Perez became one of the country’s leading experts in two-generation strategies to reducing poverty as President & CEO of Jeremiah Program, a national nonprofit whose proven, holistic approach transforms families from poverty to prosperity two generations at a time. Perez has more than 25 years of experience across sectors, ranging from small business, for-profit corporations to nonprofit human service organizations. As an Ascend Fellow at the Aspen Institute, Perez is working with other national leaders to drive innovative ideas and proven strategies to help families achieve educational success and economic security.

She serves on the board of directors for the Ciresi Walburn Foundation, Esperanza United, Macalester College, and the Saint Paul & Minnesota Foundation. 

I'm passionate about building businesses and brands, disrupting existing categories and creating new ones, driving product development, and making remarkable marketing come to life. I am deeply driven to create emotional connections with consumers, and to leave our planet a little greener than we found it.

As the majority owner of a growth-stage company, I aim to bring my best authentic self to work every day and lead with both my head and my heart. I am passionate about assembling and developing a great team of values-aligned individuals, who embrace all that Storm Creek is capable of, and want to build this company together. This is a place with no limit, where everyone can spread their wings and help collectively achieve our mission of better product for the greater good. We utilize the great principles of EOS to help us stay focused and aligned. We work hard, play hard, and look really good doing in our Storm Creek apparel! 

Emily founded The Social Lights in 2011 right out of college, building a social-first, independent agency rooted in Minneapolis that has grown alongside the rise of digital marketing. The agency has been named one of Inc.’s fastest-growing private companies in the U.S. in 2019, 2022, 2023, and 2024.

She was recognized as a Twin Cities Business Notable Leader in Marketing in 2022 and has received honors including a Eureka! Award, Deubener Award, Minneapolis/St. Paul Business Journal’s Women in Business Award, and was an Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year Finalist.

Committed to giving back, Emily mentors with Techstars and the Schulze School of Entrepreneurship at the University of St. Thomas, and has spoken at leading marketing and leadership events including Social Fresh X, Minnesota Marketing Summit, and Women Entrepreneurs of Minnesota.

The spark of human connection is a driver of growth.

After 15+ years leading business development, marketing, and brand strategy, I launched Firefly, a studio dedicated to creating experiences that spark aliveness in people and teams. From team offsites to community events to high-stakes leadership moments, I design gatherings that leave people feeling connected, energized, and ready to move forward.

Clare Richards is the co-founder and CEO of a startup called Impacks, which supports parents and educators in accessing critical school supplies. Clare is a creative by trade with a strong love for building vibrancy through action and storytelling. She is known for her ability to kickstart initiatives, engage emerging leaders, and lead passionate teams to accomplish ambitious goals. A notable example of this was her part in co-founding and leading a young leaders group called Saint Cloud Rotaract in 2015. Her work as a community volunteer and advocate has gained her recognition as a St. Cloud 5 Under 40 award, a 2022 Top Outstanding Young Minnesotan, and the 2023 JCI Ten Outstanding Young Americans award. Clare was also awarded as a 2025 Women in Business honoree by the Minneapolis St. Paul Business Journal. Clare volunteers her time on various boards, including Greater St. Cloud Development Center, Central MN Community Foundation, and the University of Minnesota Center for Integrative Leadership. She also serves on the St. Cloud Planning Commission. Prior to starting Impacks, Clare spent a decade in the marketing and advertising field. When she isn’t volunteering or working, she can be found binging a good podcast or playing her ukulele. 

I’m an innovative educator and founder of ChatLPO, an AI-driven edtech startup dedicated to empowering teachers with tools that streamline planning, and classroom communication, allowing them to focus on meaningful student engagement. Through ChatLPO, I aim to bridge the gap in educational technology, bringing powerful, accessible AI solutions directly to the hands of teachers. I also launched The Teacher Club, a brand celebrating educators with community-inspired products that foster a sense of unity.

In addition to teaching, I organize Teacher Fest Chile, an annual event uniting educators across Chile to share ideas and elevate their craft. Driven by a mission to uplift educational standards, I actively promote tech integration and support teachers through workshops and mentorship, creating spaces where educators can grow, innovate, and inspire.

18 years of experience supporting cardiac and critical care devices, expanding access to patients in need. Co-Founder & CEO of AcQumen Medical, providing noninvasive hemodynamic analytics for NICU/PICU. 

Founder of D Squared Consulting, offering clinical and technical expertise to leaders in the medical device industry. 

Bachelor's degree in Mechanical Engineering from Lehigh University and Master's degree in Biomedical Engineering from Purdue University.

I'm passionate about early-stage entrepreneurship. At Bread and Butter Ventures I work to build scalable networks, resources, tools and knowledge that help our portfolio companies succeed. I spend time working in the Twin Cities startup ecosystem and mentoring founders building in food/ag tech, digital health and enterprise saas. Before working in VC, I gained experience in early-stage marketing and building brands and communities. And I love dogs.

Bio coming soon...

I work at the intersection of conscious leadership, organizational transformation, and strategic brand growth in the natural products industry.

As Co-Creator of The Fifth Field, I help leaders and executive teams align their internal systems—mental, emotional, physical, and relational—so they can build regenerative, purpose-driven organizations from a new field of possibility. Our work combines systems thinking with deep presence and embodiment, creating the internal coherence required to drive meaningful, sustained change. We’re not here to optimize the old playbook—we’re here to replace it.

Through my consulting practice, I advise visionary CPG founders on how to bring breakthrough products to market with clarity, alignment, and traction. My work spans product development, brand strategy, go-to-market planning, retail execution, and founder development—rooted in nearly two decades of experience across sales, marketing, product innovation, and executive leadership.

As National Board President of Naturally Network, I’m deeply committed to shaping the future of the natural and conscious products industry. I’ve helped lead national strategy while staying grounded in our chapter roots, advancing a vision for an inclusive, collaborative ecosystem where emerging brands can thrive and industry stewards can lead with integrity.

Whether I’m working with a founder, a boardroom, or a full executive team—my focus is on unlocking the internal clarity and coherence needed to create real, meaningful external impact.

I'm deeply passionate about fostering a supportive environment where aspiring entrepreneurs can thrive. 

In my role as an Innovator Outreach and Development Specialist at the University of Minnesota's Holmes Center for Entrepreneurship, I have the privilege of working closely with graduate students, post-docs, research scientists, and faculty members who are eager to translate their research into impactful commercial ventures.

My focus is on identifying and recruiting talented individuals for our NSF-funded entrepreneurial education programs, where we provide essential business fundamentals and mentorship to help participants refine their value propositions and navigate the complex journey of bringing their innovations to market.

Nothing brings me more satisfaction than seeing our participants succeed. I'm genuinely invested in their growth and am here to offer guidance, support, and resources every step of the way. Let's connect and explore how we can work together to turn innovative ideas into tangible success stories!

Business strategist, creative problem solver and passionate advocate for positive social impact. I thrive in fast-paced, collaborative environments where communication, shared learning and meaningful outcomes are valued.

Listening to the customer and quickly understanding new technologies and supply chains, I drive sales, customer success and engagement for both emerging and established industry leaders.

Persistent, outcome focused and detail oriented, I help startups prepare for funding and launch products and services that accelerate growth.

As a dynamic, take-charge visionary I believe in the power of community and endless possibilities. With over 30 years’ experience working in, with and for the community, I offer striking success in propelling organizations to the next level of mission, operations and financial success. I consider it my job to find a way to make things happen that appear impossible at first glance. As a big picture thinker quite capable of seeing the details, I welcome being challenged professionally and get great energy from finding new approaches. I enjoy bringing fun, joy and wellness into the workplace.

With extensive experience in building organizations and their brand, I excel at strategic positioning, relationship building and fundraising. These skills enable me to attract and leverage investments to expand mission fulfillment to unprecedented levels. I possess strong fiscal and operations management skills, and expertise in collaborating with nonprofit peers to forge innovative and effective programmatic solutions. Instilling transparency, accountability, and candor throughout an organization and building new leaders to create a deep bench to sustain an organization’s greatness is something I am deeply committed to in my leadership.

Life balance, equity, justice, family, community and making a difference are important values to me. Outside of the office you can usually find me active outside enjoying nature, water and the mountains. I read for fun, although the books tend to lean towards leadership and strategy. 

Morgan is a serial entrepreneur, strategist, and designer. Currently, she serves as the Associate Director of the University of Minnesota's Holmes Center for Entrepreneurship, where I lead campus-wide initiatives in entrepreneurship and innovation. 

She thrives at the intersection of human-centered design and business strategy. Over the years, she has founded and led ventures aimed at solving complex challenges in meaningful ways. Her current company, Telo, is challenging the status quo around mobility aids, starting with the Y-Cane.

Beyond her entrepreneurial work, she has held product and finance roles with leading organizations like UnitedHealth Group and Bank of America. From developing go-to-market strategies for UHG's type 2 diabetes innovation to helping a nonprofit in Perú launch an educational platform for children with learning disabilities, she prioritizes high-impact potential in everything she pursues.

Ellie Pigott is a Venture Capital and Private Equity Associate at Traction Capital, where she supports company sourcing, investment diligence, and portfolio execution. She works closely with founders after investment to help drive strategic initiatives and connect them with resources across Traction’s investor network, engaging investors to add practical value to portfolio companies.

Ellie is active in the Minnesota startup community, including Emerging Venture Capitalists of Minnesota (EVCMN) and the EmpowerHer female founder group. A University of St. Thomas alumna, she volunteers as a judge for student pitch competitions, provides feedback to founder teams, and speaks in entrepreneurship classes about venture capital.

I catalyze research commercialization and entrepreneurship by designing and delivering educational programs. and providing coaching and consulting to STEM innovators and researchers.

Lisa Crump is a Managing Partner at Sofia Fund, which invests in women-led growth businesses, and the founder of Cairn Ventures, an early-stage investment firm focused on Midwest startups. She is also a co-founder of Stratasys (NASDAQ: SSYS), where she helped lead marketing and European sales and pioneered the first FDA-cleared 3D printer for hospital use.

With deep experience in technology manufacturing and startup growth, Lisa has held leadership roles across multiple ventures, including as board chair of MedModeler, a Stratasys spinoff. She is active with the Holmes Center for Entrepreneurship at the University of Minnesota, MN Cup, and the WE Initiative, and is a founding member of Growing Women’s Capital and an active member of Gopher Angels.

As a commercial lender, I focus on building long-term relationships and providing tailored solutions that help businesses thrive. I offer personal service and guidance through both successes and challenges, bringing financial expertise and industry insight to every partnership.

At Choice Bank, I specialize in SBA lending and am proud to be part of a team recognized as a Preferred Lender by the Small Business Administration, allowing us to streamline the loan process and offer faster, more flexible financing. I’m especially committed to community impact lending—supporting entrepreneurs and underserved markets to foster inclusive economic growth.

I am a passionate entrepreneur, and a Business Consultant for business owners to scale up and thrive! I have founded three businesses in the fields of health and wellness, as well as community real-estate development. 

I currently work as a Business Consultant at the Metropolitan Economic Development Association (MEDA), where I assist ethnic and minority business owners with scale and grow their enterprises.

Sales professional passionate about high-touch customer engagement and long-term client loyalty. I specialize in positioning brands for greater visibility and marketability, and thrive in collaborative environments that value ownership, accountability, and shared success. Seeking growth opportunities where I can help drive business vision and build lasting relationships.