Movers & Shakers features new hires, promotions and awards involving top executives and organizations. For consideration, email jodi@siouxfalls.business. Guaranteed placement is provided only to partners of SiouxFalls.Business.

American Bank & Trust

Megan Brown

Tanner Beukelman

American Bank & Trust has hired five staff members:

• Mike Murdy as business banker III.
• Tanner Beukelman as business banker I.
• Cory Herbert as senior financial analyst.
• Natalie Schultz as human resources generalist II.
• Megan Brown as business banker.

Paul Thompson

Flynn Wright

Paul Thompson has joined Flynn Wright as associate director of media. Thompson has worked in the industry for the past 15 years, most recently with Epicosity as a media buyer.

Forbes Best-in-State Employers

Five South Dakota employers have been named to this year’s Forbes list of America’s Best-in-State Employers. To create the list, Forbes partnered with market research firm Statista to survey more than 160,000 employees working for companies with at least 500 people within the United States. Survey participants were asked how likely they were to recommend their employer on a scale of zero to 10. Respondents were also asked to evaluate employers they’d worked for within the past two years, and organizations they knew within their industry or through friends or family who worked there. Responses were then tallied and incorporated into a scoring system, along with survey data from the past three years. Greater weight was given to the more recent data and to the responses from current employees within the state. The top five employers in South Dakota were:

• No. 1: Avera Health
• No. 2: U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs
• No. 3: Sanford Health
• No. 4. State of South Dakota
• No. 5. Citigroup

South Dakota Chamber of Commerce & Industry

Michael Bender

Michael Bender, founder of Bender Commercial Real Estate Services, has been elected chair of the South Dakota Chamber of Commerce & Industry’s board of directors. Sheila Anderson, CFO and treasurer of Daktronics, is now the immediate past chair.