guidance, NISC grew into a leading information technology company, providing innovative accounting, billing, and engineering software to over 860 electric cooperatives, telephone companies, municipalities, and broadband providers across all 50 states, American Samoa, Palau, and Canada. Vern was inducted into the National Cooperative Hall of Fame at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C.
Deborah Golden
Deborah Golden thinks differently. Wired for the unconventional, she transforms bold ideas into industry-shaping realities. As Deloitte’s Chief Innovation Officer, Deborah leads at the forefront of technological advancement, tackling challenges and crafting transformative solutions that empower organizations forward in a rapidly evolving world.
Missy Heilman
Missy founded BIO Girls in 2013 and has served as CEO since. Before making it her full-time role in 2018, she spent 15 years in the tech industry as a consultant and marketing leader. Under her leadership, BIO Girls has grown from a local program impacting dozens of girls to a regional nonprofit serving thousands annually. She has scaled the organization through controlled growth and innovation while fostering a workplace culture of balance and family-first values.
Randi Olsen Heinold
Randi is a holistic wellness practitioner that uses seasonal living, body awareness, and intuitive self-care to help people navigate their healing journey with confidence so they can create a rhythm of wellness that feels accessible and deeply supportive for themselves and their family. Her business Hemma Wellbeing integrates abdominal massage, therapeutic yoga, herbalism, and nature-based lifestyle practices through 1:1 sessions and group retreats. She also offers education and insights online through her essays and podcast The Home Practice.
Joel Honeyman
Imagine a world where the impossible becomes possible, where innovation transforms dreams into reality. This is the world Joel Honeyman envisions every day in his role as Vice President of Global Innovation at Bobcat Company. He often describes his role as making the unbelievable believable. He and his team champion Bobcat’s mission of empowering people to accomplish more every day as they identify ways to solve customers’ toughest challenges.
From leveraging emerging technologies to creating entirely new solutions, Bobcat is creating the jobsite of tomorrow. These efforts have positioned Bobcat at the cutting edge of the industry, earning prestigious accolades such as Fast Company’s 2023 World Changing Ideas Awards and multiple CES® Innovation Awards.
Victor Hwang
Victor W. Hwang is founder and CEO of Right to Start, a national nonpartisan nonprofit seeking to expand entrepreneurial opportunity for everyone through grassroots organizing, engaging policymakers, and media in all 50 states.
Victor was Vice President of Entrepreneurship at the Kauffman Foundation, the world’s leading philanthropy supporting entrepreneurs. He led initiatives that impacted over 200,000 entrepreneurs in 200 cities, including efforts in catalyzing capital formation, transforming economic development practices, launching a national policy roadmap, and breaking barriers for underserved entrepreneurs.
Victor has been a serial entrepreneur, venture investor, and corporate lawyer, and has run several entrepreneur support organizations. He has been a contributing columnist to Inc., Forbes, The Wall Street Journal, and Entrepreneur. His co-authored book, The Rainforest, was Book of the Year by ForeWord Reviews.
The Minimalists
Emmy-nominated Netflix stars and New York Times–bestselling authors Joshua Fields Millburn, Ryan Nicodemus, and T.K. Coleman, known collectively as The Minimalists, “show their followers how to streamline their lives to find more happiness” (Good Morning America). With the “charm of their buddy-act, The Minimalists have become the minimalist movement’s American ringleaders” (New York Magazine).
These “sincere prophets of anti-consumerism” (The New Yorker) have been featured in Time, Architectural Digest, and GQ, and they have spoken at Harvard, Apple, and Google. The Minimalists Podcast, with more than 140 million downloads, is one of the most popular podcasts in the world.
Tom & Emily Whitehead
Tom Whitehead is a keynote speaker, author, and journeyman lineman for Penelec, a FirstEnergy Company. He is also the proud father of Emily, and co-founder of the Emily Whitehead Foundation, which raises funds and awareness for pediatric cancer immunotherapy research.
Tom and his wife Kari founded the Emily Whitehead Foundation in honor of their daughter Emily who was diagnosed at age five with an aggressive form of leukemia that failed to respond to chemotherapy. As a last hope, Emily was enrolled in a clinical trial and became the first pediatric patient in the world to receive CAR T-cell therapy. The therapy worked and Emily is now 11 years cancer free and considered cured.
Emily is the Co-founder of the Emily Whitehead Foundation, patient advocate, University of Pennsylvania college student, 3 time cancer survivor and the first pediatric patient in the world to have her immune system trained to beat her cancer.
Chloé Valdary
Chloé Valdary is an artist, writer, and founder of the Theory of Enchantment. ToE (pronounced DAO) is an organization that facilitates trust, inclusion and belonging in organizations by teaching love and harmony. She has been published in the WSJ, the New York Times and the Atlantic Magazine and has also produced music for the past 7 years. In her spare time she enjoys bird watching, reading, and DJing.
John Werner
John Werner is a successful serial entrepreneur, investor in technology startups and mentor. He has created a career out of bringing ideas, networks and people together to generate powerful results. John is a Managing Director and member of the investment committee at Link Ventures. Link Ventures raised $130 million in their LV3 fund and are working with early stage entrepreneurs to support their great ideas.
Jenn Dice
As President and CEO of PeopleForBikes, a national bike advocacy association, she works to improve bike infrastructure, pass pro-bike legislation, and reduce barriers to bicycling. Growing up cycling in South Dakota and falling in love with mountain biking upon moving to Colorado, Jenn’s love of bicycling fuels her “why” which is to bring people together through the power of the bicycle. She believes that bikes are a solution to many of the problem’s communities face – health and wellness, mobility, access to opportunity, economic development, and more.
Edward O'Keefe
Edward F. O’Keefe was born and raised in Grand Forks, North Dakota (go Rough Riders!) He is currently the CEO of the Theodore Roosevelt Presidential Library Foundation.
Previously, he spent two decades in broadcast and digital media at ABC News, CNN, and NowThis, during which time he received a Primetime Emmy Award for his work with Anthony Bourdain, two Webby Awards, the Edward R. Murrow Award, and a George Foster Peabody Award for ABC’s coverage of 9/11.
Dr. Melissa Mork
Dr. Melissa Mork is a professor of psychology, criminal justice, and law enforcement with advanced degrees in clinical and forensic psychology. She specializes in mental health, grief, and crisis recovery, offering interventions for survivors, families, and first responders impacted by mass shootings. She researches and teaches folks in high-stress professions like law enforcement and healthcare how dark humor can help them stay human (especially in inhuman situations).
Emily Puetz
Emily Puetz is a strategist, systems thinker, and lifelong learner working at the intersection of innovation, education, and regeneration. As co-founder of Ideas2Impact, she helps schools, nonprofits, foundations, government agencies across the U.S. and New Zealand design transformative learning environments and navigate complex change.
With over 30 years of experience, she’s led initiatives from launching new school models, building a new education leadership talent pipeline for the state of MN to mentoring student-led ventures with Google engineers. Her work spans strategic planning, change management, organizational development, and leadership coaching for over 50 learning institutions and social impact organizations.
David Cook + Andy Armacost
David Cook is the 15th president of North Dakota State University. Joining NDSU in May 2022, his leadership focuses on the university’s strategies to enhance enrollment and invest in student retention and success, prioritize NDSU’s R-1 Carnegie classification status for research, invest in the well-being of the NDSU community, strengthen a culture of diversity, inclusion and respect, and embrace NDSU’s critical role as a land-grant university.
Andrew P. Armacost began his tenure as the 13th President of the University of North Dakota on June 1, 2020, following a distinguished career in the U.S. Air Force, where he retired as a Brigadier General after serving as Dean of the Faculty at the U.S. Air Force Academy. Under his leadership, UND has received national recognition, including the 2021 Larry Abernathy Award from the International Town Gown Association and the 2022 ACE/Fidelity Investments Transformation Award.
Ranveer Chandra
Ranveer Chandra is the Vice President of M365 Copilot and the Chief Technology Officer of Agri-Food at Microsoft. With over 15 years of experience spanning research, product development, partnerships, and customer engagement, he is widely recognized as a visionary leader in AI, networking, and systems. Ranveer has held key leadership roles at Microsoft, including Managing Director for Research for Industry, Chief Scientist of Azure Global, and Head of Networking Research at Microsoft Research.
He launched Microsoft’s agriculture initiative in 2015, leading to the development of FarmBeats, which evolved into Azure Data Manager for Agriculture. His work has impacted products across Microsoft, including Windows, Azure, Visual Studio, and Xbox.
Nipun Mehta
Nipun Mehta is the founder of ServiceSpace, a global community working at the intersection of technology, volunteerism and a gift culture. As a designer of large-scale social movements that are rooted in small acts of service and powered by micro moments of inner transformation, his work has uniquely catalyzed networks of community builders grounded in their localities and rooted cultivating deeper connection — with themselves, others and larger systems.
Today, ServiceSpace reaches millions every month, is powered by thousands of volunteers, and blossoms into ever-expanding local and virtual service projects that aim to ignite a “whole great than the sum of its parts”. Nipun was honored as an “unsung hero of compassion” by the Dalai Lama, not long before former U.S. President Obama appointed him to a council for addressing poverty and inequality in the US. Yet the core of what strikes anyone who meets him is the way his life is an attempt to bring smiles in the world and silence in his heart: “I want to live simply, love purely, and give fearlessly. That’s me.”
Kelly Magelky
Originally from the badlands of North Dakota, Kelly is an EMMY-nominated cinematographer and critically-acclaimed filmmaker who is widely-recognized for his stylistic visuals and grounded storytelling within music and sports; ranging from a multi-season international music series to network sports programming.
In 2003, Kelly left film school to pursue his dream in the arts, supporting himself as a Starbucks barista alongside a struggling musician (Isaac Slade) whose fledgling band, The Fray, was working to get traction. The two partnered to launch Filament Productions. A Denver-based production house, Filament developed and launched the National Geographic International television series MUSIC VOYAGER (Kelly directed and produced 3 seasons), created numerous advertising campaigns for international outdoor brands and produced documentaries for a number of major label recording artists. In 2013, Kelly was nominated for an EMMY for his cinematography on the NBC Ironman World Championships special. He’s currently on production on several multi-part documentary series in the music and sports world.
Bob Dalton
Bob Dalton is an entrepreneur, keynote speaker, and community builder on a mission to restore human connection in the digital age. He is the founder of Sackcloth & Ashes, a nationally recognized social enterprise that has donated hundreds of thousands of blankets to homeless shelters across the U.S. through a one-for-one model.
Recognized as a Forbes Changemaker and CNN Champion of Change, Bob has traveled to over 50 cities, interviewing grassroots leaders and discovering a critical need: local communities and pro-social clubs lack a digital space to communicate and be discovered.
With his latest venture, LOCL, he’s addressing that need, building a platform that connects people to nearby communities and events, using technology to bring us closer, not pull us apart.
Mei Lin Ng
Mei Lin is a startup veteran (and a mom!) with a broad set of operational experience, multiple successful product launches, and two exits under her belt.
Before working in tech and product manufacturing, Mei Lin worked in a daycare, where she learned invaluable insights about early childhood development. This experience sparked her interest in creating technology that makes life easier for parents and teaches children lifelong skills.
Marshall Johnson
Marshall Johnson is deeply committed to engaging in impactful, mission-driven work to address the urgent challenges of climate change and biodiversity loss. Marshall plays an active role in shaping global conservation policy throughout the United States, Canada, Latin America, and the Caribbean. He serves on the North American Wetlands Conservation Council, the Neotropical Migratory Bird Conservation Advisory Group, and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife’s Hunting and Wildlife Conservation Council. His contributions have been recognized with the North Dakota Habitat Award, Prairie Business “40 Under 40”, and the University of Minnesota’s Abbey Alumni Award.
A proud Canopy member, he stands for the protection of birds and the places they need to thrive.
Trey Hart
Trey Hart is the Co-Founder & Managing Partner of Valhalla Group, the industry’s preeminent alternatives firm advancing U.S. economic and national security. Valhalla Group invests in private companies and private funds closing the gaps between the country’s two largest suppliers of national security – our entrepreneurs and our military.
Trey is a Civil Affairs officer in the U.S. Army Reserves focused on the Indo-Pacific. He serves on the board of trustees for Rush University Medical Center and the Road Home Program, the nation’s center of healthcare excellence for U.S. veterans and their families.
Jesse Ritka
Growing up in Prior Lake, MN, Jesse has always been fascinated by storms. Whether it’s a massive snow storm or just a thunderstorm, she would sit on the family’s front steps, watching the weather play out in front of her eyes.
Like a cyclone, Jesse swirled around the Midwest, starting her television career in Sioux Falls, SD. She moved to Milwaukee, WI to chase severe weather and broadcast from snowstorms and festivals. Almost ten years after moving away from one Dakota, Jesse moved to the other, coming to WDAY with her husband and two boys.
Jesse loves spending time with her family, whether that’s in the garden, out exploring local parks or trying new foods.
Tim Kelly
Tim Kelly is the 66th mayor of Chattanooga. He grew up in Chattanooga and attended undergraduate school at Columbia University. Upon return to Chattanooga, Kelly expanded his family’s automotive dealership and launched several successful ventures of his own, including co-founding Chattanooga’s professional soccer club.
He later earned his MBA from Emory University’s Goizueta School of Business. Kelly has always been active in the community, serving on boards for multiple nonprofits and even teaching as an adjunct professor at the University of Tennessee Chattanooga
Since being elected mayor in April 2021, he has made great strides on his vision to create One Chattanooga – a city where every resident has the opportunity to thrive and prosper.
Lisa Gomez
Lisa served as the Assistant Secretary of Labor for Employee Benefits Security in the U.S. Department of Labor during the Biden-Harris Administration, from when she was confirmed by the Senate in 2022 through the end of the Administration. She was responsible for leading the agency that has regulatory and enforcement authority over all private employment-based employee benefit plans, covering more that 150 million American workers, retirees, and their families. Lisa was recognized for leadership in regulations involving retirement security, surprise medical billing, price transparency, access to mental health care, worker ownership and other projects and priorities.
Tobias Zikmund
Tobias Zikmund became NDCA’s Program Manager for Arts Across the Prairie – Placemaking in Rural North Dakota in late June 2024. He holds a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Studio Art and a minor in Art History from Minnesota State University Moorhead.
Tobias is active as a painter and a public artist, often addressing the significance of land and place through his work. His interests are in community building, rural vitality, language and cultural exchange, and leadership development for artists and youth. These interests have led him to work across politics, education, and community placemaking and events.
A rural North Dakota native, Tobias is passionate about artists’ roles as dynamic community leaders and their essential role in creating a prosperous, vibrant future for all.
BRYAN STERN
A multiple-tour combat veteran of the United States Army & Navy, courageous 9/11 first responder, and Purple Heart recipient. Bryan has over 25 years of military experience focused on special operations specializing in Hostage Rescue, Counter-Terrorism, Counter-Proliferation, Critical Technology Protection, and Unconventional Warfare. He is the Chairman and Founder of Grey Bull Rescue.
Stern is a frequent contributor to global media, academia, and geopolitical security forums. He aids U.S. and allied governments, along with commercial and financial sectors, to address and manage geopolitical crises. Stern holds positions on various boards dedicated to strategy, technological innovation, and foreign policy and is a member of several professional organizations including the Young Presidents’ Organization (YPO) and Business Executives for National Security (BENS). He is the sole U.S. Navy Officer inducted into the Order of Saint Maurice by the Chief of the U.S. Army Infantry. Bryan is also a Knowlton Award and Nimitz Award recipient for his contributions to military intelligence and leadership.
Sally Miskavige
Sally Miskavige is Vice President of Opp Construction, a Grand Forks and Fargo-based contractor specializing in concrete and asphalt paving, landscaping, and erosion control. The company was founded by her father, Greg Opp, in 1978.
Sally is a co-founder of TAG – The Art of Giving and a founding board member of the Grand Forks Children’s Museum. She has served on the Grand Forks Public Arts Commission since 2016 and previously held board positions with the North Dakota Museum of Art, NOSHA, and the Associated General Contractors of North Dakota, where she was President in 2020 and 2021.
Sally and her husband Jeremy enjoy spending time enjoying the outdoors, the arts & sports activities with their two children and their extended family and friends.
Steven Mirsky
Steven Mirsky leads the Sustainable Agricultural Systems Laboratory at the USDA Agricultural Research Service. For over 25 years, he has advanced sustainable and precision agriculture for field crop producers. Most recently, he launched the Digital Agricultural Systems Hub (DASH), USDA’s enterprise platform for developing computer vision and AI solutions deployed by plant scientists, breeders, and farmers.
Through DASH, he is accelerating the path to agricultural autonomy by building and curating AgIR—the National Open-Access Plant Image Repository—and developing PlantMap3D, a modular camera system designed for plant phenotyping and precision farming applications. Dr. Mirsky holds a B.A. in Agroecology, an M.S. in Soil Fertility and Quality, and a Ph.D. in Agronomy with a focus on Weed Ecology. He has published approximately 150 peer-reviewed journal articles.
Dick Anderson
Beni Paulson
Beni is a rancher and Musician from western North Dakota and also as a professional Bull Rider was the first Bull Rider from North Dakota to qualify for the professional bull riders(PBR) world finals in Las Vegas. Raising beef cattle and bucking bulls along with his wife Michelle and Dad Dennis, they focus on being stewards of the land.
As a musician he writes and records original music with Breaking Eight band and uses the music platform to tell the story of ranching, rodeo, and the western way of life.
Sally Avant
Sally Avant is a world music percussionist specializing in the bodhrán (pronounced Bow-ron), the traditional Irish frame drum. With 17 years of experience, she began as a self-taught musician before receiving professional mentorship in 2012 from renowned bodhrán player Mance Grady in Rhode Island.
While Irish music remains her foundation, Sally brings the bodhrán into a wide range of musical genres—from traditional Celtic tunes to rock and beyond. Her passion lies in showcasing the unexpected versatility of the instrument and sharing its rhythm and energy with audiences across musical styles.