DCTC Foundation Board
Chair
Stephen Engel has nearly 20 years of research, development, and engineering experience at Ecolab, the global leader in water, hygiene, and energy technologies and services. Engel's experience includes chemistry and equipment product development and commercialization, technical service, and team management with focus in the food service and hospitality markets. He is a University of Minnesota chemistry graduate and a retired U.S. Navy veteran with 20 years of active and reserve service. He is an active board member with the Rosemount Beyond The Yellow Ribbon Network providing support for community veterans and service members, including support for DCTC veteran students. He also leads a military employee business resource group at Ecolab to support professional development, community outreach, and talent acquisition initiatives.
Joel Trinkle assists clients with environmental permitting, compliance, and management projects. He has more than 15 years of experience in air quality permitting, regulatory applicability analyses, compliance audits, risk management planning, dispersion modeling, and regulatory-agency negotiation. He has assisted a broad range of clients—including petroleum refiners, renewable fuels producers, forest products companies, utilities, and manufacturers—at facilities in states from Alaska to Louisiana. Joel's assistance has included completing air permit and regulatory applicability analyses in 15 states, managing and preparing PSD and Title V permit applications for clients in a wide range of industries, and presenting instructional courses on air quality permitting to more than 200 clients including Minnesota Pollution Control Agency staff, industry representatives, and environmental consultants.
Scott D. Kadrlik is the Managing Partner with the CPA firm of Meuwissen, Flygare, Kadrlik & Associates, P.A., with over 38 years of experience in public accounting. Mr. Kadrlik's experience includes tax and financial planning for individuals, professional corporations, partnerships, estates and exempt organizations. Scott Kadrlik was named one of Twincities Business 2010-2018 Five Star Wealth Advisors. Mr. Kadrlik carries the Personal Financial Specialist (PFS) designation with the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA). He also currently holds a Life/Health insurance license. Mr. Kadrlik is a member of the American Institute, and Minnesota Society of CPA's. Mr. Kadrlik is a member of the Tax Section and the Personal Financial Planning division of the AICPA. He also Chairs the Accounting Advisory Board for DCTC and received the 2010 Distinguished Alumni Award from the college.
Scott laughs at himself and his profession the way no accountant has laughed before. We all know an accountant, but we rarely meet one who can take the awful experience of tax preparation and make it fun. Scott has performed at the Acme Comedy Club, Comedy Gallery, and more. He was a semi-finalist in the Funniest Person in the Twin Cities contest in 2007. Scott believes that you need to laugh at yourself because everyone else is already laughing at you. He is the second funniest accountant in America.
Angela is the Marketing and Social Media Specialist for Minnesota Department of Employment and Economic Development’s RETAIN program. Her background includes over 15 years' experience in marketing communications; working in various industries including non-profit, education, hospitality and medical. Angela earned her Bachelor's Degree in Marketing Communications and a Minor in Business Administration from Bemidji State University. She has always been a strong advocate for continuing education and volunteering. Angela previously served on the board of directors for the International Falls Chamber of Commerce and the Bemidji Downtown Alliance.
Mike has spent his 17-year career as an engineer working in the environmental compliance field working for the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency, several consulting firms, and now, industry. For the last eight years, Mike has worked for Flint Hill Resources/Koch Industries at the Pine Bend Refinery in Rosemount primarily focusing on air permitting. Mike supports multiple fertilizer and petrochemical facilities throughout the country. He has a passion for connecting people, ideas, and resources in new ways to generate novel solutions to every day problems. A love of the outdoors lead Mike to Montana State University – Bozeman where he earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Chemical Engineering. He currently lives in Apple Valley with his wife, two teenage children, and a stoic, but lovable, dog.
Jeannette lives and works out of her home here in Rosemount. She is a licensed attorney, and other than practicing a little on the side, has been with Thomson Reuters throughout her professional career, a tenure of over 23 years. Jeannette enjoys volunteering, particularly for causes that support children. She and her husband have been Dakota County foster parents for over 20 years. Also an avid photographer, Jeannette recently took on the role of volunteer photographer for the Now I Lay Me Down to Sleep (NILMDTS) organization providing remembrance photography to parents suffering the loss of a baby.
Ryan O'Gara has worked for SKB Environmental for over 20 years in various positions. For the last seventeen years, he has been SKB’s Government Affairs liaison. He is responsible for monitoring and lobbying issues at the Minnesota State Capitol as well as political issues at the county and city level. He is a registered lobbyist in Minnesota. He is currently serving as the Chairman of the Minnesota Chamber of Commerce's Solid Waste Subcommittee. He is also currently serving on the the Dakota County Technical College Foundation Board of Directors. He has previously served on the Board of Directors of the Dakota County Regional Chamber of Commerce, the Construction & Demolition Recycling Association (CDRA) and the Minnesota Chapter of the Solid Waste Association of North America (SWANA). He was appointed to the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency's Environmental Innovations Advisory Council (EIAC), the Construction/Demolition/Industrial Landfill Workgroup and has been active on the Advisory Committees for writing Non-MSW rules, Beneficial Use rules, Transfer Station rules, Demolition Landfill Guidance, and Industrial Landfill Guidance. He has been active in the Construction & Demolition Recycling Association (CDRA) and National Waste & Recycling Association (NWRA). He received a B.A. in English at the University of Colorado.
Dan Sjolseth is the owner of Superior Service Center, a mechanical and collision shop with two locations in Eagan and Apple Valley. Dan has 44 years of experience in the automotive business. He shares his passion for the industry by speaking with parents and teachers at the middle and high school levels to encourage a degree in the Automotive field by way of technical colleges. Sjolseth also serves on the DCR Chamber Board of Directors as well as the Alliance of Automotive Service Providers on the local and national board. Dan also enjoys spending time with his wife, three daughters and four grandchildren.
Jim Bjorklund began his career at Ziegler in 1999 interning as a Heavy Equipment Technician while attending the Diesel Mechanics program at Alexandria Technical College. He continued working at Ziegler after graduation as a Technician until advancing into his current role as Branch Operations Manager at Ziegler Inc.'s corporate headquarters in Bloomington, Minn. He has had the opportunity to hire many intern Technicians from the technical colleges Ziegler has built strong relationships with. These partnerships provide an integral pipeline of quality trained technicians. Jim joined DCTC's Heavy Construction Equipment Technology Advisory Board providing key information and support from the industry. Jim is an advocate for continuous improvement and learning. While advancing at Ziegler, he also completed the Business Management Certificate program at Rasmussen College helping him become a more effective leader and manager. Jim lives in Prior Lake, MN with his wife Ashley and two daughters; Avrie and Isla. In his spare time, he enjoys the outdoors and spending time at the lake with friends and family.
Jeff has nearly 20 years of engineering and operations experience with electrical distribution utilities. He has been with Dakota Electric Association since 2007 and worked in the engineering department for the first 11 years. In 2018, he moved to Utility Services/operations where he oversees Dakota's Electric's 24/7 control center, line crews, technician electricians, warehouse, transportation, and facilities. Jeff has a strong interest in supporting the leadership and development of students interested in pursuing electric utility jobs and careers. Jeff has degrees in applied physics and electrical engineering from St. John's University and the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities. He is an active licensed professional engineer in the State of Minnesota and has a certificate of Distinguished Leadership and Business Administration from the Carlson School of Management. Jeff is also a senior member of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE). He has served on the Minnesota Power Systems planning committee and was technical lead on the Minnesota Public Utilities Commission Distributed Generation Working Group.
Kathy Funston is the Director of Strategic Partnerships and Pathways for the Burnsville-Eagan-Savage Public School District, bringing over 34 years of experience in K-12 public education. Her work has been pivotal in the development of award-winning high school career pathways, the development of over 200 business/community partnerships, and securing over $1.6 million in grants and donations in the past 5 years. She is co-founder of the Business Education Network. Previously, Kathy was the Secondary Curriculum Coordinator for Rosemount-Apple Valley-Eagan Schools and held district/school leadership positions in Charleston County (South Carolina) Public Schools. She also worked at The American College in Paris and at Parsons School of Design in Paris, France. Kathy earned her Masters and Specialist/Superintendent degrees from The Citadel, and a Doctorate from Argosy University. Kathy and her husband are avid travelers with over 70 countries in their travel log. Together, they enjoy cooking, fishing, and scuba diving. They are the parents of an adult daughter who lives in Philadelphia.
I have been a Registered Nurse for 37 years and with Allina Health for 30+ years. I started out as an inpatient nurse and transitioned to leadership 28 years ago. I now have oversight of on-boarding and education of ambulatory nursing staff including partnering for student placement for clinical experiences. I am very excited to be a part of the board to continue supporting students in their education journey! On a personal note, I have three grown children that I am very proud of and one dog that I adore. I love to bike ride, garden and travel around the world with my best friend - my husband.
Jason Wetzel is the Dean of transportation, construction and manufacturing. Jason oversees 14 programs at the college, 5 in the Transportation department and 9 in the Construction & Manufacturing department.
Jason has a Bachelor of Science (B.S.) in Business Administration and a Master of Business Administration (M.B.A.).
Jason grew up with a father and multiple aunts and uncles working in skilled trades and has a deep level of respect for this line of work.
Before coming to DCTC, he served as president of the Tulsa Welding School & Technology Center in Houston, Texas. TWS is the largest welding school in the U.S. Prior to that was a campus president of a design school.
He also previously owned a health club, has a long history of owning rental properties and enjoys renovating homes. He spends his free time working on his property, spending time with his wife, 2 daughters and yellow lab, and mixes in a round of golf whenever possible.
Michael Berndt has served Minnesota State for 18 years in several capacities including as faculty member, dean, and executive leader. In his current role, he has served as the vice president of Academic Affairs at Century College since 2014.
Previously, he served Normandale Community College as the administrator overseeing research, planning, accreditation, and online learning from 2008 to 2014. He was a full-time English instructor at Normandale from 2000 to 2008 and the English Department chair from 2002 to 2004. He holds a bachelor’s degree from the University of Minnesota Morris and a master’s from Southern Illinois University at Carbondale.
Kim is the Executive Director of Foundations and Community Relations for the Dakota County Technical College and Inver Hills Community College. As director Kim leads fundraising efforts for the foundation as well as advocates for students and the colleges by engaging community partners.
Kim earned a Masters degree from the University of Utah and also holds Bachelor’s degrees in Psychology and Human Development and Family Studies.
Before coming to the colleges, Kim's career focused on working in the Human Service field. She began working at Inver Hills Community College in February 2014 where she was able to combine the human service with higher education as the TuitionMatch-MN Program Manager. She sees her current position with the foundation as a continuation of her human service work by engaging the community to support student success at both colleges.
