Emerging Prairie, whose mission is to connect and celebrate the region’s growing entrepreneurial ecosystem, has added three to its Board of Directors.
“We are thrilled to add decades of experienced leadership in key areas such as business growth, strategy implementation and technology development that are vital to our future operations and strategy,” said Emerging Prairie Executive Director and Co-Founder Greg Tehven.
Kodee Furst is the co-founder and Managing Partner of Annie Capital, where she leads the firm’s efforts in investing in the power of women entrepreneurs through funding, education and community development. She has spent the last decade of her career overseeing business development in multiple industries and has led growth activities across the United States. Her career and personal experiences are grounded in supporting women and solving big problems.
In addition to Emerging Prairie, Furst currently serves on the Boards for North Dakota’s LIFT Fund and CTB and is a Founding Partner for North Dakota’s Women’s Entrepreneurship Week. After graduating from NDSU, she moved out of state and traveled across the country, but found her way back to North Dakota in 2015. She resides in Dickinson with her family.
Lauris Molbert is the former Chief Executive Officer of TMI Hospitality, Inc., which owned and managed approximately 200 hotels in 26 states and had over 4,500 team members. Prior to TMI Hospitality, Molbert served as the Chief Operating Officer and Executive Vice President of Otter Tail Corporation (Nasdaq: OTTR).
Molbert serves on several Boards of Directors, including serving as the Executive Chair of Kilbourne Group, a real estate developer and services firm located in Fargo, and is a member of the Board of Directors of Choice Financial Holdings, Inc., a bank and financial services firm with operations in North Dakota and Minnesota. He has also served on many other public, private and community boards, including as the Chair, Vice Chair and Trustee of the Sanford Health Board of Trustees.
A native of North Dakota, Lauris graduated from the School of Law at the University of North Dakota (UND) and earned undergraduate degrees in accounting, finance and banking from UND. He was named a Sioux Award recipient, UND’s distinguished alumni award, in 2018. He is a licensed attorney and certified public accountant. Lauris is married to Laurie Kusch Molbert, and he has a son, two daughters, a son and daughter-in-law, two stepsons, and three grandchildren.
Mike Derheim is a lifelong entrepreneur (starting his first company at the age of 15) and has co-founded and operated companies across a variety of industries. In 2003, Derheim co-founded a digital consultancy called The Nerdery which went on to make Inc. Magazine’s list of “5000 fastest-growing private companies.”
In 2014, Derheim co-founded Prime Digital Academy, a school for software engineers and UX designers. Prime has gone on to become part of The White House’s “Tech Hire Initiative”. Derheim also made Minneapolis St. Paul Business Journal “40 Under 40” list in 2012, was honored as a “Minnesotan on the Move” in 2012 by Minneapolis Finance & Commerce, and also named to Minnesota Business Magazine’s “The (Real) Power 50” list in 2013.
Derheim has also been a featured TEDx speaker. He is a native of Minot, ND.