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Ryan Budmayr is the president and CEO of the South Dakota Chamber of Commerce and Industry, the state’s leading advocate for business. A Belle Fourche native, Budmayr attended the University of South Dakota before going to work for South Dakota’s 32nd governor, Dennis Daugaard. In addition to his time in the governor’s administration, his background includes work in politics, economic development and marketing, most recently serving as vice president for Lawrence and Schiller, one of the region’s top marketing agencies.

Budmayr and his wife, Molly, live in Sioux Falls with their two children, Minnie and Teddy. In his free time, he enjoys golfing and upland bird hunting across South Dakota’s wide-open spaces. He is proud to lead the chamber in building a stronger future for South Dakota businesses and families, ensuring opportunities for the next generation.

Chuck Conner became president and CEO of the National Council of Farmer Cooperatives on Jan. 22, 2009. As president of NCFC, Conner oversaw the organization’s work to promote and protect the business and public policy interests of America’s farmer-owned cooperatives. Conner retired from NCFC on July 14, 2025, after more than 16 years leading the organization

Prior to joining NCFC, Conner had served as the deputy secretary at the U.S. Department of Agriculture since mid-2005. In this capacity, he was the chief operating officer overseeing day-to-day operations of the department. Conner interacted directly with President George W. Bush and his senior staff to formulate domestic and international food, trade, security and energy policy.

From August 2007 to January 2008, Conner served as both USDA secretary and deputy secretary. He played a key role in developing the administration’s immigration policy, including important changes to the H2A program.

Conner’s experience also includes the assignment of special assistant to the president in the executive office of the president from October 2001 to May 2005, working on the 2001-02 Farm Bill to develop the strategy behind the transfer of several USDA agency functions to the newly formed Department of Homeland Security.

From May 1997 to October 2001, Conner served as president of the Corn Refiners Association. He also served for 17 years as an adviser to Sen. Richard Lugar of Indiana.

Conner is a graduate of Purdue University with a Bachelor of Science degree and is the recipient of Purdue’s Distinguished Alumni Award. He and his wife, Dru, have four grown children and seven grandchildren.

Matt Diersen is the Griffith Chair in Agricultural Finance in the Ness School of Management and Economics at South Dakota State University. He teaches courses on commodity trading and agricultural finance.

His scholarly work is focused on pricing mechanisms and financial risks across extreme timespans. His SDSU Extension programming focuses on the interaction of commodity marketing and insurance tools and on changes in the agricultural economy. He actively shares commodity market and agricultural sector analysis with producers, lenders and the agribusiness community in the Northern Plains. He enjoys applying portfolio theory and economics principles to everyday life.

Diersen earned a B.A. in economics at the University of Minnesota – Morris, an M.S. in agricultural economics at North Dakota State University and a Ph.D. in agricultural economics at the University of Illinois.

Originally from Minnesota, he lives in Brookings with his family.

Rick Dusek is executive vice president at CHS Inc. He leads agricultural retail, distribution and transportation for CHS, the nation’s leading farmer-owned cooperative and a global agronomy, energy, grains and food company. Having spent his entire 34-plus year career with CHS, Dusek has held several leadership roles with the company. He was promoted to join the company’s strategic leadership team to lead retail operations in 2017, and his role recently expanded to encompass retail and wholesale distribution and transportation.

As executive vice president, Dusek has led the company’s retail and wholesale distribution assets and operations and developed an enterprise transportation center of excellence to advance critical distribution capabilities for the company’s integrated enterprise supply chain for energy, agronomy, animal nutrition and grain product lines.

Dusek and his team are helping create and drive efficiency to deliver excellence and enable profitable growth on behalf of owners and customers. In his previous role as vice president of CHS agronomy, Dusek was instrumental in transforming the company’s wholesale crop nutrients business, including investment in domestic nitrogen production and led his team in implementing a market research function to advance supply, trading and risk management strategies. Dusek has also served as vice president of grain marketing where he led all aspects of North American grain and strategically expanded the platform.

Originally from North Dakota, Dusek joined CHS in 1988 and spent his early days with the cooperative merchandising grain. Dusek is a past board member of the Minneapolis Grain Exchange and The Fertilizer Institute. He earned a Bachelor of Science degree in agricultural economics from North Dakota State University and is a graduate of the Harvard Business School Advanced Management Program.

Ed Elfmann is senior vice president of agricultural and rural banking policy at the American Bankers Association, where he leads advocacy on agricultural and rural banking issues before Congress and the U.S. Department of Agriculture. He works with American Bankers Association member banks and stakeholders to develop policy, oversees the ABA Agricultural Bankers Conference and staffs the ABA Agricultural and Rural Bankers Committee.

Elfmann represents the American Bankers Association on agricultural advisory committees for the Commodity Futures Trading Commission and CME Group. Before joining the American Bankers Association in 2012, he served as a legislative assistant to a member of the House Agriculture Committee. He also held roles at the U.S. Department of Transportation and the National Corn Growers Association. Raised on a farm, Elfmann has more than 15 years of agricultural policy experience, including work on five farm bills.

Dusten Hendrickson is the founder of Mailbox Money Real Estate, a multifamily investment and development company focused on workforce housing in stable, growing Midwest markets. He identifies communities where housing demand, population growth and strong fundamentals support new development.

Hendrickson is involved throughout the development and investment process, from evaluating opportunities and structuring projects to raising capital and overseeing long-term performance. His approach focuses on creating value through thoughtful development rather than relying on market appreciation alone. He also works closely with investors, helping them understand how private real estate can fit into a broader investment strategy. He emphasizes transparency, education and a clear understanding of both opportunities and risks.

Through Mailbox Money, Hendrickson has helped build a growing portfolio of multifamily developments across the Upper Midwest and believes successful real estate investing starts with disciplined underwriting, strong fundamentals and properties that serve a real community need. Hendrickson is passionate about real estate, entrepreneurship and building long-term relationships with investors, partners and communities

Kyle A. Kopplin is an assistant professor of economics at Black Hills State University and a native South Dakotan. His research focuses on local public finance, regional economics, property taxation and local government policy. In collaboration with the Dakota Institute, these topics are given particular attention for South Dakota housing markets, migration, school district finance and assessed value growth to inform policymakers, community leaders and industry professionals across the state. Starting at Black Hills State University in Spearfish during the spring semester of 2023, he teaches economics courses ranging from principles to the MBA level, emphasizing practical tools to navigate the economy and inform decision-makers.

Kopplin earned a B.A. in economics from Augustana University, an M.S. from South Dakota State University and a Ph.D. in economics from the University of Nebraska – Lincoln. His current recent research investigates how migration, property tax policy and local fiscal tax burdens more broadly are correlated, along with how location-based demand shocks spillover beyond fiscal boundaries.

Hoanh Le is an assistant professor of applied economics and state extension specialist at the Ness School of Management and Economics, South Dakota State University. Her research areas include real estate economics, with a focus on farmland and housing markets, agricultural credit, and the private factors and public policies that affect these markets. At the Ness School, Le directs the SDSU Extension Farm Real Estate Survey, now in its 36th year, and authors the annual South Dakota Agricultural Land Market Trends report. Le joined SDSU in August 2023 after earning her Ph.D. in economics from the University of Houston.

Eric Lynch is an economist in the survey research group at the National Association of Home Builders, where he is responsible for conducting and assisting with surveys, including NAHB’s sentiment indicators for multifamily and remodeling, and other related housing topics. In addition, he provides data and information on housing topics related issues to NAHB members, staff, financial institutions and other stakeholders. Prior to joining NAHB in 2022, he worked as a senior associate in the research and knowledge department at the American Society of Interior Designers, gaining industry knowledge on the built environment and residential market. He has a B.A. in political science and economics, a B.A. in Spanish from Towson University and an M.S. in applied economics from the University of Maryland.

Lynch is also a certified business economist, the certification in business economics and data analytics developed by the National Association for Business Economics. This certification documents a professional's accomplishment, experience, abilities and demonstrates mastery of the body of knowledge critical for a successful career in the field of economics and data analytics.

Jake Mortenson is a native of Fort Pierre and a tax economist with 15 years of experience in federal tax policy. His research, published widely in academic economics journals, focuses on how individuals and businesses respond to income tax changes and has examined many of the tax provisions that shape real estate investment decisions.

He earned his Ph.D. and master's in economics from Georgetown University and his bachelor's in economics and political science from the University of South Dakota. Mortenson is an economist on the staff of the Joint Committee on Taxation, the U.S. Congress's nonpartisan in-house tax policy office, and is participating in the conference in his personal capacity.

Hunter Roberts currently serves South Dakota as the cabinet secretary of the Department of Agriculture and Natural Resources. The department's mission is to protect and preserve agriculture, environment and natural resources through effective regulatory services, natural resource conservation and financial and technical assistance.

Roberts is an active member of the National Association of State Departments of Agriculture and the Environmental Council of States. The association represents all the state departments of agriculture whereas the council represents all the state environmental agencies and industry resources to help U.S suppliers increase product sales overseas. He also serves on the boards of Food Export-Midwest and South Dakota Ag and Rural Leadership.

He began his career in public service with the Governor’s Office of Economics Development in 2007, focused on energy policy and development, and then later transitioned to serve as a policy adviser to Gov. Dennis Daugaard. Through service communication collaboration and hard work Roberts strives to lead by example and truly believes in the power of a “can-do” attitude.

Roberts holds a master’s degree in business administration and a Juris Doctor from the University of South Dakota. A South Dakota native, Roberts resides in Pierre with his two children. He is a fifth generation South Dakota farmer and rancher who owns and operates a diversified grain and cow-calf farm and ranch southeast of Fort Pierre with his family.

Natasha Sarin is a professor of law at Yale Law School with a secondary appointment at the Yale School of Management in the finance department. She is also the president and co-founder of the Budget Lab at Yale.

Previously, Sarin served as deputy assistant secretary for economic policy and later as counselor to Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen at the U.S. Treasury Department. Her work focused on narrowing the gap between the taxes owed by the American public and those collected by the Internal Revenue Service.

Prior to her government service, Sarin was a professor at the University of Pennsylvania Carey Law School and the Wharton School. Her research centers on public finance and financial regulation, with work on tax policy, household finance, insurance and macroprudential risk management. Her scholarship has been covered in The New York Times, The Washington Post and the Financial Times, among other publications.

Sarin received a Bachelor of Arts from Yale University in 2011 and was awarded a J.D. from Harvard Law School in 2014 and a Ph.D. in economics from Harvard University in 2019.

Sarin is a New York Times contributing columnist. She is a frequent guest on CNBC's "Squawk Box," CNN and MS Now.

Damon Sehr serves as market president for South Dakota at Sunrise Banks, a mission-driven community bank and certified Community Development Financial Institution. He leads business development, commercial lending, strategic partnerships and community engagement across the state. Sehr works closely with businesses, nonprofits, economic development organizations and fellow Community Development Financial Institutions to expand access to capital, financing resources, specialized lending programs and strategic partners.

Sehr currently serves as a SCORE mentor and Junior Achievement volunteer and contributes to the South Dakota Native Homeownership Coalition's Sustainability Committee. He also recently joined the board of the Northeast South Dakota Economic Corporation through GROW South Dakota and serves on Midwest Business Finance Corporation's South Dakota Loan Committee.

Except for time spent attending Paradise Valley Community College in Arizona and the University of Minnesota, Sehr is a lifelong South Dakotan. He and his wife, Krystal, raised two daughters and enjoy spending their free time on the Missouri River and Lake Francis Case.

Andrew Ross Sorkin is an award-winning journalist for The New York Times and a co-anchor of "Squawk Box," CNBC’s signature morning program. He is also the founder and editor-at-large of DealBook, an online daily financial report published by the New York Times that he started in 2001.

Sorkin is the author of "1929: The Inside Story of the Greatest Crash in Wall Street History — and How It Shattered a Nation," which The Wall Street Journal calls "one of the best narrative histories [we've] read." It was named a Best Book of 2025 by TIME, The Economist, the Financial Times and Bloomberg.

Sorkin's first book, "Too Big to Fail: How Wall Street and Washington Fought to Save the Financial System — and Themselves," won the 2010 Gerald Loeb Award for Best Business Book and was shortlisted for the 2010 Samuel Johnson Prize and the 2010 Financial Times Business Book of the Year Award. It spent more than six months on the New York Times bestseller list in hardcover and paperback and was adapted as a movie for HBO Films.

Mary Stoick is senior vice president and director of tax credit lending at Sunrise Banks, a mission-driven community bank and certified Community Development Financial Institution focused on expanding access to capital and strengthening communities. Sunrise Banks has participated in the federal New Markets Tax Credit program since 2009 and has deployed approximately $400 million in NMTC allocation since 2011. Through its small-project pool model, the bank has funded nine pools comprising 55 projects and $112.2 million in NMTC allocation, helping make the program more accessible to projects requiring $4 million or less in NMTC financing.

Stoick joined Sunrise Banks in 2017 following more than 12 years in commercial banking. She works with nonprofits, small businesses, developers, lenders, community development entities and investors to structure financing for transformational projects in low-to-moderate-income communities. Her NMTC work has supported projects including the renovation and expansion of the Minneapolis American Indian Center, the reopening of the Historic Coliseum Building, the NEON Collective Kitchens project and a new shelter and housing project for Simpson Housing Services. Most recently, Stoick helped lead Sunrise Banks' first NMTC allocation deployment outside of Minnesota, providing $4 million of allocation to support new manufacturing equipment at Scotchman Industries in Philip, South Dakota.

Tim Swenson is vice president of New Markets Tax Credit Financing at Midwest Minnesota Community Development Corporation, a mission-driven community development organization that provides flexible financing and real estate solutions across Minnesota, North Dakota, South Dakota and Wyoming. Midwest Minnesota Community Development Corporation has received $809 million in NMTC allocation and closed $740.5 million in 123 NMTC projects, supporting manufacturers, healthcare facilities, nonprofits and community centers. Its investments range from $225,000 to $20 million and emphasize rural communities, manufacturing, healthcare, Native communities and smaller projects.

In his role, Swenson leads the development, supervision and implementation of Midwest Minnesota Community Development Corporation's NMTC program. He reviews, analyzes and structures potential projects, explores financing alternatives and maintains relationships with investors, lenders and NMTC clients. He also oversees compliance reporting to the U.S. Department of the Treasury's Community Development Financial Institution Fund and tax credit investors.

With approximately 19 years at the corporation, Swenson works closely with project teams, committees and boards throughout the financing process. His work includes conducting site visits, speaking at conferences, raising and deploying investor equity, and structuring leverage debt. Before entering community development finance, he earned a degree in business education and spent 16 years as a business educator in Upper Midwest school districts.

Paul TenHaken served as the 32nd mayor of Sioux Falls from 2018 to 2026, leading one of America’s fastest-growing cities through a period of historic growth and transformation. Guided by a focus on entrepreneurship, public safety, community unity and fiscal stewardship, his administration helped secure more than $150 million in private investment for parks, community projects and cultural amenities while also facilitating the largest economic development project in South Dakota history. During his tenure, Sioux Falls grew by a historic 23% while also hitting its lowest crime rate in a decade, earning recognition as one of the Best Run Cities in America.

Today, TenHaken is a consultant and leadership development fanatic who helps leaders and organizations build high-performing teams, navigate change and lead with greater purpose and impact.

Levi Te Slaa is director of investor relations for Mailbox Money Real Estate, a multifamily investment and development company focused on workforce housing throughout stable Midwest markets. He works closely with prospective and existing investors, helping them understand Mailbox Money’s opportunities, investment process, project strategies and long-term approach to real estate. His focus is on building trusted relationships, providing clear information and helping investors make informed decisions aligned with their goals.

Te Slaa also hosts the Grit to Growth Podcast, where he interviews entrepreneurs, business owners and professionals about the experiences and lessons behind their success. He is passionate about connecting people, sharing meaningful stories and making real estate investing more approachable. Born and raised in Sioux Falls, Te Slaa lives there with his wife and two children. Outside of work, he enjoys spending time with family and friends, being at the lake and golfing.

Sean C. Turgeon is a partner at Rogers Appraisal Service Inc., an independently owned real estate appraisal and advisory firm specializing in commercial real estate throughout the Sioux Falls metropolitan area and the surrounding region.

Since 1998, Rogers Appraisal Service Inc. has provided trusted appraisal insights to financial institutions, law firms, family offices and individuals relating to mortgage origination, estate planning, acquisition and divestiture, divorce settlements, and foreclosures.

As a state certified general real estate appraiser, the highest level of appraisal certification, Turgeon’s practice areas include, but are not limited to, development land; commercial land; general and medical office; general retail; retail center and malls; restaurants; light, heavy and flex industrial; ministorage warehousing; automotive and implement dealerships; car wash facilities; convenience stores; grocery stores; laundromats; hotels and motels; event centers; multifamily apartments; affordable housing; manufactured housing communities and more.

A Sioux Falls native, Turgeon holds a Bachelor of Business Administration in economics and Master of Business Administration from the University of South Dakota.

David Widmar is an agricultural economist specializing in trends and conditions across the farm economy. He is the managing partner of Agricultural Economic Insights, which he co-founded with Brent Gloy in 2014. Agricultural Economic Insights is a trusted source of insight for thousands of agricultural professionals who subscribe to the free weekly newsletter, AEI Premium or various data offerings.

Before founding Agricultural Economic Insights, Widmar was a researcher at Purdue University. He holds degrees from Kansas State University and Purdue University.

In March 2026, Steve Wittbecker was appointed as executive vice president and head of Farm Credit Banking. Reporting to CoBank’s president, Eric Itambo, Wittbecker is responsible for CoBank’s funding relationships with affiliated associations and commerce relationships with other Farm Credit institutions. He also has leadership responsibility over Farm Credit Leasing, Mission Investments and retains responsibilities related to CoBank’s sustainability division. Wittbecker serves as a member of the Management Executive Committee.

Prior to this role, Wittbecker served as CoBank’s chief sustainability officer for four years where he was responsible for defining CoBank’s long-term sustainability strategy and the development and execution of related policies and practices. He served as CoBank’s chief audit officer for 10 years, overseeing the bank’s internal audit and asset review functions working collaboratively with functional leaders across the enterprise. He joined CoBank in 2011 after serving as a director in PricewaterhouseCoopers’ risk assurance practice for over eight years.