Speakers

Bonnie K. Holub holds a PhD in Artificial Intelligence and has spent her career correlating disparate sets of Big Data for actionable results. Dr. Holub has served a variety of roles including Associate Partner, Chief Architect at Infosys, VP Analytics at NTT-DATA, Data Science Lead, Americas, Teradata, VP Talent Analytics at Korn Ferry, Master Data Scientist at Cognizant, Analytics Director at PwC, and Enterprise Data Warehouse Program Manager at UCare Health Insurance. She has been an entrepreneur founding several companies, the most successful of which is Adventium Labs, an AI and secure software research organization that conducted over $30M worth of competitive-grant funded research during the 8 years she led the group. Adventium’s clients included the National Institutes of Health, the National Science Foundation, NASA, the US Department of Energy, and the Defense Advanced Research Agency among others. She has been a tenured professor at the graduate level and been involved with the founding of several successful Big Data, Data Science, and AI programs at various universities.

Dr. Holub has been a tenured faculty member in the Graduate Programs in Software at the University of St. Thomas in St. Paul, Minnesota and serves on advisory boards at a number of different universities.

Jake Krings is Target’s Vice President of Engineering, supporting Target’s Digital business which includes target.com, flagship mobile apps and supporting services.  Since joining Target in 2011, he has held a variety of engineering leadership positions enabling Merchandising, Marketing, and Supply Chain capabilities.  He received his BS from University of St Cloud with a degree in Business Computer Information Systems and MBA from University of St Thomas – Opus College of Business.  In his free time, you can find Jake cheering on his kids at their swim meets and sitting on various boards, including Minnesota Technology Association.  

Elwin has a track record of success in strategy, problem solving, and driving change at all levels of management in small and large global teams. He has held multiple Chief Information/Technical Officer roles in industries such as retail, finance and manufacturing, both in corporate and startup. He implemented practices such as DevSecOps, automation, and everything as code and brought unique products/capabilities/services to market. His passion is creating and incubating technical communities within companies to adapt to changing times and solve problems. 

Elwin is known for his focus on intrapreneurship and being a positive disrupter to drive growth in organizations, and has successfully rebuilt software engineering teams and implementing innovative approaches that drive business change. 

Fascinated by new technology, Elwin has a nuanced understanding of innovation, with a focus on executing and understanding new vision while balancing resources and risks. Put it simply, Elwin gets stuff done.

Melissa leads Target’s Data Sciences teams building automated decision models for the company’s Guest, Marketing and Digital portfolios, as well as the Testing and Measurement Center of Excellence. Earlier in her career, Melissa worked in market research with a focus on using survey data to provide insights on how new products would perform in the market and how to optimize pricing. In her current role, Melissa’s teams focus on using AI to personalize the guest experience, optimize offers through Target’s loyalty program – Target Circle, and power the digital guest experience including search and media.

Jean Machart is a Healthcare Executive, an EIR at DigitalDX, a Silicon Valley Venture Fund focused on investing in start-ups that apply AI to early diagnosis, Board Member for Asbury Committees, a senior living and Age Tech company, and most recently. COO at Children’s Cancer Research Fund, responsible for leading Research selection, Operations, Finance, Technology and HR.

Previously, Jean was a Vice President at UnitedHealthcare (UHC), leading global teams within Operations, and the development and management of Enterprise Digital and Artificial Intelligence Platforms, with a scale impacting over 60M consumers. Prior to UnitedHealthcare, Jean was an Officer at Ameriprise Financial, with responsibilities of owning a $1 billion P&L as a General Manager, guiding Digital Transformation as a direct report of the CIO, and leading Product organizations of over $70 billion in assets. Additionally, Jean began her career at American Express in foundational Finance roles.

She holds a MBA from the University of Minnesota in Operations and Technology; a BBA from the University of Wisconsin in Finance and Mathematics; and, a certificate from Harvard on Competing in the Age of AI. Currently, she is on two paid Boards and a member of the NACD.

Christopher (Chris) Manrodt is Head of Data & AI Strategy and Programs at Philips, delivering applications of artificial intelligence (AI) to solve some of healthcare’s biggest challenges. His team supports AI to interpret images from tiny ultrasound devices passed inside of ischemic arteries, as well as Generative AI to interpret healthcare data. Chris also manages a Real-World evidence team focused primarily on patient safety vigilance. Previously, Chris worked at Medtronic for over 20 years, in a variety of R&D, Strategy, and Data Science roles. Chris has authored original research in peer-reviewed medical journals, holds six US patents, and has won over two dozen corporate awards. He has Bachelor of Science degrees in Biomedical Engineering and Electrical Engineering from the Johns Hopkins University and a Master of Science in Management of Technology (MS MOT) from the University of Minnesota.

Cris Ross is Chief Information Officer of Mayo Clinic. Before joining Mayo Clinic in 2012, he held business and technology leadership roles with Surescripts, CVS Health/MinuteClinic, and UnitedHealth Group. Prior to entering the healthcare industry in 2003, he was a tech entrepreneur, finance manager, and Congressional aide. He was voted Healthcare CIO of the Year in 2022 by Inspire CIO. A two-time cancer survivor, he is the co-author of “Diagnosed” with Ed Marx and speaks often about improvement of patient experience. He has served on advisory boards for the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Veterans’ Administration, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, American Medical Association, HL7, and other industry groups. He is past chair of the Board of HIMSS and currently serves on the boards of CaringBridge and Minnesota Opera. He has degrees from the University of Minnesota and Yale University.

Jamie Thingelstad is an experienced technology executive with a successful track record of product and platform innovation and technology leadership for large-scale, financial services, media, retail, and software-as-a-service technology companies. He is Senior Vice President, Chief Technology Officer of SPS Commerce (NASDAQ: SPSC), the leading provider of retail cloud services powering the largest retail business network connecting 90,000 companies in the retail industry to efficiently and quickly conduct business. Mr. Thingelstad has served on the Board of Directors for the Minnesota Technology Association, Minnestar, and CaringBridge. He is the recipient of numerous awards including Forty Under 40, Titans of Technology, and the 2021 ORBIE CIO of the Year award. He lives in Minneapolis, Minnesota with his wife, two children, and their dog.

Erik Tonsfeldt is a Senior Manager leading West Monroe’s M&A practice’s manufacturing and distribution value creation team and focuses primarily on driving digital transformation for private equity clients and their portfolio companies. Erik has over 13 years of experience leading cross-functional teams in analysis, planning, and program management in both the military and in business. Prior to West Monroe, Erik was an Intelligence officer in the Army and a project leader at the Boston Consulting Group. Erik holds degrees in Russian and Political Science from the United States Military Academy at West Point, a graduate certificate in Systems Engineering from Iowa State University, and an MBA and MS in Business Analytics from the Carlson School at the University of Minnesota