In the spirit of ideas worth spreading, TEDx is a program of local, self-organized events that bring people together to share a TED-like experience. At a TEDx event, TEDTalks video and live speakers combine to spark deep discussion and connection in a small group. These local, self-organized events are branded TEDx, where x = independently organized TED event. The TED Conference provides general guidance for the TEDx program, but individual TEDx events are self-organized (subject to certain rules and regulations).

Fargo Civic Center
4817, 207 4th St N
Fargo, North Dakota, 58102
United States

Alissa Adams

Chief Operating Officer, West Acres Development, LLP

Alissa Adams serves as the Chief Operating Officer at West Acres Development in Fargo, ND, where she has been instrumental in driving the organization's continued success and vibrancy. Her belief in the transformative power of creativity is at the heart of everything she does. She is passionate about incorporating art, imagination, and beautiful aesthetics into all aspects of her work to create engaging and inspiring spaces that bring people together and spark joy. In addition to her role at West Acres, Alissa is also the Chief Strategy Officer at the Center for Plastic Surgery, where she works alongside her husband, Nick. She finds personal fulfillment in creative expression through cooking, floral arrangement, outdoor activities, yoga, playing with her two daughters, and engaging with her community.

Amber Buker

Founder & CEO, Totem

Amber Buker is the Founder and CEO of Totem, the only digital built by and for Indigenous people. A recovering attorney, Amber spent recent years advising bank leaders on technology. She has interviewed hundreds of leaders in banking, fintech, and government, and regularly speaks, writes, and podcasts for national audiences about what she’s learned from their work. In 2022, she became the second indigenous woman in America to raise a multi-million dollar venture funding round.

Brian Murray

CEO, Ryan Companies US, Inc.

Brian Murray is the Chief Executive Officer of Ryan Companies US, Inc., a national commercial real estate services company with expertise in designing, developing, constructing, financing, and managing commercial real estate properties. Before Ryan Companies he held financial roles at UnitedHealth Group and Arthur Andersen & Co. He has personally battled depression in his life. Sadly, he has friends and extended family members who have tried or been successful in ending their struggle with mental illness through suicide. He is a champion of ending the stigma of mental illness, particularly among men, and willingly shares his own personal depression story with the goal of creating hope for others. He is a proponent of creating greater awareness in corporations of the signs of depression and anxiety, and strongly advocates that mental illness is real, common, and treatable. He and his wife, Shelly, live in Minneapolis and have three adult children.

Charles D. Gorecki

CEO, Energy & Environmental Research Center (EERC), University of North Dakota

Charles D. Gorecki is CEO of the EERC, where he leads a multidisciplinary science, engineering, and support team of over 270 people who focus on research and development (R&D) leading to demonstration and commercialization of innovative energy and environmental technologies. The EERC, with its long tradition of fossil fuel-related R&D, has broadened its scope to include a wide array of strategic energy and environmental issues. Mr. Gorecki oversees efforts to address these issues through strategic initiatives focused on clean coal technologies; oil and gas industry technologies; carbon capture, utilization, and storage (CCUS); energy and water sustainability; air toxics and fine particulate control; water management strategies; global climate change; waste utilization, hydrogen technologies; and contaminant cleanup. Mr. Gorecki holds an M.Eng. degree in Petroleum Engineering and a B.S. degree in Geological Engineering from UND.

Christie Hefner

Director & Strategic Advisor

A seasoned professional with more than thirty years’ experience at executive levels in both public and private companies, as well as multiple company directorships. She’s on the board of the RDO Company and is a strategic advisor to Forum Communications Company, both based in Fargo. She also serves on several other boards and is a strategic advisor to CEOs. Previously, Christie served in a variety of executive positions with Playboy Enterprises, a NYSE listed company, culminating in 20 years as Chairman and CEO. She was widely credited with developing and leading the execution of strategies that repositioned the company from its legacy domestic magazine business to a global multi-media and lifestyle company and building its institutional shareholder base.

Dr. Rupak Gandhi

Superintendant, Fargo Public Schools

Dr. Rupak Gandhi completed his undergraduate studies in Political Science at Texas A&M University. He holds a master’s degree in special education from Grand Canyon University and holds his doctorate in educational leadership from Northwest Nazarene University. Dr. Gandhi began his career in education in the Houston Independent School District. After serving as a Special Education resource teacher through Teach For America, he served as a high school assistant principal, an elementary principal for a campus of 750 students, and the principal of a comprehensive 6A high school serving nearly 3,000 students. Dr. Gandhi then served as the Research, Data, and Accountability Officer (Assistant Superintendent) for Harrison School District Two in Colorado Springs, CO. In March 2018, the Board of Education of the City of Fargo hired Dr. Gandhi as the Superintendent of Schools. He officially assumed the position in July 2018.

Gary Vernon

Director of Outdoor Recreation and Trail Innovation, Runway Group

Gary is the Director of Outdoor Recreation and Trail Innovation for Runway Group and is considered one of the leading experts in developing mountain bike trail systems. His work over the past decade has been supporting the vision of Steuart and Tom Walton by overseeing design and construction of over 600 miles of world class mountain bike trails and growing around the State of Arkansas and other locations. His work includes the Oz Trails region of Northwest Arkansas as well as the Arkansas State Parks Monument Trail projects. In 2019 he was the recipient of the American Trails Chairman award for advancing trail design and changing the landscape for trail systems. His role has recently expanded to include other forms of outdoor recreation that includes creating world class climbing, paddling and other outdoor recreation experiences.

Hannah Stelter

Founder of Designed By Hannah & Scribble Lady

Hannah Stelter is a 24-year-old artist and entrepreneur. Starting her social media journey in 2020, she quickly gained a large following for her relatable art content. Her fine art focuses on body positive portraits, with a goal to help people embrace themselves and celebrate everyone’s uniqueness. She started an art supply company in 2022 that makes art more approachable for beginners, to spread the message of embracing imperfection past oneself and into ones art.

Jake Joraanstad

CEO & Co-founder, Bushel

Jake Joraanstad is the CEO of Bushel, an independently owned and operated software company headquartered in Fargo, N.D. Bushel is focused on bringing innovative software products and solutions to the agriculture value chain. Since launching in 2017, Bushel’s software has powered 2,200+ grain facilities and reaches over 100,000 farmers across the U.S. and Canada with real-time business information for their producers. Jake is heavily involved in the entrepreneurial community and enjoys helping with local startup events.

Jon Absey

Owner, Sego Promos

Jon Absey is in a class all his own. Dating back to his first season in Utah, he performed at over 900 NBA games, has donated 16,000-plus hours of assistance in the community for more than 300 community organizations, and raised more than one million dollars for charity in the process. Jon has taken home more than 40 community and national awards, including eight mascot leadership awards, keys to two cities, been honored by three individual governors with his very own “Day in Utah”, been named Mascot of the Year in the NBA five times and Best Mascot out of all sports nationwide twice and, just recently was given an award for the best video by a mascot out of all sports nationwide. He has been inducted into the YMCA Hall of Fame, the Utah Summer Games Hall of Fame, and the Mascot Hall of Fame in 2006.

Mary Snapp

Vice President Strategic Initiatives, Microsoft

Mary brings her experience and perspective from over 30 years at Microsoft to lead strategic initiatives in office of the president. She formerly led the team responsible for Microsoft’s philanthropic efforts. Prior to Microsoft Philanthropies, Mary was Deputy General Counsel leading legal support for engineering and services. She led legal support for Bing as a start up and Microsoft Windows as an established operating system. Mary is an active board leader and community volunteer for nonprofit organizations in Seattle and around the country. She currently serves on the board of directors YWCA of Seattle, King, and Snohomish County, The Seattle Art Museum, the National 4-H Council and The Farm Foundation. She also serves her alma mater, University of Michigan, on the President’s Advisory Group. Mary joined the company in 1988 as Microsoft’s fourth attorney, and its first female attorney.

Megan Langley

Executive Director, StrengthenND

Megan Langley is the Founder and Executive Director of Strengthen ND. Ms. Megan is a 2014 Bush Foundation Fellow, 2020 graduate of the University of Pennsylvania’s Center for Social Impact Strategy, and an alumnus of the Harvard-Kennedy School of Government’s Leadership in the 21st Century Program and the Lilly Family School of Philanthropy at Indiana State University. Ms. Laudenschlager currently holds several state-based and national positions related to rural placemaking and development, including positions on the North Dakota Council on the Arts Board of Directors, North Dakota Economic Development Foundation Board of Directors, North Dakota Rural Development Council, and the National Endowment for the Arts’ Steering Committee, which provides guidance to the Citizens’ Institute on Rural Design (CIRD).

Michelle Berg

CEO, ElectronBio

Michelle Berg has over 20 years of experience and leadership in the biotechnology sector. Most recently she served as President, GMP Nucleic Acids for Aldevron. Before that she served as Vice President of Patient Affairs and Community Engagement for Abeona Therapeutics, a company focused on developing novel gene and cell therapy approaches for treatment of people affected by rare diseases including Epidermolysis Bullosa, Sanfilippo syndrome, and Batten disease. Prior to that, Berg held a variety of roles with increasing reach and responsibility at Aldevron for 16 years, seeing it through several pivotal growth and expansion cycles.

Nick Hall

Evangelist - President, Pulse

Nick Hall is the visionary of TOGETHER, author of the book Reset, and the President of Pulse. As an evangelistic voice to this generation, Nick Hall has shared the Gospel at hundreds of events to more than five million people and is regularly featured as a speaker for pastors gatherings, student conferences, training events, and festivals around the world. Nick is also the President and CEO of The Table Coalition and sits on the board of the National Association of Evangelicals. Nick is married to his best friend, Tiffany, and they are proud parents of Truett, Ruby, and Jude. They live in Minneapolis, MN. Nick has a bachelor’s degree in Business Administration from NDSU and a master’s in Leadership and Christian Thought from Bethel Seminary in St. Paul, Minnesota.

Patrick Thibaudeau

Principal Sustainability Officer, Theodore Roosevelt Presidential Library

Patrick is an experienced executive and nationally recognized thought leader with keen foresight and unique ability to inspire individuals, groups and organizations to achieve something they did not know was possible. He has a proven history of developing inventive approaches and innovative solutions, leading organizations and teams to consistently achieve high performance results, and has accomplished many firsts, frequently charting new ground. He has pioneered an approach centered on human experience, positive performance and financial prosperity – yielding multiple human benefits and hundreds of millions of dollars in avoided cost and revenue. A project he led recently became the first in the world to achieve full Living Building Challenge certification for a renovation project and is now leading the sustainability work for Theodore Roosevelt Presidential Library seeking to set a new global standard for the next century of conservation and circularity of carbon.

President Theodore Roosevelt as portrayed by Joe Wiegand

President Theodore Roosevelt as portrayed by Joe Wiegand

Joe Wiegand is the world's premiere Theodore Roosevelt reprisor, and as an actor and historian, his portrayals of Theodore Roosevelt have been enjoyed by audiences in all fifty states and internationally. Joe Wiegand is a political science graduate of The University of the South in Sewanee, Tennessee. Twice elected to head Sewanee’s student government, Joe had earlier been elected Governor of the American Legion Illinois Boys State and President of the American Legion Boys Nation programs. Joe served as a graduate assistant at the Center for Governmental Studies at Northern Illinois University in DeKalb, Illinois, before launching his own business as a political campaign consultant and public policy expert. Joe has been named a Wilkins Scholar, a Harry S. Truman Scholar, and a Thomas J. Watson Fellow. Joe was working in public policy and running election campaigns when he began performing as Theodore Roosevelt in 2002.

Regina Louise

Founder, Possibility HQRS

Regina Louise is the founder of Possibility HQRS: a boutique coaching agency. Regina’s newest work, Permission Granted: Kick-Ass Strategies to Bootstrap Your Way to Unconditional Self-Love (New World Library, June 2021) is her first-ever personal growth offering. Her bestselling memoirs Somebody’s Someone and I Am Somebody’s Child: The Regina Louise Story, were nominated for numerous awards including a 2020 NAACP Image Award for Best Director, and a Christopher Award, which it won for “upholding the highest essence of triumph of the human spirit,” for a television film. A summa cum laud graduate of University of California Riverside with a Master of Fine Arts (terminal degree). Regina is a Hoffman Process teacher, a workshop facilitator and motivational speaker who resides in the San Francisco bay Area. Her story has been featured in media outlets such as Good Morning America, NPR’s All Things Considered, Lee Harris Podcast, San Francisco Chronicle, Essence Magazine, CNN and many more.

Sam Wai

Former Financial Executive

Sam Wai has been in the FM area since the early 1970s. He was a financial executive and retired 7 years ago. Sam has been a wine educator for over 35 years. He has a wine cellar of about 2,500 bottles and grew wine grapes for 20 years. He also take guests to Greece for wine/food and history tours.

Samata Pattinson

CEO, Black Pearl

Samata Pattinson is an entrepreneur working across fashion, film, and media and the CEO of Black Pearl. She is passionate about cultural sustainability and educating to connect the dots between people, communities, and the planet. Samata has delivered design initiatives at the Oscars, collaborated and connected with design businesses from across the world, and most recently, wrote and delivered the first Sustainable Style Guide for the 95th Annual Academy Awards known as the Oscars. She has been invited to address the UN for COP26 and COP27 on Designing for Sustainability. She holds mentor roles at Cambridge University’s Institute of Sustainability Leadership alongside having spoken at Yale School of the Environment, and has been invited to Number 10 Downing Street to address two British Prime Ministers on the subject of apparel, design and entrepreneurism. A writer, producer and published author, and this is Samata's first TEDX talk.

Thomas Dambo

Artist & Founder, Thomas Dambo Art Aps

Thomas Dambo's journey is a real-life fairytale about how he roamed his home city of Copenhagen on a cargo bike dumpster diving materials for his first small installations to gaining international recognition as the world's leading recycling artist. He now has over twenty full-time employees, has built over one hundred sculptures in seventeen countries, and his art is still made with the same philosophy of sustainability and recycling, truly highlighting how one man's trash is another man's treasure.

William Greenfield

Executive Producer

Will Greenfield was born and raised just outside of Louisville, Kentucky, and became the first in his family to receive a college education. His first position, as a production assistant, brought him to New York, Louisiana, and eventually Georgia. Greenfield steadily climbed the ranks from production assistant to his current position as executive producer. Greenfield recently completed the second season of HBO’s Emmy nominated series, Euphoria; created by Sam Levinson and stars Emmy winner Zendaya, Hunter Schafer, Jacob Elordi, Sydney Sweeney, Eric Dane and Storm Reid. Euphoria has broken multiple records, including a viewership of over 16.3 million per episode, along with becoming the most tweeted about show in over a decade. Greenfield is currently in pre-production and post production on several upcoming independent feature films. Greenfield resides in Atlanta, Georgia, with his beautiful wife and daughter.