Board of Directors

Co-Founder and General Partner, South Dakota First Capital

Mark Stowers has a diverse background working at the executive level in R&D and business with large, multinational companies, start-ups, and a not-for-profit research institute. He has extensive international experience conducting business in over 85 countries, completing mergers and acquisitions in the Americas, Europe, and Asia. In 2023 he co-founded and is the General Partner in South Dakota First Capital to provide venture and growth capital to South Dakota and upper Midwest companies.

Previously Mark was the COO and President – North America for Inari Agriculture, a computational biology company using gene-editing to increase the resiliency and productivity of corn, soybean and wheat.  He also held senior executive level positions with Limagrain, a French farmers’ cooperative with operations in seeds, cereal ingredients, and baking; POET, the world’s largest biofuels company; MBI International, a not-for-profit research institute on the campus of Michigan State University; Monsanto, a leading ag biotechnology company; and Eastman Kodak, where he was one of the early principals in the creation of one the world’s largest enzyme producers. He has been the CEO or founder of companies in biotechnology, biomaterials and synthetic biology. He co-founded the UC Davis-HM.Clause Innovation Center to support entrepreneurs and nurture startups associated with UC-Davis. Over his career he led or participated in many corporate equity and debt financing including leading the successful IPO of Seminis (NASDAQ – SMNS) in 1999 raising over $200 million for 23% of the company.

Mark holds a PhD in Microbiology from North Carolina State University, completed his postdoctoral studies at the Boyce Thompson Institute at Cornell University and studied at the Olin School of Business at Washington University – St. Louis.  He was named Distinguished Alumnus of the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences at North Carolina State University in 2003. He currently serves as an officer on the Board of Directors of the South Dakota Biotechnology Association, BioRise, a not-for-profit, business and technology development affiliate of SD Bio and supports X, The Moonshot Factory (Alphabet, Inc’s R&D engine) with agriculture related startups.

Senior Vice President of Research, POET

Jeff Heikes joined POET in June 2002 and has served the organization in multiple roles since then. Prior to leading POET’s research business unit, Heikes had leadership roles in plant operations, engineering and project management. He was also a key leader in the design, construction and operations of POET’s cellulosic bioethanol plant in Emmetsburg, Iowa.

In his current role as Senior Vice President of POET Research, Heikes leads biotechnology, science and engineering research for POET in Sioux Falls, South Dakota. He also oversees the operations of the POET Research Center in Scotland, South Dakota, and the POET Bioproducts Center being built in Brookings, South Dakota, on the South Dakota State University campus.

Prior to joining POET, Heikes held various roles in corn wet milling in Nebraska. Heikes received a Bachelor of Science degree in Chemical Engineering from South Dakota School of Mines. He is also a registered Professional Engineer in South Dakota.

Vice President of Hospital Pharmacy and Laboratory Services at Avera Health

Tom Johnson is the Vice President of Hospital Pharmacy and Laboratory Services at Avera Health, in Sioux Falls, S.D. where he has responsibility for hospital-based pharmacy services across the health system. Tom also oversees laboratory operations at Avera McKennan Hospital. Over the years, he has consistently championed advancing optimal patient outcomes through the progressive use of patient centered healthcare teams.
 
Tom earned his Pharm.D. from North Dakota State University (NDSU) and completed an ASHP-accredited pharmacy residency at St. Alexius Medical Center/NDSU in Bismarck, N.D. Tom received his Masters of Business Administration from the University of Sioux Falls. He has served in multiple roles over his professional career including clinical practice, academia, research, and leadership.
 
Tom has been involved in professional organizations his entire career.  Over the years he has been an active member in several organizations including SCCM, ACCP, ACHE, and ASHP. Tom’s main professional involvement has been with ASHP where he has served in multiple roles including Presidential Officer (2019-22); Treasurer (2016–2019); Board of Directors (2011–2014); numerous committees and councils; and as a state delegate for many years. He is also a Past-President of the South Dakota Society of Health-System Pharmacists (SDSHP) and was recognized as the 2005 SDSHP Pharmacist of the Year. Tom is a Fellow of the American Society of Health-System Pharmacists, a Fellow of the American College of Critical Care Medicine, and a Fellow of the American College of Healthcare Executives.

Associate Attorney, Ballard Spahr

Kelly is a corporate and transactional attorney practicing in the areas of corporate and business law, mergers and acquisitions, and real estate. She represents established family and owner managed businesses, entrepreneurs, and individuals in various industries, such as real estate, engineering, manufacturing, hospitality, healthcare, agri-business, and consumer products.

Representative Matters

• Represented Ross Aviation, a premier owner and operator of full-service fixed-base operations (FBOs), in its recent acquisition of Stuart Jet Center in Stuart, Florida.
• Represented a software-as-a-service provider (SaaS) that was acquired as a purchase of 100% of the stock of the SaaS company by a private equity fund.
• Represented Mellott Company, a family-owned aggregates business, in its sale to MFG Partners.

• Hon. Karen E. Schreier, U.S. District Court for the District of South Dakota, 2016-2018

Recognition & Accomplishments
North Star Lawyer, Minnesota State Bar Association, 2020, 2023

Publications
"Filling the Cracks: Why Problem-Solving Courts are Needed to Address Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders in the Criminal Justice System," The Scholar: St. Mary's Law Review on Race and Social Justice, Vol. 18, No. 2, 2016

Vice President of Research, South Dakota Mines

Education
B.A., University of Minnesota-Morris
M.S., Bowling Green State University
Ph.D., University of Wisconsin-Madison

Brief Bio
I received a B.A. (summa cum laude) in geology, biology, and music from the University of Minnesota, Morris in 1985. My M.S. in geology is from Bowling Green State University (1987) where I held an Amoco Foundation Geology Fellowship. I pursued a Ph.D. in geology at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, earning a doctorate in 1991. While at Madison I received a Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation Fellowship and a Shell Companies Foundation Fellowship. In 1991, I joined the faculty in the Department of Geology & Geophysics at Louisiana State University. While at LSU, I received the College of Basic Science Research Award, Dr. Henry V. Howe Distinguished Professorship, and the Harrison Family Field Camp Professorship. I also served as LSU Faculty Senate President and Chair of Geology & Geophysics. I came to SD Mines in 2011 to serve as Department Head for Geology & Geological Engineering and as Director of the Museum of Geology. I also served as Interim Head of Mining Engineering & Management in 2019-20.

Research Expertise
The primary foci of my research are the paleobiology, paleoecology, taphonomy, and phylogeny of mollusks, particularly the Bivalvia. My work combines field research in both modern and ancient settings, museum studies, and laboratory analyses. Clades of particular interest are the Corbulidae (especially how the family's evolutionary history was influenced by major environmental, oceanographic, and climatic changes over the last 23 million years in tropical America) and the Lucinidae (a group that houses sulfur-oxidizing bacterial symbionts in their gills and that have a significant impact on sensitive coastal ecosystems such as seagrass meadows).[South Dakota Mines: An Engineering, Science, and Technology University]

Chief Operating Officer, SAB BIO

Christoph Bausch, Ph.D., MBA, is our Executive Vice President & Chief Operating Officer as of May 2022, overseeing all Research & Manufacturing operations of the company. Prior to his role as COO, he served as Chief Science Officer since joining SAB in April 2017, providing leadership in all areas of Research & Development, and functioning as drug development lead for a Stage 3 clinically advanced drug product. Dr. Bausch is an experienced research scientist, biotech entrepreneur, and business development executive who has led the successful discovery, development, biomanufacturing, and commercialization of platform technologies in the life sciences. Previously, Dr. Bausch has served as founder and director of a molecular diagnostic company and has provided life science consulting for Keion Group, LLC. Dr. Bausch held several science-based business development positions prior to joining SAB, most recently for multi-billion-dollar global industrial biomanufacturing leader POET, LLC, where he structured strategic partnerships, prospected and vetted new technologies, and streamlined research and development activities. He also worked in both research and commercialization roles for Fortune 500 life science and high technology company Sigma-Aldrich, now MilliporeSigma.  Dr. Bausch currently serves on the Board of Directors for the state affiliate of BIO, South Dakota Biotech, since 2017.  He received his Ph.D. in Microbiology at The Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio, completed Post-Doctoral Training at the Stowers Institute for Medical Research, Kansas City, Missouri, and earned an MBA from St. Louis University, St. Louis, Missouri, in addition to a BA in Biology from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, Lincoln, Nebraska.

Vice President of Research and Economic Development and Professor of Digital Forensics at Dakota State University

Dr. Ashley Podhradsky is the Vice President of Research and Economic Development and Professor of Digital Forensics at Dakota State University. Ashley is also a board member of the First Bank and Trust Board of Directors. Ashley has been an invited speaker and keynote at several events and universities including The Pennsylvania State University, Women in CyberSecurity, InfraGard, OSMOSIS Conference among others. Her research teams have received over 15.4M in competitive grants and contracts. In addition to her academic and professional work, she has a strong passion for increasing gender diversity in cybersecurity. She is the co-founder of CybHER™, an initiative to increase gender diversity in cybersecurity. Ashley was the recipient of the EmBe 2017 “Young Woman of Achievement”, The 2017 Merrill Hunter Award for Excellence in Research, 2017 and 2018 New America Cybersecurity Fellow, and is a 2019 American Association for the Advancement of Science IF/THEN Ambassador. 

Vice President, Innovations, Sanford Health

Kathryn Pohlson is the senior director of innovation and commercialization at Sanford Health. She has significant experience with early to late-stage startup companies with a focus on quality and regulatory. In collaboration with FDA, she developed a template that can be used for developing an original IDE application and has helped several institutions establish templates and infrastructure to successfully complete FDA-regulated clinical trials.

Kathryn has served as a strategic advisor and board representative for several biotech companies from product development through market launch phases. She has assisted in the development and implementation of regulatory strategies for medical devices, therapeutics, and biologics to meet the requirements of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and other international regulatory authorities. She also has a strong background in healthcare operations to help develop successful deployment strategies that translate to clinical implementation. Katie is active in the innovation sector and serves on the steering committee of several organizations to help foster entrepreneurship and technology development.

Jamison Rounds, J.D., CVA, CM&AA Managing Partner, Value Visor LLC & Value Visor Business Sales and Real Estate

Jamison was mayor of Crooks, SD from 2015-2019.A licensed attorney, trained mediator, Certified Valuation Analyst through the National Association of Valuators and Analysts, and Certified Mergers & Acquisitions Advisor through the Alliance of Mergers & Acquisitions Advisors. Jamison brings over 20 years business development and transactional experience to the firm.

As an attorney, Jamison worked with business sales, transactional law, and business planning and succession. Jamison was the Director of the Governor’s Office of Strategic Initiative for the State of South Dakota, where he was a business recruiter, international relations lead, science and technology policy officer, and entrepreneur advisor. He was the Governor’s staff-lead working in conjunction with department heads and outside counsel on the due diligence on and acquisition of the Homestake Gold Mine. In the private sector he consulted on the Gluco Boy™ (now Bayer Didget® ) development and exit.

From 2011 until their merger with Sanford, he represented The Evangelical Lutheran Good Samaritan Society on their nationwide home health and hospice acquisitions as their outside M&A advisor. Experienced in various sizes and types of transactions: large scale home health care acquisitions, restaurant franchises, distilleries, cattle companies, aviation services, etc.
Jamison’s legal background and love for entrepreneurs keep him involved with all levels of business development: from start-ups and franchises, to larger acquisitions and sales.   His passion for teaching has led him to teach at the University of South Dakota as faculty in the Political Science Department, and he was Chair of the Business Department at Mount Marty University.  His areas of academic expertise center on the intersection of government and business, ethics, entrepreneurship, and sales.

Jamison is a Truman Scholar, a Dale Carnegie Highest Achievement Award Winner, M&A Award Winner, a Rotary Paul Harris Fellow, former Grand Knight for Knight’s of Columbus, and is managing Partner of Rounds International LLC and Value Visor. He is an active RV’er, the first licensed distiller in South Dakota post prohibition, was elected mayor of the town of Crooks, SD in 2015-2019 and is married with four children.

Dr. Melvin Ustad, Director of South Dakota EPSCoR, coordinating South Dakota EPSCoR activities and serving as the Project Director of the National Science Foundation EPSCoR Research Infrastructure Improvement Track 1 project.  The five year $24 million project involves the six regental institutions, three tribal colleges, two private colleges.  Dr. Ustad served as the Director of Commercialization, in the Governor’s Office of Economic Development for Governor Rounds and Daugaard.   Dr. Ustad has extensive experience leading collaborative interdisciplinary public / private research and economic development projects. Dr. Ustad previously served as Acting and Interim Vice President for Research at the University of South Dakota, Director of the South Dakota SBIR Center, and worked for Senator Larry Pressler in Washington, DC. He has also served or is currently serving on the Board of Directors of numerous national and state technology entrepreneurship organizations. Dr. Ustad has been an active researcher throughout his career, serving as principal investigator on numerous research and outreach projects supported by various federal agencies and private foundations.

As President, CEO, and Co-Founder, Dr. Sullivan is actively involved in charting the vision of the organization and working directly with the scientific and technical staff to develop new, innovative products using the DiversitAb™ Platform. He has worked to form strategic partnerships around the world to promote the development of life-saving therapeutics.

As a seasoned biotechnology executive, Dr. Sullivan has more than 15 years of leadership experience, including being President of a subsidiary of Kyowa Hakko Kirin, a Japanese pharmaceutical company. During that time, he led initiatives to develop infectious disease, cancer, and autoimmune therapeutics. Raising over $190M in capital to develop biopharmaceutical platform technologies, he has also led several mergers and acquisitions. Dr. Sullivan was previously Vice President of Business Development and Government Relations of Sanford Applied Biosciences, a subsidiary of Sanford Health. He was also the head of Genemark, a company developing molecular diagnostic tools to the animal health industry as well as a co-founder of BioDak, a biotechnology development company.

Dr. Sullivan has been a thought leader in this field and worked with various committees and discussion groups that have focused on animal biotechnology and has actively participated in discussions for establishing a regulatory framework for this technology. He serves on the Executive Committee of the Board of Directors of the Biotechnology Industry Organization (BIO) in Washington, D.C. He is also the Founder and Past President of the state affiliate of BIO, South Dakota Biotech.

He was governor-appointed to South Dakota’s Research Commercialization Council and was Chairman of the state’s National Science Foundation-EPSCoR committee for 12 years.

Dr. Sullivan holds an undergraduate degree from the University of Arizona and graduate degrees from Brigham Young University, Kennedy-Western University, and Utah State University in both reproduction and business.