Our Board
Meet the leaders helping guide Emerging Prairie’s mission, vision, and long-term impact.
Emerging Prairie's Board of Directors
KODEE FURST
BOARD CHAIR
Director, 50 South Capital
Kodee Furst // Chair
Director, 50 South Capital
Kodee Furst is a Director at 50 South Capital. She is responsible for sourcing and analyzing venture capital and buyout partnership investment opportunities, as well as direct co-investment opportunities. Additionally, she is involved with fundraising activities and portfolio management. Previously, Kodee was a Program Manager at The Nice Center at North Dakota State University, where she supported the organization's mission of entrepreneurship for all. Prior to NDSU, she co-founded and served as the Managing Partner of Annie Capital, a fund that invested in female founders through funding, education and community development.
MARY SNAPP
BOARD VICE CHAIR
Senior Fellow, Microsoft Corporate External & Legal Affairs
Mary Snapp
Senior Fellow, Microsoft Corporate External & Legal Affairs
Mary brings her experience and perspective from over 30 years at Microsoft to lead strategic initiatives in the office of the president. She formerly led the team responsible for Microsoft’s philanthropic efforts. That team seeks to invest the company’s strongest assets - technology, money, employee talent, and the company’s voice – to partner with nonprofits and communities to create lasting positive impact. In the most recent fiscal year, Microsoft’s total annual giving surpassed $1 billion, with cash donations of nearly $120 million and in kind donations worth nearly $950 million. 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. During those years, she led legal support for a number of significant acquisitions. 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.
MIKE DERHEIM
BOARD SECRETARY
Co-Founder, Bunnycup Winery and Prime Digital Academy
Mike Derheim // Secretary
Co-founder, Bunnycup Winery
Mike Derheim is a lifelong entrepreneur. His entrepreneurial journey started at the age of 15 with his first company, and continued as he has co-founded and operated companies across a variety of industries. In 2003, Mike co-founded a digital consultancy called The Nerdery which went on to make Inc. Magazine's list of 5000 fastest-growing private companies in its first nine years of eligibility. In 2014, Mike co-founded Prime Digital Academy, a school for software engineers and UX designers. Prime has gone on to become part of The White House Tech Hire initiative. Mike recently co-founded BunnyCup Winery.
JONATHAN WARREY
BOARD TREASURER
North Dakota State Representative
Jonathan Warrey // Treasurer
VP of Managed Services, Retired COO of Marco Technologies / North Dakota State Representative
Jonathan combines his extensive sales and service experience to help drive Marco’s continued growth and impact. An idealist at heart, he sees what can be and then enjoys bringing people together to achieve big outcomes. Over the years, Jonathan has been instrumental in helping shape Marco’s growth and creating a place where people love to come to work and do business. When he’s not at Marco, you can find him fully investing in his community and family. He enjoys spending time at the lake, playing the drums, reading about history, watching all sports, and traveling with his wife and two adult children.
ANGIE COOPER
President, Heartland Forward
Angie Cooper serves as president of Heartland Forward, overseeing strategy, public policy, programming and Heartland Forward’s flagship event, the Heartland Summit.
As president, Angie is focused on being a resource for states and communities – turning Heartland Forward’s research into action, creating new partnerships and leading public policy solutions for state and local communities across the 20 states in the heartland region.
For more than 16 years, Angie worked in international and domestic public policy and government affairs for Walmart Stores, Inc., most recently as senior director of global public policy. Angie also worked in various departments within Walmart including, merchandising, public affairs, state and local government relations and the Walmart foundation.
While at Walmart, Angie served as Walmart’s chair of the Women’s Resource Council (WRC). Angie has also been on the board for the Asian Pacific American Institute for Congressional Studies (APAICS), the American Council of Young Political Leaders (ACYPL) and served as board chair of Common Threads.
In 2023, Angie was recognized as an emerging leader by the Benton Institute for Broadband & Society for her work on the #1 economic issue of our time – providing everyone access to affordable high-speed internet. She is recognized as a Top 100 Women of Impact in Arkansas and in 2024 was appointed to the U.S. Department of Commerce National Artificial Intelligence Advisory Committee (NAIAC).
Angie is a native of Oklahoma and a graduate of Oklahoma State University.
HOWARD DAHL
President/CEO, Farm QA and Amity Technology, LLC
Howard Dahl
President & CEO, Amity Technology, LLC
Howard Dahl is CEO of Amity Technology, a company that builds sugar beet harvesting equipment and other farm machinery and sells the equipment throughout the world. He comes from a family that developed the Bobcat loader and has been building machinery in North Dakota for 75 years. Howard received his B.S. degree in Business Administration from the University of North Dakota, studied philosophy as a graduate student at the University of Florida and completed an M.A. in Philosophy of Religion from Trinity Evangelical Divinity School. Howard currently serves on several boards including the Ethics and Public Policy Center in Washington, D.C., LongWater Opportunities Private Equity Fund, Astarta (leading sugar producer in Ukraine) and the Luis Palau Association. He is a former director of the Minneapolis Federal Reserve Bank. Howard has three children and eight grandchildren.
HEIDI HEITKAMP
Former U.S. Senator / Founder & Chair of the One Country Project / Former Director, University of Chicago’s Institute of Politics (IOP)
Former U.S. Senator / Founder & Chair of the One Country Project / Former Director, University of Chicago’s Institute of Politics (IOP)
U.S. Senator Heidi Heitkamp was the first female senator elected from North Dakota, serving from 2013–2019. During her six years in the U.S. Senate, Heitkamp quickly became a proven senator who worked across the aisle to fight for North Dakotans. She personally showed that if senators work together, it can lead to real solutions. Throughout her time in public service, Heidi prioritized improving the lives of Indigenous people and working families; stopping human trafficking and violence against women; guaranteeing affordable health care; addressing childhood trauma; eliminating unnecessary regulation and securing a U.S. energy policy that keeps costs low but achieves climate goals. Providing equal economic opportunity for Rural America continues to be her lifelong pursuit. Heitkamp previously served as North Dakota’s Attorney General, and elected State Tax Commissioner. She serves on numerous boards including The McCain Institute, The Howard Buffett Foundation, Restore Democracy Initiative and The German Marshall Fund. She is the founder and Chair of the One Country Project, an organization focused on addressing the needs and concerns of rural America. She serves as a contributor to both CNBC and ABC News.
JAHMY HINDMAN
Chief Technology Officer, John Deere
Jahmy Hindman is Senior Vice President & Chief Technology Officer of Deere & Company, a position he has held since July 2020. He is responsible for building Deere’s “tech stack,” the company’s intuitive end-to-end equipment solution made up of hardware and devices, embedded software, connectivity, data platforms, and applications. He leads the company’s Intelligent Solutions Group, its global network of technology/innovations centers, and the shared engineering function.
Under Hindman’s leadership, John Deere has received CES ® Innovation Awards for four consecutive years in a variety of categories including Robotics, Vehicle Intelligence & Transportation, and Sustainability, Eco-Design & Smart Energy. The company was also awarded eight AE50 Awards for innovative product engineering from ASABE. Through the innovations in Hindman’s organization, John Deere is helping customers be more productive, more profitable, and do their jobs in more sustainable ways.
Working in both the Agriculture & Turf and Construction & Forestry divisions, Hindman has more than 25 years of advanced technology, artificial intelligence, product engineering, and manufacturing experience. Most recently, he led the engineering team for Deere’s flagship tractor product line.
Hindman joined John Deere in 1996 as a test engineer working on backhoes and crawlers. Subsequent leadership roles included Global Manager, Architectures, Systems and Modules; platform architect for the tractor product lines; Manager, Large Tractor Chassis; general manager and engineering manager at Deere’s construction-equipment factory in Tianjin, China; and product marketing manager and engineering supervisor for four-wheel-drive construction loaders.
Hindman holds a bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering from Iowa State University as well as master’s and doctoral degrees in mechanical engineering from the University of Saskatchewan. His doctorate focused on the application of artificial neural networks in heavy-equipment applications. He sits on the College of Engineering Advisory Board for Iowa State University, the University of Texas Department of Computer Science Advisory Council, and the Executive Advisory Council for FIRST.
Deere & Company (JohnDeere.com) is a world leader in providing advanced products, technology, and services for customers whose work is revolutionizing agriculture and construction — those who cultivate, harvest, transform, enrich, and build upon the land to meet the world’s increasing need for food, fuel, shelter, and infrastructure.
STUART MUNSCH
US Navy Retired
Admiral Stuart Munsch, a native of North Dakota and a 1985 graduate of the U.S. Naval Academy Annapolis, Maryland, with a Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering. While at the U.S. Naval Academy, he was brigade commander of his class and an All-American and national champion pistol shooter. He was selected for a Rhodes Scholarship and attended Oxford University and earned a Bachelor of Arts and a Master of Arts in Philosophy, Politics and Economics.
He then was assigned to four consecutive sea duty assignments, serving on USS Will Rogers (SSBN 659), USS Jefferson City (SSN 759), USS Kitty Hawk (CV 63) on the staff of Commander, Cruiser Destroyer Group 5, and USS Tucson (SSN 770).
In 1999, Munsch reported ashore to U.S. Pacific Command, where he served in the Plans and Policy Directorate (J5) prior to becoming deputy executive assistant to the commander. He then was selected for a White House Fellowship and served as special assistant to the Secretary of Agriculture.
Munsch commanded USS Albuquerque (SSN 706) from 2002 to 2005, followed by duty in the Pentagon as the military assistant to the Deputy Secretary of Defense and then as executive assistant to the Director, Submarine Warfare, Office of the Chief of Naval Operations (OPNAV N87).
Munsch commanded Submarine Development Squadron (DEVRON) 5 from 2008 to 2010 and then returned to the Pentagon to head the Navy Strategy branch (OPNAV N513). Selected for flag rank, he was reassigned as deputy director, Undersea Warfare (OPNAV N97).
Munsch was assigned overseas to Japan and Bahrain, Munsch commanded Submarine Group 7 and Task Forces 74 and 54 from 2013 to 2015, followed by duty in the Pentagon as the senior military assistant to the Deputy Secretary of Defense.
In 2017 he reported to OPNAV N3/N5 and in 2018 became the deputy chief of naval operations for Operations, Plans and Strategy.
In 2019 he established and served as the initial deputy chief of naval operations for Warfighting Development, N7. From 2020 to 2022 he served on the Joint Staff as director for Joint Force Development (J7).
Munsch assumed his most recent role in June 2022 as commander of Allied Joint Force Command, located in Naples, Italy. In this capacity, he directed a combined NATO staff responsible for planning, preparing and conducting military operations throughout the Supreme Allied Commander Europe’s area of responsibility.
He concurrently served as commander, U.S. Naval Forces Europe and U.S. Naval Forces Africa, where his area of responsibility encompassed the waters bordering the coasts of Europe and Africa, including the Baltic, Mediterranean and Black Seas.
Munsch is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations, a U.S. Supreme Court Statecraft Fellow, Massachusetts Institute of Technology Seminar XXI Fellow and recipient of the U.S. Navy League's Decatur Award for operational excellence.
His awards include the Defense Distinguished Service Medal (two awards), Navy Distinguished Service Medal, Defense Superior Service Medal, Legion of Merit (five awards) and several unit awards shared with shipmates.
GREG TEHVEN
CEO & Co-Founder, Emerging Prairie / Co-Founder, Grand Farm
Greg Tehven
CEO & Co-founder, Emerging Prairie / Co-Founder, Grand Farm
Greg Tehven is the CEO & Co-founder of Emerging Prairie, an organization creating a thriving ecosystem for entrepreneurs, innovators, and technologists, and Co-founder and Board Chair of Grand Farm, an initiative dedicated to finding innovative solutions in agriculture through technology. As a fifth-generation North Dakotan, he is proud to call Fargo home and is passionate about bringing big ideas to the region. Greg holds a degree from the University of Minnesota and has completed Stanford's Graduate School of Business Social Entrepreneurship Executive Course. He is happily married to an entrepreneur and Dad to three wonderful kids.
Past Emerging Prairie Board Members
BYRON SNIDER
2021–2025
BEC HEINRICH
2021–2024
LAURIS MOLBERT
2020–2024
JANE SCHUH
2017–2024
PATRICK CHAFFEE
2016–2022
KIRK ANTON
2016–2022
ALLISON BARMANN
2018–2021
TIM BROOKINS
2016–2021
JAKE JORAANSTAD
2012–2021
MIGUEL DANIELSON
2012–2017
EDIE RAMSTAD
2017
