Speakers - Dakotas

Joni Ekstrum serves as executive director of South Dakota Biotech. She oversees its advocacy, communication, education, and membership services, representing more than 60 members in industries from food and agriculture to human health and renewable energy.

Since she assumed this role in 2012, Ekstrum has grown the membership and increased gross profit while maintaining and expanding membership benefits. Her collaborative approach has provided connections for networking and led to new business and partnering opportunities for both members and individuals. Her passion for the industry and charismatic personality have helped build relationships with other states and parent organization BIO, legislators, other advocacy groups, venture capital, economic development, and other industry partners.

During her tenure, Ekstrum has made a significant impact on the biotech industry in South Dakota and energized the association. She is a tireless advocate and enthusiastic promoter for the association, its members, and affiliates. She has brought attention to the significant economic impacts of an innovation-driven economy and served as an effective liaison in advocacy issues to keep the progress of biotech moving.

As executive director of South Dakota Biotech, Ekstrum represents the interests and provides input on behalf of the biotech industry on many boards, including:

• Council of State Bioscience Association Board of Directors;
• Sioux Falls Downtown Rotary Board of Directors;
• Sioux Empire Boys & Girls Club Board of Directors;
• South Dakota Development Corporation Board of Directors;
• South Dakota State University Institutional Biosafety Committee

Ekstrum remains active in the business community by attending various events across the state and volunteering as TeamMates mentor and EmBe Women's Leadership Mentor.

Before South Dakota Biotech, Ekstrum served as POET's political action committee administrator. In that role representing one of the world's largest ethanol producers, Ekstrum grew PAC membership from 100 to 700 members, making it the largest PAC in the renewable fuels industry. She also is a veteran of many statewide political campaigns.

Ekstrum has a B.S. in Psychology from South Dakota State University and has three children and two step-children.

Dr. José-Marie Griffiths is president of Dakota State University in Madison, South Dakota. President Griffiths has spent her career in research, teaching, public service, corporate leadership, economic development, and higher education administration. She has served in presidential appointments to the National Science Board, the U.S. President’s Information Technology Advisory Committee, and the U.S. National Commission on Libraries and Information Science. She has recently been appointed a member of the National Security Commission on Artificial Intelligence, part of the John S. McCain National Defense Authorization Act for 2019 and is chairman of the Workforce Subcommittee for the commission. She has led projects for over 28 U.S. federal agencies such as the National Science Foundation, NASA, the Department of Energy, and various intelligence and military agencies, over 20 major corporations such as AT&T Bell Laboratories and IBM, in over 35 countries, and worked with seven major international organizations, including NATO and the United Nations. She has received over 20 significant awards in science, technology, teaching and the advancement of women in these fields.

Denise M. Guzzetta serves as Vice President of Talent and Workforce Development of the Sioux Falls Development Foundation. In her current role, she is responsible for the strategic design and implementation of workforce programming initiatives designed to achieve the Forward Sioux Falls Strategic Workforce Action Agenda.

Before her role as Vice President of Talent and Workforce, she has 20 plus years of executive Fortune 50 experience serving as Vice President for BASF Global, Bank of America, Wells Fargo and Company and in advisory positions for the National Public Utilities Commission, The Society for Human Resource Management and the Worldwide ERC.

Before working in the private sector, Denise worked for the Central Intelligence Agency, where Judge William Webster awarded her the Meritorious Excellence Award for her design and implementation of a new supply management system. Her unique experience in data analytics, finance, marketing, and organizational design, allows her to strategically align and utilize essential resources to plan for current and future corporate employment and workforce needs.

Denise is an alumnus of Catholic University in Washington, D.C., and Cornell University in Ithaca, New York.

Jade Borgeson is the Director of Strategic Initiatives at the Natcast Workforce Center of Excellence.

Jade is an experienced policy advisor and program administrator. For the past decade, top-ranking officials, policymakers, and national workforce development leaders have trusted Jade to develop and execute effective responses to complex public sector challenges. Prior to joining Natcast, Jade led the Policy division at Research Improving People’s Lives (RIPL), a tech-for-social-impact nonprofit that works with governments to help them use data, science, and technology to improve policy and program administration. In this role, she led the expansion of tech-government partnerships in service of state workforce initiatives.

In 2020, Rhode Island Governor Gina Raimondo appointed Jade to serve on the state’s COVID-19 Emergency Taskforce as the Economic Re-Opening Lead. In this role,she developed a comprehensive plan to safely restart Rhode Island’s economy and support impacted workers. Prior to the pandemic, Jade served as Chief of Staff of the Rhode Island Department of Revenue, where she was tasked with various modernization initiatives which helped secure an additional $100 million of state revenue that was reinvested in workforce creation, economic development, education and other top priorities. She also previously served as the Chief of Staff of the Rhode Island Department of Administration. Jade holds a B.A. from New York University: Abu Dhabi and a M.P.A. from Brown University.

Jade’s initial focus at Natcast will be on establishing the NSTC Workforce Center of Excellence and implementing prioritized workforce initiatives. She will establish the infrastructure and programming necessary to monitor the progress of semiconductor workforce initiatives, support the growth of the US semiconductor workforce and engage key stakeholders to inform future workforce priorities.

Natcast is the operator of the National Semiconductor Technology Center (“NSTC”), powered by the CHIPS for America Act. CHIPS for America is funded by the U.S. Department of Commerce. More on Natcast can be found at natcast.org, where interested parties can review career opportunities and can sign up for our newsletter. For more information on the CHIPS program, see www.chips.gov.

Antonio de la Serna is:

• Principal Director of Strategic Technology, Siemens EDA
• IEEE Senior Member
• Member, Steering Committee, IEEE Midwest Symposium for Circuits and Systems (MWSCAS)
• General Co-Chair, 2017 IEEE MWSCAS
• Founder and Officer, Electronics Division, National Defense Industrial Association (NDIA)
• Former Vice-Chair, Metro North Workforce Investment Board, Cambridge, Massachusetts
• National Reviewer, Next Generations Science Standards
• Medalla de Oro recipient, MAES: Latinos in Science & Engineering
• Advisory board participation at several universities
• Ford Foundation Predoctoral Fellow, California Predoctoral Fellow, GEM Fellow

Bryson Patterson currently serves as the Deputy District Director for the South Dakota Office of the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA). The SBA team in South Dakota is responsible to provide access to capital, counseling and training services, access to government contracts, and disaster relief to small businesses. Bryson joined the District Office in 2020.

Previous to his assignment to South Dakota, Bryson served as Regional Export Finance Manager for Colorado, New Mexico, Utah, and Wyoming based in the U.S. Export Assistance Center Denver. Bryson began his SBA career in 2008 as a Program Analyst in the Office of Small Business Development Centers in Washington, D.C. Bryson is passionate about helping small businesses succeeded. He enjoys fishing with his wife, three sons, and two daughters.

Mr. Brian McJilton is Director of Small Business and Vice Director of Strategic Partnering for the Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL), Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio. The AFRL Small Business Directorate is responsible for overseeing the reviews of approximately $3B in procurements across the enterprise, ensuring small business participation is maximized to its fullest extent to meet the demands of our science and technology needs for the Air Force. He focuses on developing novel interactions and programs between AFRL researchers, small businesses, and community partners to provide innovative technologies to meet Air Force requirements and AFRL small business contract award goals. His duties include the identification of small businesses that have capabilities to meet the AFRL requirements, outreach, support, and recruitment of small businesses, aligning AFRL scientists and engineers with external S&T ecosystem members (industry, academia) toward innovative initiatives, and the training of scientists, engineers and contracting officers on the small business program, goals, and objectives.

Prior to his appointment as the Director of Small Business, Mr. McJilton served in several leadership positions for both AFRL and AFLCMC. He most recently served as the AFRL Headquarters Plans and Programs Directorate - Senior Technical Director where he was responsible for assessing strategic guidance, informing and supporting strategic planning and programming, and alliances — both internal and external — to the AF S&T laboratory. Mr. McJilton also served as the S&T Strategy – Partnering & Presence IPT lead, which focused on enterprise collaborations and the needed enhancements and new approaches to expand and deepen AFRL’s engagement with external S&T ecosystems (e.g., universities, industries, government) to support the maturation of technology to accelerate transition of solutions/capabilities addressing future challenges facing both the USAF and USSF. Mr. McJilton also served as the Branch Chief (2011–2019) for the Headquarters Plans and Programs Directorate, Business Operations Division, Integrated Processes Branch, steering integration and support of necessary processes, procedures, and tools to synergize enterprise approaches and compliances. From 2007–2011, he served as the supervisory Chief Engineer of the Business Systems Group at Air Force Material Command/554 Electronic Systems Group.

Prior to serving in Federal civilian service, Mr. McJilton worked 18 years in industry for a variety of large and small businesses (e.g., SofTech, CACI, Universal Systems Inc, Integic Corp, GRACAR Corp, MacAuley-Brown) in various capacities such as Computer Engineer, Senior Systems Engineer, Engineering Management, Business Development, and Business Area Manager. Mr. McJilton also served eight years in the United States Air Force (Active & Air National Guard). He has a master’s degree in Engineering Management from the University of Phoenix, and an undergraduate degree in Computer Science/Engineering from Capital University.

Ed Palacio has 40 years of experience in directing development and production of complex military electronic systems. He has held Profit and Loss responsibility at the Business Unit and Sector levels, as well as functional lead positions in Program Management, Engineering and Operations. Currently he is President of P&L Technical Management Solutions, a Small Business focused on technology, program, and business development for the military and civilian market. He currently serves in various Executive Boards for the IEEE, Industry and Academia. He currently teaches at Stony Brook University’s Department of Technology and Society. Ed holds a B.E.E from the Cooper Union School of Engineering and Science and two M.S. degrees in Electrical Engineering and Technology Management from the Polytechnic Institute of New York. He served as the 2023 IEEE-USA President.