Theme: Reimagine Innovation

TEDxRapidCity inspired western South Dakota to Reimagine Innovation. This was the first TEDx event to be held in the area and sold out in only 4 days.

722 St Joseph Street
Rapid City, South Dakota
United States

Conrad Farnsworth

Conrad was born and raised in Newcastle, Wyo., and has been a tinkerer ever since his hands were capable of grasping the tools for the job. He became interested in nuclear fusion during his sophomore year of high school, and by the time he was in his junior year, he became the first person in the state of Wyoming to build a nuclear fusion reactor. Conrad is currently a student at South Dakota School of Mines and Technology studying electrical engineering.

Jeff Moore

Jeffrey Moore is an educator, world traveler and keynote speaker on a mission to help people maximize their potential. Jeff has been an educator for nearly a decade, starting in Harlem, NYC where he taught English, Kickboxing (after school self defense program) and was a Dean of Students. Recently, Jeff has returned from teaching Physical Education in India for the past 2 years, where he helped students develop confidence, social skills and the desire to improve. Jeff holds a Master's in both English and Education from Hunter College in New York City. He also currently has Google's #1 Motivational Blog in the world, Everyday Power, and has built an online community of 300,000 monthly viewers dedicated to re-imagining what's possible for them. Currently, Jeff is living in New York, where he speaks to high schools, universities and organizations about improving performance, managing time and developing resilience.

Kyle White

Kyle D. White is Vice President of Regulatory Affairs for Black Hills Corporation. Mr. White has more than 30 years of experience with the company, beginning his employment in 1982 at Black Hills Power. During his career, he has had various regulatory, governmental affairs, public relations, resource planning and marketing responsibilities. He has had the opportunity to be involved during the startup of several organizations, including Black Hills FiberCom, a company that brought competitive telephone, digital cable television and high-speed Internet to the Black Hills in the late 1990s. Mr. White has also been active in governmental, business and civic organizations, as well as being a volunteer coach for youth athletics for many years. Mr. White holds B.S. and M.S. degrees in Business Administration from the University of South Dakota. He and his wife, Suzanne, have four adult children who are the inspiration for his TED talk.

MacKenzie Roebuck-Walsh

MacKenzie Roebuck-Walsh grew up in Deadwood, SD. As a child, she met people from around the world while working at her parent's historic hotel. Her passion for politics and global communications led her to pursue dual degrees in International Business and Public Relations at Drake University in Des Moines, Iowa, where she graduated Magna Cum Laude. MacKenzie moved to Japan to teach English. She was appointed as a young ambassador to Japan. Returning to the US, MacKenzie graduated with her IMBA from Daniel’s College of Business at the University of Denver. She began working in the Cable and Broadband industry, first with a consulting firm, and now as the Manager of Customer Experience for Comcast’s West Division. MacKenzie serves on the Rocky Mountain Women in Cable board and was appointed to the Denver Women's Commission by Mayor Hancock. The commission is tasked with enhancing the quality of life in Denver by assisting women in the attainment of equality and full opportunity.

Malcom Chapman

Malcom "Chap" Chapman is president and founder of the Chapman Group, an organizational communications consulting firm that offers retreat facilitation, strategic planning, coaching, seminars, and keynote addresses to organizations and businesses. He is a former U.S. Marine Corp Officer and he served three terms as Councilman for the City of Rapid City. Chap has worked in professional sales and as a consultant to the Center for Naval Analysis in Washington D.C. He is an active National League of Cities advocate, participant, and presenter. Chap holds a Masters’ Degree in Public Administration and was the 2008 recipient of the South Dakota Municipal League Excellence in Municipal Government Award. He was currently selected as a Bush Fellow around his work in community leadership and capacity building.

Mark Vargo

"Afflicted with the magic of the necessary word" Mark has spent a lifetime pursuing the art of persuasion. A high school and college debater, he and his partner were Team of the Year his senior year at Princeton. After graduating from Georgetown Law, Mark went pro as an Assistant State Attorney for Janet Reno in Miami, Florida in 1988. Relying upon his wife’s description of Rapid City as “the banana belt,” he moved to South Dakota, where he served as a Deputy State’s Attorney for three years, joined the Rapid City United States Attorney’s Office for 15 years, and then, in 2012, was elected as Pennington County State’s Attorney. In his copious free time, he has also been a professor of Rhetoric, an instructor for prosecutors around the world, including Tbilisi, Georgia, and Vladivostok, Russia, and was the debate coach for Rapid City Stevens for the past seven years.

Murdoc Jones

Murdoc has been in the media business since starting his first web design company at the age of eighteen. He has over sixteen years experience in web design, broadcast media, content creation and media strategy. He’s been a well-known radio personality, a music director, and a magazine publisher. In addition to working as a marketing consultant in the motorcycle industry, Murdoc has also successfully taken on numerous digital consulting ventures. He currently serves as the Head of Business Development for The HomeSlice Group - a South Dakota company which creates and maintains local, regional and national brands. You can also listen to his podcasts at murdocjones.com.

Nick Tilsen

Nick is a citizen of the Oglala Lakota Nation and the founding Executive Director of the Thunder Valley Community Development Corporation. Nick has over 15 years of experience in working with non-profits and Tribal Nations on projects that have a social mission. Prior to working with Thunder Valley CDC, Nick founded the Lakota Action Network which fought to protect Native American sacred sites, provide community organizing training while educating tribes in the implementation of sustainable renewable energy practices. Nick has been selected by the White House to lead the Ladders of Opportunity and Promise Zone Initiatives on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation. In 2014 Nick was selected as an Ashoka Fellow joining a global network of the worlds leading social innovators.

Siouxsie Downs

Siouxsie is a has lived in Colorado for the past eight years and is a nuclear engineering student at ISU. She has always had a passion for humanitarian work and has developed landmine detection hardware, as well as educational programs to help individuals live self determined lives. Outside of work, she is an avid volunteer and roller derby player.