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

Sioux Metro Growth Alliance

Sioux Metro Growth Alliance has new board members.

Heather Kranz

Sharese Ihnen

Sharese Ihnen, president of the Lennox Area Development Corporation’s board and a Realtor at Hegg Realtors, has been elected chair of the membership advisory board. She also will serve on the executive board.

Heather Kranz, CEO of TrioTel Communications, has joined the executive board.

Paul VanDeBerg

Lucas Peterson

Lucas Peterson, a government affairs associate at Bluepeak, has joined the membership advisory board.

Paul VanDeBerg, business relations at Alliance Communications, has joined the membership advisory board.

Tiffany Butler

Carroll Institute

Tiffany Butler has been appointed as the executive director of the Carroll Institute. This appointment follows the May retirement of Gary Tuschen, who led the organization for 21 years. Butler has worked in behavioral health for two decades, spending the past 10 years at the Carroll Institute. She most recently served as director of operations.

EPSCoR

Kinchel Doerner

The South Dakota Established Program to Stimulate Competitive Research, or EPSCoR, has named Kinchel Doerner as director. Doerner replaces Mel Ustad, who has led the program since 2019. Formerly dean of the College of Natural Science and Mathematics at the University of Alaska Fairbanks since 2019, Doerner has served on the Great Plains Interactive Distance Education Alliance Cabinet and on the board of directors for the Council of Graduate Schools. Before that, Doerner was the dean of the Graduate School at South Dakota State University. While at SDSU from 2012-19, he also served as the interim vice president of research and economic development, as well as the interim dean of the newly formed College of Natural Sciences. Doerner received a Ph.D. from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. He spent four years as a postdoctoral research scientist at the Medical College of Virginia-Virginia Commonwealth University and 16 years at Western Kentucky University, where he achieved the rank of full professor of biology. While at WKU, he also served as interim dean of Graduate Studies and Research.

Doerner will serve as lead principal investigator on the new proposal that is under development for the next cycle of National Science Foundation Research Infrastructure Improvement Track-1 funding for 2024-29. Ustad will remain the lead principal investigator on the current RII award that involves six South Dakota public universities, two private universities, three tribal colleges and state agencies. The project’s objective is to develop South Dakota’s research infrastructure, support STEM education and technology-based economic development.

Sioux Falls Family YMCA

Kadyn Wittman

Kadyn Wittman has been hired as development director for the Sioux Falls Family YMCA. She previously worked at other nonprofits in the area, including the Multi-Cultural Center and Bishop Dudley Hospitality House.