• To The
  Boardroom
• Co-op
  Opportunities
• Training and
  Calendar of Events
• Community
  Development Tools
• Staff
  Directories
• Certified
  Ready Sites
•    
  

Meet Our Staff

Commissioner’s Office

Pat Costello is the GOED Commissioner. He is responsible for leading the state’s economic development efforts and is part of Gov. Daugaard’s six-person executive committee. Pat manages the day-to-day operations of the GOED and oversees all legislative issues that affect the department.

Cody Byrum is the Deputy Commissioner of the GOED. He assists Commissioner Costello in the day-to-day operations of the GOED and oversees all legislative issues that affect the department.

Sales & Community Development

Chris Maxwell is the Business and Community Development Director. Chris is responsible for coordinating the sales team’s efforts on local and statewide business development opportunities. He also oversees the agency’s community development efforts.Chris can be reached at chris.maxwell@state.sd.us.

Dave Anderson is the agency’s Community Development Representative. His rural community advocate role involves him in helping towns prepare for economic development. He provides one-on-one consultations with local development officials in assessing their business development readiness, linking them with available resources both in and out of South Dakota, and helping them develop their area’s strengths and development tools. He also works with local banks to inform them of GOED’s small business financing options. Dave can be reached at dave.anderson@state.sd.us

Shelly Larson is the Business Development Representative assigned to South Dakota’s Western Region.  Shelly’s responsibilities include expanding job opportunities in both her region and the Advanced Manufacturing sector. Her focus is lead generation, working with in-state company expansions, business recruitment, and facilitating state incentives to help maximize business expansions. Additional responsibilities include acting as a rural community advocate by fostering existing business expansion and helping communities to enhance their economic development toolbox. Shelly also serves as the liaison between business prospects and local community development officials.
Shelly can be reached at shelly.larson@state.sd.us

Alex Smith is the Business Development Representative assigned to South Dakota's Central Region. Alex’s responsibilities include expanding job opportunities in both his region and the Information Technology industry. Alex's focus is lead generation, working with in-state company retention and expansions, and facilitating state incentives to help maximize business expansions. Alex also serves as the liaison between business prospects and local community development officials.
Alex can be reached at alex.smith@state.sd.us

Mark Vaux is the Business Development Representative assigned to South Dakota’s Northeastern Region. Mark’s responsibilities include expanding job opportunities in both his region and the Firearm industry. His focus is lead generation, working with in-state company expansions, business recruitment, and facilitating state incentives to help maximize business expansions. Mark also serves as the liaison between business prospects and local community development officials.
Mark can be reached at mark.vaux@state.sd.us

Steve Watson is the Business Development Representative assigned to South Dakota’s Central Eastern Region.  Steve’s responsibilities include expanding job opportunities in both his region and the Bioscience industry. His focus is lead generation, working with in-state company expansions, business recruitment, and facilitating state incentives to help maximize business expansions. Steve also serves as the liaison between business prospects and local community development officials. Steve can be reached at steve.watson@state.sd.us

Finance

Kim Easland is the Finance Director for the Governor’s Office of Economic Development. Her responsibilities include managing the various loan portfolios, other finance programs and finance staff.
Kim can be reached at kim.easland@state.sd.us

Travis Dovre is a Loan Officer in the finance division of the Governor’s Office of Economic Development. He works with businesses seeking funding from EDFA bonding program and the Revolving Economic Development & Initiative (REDI) Fund loan program.
Travis can be reached at travis.dovre@state.sd.us

Charlie Van Gerpen is a Loan Officer within the finance division of GOED. Charlie works with individuals seeking funding from the MicroLOAN South Dakota and MicroLOAN Express programs. He also works with entities applying for loans from the Tourism Enhancement Program. Charlie can be reached at charlie.vangerpen@state.sd.us

Ann Gesick Johnson is the Workforce Training Coordinator for the GOED. Ann works closely with business leaders on the Workforce Development Program to provide grants to companies to assist with training employees. Ann also administers the Dakota Seeds program, which helps businesses create internships and assistantships. Ann can be reached at ann.gesick- johnson@state.sd.us

La Jena Gruis is a Loan Officer in the finance division of GOED. La Jena works with businesses seeking funding from the Small Business Administration (SBA) 504 and the Agricultural Processing and Export (APEX) loan programs. La Jena can be reached at lajena.gruis@state.sd.us

Dale Knapp is a Loan/Finance Specialist in the finance division of GOED. Dale performs internal accounting duties for the various loan portfolios, administers contracts for the Future Fund, and serves as a project manager on various projects within finance. Dale can be reached at dale.knapp@state.sd.us

Ashley Moore is the GOED’s Loan Servicing Agent. Ashley is responsible for maintaining the finance division’s loan portfolios, providing monthly and annual reports, and organizing and summarizing the monthly board meetings. Ashley can be reached at ashley.moore@state.sd.us

Cody Richter is a Community Development Coordinator and the administrator of the Value-Added Ag Subfund program for the GOED. Cody’s duties include administering projects for the Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) Program and the Value-Added Ag Subfund (VASF) program. Cody can be reached at cody.richter@state.sd.us

Research

Mary Cerney is the GOED’s Research Director. Her duties include overseeing the data content and data use on the agency’s website, monitoring company proposals, database management, industry studies and supplying statistics and research for agency publications.
Mary can be reached at mary.cerney@state.sd.us

Sherri Dittman is the GOED’s Information Specialist. She manages many of the office databases, including the 1,100-company Manufacturers and Processors listing, the Local Development Corporation Directory, and the county profiles database. She is also the lead person in the assembly of RFIs and RFPs for new and expanding companies. Sherri can be reached at sherri.bastle@state.sd.us

Mark Boehm is the GOED’s Tax and Industry Analyst. His area of expertise includes income taxes, excise taxes, economic analysis, and finance. He provides tax savings analysis to out-of-state companies that are considering locating in South Dakota. Mark researches tax and regulatory issues for internal and external customers.Mark can be reached at mark.boehm@state.sd.us

Jenny Ondell is the GOED’s Data Coordinator. She manages the available properties database on the GOED website and incorporates GIS technology into publications and presentations. She is the lead person in researching, developing, and assembling key industry packets of information for companies looking to expand into South Dakota, along with the information packets used at key industry trade shows attended by GOED staff. Jenny can be reached at jennifer.ondell@state.sd.us

Marketing and Public Relations

Mary Lehecka Nelson is the Marketing and Public Relations Director for the GOED. She coordinates and implements the office marketing efforts. She works closely with development directors, advertising agencies and staff to ensure effective internal and external communications. Mary can be reached at mary.leheckanelson@state.sd.us

Greg Archer is the web coordinator for the GOED. He is responsible for marketing, maintaining and statistical analysis of all the GOED’s websites, as well as the sites for Dakota Seeds, Made in South Dakota and Governor’s Giant Vision. Greg can be reached at greg.archer@state.sd.us

Jen Lambley is the Social Media and Project Coordinator for the GOED. She edits and designs the monthly e-newsletter, coordinates trade show efforts, and schedules updates and creates content for both the GOED’s websites and social media outlets. Jen can be reached at jennifer.lambley@state.sd.us

Alice Wright is the Made in South Dakota Coordinator. She is responsible for recruiting and retaining artists and vendors to www.madeinsouthdakota.com. She provides technical support for website issues and monitors site traffic. Alice is instrumental in developing and implementing the marketing plan for this program. Alice can be reached at alice.wright@state.sd.us

Office of Commercialization

Dr. Melvin Ustad is the Director of the Office of Commercialization. Mel is responsible for working with the S.D. Board of Regents and universities to oversee the 2010 Research Center and South Dakota EPSCoR activities and serves as a liaison between economic development and higher education. Mel can be reached at mel.ustad@state.sd.us

Linda Smith is the administrative assistant for the Office of Commercialization and GOED Office at the South Dakota Technology Business Center in Sioux Falls. Linda can be reached at linda.smith@state.sd.us

State Energy Development

Hunter Roberts is the Energy Policy Director for the state. He serves as liaison on behalf of the Governor and department secretary to energy groups and recommends state actions and policies relating to energy production and development. Additionally, he is the Executive Director of the South Dakota Energy Infrastructure Authority. Hunter is an attorney and assists GOED in working to make South Dakota a net energy exporter. Hunter can be reached at hunter.roberts@state.sd.us

Creative Division

Individuals working in the creative division work for both the GOED and the Department of Tourism.

Thad Friedeman, Creative Strategies Manager, supervises the Creative staff, directs creative elements for campaigns and promotional materials, oversees the proper use of the South Dakota logo, proofs all creative produced materials, assists with GOED image direction in print materials and maintains the in-house graphic design computer system.

Michele Ganschow, Project Manager, coordinates Creative staff project assignments, oversees progress and completion of projects and advertising campaigns, tracks Creative expenses and handles department’s promotional product needs. Michele also provides proofreading skills on most print pieces. 

Angela Hofmeister, Tara Meise & Ashley Brassfield are Graphic Designers, responsible for creating and designing various GOED collateral print projects including brochures, newsletters, reports, conference materials and other promotional materials.

Chad Coppess, Senior Photographer, photographs businesses, buildings and quality-of-life images as needed by the GOED. He also fills photo requests throughout the year from our digital database files. Chad provides photographic and creative input on many of the campaign materials.

Scott Howard, Video Specialist, shoots video for a variety of GOED projects. He also fulfills requests from our in-house video library to state and private entities. He works to update files and digitize footage for faster editing on projects.

Administration

Marty Davis, Director of the Administrative Division, provides direction, coordination and supervision to meet the fiscal, human resources and office management needs of the Departments of Economic Development and Tourism.

Kay Decker is the Administrative Assistant to the Commissioner and Deputy Commissioner of the GOED, as well as to the State Energy Director.

Heather Davidson is a Project Specialist for the departments of economic development and tourism. She works on a variety of special projects including mailings, data encoding, hospitality certificates, serves as back-up receptionist, receipts incoming monies, develops and maintains databases for specific programs.

Deenie Frederick is the Support Coordinator/ Accounting Assistant for the departments of economic development and tourism. She is responsible for accounts payable, contracts and purchase order file maintenance. She also coordinates office efforts with Central Services agencies.

Amy Hertel is the Lead Support Specialist within the administration division of the department. She compiles and maintains address and information databases. She coordinates conference and special event registrations, compiles and maintains special event records and documents, and provides computer assistance to office personnel.

Karen Hirsch is the Office Travel Coordinator/ Fiscal Assistant for the administration division. She manages office vehicles (scheduling, maintenance, etc). She reimburses employees’ travel, processes and prepares non cash vouchers and vendor payments, and prepares cash receipt transmittals for the various divisions within the department.

Lorie Jirschele is the Receptionist for the Department of Tourism and State Development. She answers incoming phone calls and directs them to appropriate staff. She receives and distributes mail and faxes, assists staff with special projects, provides updates for the State Phone Directory, processes fuel refunds and non-cash voucher payments, and assists with data entry.

Paul Melhaff is part of the support staff that monitors federal requirements for CDBG, Arts, History and Energy grants. He maintains databases and prepares reports for the federal agencies, GOED staff, and requests from state citizens. Paul also processes grant payment requests for the state’s annual allocation for each federal grant.

Teresa Tople is a Support Specialist within the administration division of the department. Teresa updates and maintains databases, and purchases the expendable supplies for the department. She coordinates conference and special event registrations, compiles and maintains special event records and documents.

© 2012 South Dakota Governor's Office of Economic Development | Design by SD Ready To Partner