North Star Summit 2026

Speaker Information

Michelle Bellanca

Chief Executive Officer, Claros Technologies Inc.

Michelle Bellanca is the co-founder and CEO of Claros Technologies, an advanced technology company that is on a mission to destroy PFAS for good. Claros aims to close the loop on PFAS (“forever chemicals”) – one of the most pressing issues worldwide. She leads an international team developing effective and efficient technology for PFAS destruction at the source, bringing breakthrough solutions to global markets.

Her career includes numerous leadership positions at 3M Corporation, such as Global Business Director and Managing Director of Strategic Ventures Asia Pacific. Prior to 3M, Michelle developed IBM’s capital and operating leasing businesses in Latin and South America and began her career in international business development at the Japanese Government’s Ministry of International Trade & Investment in Tokyo, Japan.

Michelle was recently named to the TCB100, and her leadership has been recognized with prestigious honors, including the Edison Marketing Award and the 3M Marketing Professionalism award. She has successfully secured over $39 million in financing for Claros since its inception. This same drive extends to her personal life, where she balances her executive responsibilities with raising four children, running marathons, and serving as a trained EMT.

Solving the PFAS Paradox

PFAS are in things we use every day — from nonstick cookware and waterproof clothing to jet engines and medical devices. In this talk, Claros Technologies CEO Michelle Bellanca explores the paradox at the heart of PFAS: these materials are extraordinarily useful, yet they persist long after their job is done, and many essential uses still have no substitute. She’ll look at how innovation can move us beyond the choice between banning what we depend on and living with “forever chemicals” — by creating ways to permanently destroy PFAS after they’ve served their purpose.

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Dave Bozeman

President and CEO, C.H. Robinson

Dave Bozeman is President and Chief Executive Officer and a member of the Board of Directors of C.H. Robinson. Dave is an accomplished executive, bringing over 30 years of experience at industry-leading companies and iconic brands across supply chains, middle-mile transportation, manufacturing, digital and customer service to C.H. Robinson.

Dave previously served as Vice President, Ford Customer Service Division, and Vice President, Enthusiast Vehicles, for Ford Blue of Ford Motor Company. Prior to joining Ford, Dave served as Vice President, Amazon Transportation Services of Amazon.com, Inc. from 2017 to 2022.

Before that, Dave held roles of increasing seniority at Caterpillar, Inc. from 2008 to 2016, ultimately serving as Senior Vice President Enterprise Systems. Earlier in his career, Dave spent 16 years at Harley-Davidson, Inc. from 1992 to 2008. Dave served as a member of the Board of Directors of Weyerhaeuser from 2015 to 2017. Dave received an MS in Engineering Management from the Milwaukee School of Engineering and a BS in Manufacturing Design from Bradley University.

Dave is a member of the Board of Governors for the American Red Cross, the Board of Directors for 3M, The Brookings Institution, and The Conservation Fund, a U.S. nonprofit organization with a dual charter to pursue environmental preservation and economic development. Dave is also a member of The Executive Leadership Council (ELC), and independent non-profit organization opening opportunities for the development of Black executives to positively impact business and our communities.

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Carla Vernón

Chief Executive Officer and Board Director, The Honest Company

Carla Vernón has served as a Board Director and Chief Executive Officer of The Honest Company (NASDAQ: HNST), a purpose-driven personal care company since January 2023. She brings more than 25 years of experience scaling iconic consumer brands, leading business transformations, and building high-performing, values-driven teams. As one of the first Afro-Latine/o/a CEOs of a U.S. publicly traded company, her leadership reflects the diversity of Honest’s consumers and the values that guide the brand.

Prior to Honest, Carla served as Vice President of Consumables Categories at Amazon. In this role, she held full profit and loss responsibility and led supply chain and technology teams for Everyday Essentials across Amazon.com. Previously, she was a Corporate Officer and President of the Natural and Organic Operating Unit at General Mills, where she helped scale the business into the second-largest manufacturer of organic food and advance its regenerative agriculture efforts.

Carla holds an A.B. in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology from Princeton University, where she is a former Trustee, and an MBA from The University of Texas. She currently serves on the Board of Directors for Hasbro, Inc. (NASDAQ: HAS) and on the Board of Trustees for the Smithsonian National Museum of the American Latino.

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Ro Khanna

Congressman, State of California

Ro Khanna is a United States Congressman from California’s 17th District in the heart of Silicon Valley. He has a vision to build America into a modern manufacturing and innovation superpower, and he partners it with a commitment to passing Medicare for All, a livable minimum wage, $10 a day childcare, and free public college and trade school. He is a progressive with a fresh economic vision.

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Wemimo Abbey

Co-Founder and Co-CEO, Esusu, Inc.

Wemimo Abbey grew up in the slums of Lagos, Nigeria, and came to Minneapolis, Minnesota, for college at the age of 17. Struggling to secure a loan without a credit score, his mother borrowed money from a predatory lender at an exorbitant 400% interest rate. These challenges inspired Wemimo and his Co-Founder to launch Esusu, driven by the belief that no matter where you come from, the color of your skin, or your financial identity, it should not determine where you end up in life. Esusu’s platform empowers renters to build credit through rent payments, offers property management analytics, and provides rental assistance for financial stability. Recently valued at $1 billion in a $130 million Series B fundraising round, Esusu has earned a spot on the Forbes Fintech 50 Most Innovative Companies List for three consecutive years. Wemimo currently serves on The SEC Small Business Capital Formation Advisory Committee, Fannie Mae Affordable Housing Advisory Council, a Commissioner and Executive Member on the Board of The Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery, Board of Trustees at the University of Minnesota Crookston, a board member at the Leadership Enterprise for a Diverse America (LEDA), and Co-Chairs The Los Angeles County Museum (LACMA) Director Circle.

Before Esusu, Wemimo founded Clean Water for Everyone, delivering affordable clean water access to 250,000+ people in six countries. He also founded a data analytics company focused on gathering machine-readable data on NGOs in Africa, which was successfully acquired in 2014. Wemimo’s earlier career involved being a mergers and acquisitions consultant at PwC, working on deals valued at over $50 billion, and gaining experience with Accenture, the European Commission, and Goldman Sachs. Wemimo’s work has been featured in major publications, including Bloomberg, CNBC, Financial Times, Fortune, Inc. Magazine, New York Times, Quartz, The Atlantic, USA Today, Vice, Wall Street Journal, and Yahoo! Finance. He was named to the 2020 Forbes 30 Under 30 list, TIME100 NEXT List in 2023, and awarded EY Entrepreneur of the Year Nationally. In 2021 and 2022, Goldman Sachs recognized him as one of the “100 Most Intriguing Entrepreneurs.” He graduated Magna Cum Laude from the University of Minnesota with a B.S. in Business Management and earned his M.P.A. from New York University’s Robert F. Wagner Graduate School of Public Service.

The Win-Win-Win Economy: How Justice Capitalism Rewrites the Rules
From the slums of Lagos to -20° Minnesota winters to the boardrooms of New York, Wemimo Abbey’s journey argues that capitalism’s next chapter has to work for everyone, or it won’t work at all. Co-founder of Esusu Inc., Abbey has moved through public service, Wall Street, and now to the helm of a billion-dollar startup, helping unlock over $100 billion in credit, including $70 billion in mortgages for millions of Americans previously shut out of the system. In this session, Abbey introduces Justice Capitalism: a win-win-win model in which doing right by underserved communities, building durable business value, and strengthening the broader economy are inextricably tied. Expect a candid look at what it actually takes to build one of the most consequential venture-backed companies of this era, and why the next generation of great companies will be the ones that figure out how to make justice profitable.

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Amy Webb

CEO, Future Today Strategy Group

Amy Webb is the quantitative futurist who transformed strategic foresight into a rigorous, data-driven discipline, establishing the foundational methodologies that now guide leaders, organizations, and governments in anticipating disruption and securing long-term growth.

Her clients include a significant portion of the Fortune 100. New CEOs rely on her to navigate leadership transitions. Boards turn to her to understand systemic risk and opportunity amid accelerating change. She has advised three White House administrations and counsels U.S. federal agencies, Congress, and heads of state across four continents on technology and long-term planning and policy.

Her four books — including the international bestseller The Big Nine and The Genesis Machine, named by The New Yorker as one of the year’s best nonfiction — have been translated into 23 languages, with two optioned for film. She also collaborates with writers, directors, and producers on projects for Netflix, Hulu, and Marvel.

Ranked the #3 Most Influential Management Thinker in the World by Thinkers50, Forbes named her “one of the five women changing the world,” and the BBC recognized her among its 100 Women of the Year. Outside of work, she is a competitive endurance cyclist and an Assistant Scoutmaster to one of the country’s first all-girls Scout troops.

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John Phelan

Economist, Center of the American Experiment

John Phelan is a graduate of Birkbeck College, University of London, where he earned a BSc in Economics, and of the London School of Economics where he earned an MSc.

John worked in finance for ten years before becoming a professional economist. He worked at Capital Economics in London, where he wrote reports ranging from the impact of Brexit on the British economy to the effect of government regulation on cell phone coverage.

John has written for City A.M. in London and for The Wall Street Journal in both Europe and the U.S., as well as newspapers across the Midwest. He has also been published in the journal Economic Affairs.

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Susan Dominus

Staff Writer, New York Times

Susan Dominus is a staff writer for The New York Times Magazine and has worked for The New York Times since 2007, initially as a Metro columnist. She is a graduate of Yale College and has studied as a fellow at the National Institutes of Health and Yale Law School. Dominus also teaches journalism at Yale College.

In 2018, she was part of a team that won a Pulitzer Prize for public service for their reporting on workplace sexual harassment issues. She has also received a Front Page Award from the Newswomen’s Club of New York and a Mychal Judge Heart of New York Award from the New York Press Club. Her article about menopause in The New York Times Magazine earned a National Magazine Award.

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Julie Pace

Executive Editor and Senior Vice President, Associated Press

Julie Pace is Senior Vice President and Executive Editor of The Associated Press, leading global news coverage from more than 100 countries. Since Pace assumed the role in 2021, AP has significantly expanded its digital news offerings for media and technology customers and led the growth of AP’s direct to consumer platforms, which are among the fastest growing in the U.S. Under Pace’s leadership, AP has also expanded its use of AI technologies to enhance its product offerings, while maintaining the news organization’s deep commitment to eyewitness journalism and fact-based, nonpartisan news. During Pace’s tenure, the AP has been awarded four Pulitzer Prizes, and produced an award-winning documentary on the Ukraine war that won an Academy Award and a BAFTA.

Previously, Pace was Washington Bureau Chief for AP, directing the news organization’s coverage of the presidency, politics and the U.S. government during President Donald Trump’s first term in office.

Before that, Pace was AP’s White House Correspondent, contributing aggressive news reporting and sharp analysis to the AP news report. Pace won the White House Correspondents’ Association Merriman Smith award in 2013 for her work explaining the Obama campaign’s complex approach to voter turnout.

She joined AP in 2007 as a multimedia reporter, developing and executing AP’s plans for live video coverage of 2008′s Election Day and the inauguration of President Barack Obama.

A native of Buffalo, New York, Pace began her career as a reporter in 2003 at South Africa’s only independent television network, before spending two years reporting on politics and elections at the Tampa Tribune and its partner television station WFLA. She is a graduate of Northwestern University’s Medill School of Journalism and Harvard Business School’s Advanced Management Program. She lives in New York.

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Adair Mosley

CEO, GroundBreak Coalition

Adair Mosley is a visionary leader reshaping the future of equity in Minnesota. As CEO of GroundBreak Coalition, he leads one of the nation’s most ambitious mobilizations of capital and partnership—orchestrating $5.3 billion over 10 years to close wealth gaps through homeownership, entrepreneurship, and commercial real estate development. GroundBreak brings together 40+ corporate, civic, and philanthropic partners in a backbone coalition deploying both market-rate capital ($4.2 billion) and flexible non-market rate capital ($1.2 billion) to build a future where Black communities thrive—not just survive.

A strategist, builder, and truth-teller, Adair’s work is rooted in justice and scaled by innovation. Previously, as CEO of the African American Leadership Forum and Pillsbury United Communities, where he launched Justice Built Communities, securing $5 million to prioritize Black-owned development. He led the $7 million capital campaign for North Market, a nationally recognized grocery and wellness model designed to address food access and health equity. He revitalized North News—a Black-led media outlet—ensuring authentic storytelling from within the community. He helped develop a pioneering policy solution that created a national billing code for community health work, strengthening sustainable investment in grassroots health equity.

Adair’s influence extends across sectors. He sits on the boards of Walker Art Museum, Women’s Foundation of Minnesota, Community Advisory Board, Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis, and and GreenLight Fund National. His leadership has been recognized by Harvard’s Young American Leaders Program and Twin Cities Business magazine, which named him one of “100 People to Know.”

With a MSc in Cities from the London School of Economics, training from Stanford’s d.school in Human-Centered Design, and credentials from the University of Minnesota and University of Michigan, Adair brings a rare blend of grassroots insight and executive strategy to every room he enters.

Whether working alongside community visionaries and leaders or corporate executives, Adair leads with an unwavering belief: systems can—and must—be rebuilt for justice. He isn’t interested in incremental change. He’s here to reimagine what’s possible and to construct a future that honors Black brilliance, ownership, and self-determination.

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Andrew Dayton

Founder and CEO, Constellation Fund

Andrew Dayton is the founder and CEO of the Constellation Fund, a Minneapolis-based foundation dedicated to effective poverty alleviation. Constellation leverages modern analytics alongside community insights to identify, fund, and empower the people and organizations making the greatest measurable impact on poverty in the Twin Cities. Through its research arm, CoLab, Constellation also catalyzes and funds longitudinal research on what actually drives economic mobility.

Before founding Constellation, Andrew served as Deputy Legislative Director to former San Francisco Mayor Edwin M. Lee, directing the city’s state and federal policy priorities. He previously co-owned The Bachelor Farmer, Marvel Bar, and Askov Finlayson, three award-winning hospitality and retail businesses in the Twin Cities.

Andrew received a B.A. in History from Yale University and a J.D. from the University of Michigan Law School. He lives in Minneapolis with his wife and daughters.

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Varun Shetty

VP, Media Partnerships, OpenAI

Varun Shetty works on media partnerships at OpenAI, developing collaborations with media and entertainment companies and exploring how AI can enable new products, creative experiences, and business models. His work sits at the intersection of technology, content, and partnership strategy, with a focus on building practical opportunities for creators, companies, and audiences. Prior to OpenAI he worked at Meta and The New York Times.

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Adam Winer

Principal Product Manager, Spotify

From creating YouTube videos before ‘creator’ was a job title to leading content insights at Spotify, Adam Winer has made a career of understanding why media resonates with audiences, even as the definition of media constantly evolves. As Spotify’s Head of Content Strategy, Insights & Analytics for seven years, he led a team that turned audience research into product and business strategy recommendations. He recently moved over to building for podcast creators and audiences. Over the course of his career, Adam has also been a senior vice president at Condé Nast, an early YouTuber who was part of a program that helped coin the term ‘creator,’ and — a million years ago — a cast member on VH1’s pop-culture comedy show Best Week Ever.

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Rebecca Cunningham

President, University of Minnesota

Rebecca Cunningham became the 18th President of the University of Minnesota on July 1, 2024.

President Cunningham leads the University of Minnesota’s mission to educate the next generation of leaders, strengthen communities across the state and generate discoveries that improve lives throughout Minnesota, the nation and the world.

She has articulated a bold vision for the University of Minnesota as a magnet for top talent, a powerful driver of economic vitality and one of the nation’s most impactful public research universities. Central to that vision is the University’s role as a modern land-grant institution—one that delivers real-world solutions, expands opportunity, and serves the public good.

Under her leadership, the University is championing real world learning as a defining element of an accessible, world-class education, ensuring students are prepared to lead, innovate and contribute across sectors. She has also made improving health and healthcare for all Minnesotans—today and for decades to come—a central institutional priority, alongside protecting and advancing the state’s natural resources, with a particular emphasis on rural economic vitality and precision agriculture.

These priority areas are embedded in Elevate Extraordinary 2030, the strategic roadmap launched under President Cunningham in October 2025. This roadmap builds upon the University’s historic strengths while setting objectives greater than anything already accomplished. It is being implemented with strong support and ongoing engagement from students, faculty, staff, alumni and community partners throughout Minnesota.

In parallel, President Cunningham is leading the launch of a new brand and travelling across the state and nation to engage with prospective students and loyal alumni in celebration of the University’s 175th year. She also maintains a faculty appointment in the School of Public Health’s Division of Epidemiology & Community Health.

In January 2026, President Cunningham led the University of Minnesota—Minnesota’s health and healthcare leader—to forge a new agreement with M Physicians and Fairview that affirms and supports the University’s critical role in medical education, research discovery and clinical care and brings the stability needed to build a long-term solution to meet Minnesota’s most pressing health and healthcare needs.

The University is one of a handful of public universities that works across all the health sciences—medicine, pharmacy, dentistry, nursing, public health and veterinary—to deliver research, education and care. This includes 887 active clinical trials across a range of conditions and diseases, training 70 percent of Minnesota’s health care professionals and serving 1 million patients—including Minnesotans from all 87 counties.

Before joining the University of Minnesota, President Cunningham served as the Vice President for Research and Innovation at the University of Michigan, where she was responsible for expanding its annual research portfolio to a record $2 billion. At Michigan, she led a university-wide strategy that bolstered discovery and impact across three campuses, accelerated knowledge translation, supported entrepreneurial activity, expanded statewide economic development and advanced undergraduate student success.

A renowned expert in public health, President Cunningham was inducted in the National Academy of Medicine in 2019. She holds a medical doctorate from Jefferson Medical College, and she completed her residency in emergency medicine at the University of Michigan.

President Cunningham resides in St. Paul, Minnesota, with her husband, Ken, and their dogs Charlie and Olive. They have five grown children. With a long history of family members living in the Twin Cities, President Cunningham considered Minnesota her second home years before her presidency began. For more than 30 years now, her family has participated in YMCA family camp, canoed the Boundary Waters and enjoyed trips to the Walker Art Center, the Guthrie Theater, the Bell Museum and Minnesota State Fair—experiences that deepened her early connection to Minnesota.

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Kimbriell Kelly

Editor-in-Chief, Chicago Public Media

Kimbriell Kelly is the Editor-in-Chief of Chicago Public Media, the nation’s largest local nonprofit newsroom, overseeing a team of more than 140 talented staff for the Chicago Sun-Times and WBEZ.

A Pulitzer Prize-winning journalism executive and 25-year veteran investigative editor and reporter, Kelly has overseen multiple award-winning projects in some of the nation’s largest newsrooms, including The Washington Post and Los Angeles Times.

As former assistant managing editor and Washington bureau chief at the Los Angeles Times, Kelly oversaw coverage of politics and policy in Washington, D.C. During her tenure, Kelly led the bureau’s coverage of the Jan. 6 insurrection at the Capitol, the 2020 Trump election challenge and, in her first year as bureau chief, launched three successful series, the “United States of California,” “Covering Kamala Harris” and “Extreme Heat.” Kelly edited the immigration coverage that led to the bureau’s first Pulitzer Prize in 17 years.

Prior to joining The Times, Kelly was an investigative reporter at the Washington Post, where she was part of the team that won the 2016 Pulitzer Prize for national reporting for the series “Fatal Force,” uncovering the FBI’s undercounting of fatal officer-involved shootings. She was a 2019 Pulitzer finalist for explanatory reporting for “Murder with Impunity,” a year-long examination of unsolved homicides across major cities in America. She is also the winner of the Polk Award for national reporting, Sigma Delta Chi for public service, among other awards, and was a finalist for the Goldsmith Prize and Selden Ring. Prior to moving to Washington, Kelly was a reporter, editor and publisher in metropolitan Chicago for almost 15 years at the Daily Herald and the Chicago Reporter, where her investigation into Countrywide Financial’s subprime mortgage lending led to the nation’s largest fair-lending settlement.

Kelly serves on the steering committee of the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press and is vice president of the board of the Fund for Investigative Journalism. She was twice named Ferris Professor of Journalism at Princeton University, in 2020 and 2021, and has served as an adjunct professor at UC Berkeley, Roosevelt University and American University.

Education: M.S. Journalism, Boston University. B.A. English, St. Xavier University in Chicago. +

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Terry Rasmussen

President and CEO, Thrivent

Theresa (Terry) Rasmussen is president and chief executive officer of Thrivent, a Fortune 500 financial services company. She is a member of the Thrivent Board of Directors and serves on its Executive Committee.

Thrivent offers advice, insurance, investments, banking and generosity products and programs to clients in communities across the United States. Under Rasmussen’s leadership, Thrivent is transforming into a holistic financial services organization, helping current and future generations achieve financial clarity, enabling lives full of meaning and gratitude.

Before her current role, Rasmussen was president of Thrivent’s core life, health and annuities business after serving 10 years as senior vice president, general counsel and secretary. Prior to joining Thrivent, Rasmussen held a series of leadership roles at American Express, including serving as vice president and managing counsel. Earlier in her career, she was a trial attorney with the United States Department of Justice, Tax Division, as part of the Attorney General’s Honors Program.

She is chair of the board of directors for H.B. Fuller Company, a $2.9 billion global adhesives and specialty chemical products company, where she also chairs the Corporate Governance and Nominating Committee and is a member of the Compensation Committee. Rasmussen also is chair of the American Council of Life Insurers (ACLI) Board of Directors where she chairs the Executive committee, and serves on the Compensation and Internal Compliance, and Finance committees. Additionally, she is a board member of the Walker Art Center, a world-renowned contemporary art museum in Minneapolis, where she’s a member of the Audit and Finance committees. She previously served as a board member for the International Cooperative and Mutual Insurance Federation (ICMIF).

Rasmussen received her bachelor’s degree in accounting from Minnesota State University at Moorhead. After passing the CPA exam, she earned her Juris Doctor from the University of North Dakota.

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Barry Kudrowitz

PhD, Head of Design Innovation, College of Design - University of Minnesota

Barry Kudrowitz, PhD, is a professor of product design and Head of the Department of Design Innovation in the College of Design at the University of Minnesota, USA. There, he founded and directed the product design program from 2011–2021. Kudrowitz received his PhD from the Mechanical Engineering Department at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), studying humor, creativity, and idea generation. Kudrowitz is interested in how creativity is perceived, evaluated, and learned. He has years of experience working with the toy industry and has taught toy design for over a decade. Kudrowitz co-designed a Nerf toy, an elevator simulator that was in operation at the International Spy Museum in Washington, D.C., and a ketchup-dispensing robot that was featured on the Martha Stewart Show. He is the author of Sparking Creativity: How Play and Humor Fuel Innovation.

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Rob Vischer

President, University of St. Thomas

As president, Rob Vischer has advanced the university’s key priorities while reinforcing St. Thomas’ commitment to its mission of whole-person formation and fostering what Pope Francis called a “culture of encounter” in which every student has the experience of being seen, known, and loved. He has also worked to strengthen the national visibility of Minnesota’s largest private university through distinctive academic programs and by becoming the first university to jump directly from Division III to Division I athletics.

Vischer received a B.A. from the University of New Orleans and a J.D. from Harvard Law School, where he served as an editor of the Harvard Law Review. Before entering academia, he practiced corporate litigation at Kirkland & Ellis in Chicago and clerked for three federal judges.

Vischer serves on the board of the Association for Catholic Colleges and Universities (ACCU). He serves on the executive committee of GREATER MSP and as a board member of the Minnesota Business Partnership and the Greater Twin Cities United Way.

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Jacob Frey

Mayor, Minneapolis

Jacob Frey fell in love with Minneapolis while running the Twin Cities Marathon. The day after graduating from law school, he moved across the country to make Minneapolis his new home. After practicing law and winning the city’s first annual Martin Luther King Jr. Award for his civil rights work, Jacob served as a City Council Member for Ward 3 before being elected as the 48th mayor of Minneapolis.

Under his leadership, the city has led the nation in affordable housing policy, producing 8.5 times the amount of deeply affordable housing compared to before he took office. He pioneered the elimination of exclusionary zoning, setting a national example, and has led the city through crisis to improve safety, revitalize downtown, and drive economic growth through inclusive policies. Jacob’s commitment to change was further demonstrated in 2021 when voters approved an entirely new form of government, ensuring more effective, equitable, and efficient city services for everyone in the great city of Minneapolis.

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Christophe Beck

Chairman, President and CEO, Ecolab and Chair of Greater MSP

As chairman, president and CEO of Ecolab, Christophe Beck leads 48,000 associates around the world who are advancing Ecolab’s purpose to protect people and the resources vital to life. Under his leadership, Ecolab has entered a new chapter of accelerated growth by helping customers achieve best-in-class performance while using fewer natural resources.

Since becoming CEO in 2021, Christophe has sharpened Ecolab’s focus on where customer needs are growing fastest and where the company is positioned to lead. During this period, Ecolab has grown sales to $16 billion and delivered record earnings, driven by breakthrough innovation, disciplined execution and the most engaged and diverse workforce in the company’s history. Today, Ecolab helps protect one-third of the world’s food supply and a quarter of the power generated globally. By 2030, the company aims to help protect 2 billion people from infections and conserve enough water to meet the drinking needs of 1 billion people.

As the world’s water company, Christophe is leading Ecolab across the fastest growing industries in the world where water and performance matter most, including microelectronics, data centers and life sciences. The company enables chip manufacturers and data center operators to deliver higher performance with less water, less energy and greater reliability. In life sciences, Ecolab supports the development and manufacturing of life‑saving drugs through end‑to‑end solutions that meet the highest standards for quality and safety.

Christophe is a purpose-driven leader who cares deeply about strengthening the communities where Ecolab operates. He serves as co‑chair of the U.N. Water Resilience Coalition, a CEO‑led initiative mobilizing private‑sector action to address water stress in the world’s most vulnerable basins. In Minnesota, where Ecolab has been headquartered for more than a century, he has convened business, government and nonprofit leaders to advance initiatives that strengthen the local economy, including sustainable aviation fuel, medical technology and health innovation, and public‑private collaboration to address homelessness and expand economic opportunity.

Christophe joined Ecolab in 2007 and has held multiple senior leadership roles, including leading the successful integration of Nalco. He was named president and CEO in 2021 and chairman in 2022. He serves on the boards of Delta Air Lines and the Saint Paul & Minnesota Foundation and is chair of GREATER MSP. A native of Switzerland, he holds dual Swiss and U.S. citizenship and earned a master’s degree in engineering from the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology. Christophe and his wife have two children and live in the Minneapolis–St. Paul area.

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Ron Schutz

Republican Candidate for Attorney General of Minnesota

Ron Schutz is a lifelong Minnesotan and grew up on a dairy farm. He attended Marquette University on an Army ROTC scholarship and graduated Magna Cum Laude with a degree in Mechanical Engineering. He graduated with honors from the University of Minnesota law school and spent the first four years of his legal career in the JAG Corps where he spent two years as a defense lawyer and then two years as a prosecutor. He tried 20 felony court martials.

After leaving the Army, Mr. Schutz joined a 200-lawyer national litigation firm and served as the firm’s Chairman from 2019-2024. He is currently the Republican Candidate for Attorney General of Minnesota.

Mr. Schutz is a Fellow of the American College of Trial Lawyers, which is the preeminent organization of trial lawyers in North America.

He has frequently been recognized as one the top lawyers in the country. In 2024 he was named to Forbes’ inaugural list of America’s Top 200 Lawyers and he was named to the same list in 2025.

Mr. Schutz is married to his high school sweetheart Janet, and they have three adult children. Mr. Schutz has run several marathons and triathlons and enjoys hunting and other outdoor adventure activities. He has trekked to Mount Everest Base Camp, Machu Picchu, and the Refugio on Mt. Cotopaxi. He has also climbed Mount Kilimanjaro and the Gran Paradiso (Italian Alps).

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Nico Pronk, PhD

President and Chief Science Officer, HealthPartners Institute

Nico Pronk is a researcher and executive leader whose work focuses on worksite health promotion, obesity prevention and treatment and population health. He serves as President of the HealthPartners Institute and Chief Science Officer at HealthPartners.

Pronk’s work is grounded in connecting research, practice, policy and culture to help organizations and communities create conditions that support better health. His research and practice have addressed physical activity, lifestyle behavior change and systems approaches to improving health. He has published more than 500 peer-reviewed articles, practice-based papers, books and federal consensus reports.

Pronk has contributed to national efforts to improve population health, including serving as co-chair of the U.S. Secretary’s Advisory Committee on National Health Promotion and Disease Prevention Objectives for Healthy People 2030 and participating in work supporting Healthy People 2040. He also served as chair of the Roundtable on Obesity Solutions at the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine, and as a member of the Armed Forces Epidemiological Board, the Community Preventive Services Task Force and the Health Enhancement Research Organization Board of Directors.

Pronk is a Fellow of the American College of Sports Medicine and the Association for Worksite Health Promotion. His research and educational endeavors include adjunct faculty positions at the Harvard School of Public Health in Social and Behavioral Sciences and the University of Minnesota School of Public Health in Health Policy and Management. He received his Ph.D. in exercise physiology from Texas A&M University and completed a post-doctoral fellowship in behavioral medicine at Western Psychiatric Institute and Clinic at the University of Pittsburgh.

Speaker Information

Christina Hennington

Minnesota United FC’s next Chief Executive Officer

Announced as Minnesota United FC’s next Chief Executive Officer, Christina Hennington brings to the club nearly 30 years of experience leading large, complex organizations across retail, strategy and technology.

Before joining MNUFC in 2026, Hennington spent more than two decades at Target, most recently serving as Chief Strategy and Growth Officer, where she led enterprise strategy and growth initiatives that generated more than $30 billion in growth. There, Hennington held leadership roles across merchandising, product development and capability development throughout her tenure, building a track record in stakeholder engagement, partnerships and organizational governance.

Hennington’s leadership has been widely recognized across the retail and technology industries, including honors such as Merchandiser of the Year and inclusion among the Most Influential Women in Retail.

She currently serves on the boards of THOR Industries and Feeding America, and is a Henry Crown Fellow of the Aspen Institute. Hennington holds a bachelor’s degree from Cornell University and an MBA from Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management.

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Srilata Zaheer

Dean Emerita, Carlson School of Management, University of Minnesota

Dr. Srilata Zaheer is Professor and Elmer L. Andersen Chair in Global Corporate Social Responsibility at the University of Minnesota’s Carlson School of Management. Sri served as Dean of the Carlson School for twelve years, after earning her PhD at MIT and earlier degrees from IIM Ahmedabad and Women’s Christian College in Chennai, India where she grew up. She has held major leadership roles, including as Chair of the Board of the Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis, and currently serves as an Area Editor at the Journal of International Business Studies.

Sri is a Life Trustee of Hamilton College, NY and currently serves on the boards of the Economic Club of Minnesota, H.B. Fuller, and the Minnesota Opera, and on the advisory councils of several global business schools. She previously served on the boards of the Guthrie Theater, the Greater Twin Cities United Way, and Mayo Clinic’s Economic Development Agency in Rochester, MN.

Sri has published extensively in international business and received the 2018 Eminent Scholar Award from the International Management Division of the Academy of Management for her scholarly contributions. She currently serves as Dean of Fellows of the Academy of International Business and as Area Editor for the Journal of International Business Studies.

Prior to academia, she worked in senior management roles, including as Internal Auditor for Sandoz India, and as Systems Analyst at Tata Consultancy Services.

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Brooks Johnson

Politics Editor, The Minnesota Star Tribune

Brooks Johnson leads the politics team at the Minnesota Star Tribune. He previously covered the state’s food industry as a business reporter and helped relaunch the Strib’s Duluth bureau in 2019. His award-winning journalism career has been devoted to telling stories that matter to the widest possible audience by making important topics interesting and finding the importance in what’s already interesting. Johnson grew up in Fargo and now lives in the Twin Cities with his wife and two young boys.

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James Hereford

President and Chief Executive Officer Fairview Health Services

James Hereford is president and chief executive officer of Fairview Health Services, where he leads one of Minnesota’s largest and most comprehensive healthcare organizations. Since joining Fairview in 2016, he has guided the organization through significant transformation, strengthening operations, advancing innovation, and helping position the system for long-term stability and success.

With more than three decades of healthcare leadership experience, James has led large, integrated health systems through change while maintaining a focus on access, quality and community impact. Under his leadership, Fairview has been recognized nationally for its commitment to community health and health equity, including receiving the American Hospital Association’s Foster G. McGaw Prize.

Before joining Fairview, James served as chief operating officer at Stanford Health Care and previously held executive leadership roles with Palo Alto Medical Foundation and Group Health Cooperative. He serves on the board of directors of the Minnesota Hospital Association and as board chair of Medical Alley. A frequent speaker and writer on healthcare transformation and leadership, James brings a practical perspective on leading complex organizations through change and innovation.

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Joseph Lee

President and CEO, Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation

Dr. Joseph Lee is president and chief executive officer of the Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation, the nation’s leading nonprofit dedicated to addiction, mental health, recovery, research, and innovation. A child and adolescent psychiatrist and addiction medicine specialist, he brings the perspective of both a physician leader and nationally recognized clinician to conversations about mental health, addiction, family, community, and human flourishing. Grounded in a love-inspired, science-powered approach to care, Dr. Lee is known for his expertise in motivational interviewing and family-centered treatment. He completed his training at Johns Hopkins Hospital and Duke University and currently serves as board chair of the Saint Paul & Minnesota Foundation.

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Joseph Haj

Artistic Director, Guthrie Theater

Joseph Haj is the Artistic Director of the Guthrie Theater where he has directed Waiting for Godot, Somewhere, Cabaret, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, The History Plays (Richard II, Henry IV and Henry V in rotating repertory), Hamlet, A Christmas Carol, Dickens’ Holiday Classic, The Glass Menagerie, Cyrano de Bergerac (his own adaptation), West Side Story, Romeo and Juliet, Sunday in the Park With George, King Lear, South Pacific and Pericles. Prior to joining the Guthrie in 2015, Haj served as Producing Artistic Director at PlayMakers Repertory Company, and he has directed and performed across the U.S. and internationally, including Berlin, Salzburg, Japan, Paris, Edinburgh, the West Bank and Gaza. Haj is the recipient of the 2014 Zelda Fichandler Award for leadership in the American theater and the 2017 Rosetta LeNoire Award from Actors’ Equity Association for commitment to diversity onstage. He currently serves as Third Vice President of the Executive Board of SDC, the union of Stage Directors and Choreographers. Haj holds a B.F.A. in Theatre from Florida International University and an M.F.A. in Acting from The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

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Jessica Blank and Erik Jensen

Co-Creators, The Surge

Jessica Blank and Erik Jensen are a multihyphenate husband and wife creative team who the New Yorker calls “the foremost practitioners of documentary theater in the U.S.” As a team, they are authors of The Exonerated, a genre-defining play based on interviews they conducted with death row exonerees across the US (Lortel, Outer Critics Circle, Drama Desk, Ovation, Fringe First, Herald Angel Awards; NAACP Image Award nominee; awards from the American Bar Association, The National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers, named “Best Play of the Year” by the New York Times). Erik and Jessica adapted The Exonerated into an award-winning TV movie starring Danny Glover, Delroy Lindo and Susan Sarandon. Their documentary play Aftermath, based on interviews conducted with Iraqi refugees in Jordan, was a NYT Critics Pick and nominated for two Drama League awards. Their play How to Be a Rock Critic (based on the writings of Lester Bangs), played sold-out runs at the Kirk Douglas, Steppenwolf, and the Public Theater, with Erik starring and Jessica directing. Their 2020 play Coal Country, about West Virginia’s Upper Big Branch Mine Disaster, had a critically acclaimed world premiere at the Public Theater, with original music written and performed by Grammy-award winning musician Steve Earle (Edgerton New Play Award, 2 Drama Desk noms, Lortel Award nom). When its run was cut short by COVID, the pair pivoted and wrote The Line, a documentary play based on firsthand interviews with NYC medical first responders at the height of the pandemic, starring Lorraine Toussaint, Alison Pill, John Ortiz, and Nicholas Pinnock. Also a NYT Critics’ Pick, The Line garnered rave reviews from coast to coast and was viewed by over 85,000 people in 50 countries. Coal Country reopened commercially at the Cherry Lane Theater in 2022 to critical acclaim, produced by the Public and Audible, and was recorded for Audible Theater (Signal Award for Best Drama). They currently have a major new musical under commission at the Public Theater.

Their first scripted feature as writer/directors, Almost Home, based on Jessica’s novel of the same name, was released by Vertical in 2019; their second, Brooklyn, Minnesota, starring Erik and Amy Madigan, world premiered at the Woodstock Film Festival in October 2024, where it won Best Film and Best Director; it also won Best Fiction Feature at the Minneapolis-St Paul International Film Festival, the Rochester Film Festival, the Hawaii Film Awards and the SoHo International Film Festival, with a release slated for 2026. They currently have two features in active development: How to Be A Rock Critic, with Cameron Crowe as Creative Consultant and Michael Chernus as Lester Bangs, and a comedy feature, The Last Review, with Daniel Radcliffe, Jason Alexander, Donna Murphy, Santino Fontana, Krysta Rodriguez, Ashlie Atkinson, Amir Arison, Joel Marsh Garland, Cathy Curtin and more.

For television, Jessica and Erik currently have projects in development with David Simon/Blown Deadline, Levinson/Fontana, and Ed Burns (The Wire, Generation Kill). They wrote the pilot The Negotiator for Gaumont TV (EP Tom Fontana) and have developed with Fox TV Studios, 20th Century TV, Levinson/Fontana, Avenue Pictures, Sunswept, Virgin Produced, and Radical Media. Jessica is a Professor in the Drama Division at the Juilliard School.

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Brianna Bierschbach

Politics & Government Reporter, The Minnesota Star Tribune

Briana Bierschbach has spent 16 years covering Minnesota politics, following the personalities, power struggles and occasional oddities of life at the Capitol. She got her start at the Minnesota Daily, covering Minneapolis City Hall while studying at the University of Minnesota. Since then, she has reported for MPR News, MinnPost, the Pioneer Press, the Associated Press and the Minneapolis/St. Paul Business Journal.

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Rohan Preston

Theater Critic & Reporter, The Minnesota Star Tribune

A member of the Star Tribune team that won the 2026 Pulitzer Prize for breaking news, Rohan Preston has been theater critic at the paper since 1998. He led a Star Tribune team that won an Emmy for a documentary for the historic 2008 elections and has served on the Pulitzer Prize jury for drama. A graduate of Yale, he wrote for the Chicago Tribune and the New York Times before coming to the Star Tribune.

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Eliana Wahnon

Vice President, Consumer Insights & Analytics, General Mills

Eliana Wahnon is VP, Consumer Insights & Analytics, General Mills. She is accountable for co-leading the Global Insights and Analytics organization to deliver fact-based consumer, competitive and industry insights that influence strategic growth decisions across the organization. Throughout Eliana’s 19-year career, she has held a variety of Consumer Insights and Analytics roles across the company, including experiences in foresights, analytics, central capabilities, and several business and operating units, both in the U.S. and globally. Prior to her current role, she led the Global Insights and Analytics team for Cereal Partners Worldwide, General Mills’ joint venture with Nestlé.

Before starting her career at General Mills, Eliana worked in market research, business and strategy consulting at Deloitte Consulting and Arthur Andersen across different countries in Latin America. Eliana was born and raised in Caracas, Venezuela. She holds a B.S. in Production Engineering from Universidad Simon Bolivar, and an MBA from Rice University in Houston, TX.

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Sally Saba

Chief Inclusion & Diversity Officer and President of the Medtronic Foundation

Sally Saba, MD, MBA, is the Global Chief Inclusion and Diversity Officer (CIDO) at Medtronic and also serves as President of the Medtronic Foundation.

In this dual role, Sally is responsible for driving a culture of inclusion and the commitment to zero barriers to opportunity within Medtronic, and to strengthen communities where Medtronic employees live and work through skills-based volunteerism, employee engagement, and strategic philanthropic initiatives. She is also leading the development and launch of Medtronic Spark, a global 10-year initiative to propel 1 million students from low-income households into healthcare technology careers.

Sally is a sought-out people-first leader with unique insights and perspectives on employee engagement, inclusion as a performance driver, workforce development, and strategic philanthropy. She has been a featured speaker in forums including the Global Summit of Women, the Institute for Corporate Productivity (i4cp) and SXSW EDU.

Prior to joining Medtronic, Sally served as Vice President of Equity, Inclusion, and Diversity at Kaiser Permanente Health Plan and Hospitals in Oakland, California. In her role, Sally defined the inclusion, diversity, and equity strategy for the largest non-profit integrated healthcare system in America.

Sally holds a Doctor of Medicine and Surgery from Cairo University; a Master of Business Administration in International Business from ESLSCA Business School in Paris, France; and executive leadership certificates from both Harvard Business School and Cornell University. She was named one of the 2022 “Top 100 Diversity Officers in Healthcare” by DiversityFirst

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Kristen Painter

Business Editor, The Minnesota Star Tribune

Kristen Painter has been with the Minnesota Star Tribune for more than a decade. As a reporter, she covered an array of beats – from commercial real estate to the food industry to airlines – before moving into an assistant business editor role for several years. Before joining the Minnesota Star Tribune, she was a business reporter at The Denver Post. Painter has a master’s degree in journalism from the University of Colorado at Boulder and bachelor’s degree in history from the University of Wisconsin at La Crosse. She lives in Minneapolis with her husband and two kids.

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Matt Caldwell

CEO, Minnesota Timberwolves and Minnesota Lynx

Matthew Caldwell serves as Chief Executive Officer and Alternate Governor of the Minnesota Timberwolves and Lynx. Since joining the organization in 2025, he has focused on building a high-performing organization, strengthening operational excellence, and delivering a best-in-class fan experience that deepens connections with Timberwolves and Lynx fans across Minnesota and beyond. Working closely with ownership, Caldwell is committed to positioning the franchises as industry leaders on and off the court through innovation, community impact, and sustainable growth.

Previously, Caldwell served as President, CEO, and Alternate Governor of the NHL’s Florida Panthers from 2016 to 2025. As the youngest CEO in U.S. professional sports, he transformed the organization into an industry-leading, two-time Stanley Cup champion while driving record growth in ticket sales, television viewership, and sponsorship revenue.

A U.S. Army veteran and former Vice President at Goldman Sachs, Caldwell joined the Panthers as Chief Operating Officer in 2014. During his five years of military service as a captain in the U.S. Army, he earned the Bronze Star Medal, Iraq Campaign Medal, and NATO Kosovo Medal. A graduate of the United States Military Academy at West Point, Caldwell’s leadership experience across the military, finance, and sports industries has shaped his approach to building high-performing organizations.

Caldwell earned his J.D. from Northwestern University Pritzker School of Law, his MBA from Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management, and his Bachelor of Science from West Point. He resides in Minneapolis with his wife, Fernanda, and their three children, Flora, Pedro, and Matteo.

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Andy Putz

News & Politics Editor, The Minnesota Star Tribune

Andy Putz is the News & Politics Editor at the Minnesota Star Tribune. A Stillwater native, he served as editor in chief of MinnPost before joining the Strib

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Phil Morris

Opinion Editor and VP, The Minnesota Star Tribune

Before his role at the Star Tribune, Phil Morris’ distinguished career is highlighted by nearly 30 years at The Plain Dealer in Cleveland, Ohio where he served as a longtime editorial writer and metro columnist. Twice a Pulitzer Prize finalist in the category of commentary, Morris has won a variety of awards and honors. They include the Robert J. McGruder Diversity in Media Distinguished Leadership Award from Kent State University, the Distinguished Writing Award for Commentary from the American Society of News Editors, a Salute to Excellence Winner from the National Association of Black Journalists and multiple National Headliner Awards.

In addition to a long journalism career in Ohio, Morris wrote several magazine pieces as a contributing writer for National Geographic Magazine about race relations in America following the murder of George Floyd in Minneapolis. He also authored cover stories on the COVID-19 pandemic and the death penalty.

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Keith Ellison

Minnesota Attorney General

Keith Ellison has served as attorney general since Minnesotans first elected him in 2018. As the People’s Lawyer, Keith’s job is to help Minnesotans afford their lives and live with dignity, safety, and respect.

As Attorney General, Keith takes on bad actors who illegally raise costs on Minnesotans – and wins. Keith lowered the cost of insulin to just $35 per month by standing up to big pharma. He lowered food prices by taking on a tech company that was helping most of America’s meat packing industry price-fix. He won a lawsuit against Ticketmaster for maintaining an illegal monopoly, which will lower concert ticket prices, and so much more. Keith is is protecting tenants from exploitation, aggressively prosecuting fraudsters, keeping Minnesotans safe from scammers and abuse, and standing up for student borrowers.

Keith is also on the front lines of defending Minnesotans from the Trump administration’s abuses of power. Trump promised a “DAY OF RECKONING & RETRIBUTION” for Minnesota, and has been relentlessly attacking our state since his second term began. Keith has already protected $7.3 billion in federal funding for Minnesota from Trump’s cuts – that’s money for our schools, healthcare, childcare, public safety, and more that Keith has defended from Trump’s attacks. And when Trump launched Operation Metro Surge, Keith stepped up to protect Minnesota by challenging that illegal abuse of power in court.

Keith has built a record of fighting for the people of Minnesota, and he’s running for re-election to continue that important work.

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Jason Bartos, MD, Phd

Cardiologist, Critical Care Physician and Physician-Scientist, Fairview and University of Minnesota

Dr. Jason Bartos is a cardiologist, critical care physician and physician-scientist whose work focuses on transforming care for patients experiencing cardiac arrest and other life-threatening cardiovascular emergencies. He serves as medical director of the Cardiovascular Intensive Care Unit at Fairview Minneapolis University Hospital, associate medical director of the University of Minnesota Center for Resuscitation Medicine and associate professor of medicine at the University of Minnesota.

A Minnesota native, Dr. Bartos has spent much of his career advancing new approaches to cardiac arrest care, including Fairview’s expansion of mobile ECMO by helicopter, the first program of its kind in the nation, to bring highly specialized resuscitation care closer to patients in communities across Minnesota. His research has helped shape the evolving science of resuscitation, advanced circulatory support and recovery following cardiac arrest, and he has contributed to national American Heart Association resuscitation guidelines.

Dr. Bartos earned his MD from Stanford University and his PhD in pharmacology from the University of Iowa.

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Eric Roper

News & Politics Columnist, The Minnesota Star Tribune

Since joining the Minnesota Star Tribune in 2009, Eric Roper has covered the Twin Cities metro area, the city of Minneapolis, the state Legislature and Congress. Prior to becoming a columnist, he oversaw the Star Tribune’s Curious Minnesota project and helped create the narrative podcast “Ghost of a Chance.” He is a graduate of the George Washington University and lives in south Minneapolis.

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Tiffany Hsu

Technology Reporter, The New York Times

Tiffany Hsu is a technology reporter for The New York Times, writing about the quality and movement of information and the many threats against shared facts. Her reporting follows artificial intelligence, false narratives, political propaganda, conspiracy theories, influence campaigns and more. She examines why people believe what they believe, and how those beliefs can have repercussions. She has been at The New York Times since 2017 and previously earned an M.B.A. from Columbia University and covered business for The Los Angeles Times.

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Allison Kaplan

Director of Innovation & Engagement, The Minnesota Star Tribune

Allison (Ali) Kaplan is Director of Innovation & Engagement for the Minnesota Star Tribune, working with the newsroom on multimedia initiatives and storytelling that deepens community connection. She brings to this newly created role more than two decades of experience as a journalist, radio show host, podcaster, television contributor, emcee, and entrepreneur. Previously, she served as editor in chief of Twin Cities Business and vice president of content for the magazine division of its parent company, MSP Communications.

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Joy Summers

Food and Drink Reporter, The Minnesota Star Tribune

Joy Summers is a Minnesota-based food and dining journalist. She spent her formative years in the rural northern parts of the state, in a food obsessed family. She wrote her first food review in second grade, exalting the merits of roast chicken with highly seasoned, crispy skin. In 2005 she was at the forefront of early online media, blogging independently before joining City Pages in 2010. She has served as an award-winning columnist at Lavender Magazine, dining critic for Minnesota Monthly and editor of Eater Twin Cities. Her work has appeared in national publications like People Magazine, Food Network Magazine, Food and Wine and Eater’s national site. In 2021 she joined the Star Tribune’s Taste team.

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Marc Lacey

Managing Editor, The New York Times

Marc Lacey has worked at The Times for more than 25 years, having served as an assistant managing editor, National editor, weekend editor, deputy Foreign editor and a correspondent covering Congress, the White House; the State Department; East and Central Africa; Mexico, Central America and the Caribbean; and the U.S.-Mexico border.

As National editor, from 2016 to 2021, he helped lead dozens of correspondents across the country, covering the Trump presidency, the coronavirus pandemic and the protests that followed the murder of George Floyd. In 2019, Marc represented The Times in a live televised debate with CNN that featured a dozen Democratic presidential candidates.

Marc joined The Times in 1999 as a White House correspondent, covering the final years of the Clinton administration and the beginning of the presidency of George W. Bush.

Before that, he worked at The Los Angeles Times and Buffalo News and was a summer intern at The Washington Post. In Los Angeles, he was part of teams that covered the Los Angeles riots in 1992 and the Northridge earthquake in 1994, both of which won Pulitzer Prizes for spot news reporting.

Marc was born in Queens, N.Y., and grew up in Mandeville, Jamaica, and upstate New York. He graduated from Cornell, where he got his start in journalism working at the Cornell Daily Sun and where he was editor in chief.

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Yossi Matias

Vice President, Google
GM, Google Research

Yossi Matias is VP, Google & GM, Google Research. For the past two decades, Yossi has been a key figure in Google’s executive technology leadership. Today, he leads global teams driving breakthrough research across AI for Science, Health, Climate Resilience, Education, Foundational ML & Algorithms, Computing Systems, GenAI and Quantum, with impact on products, science and society.

Previously, as part of Google Search leadership, he led products and technologies including Google Trends and Autocomplete, and pioneered Conversational AI innovations. Yossi also spearheaded Google’s AI for Social Good, Crisis Response, Google for Startups Accelerator, youth programs for STEM and AI literacy and Google Arts & Culture.

A Gödel Prize laureate, Yossi published 200+ papers and 80+ patents. He was a faculty member at Tel Aviv University, visiting professor at Stanford and Research Scientist at Bell Labs. He is an ACM Fellow and received the ACM Kanellakis Theory and Practice Award for seminal work laying the foundations for big data analytics.

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Bahram Akradi

Founder, Chairman, and CEO, Life Time, Inc.

Bahram Akradi is the Founder, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Life Time, the healthy lifestyle company he founded in 1992. For more than three decades, he has led the company with a member-first philosophy, growing Life Time into an expansive health and wellness ecosystem with athletic country clubs across the United States and Canada, digital health and wellness offerings, athletic events, nutritional products, longevity and performance services, workspaces, and residential communities.

Prior to founding Life Time, Akradi was Co-Founder, Executive Vice President and part owner of U.S. Swim & Fitness Corporation, which became the second-largest health club company in the Minneapolis-St. Paul market before being sold to Bally Total Fitness.

Akradi continues to guide Life Time’s expansion and innovation across healthy living, healthy aging, and healthy entertainment, with a focus on creating experiences and communities designed to help people live healthier, happier lives. He also writes a recurring column for Experience Life magazine.

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Jeoff Will

President and System Chief Operating Officer, Fairview Health Services

As Chief Operating Officer, Jeoff Will empowers teams to drive operational performance and growth, leading to better, more accessible, high-quality care. Jeoff brings nearly 30 years of broad healthcare experience to this role, from leadership positions in operations, physician recruitment and retention, practice management, and business development to roles in frontline care, starting his healthcare career as a registered x-ray technician. Since joining Fairview in 2003, Jeoff has led operations teams for the system’s acute care hospitals and service lines, managed nursing units, and served as the chief operating officer of Fairview Physician Associates Network. Jeoff earned a Master of Business Administration degree from Augsburg University.

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Michael Pitt, MD

Co-Founder and CEO, Q-rounds

Dr. Michael Pitt is Co-Founder and CEO of Q-rounds, a digital health company focused on improving communication and coordination during hospital rounds through real-time scheduling and notifications for patients, families, nurses, and care teams. He is also a Professor of Pediatrics at the University of Minnesota, where he has held leadership roles in residency education, faculty development, strategic planning, and hospital medicine.

An award-winning educator and nationally recognized speaker, Dr. Pitt focuses on improving how medical professionals communicate with patients and one another. He has authored more than 100 peer-reviewed manuscripts and textbook chapters and developed educational curricula used at hundreds of universities across more than 20 countries.

Dr. Pitt is also an award-winning professional magician who incorporates principles of magic into medical education. He has taught thousands of pediatricians how techniques used by magicians can strengthen rapport, communication, and observation at the bedside.

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Kathleen Hennessey

Editor and Senior Vice President, The Minnesota Star Tribune

Kathleen Hennessey serves as Editor and Senior Vice President for the Minnesota Star Tribune, joining the media platform after spending the three prior years at The New York Times as a Deputy Politics Editor.

Kathleen brings a breadth of reporting and editing chops to the Strib. She spent much of her career in Washington, where she covered politics, Congress and the Obama White House, initially for the Tribune newspapers and then for the Associated Press. Kathleen began her editing career in 2016 as AP’s White House Editor and was quickly elevated to Deputy Washington Chief, playing a key role in leading the global news service’s coverage of the first Trump administration.

But Hennessey is not a typical creature of Washington. She has reported from statehouses in Sacramento and Carson City, and written about brothels, casinos and the beauty pageants from Las Vegas. As an editor, she pushed for deeper coverage of voters and the political currents coursing far from the Beltway. The work eventually allowed her to move back to Minnesota, where, before joining the Times, she led a national team of AP political reporters who lived in the communities they covered.

She holds a master’s degree from the University of California, Berkeley, Graduate School of Journalism, and a Bachelor of Arts in History from Boston College, where she graduated cum laude in the University Honors Program.

Kathleen, her husband, Bill Carroll, and their three boys live in Minneapolis – much to the dismay of her extended family, whose roots run deep in St. Paul. Her grandfather, Thomas Byrne, served as the city’s mayor in the late 1960s. Kathleen grew up in Highland Park, graduated from Cretin-Derham Hall High School and spent her summers swimming in the St. Croix River.

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Governor Walz

Minnesota Governor

Tim Walz is Minnesota’s 41st Governor. He was first elected Governor in 2018 and won re-election in 2022. Accomplishments from his time as Governor include providing universal free school meals for students, protecting reproductive freedom, strengthening voting rights, laying the groundwork to get Minnesota to 100% clean electricity by 2040, cutting taxes for the middle class, and expanding paid leave for Minnesota workers. Throughout his time as Governor, Tim has prioritized making Minnesota the best state in the country to raise a family.

Born in a small town in rural Nebraska, Tim’s parents instilled in him the values of public service, generosity toward your neighbors, and working for the common good that guide his commitment to Minnesota today. After high school graduation, Tim enlisted in the Army National Guard. He attended Chadron State College and graduated with a social science degree in 1989. Tim spent a year teaching abroad before returning home to serve full time in the Army National Guard and eventually accepting a high school teaching and coaching position.

While teaching, Tim met his future wife, Gwen Whipple, who taught at the same school. They moved to Mankato in 1996, where they worked at Mankato West High School. In addition to teaching social studies, Tim helped coach the Mankato West football team that won the school’s first state championship. After 24 years in the Army National Guard, Command Sergeant Major Walz retired from the 1-125th Field Artillery Battalion in 2005. Tim won his first election to the United States House of Representatives in 2006 and was re-elected for another five terms serving Minnesota’s First Congressional District in Southern Minnesota. In 2024, he was the Democratic Party’s nominee for Vice President of the United States.

Session Information: Insight Talks

Fast, focused talks from leaders working on Minnesota’s economy, opportunity, health and civic future.

Speakers:

Adair Mosley

CEO,
GroundBreak Coalition

While serving for two terms as Minnesota’s Governor, Tim Pawlenty used innovative and conservative leadership to balance Minnesota’s budget, cut spending, reform healthcare, and improve schools without raising taxes. Due to his leadership, Minnesota had nation-leading healthcare, high school test scores and a prosperous economy.

Michelle Bellanca

Chief Executive Officer,
Claros Technologies Inc.

Duckworth is serving in his second term in the Minnesota Senate. He represents Minnesota’s57th District which includes Lakeville, Elko New Market, Credit River, and Eureka Township. He serves as a member of the Education Policy and Commerce committees, and serves as the Republican lead for the Higher Education committee.

John Phelan

Economist,
Center of the American Experiment

Coleman represents District 48 in the Minnesota State Senate, serving communities across Carver County. First elected in 2020, she is currently Assistant Minority Leader and serves on committees focused on education, family policy, and economic growth. Before joining the Senate, Senator Coleman served on the Chanhassen City Council, where she gained firsthand experience addressing local priorities.

Wemimo Abbey

Co-Founder and Co-CEO,
Esusu, Inc.

Since 2000, Rochelle Olson has been a reporter at the Minnesota Star Tribune covering Minneapolis and St. Paul City Halls, state government, Hennepin and Ramsey counties and the district and state court systems. In February 2025, she joined the editorial board has a columnist focused on politics at the Capitol.

Session Information: Insight Talks

Fast, focused talks from leaders working on Minnesota’s economy, opportunity, health and civic future.

Speakers:

Christophe Beck

Chairman, President and CEO, Ecolab
Chair of Greater MSP

While serving for two terms as Minnesota’s Governor, Tim Pawlenty used innovative and conservative leadership to balance Minnesota’s budget, cut spending, reform healthcare, and improve schools without raising taxes. Due to his leadership, Minnesota had nation-leading healthcare, high school test scores and a prosperous economy.

Dr. Joseph Lee

President and CEO, Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation

Duckworth is serving in his second term in the Minnesota Senate. He represents Minnesota’s57th District which includes Lakeville, Elko New Market, Credit River, and Eureka Township. He serves as a member of the Education Policy and Commerce committees, and serves as the Republican lead for the Higher Education committee.

Andrew Dayton

Founder and CEO,
Constellation Fund

Coleman represents District 48 in the Minnesota State Senate, serving communities across Carver County. First elected in 2020, she is currently Assistant Minority Leader and serves on committees focused on education, family policy, and economic growth. Before joining the Senate, Senator Coleman served on the Chanhassen City Council, where she gained firsthand experience addressing local priorities.

Nico Pronk, PhD

President and Chief Science Officer,
HealthPartners Institute

Since 2000, Rochelle Olson has been a reporter at the Minnesota Star Tribune covering Minneapolis and St. Paul City Halls, state government, Hennepin and Ramsey counties and the district and state court systems. In February 2025, she joined the editorial board has a columnist focused on politics at the Capitol.

Speaker Information

Governor Tim Walz

41st Governor of Minnesota

Tim Walz is Minnesota’s 41st Governor. He was first elected Governor in 2018 and won re-election in 2022. Accomplishments from his time as Governor include providing universal free school meals for students, protecting reproductive freedom, strengthening voting rights, laying the groundwork to get Minnesota to 100% clean electricity by 2040, cutting taxes for the middle class, and expanding paid leave for Minnesota workers. Throughout his time as Governor, Tim has prioritized making Minnesota the best state in the country to raise a family.

Born in a small town in rural Nebraska, Tim’s parents instilled in him the values of public service, generosity toward your neighbors, and working for the common good that guide his commitment to Minnesota today. After high school graduation, Tim enlisted in the Army National Guard. He attended Chadron State College and graduated with a social science degree in 1989. Tim spent a year teaching abroad before returning home to serve full time in the Army National Guard and eventually accepting a high school teaching and coaching position.

While teaching, Tim met his future wife, Gwen Whipple, who taught at the same school. They moved to Mankato in 1996, where they worked at Mankato West High School. In addition to teaching social studies, Tim helped coach the Mankato West football team that won the school’s first state championship. After 24 years in the Army National Guard, Command Sergeant Major Walz retired from the 1-125th Field Artillery Battalion in 2005. Tim won his first election to the United States House of Representatives in 2006 and was re-elected for another five terms serving Minnesota’s First Congressional District in Southern Minnesota.

North Star Summit 2026

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Schedule

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Day 2 Sessions

2026 Speakers

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2025 Featured Sessions

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Michelle Bellanca

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Session Information: Insight Talks

Session Information: Insight Talks

Speaker Information

Governor Tim Walz