Hires and promotions (March 4, 2017)

Ascensus Trust hires two

Billy Barragan and Wendy Savage recently joined Ascensus Trust in Fargo.

Barragan was hired as an IRA specialist. He has nearly 10 years of customer service experience, with most of that time spent in the financial services industry.

Savage was hired as a trust associate. She brings with her more than 20 years of accounting experience from a national financial service center.

Discovery Benefits promotes five, hires three

Discovery Benefits in Fargo promoted five individuals to new positions within the company and hired three new employees.

Abbey Monson was promoted to senior lead program manager-system operations. Monson started at Discovery Benefits in 2010 as a benefits account manager and has held previous positions with the company as senior account manager and program manager-system operations.

LeAnn Larson was promoted to senior lead education manager. She joined Discovery Benefits in 2012 and has held positions as a benefits implementation manager, senior account manager and systems education manager. Larson graduated from North Dakota State University with a bachelor's degree in business administration and a master's degree in business administration.

Vicky Goeser was promoted to senior lead program manager-system operations. Goeser started at Discovery Benefits in 2012 as an implementation manager. She was also systems education manager. Goeser graduated from the University of Minnesota Duluth with a bachelor's degree in accounting and business administration-finance. She earned a master's in business administration from North Dakota State University.

Shelia Borgerding was promoted to leadership development manager. She joined Discovery Benefits in 2016 and has held positions with the company as a corporate trainer and instructional designer. Borgerding graduated from Concordia College with a degree in global studies and earned a master's degree in organizational leadership from St. Mary's University of Minnesota-Winona.

Cassandra Birchem was promoted to participant services supervisor. She started at Discovery Benefits in 2013 as a participant services specialist and has also held the role of team lead-participant services. She graduated from Valley City (N.D.) State University with a degree in elementary and Spanish education.

Brianne Carlsrud was hired as digital marketing strategist. Logan Rasmussen and Krissy Hukriede were hired as participant services specialists.

Kubela joins Hurley and Associates

Hurley and Associates hired Jacob Kubela as risk management consultant in its Wheaton, Minn., office.

Kubela is a licensed commodities broker. He graduated from North Dakota State University and came to Hurley and Associates from AgCountry Farm Credit services where he was a loan officer and a crop insurance agent out of its Fergus Falls, Minn., office.

TMI hires one, promotes one

TMI Hospitality in Fargo announced the following promotion and new hire at its Fargo corporate office.

Brian Hicks was promoted to chief operating officer. Hicks was formerly TMI's senior vice president of revenue and has been in the hospitality industry for over 25 years.

Chris Skrove has been hired as inventory coordinator with TMI Communications. He has over 21 years of combined experience in management, sales, and customer service roles. Skrove earned a degree in business administration from North Dakota State University.

Larson joins Oppegard Law Firm

Brian D. Larson recently joined the Oppegard Law Firm in Moorhead.

Larson earned an undergraduate degree from Concordia College in 2001. In 2005, he graduated cum laude from Valparaiso (Ind.) University School of Law. He has over 10 years of experience in civil litigation and his practice at the Oppegard Law Firm will primarily focus on insurance defense, environmental defense, construction litigation and personal injury matters.

Breitbach, Waslien join First International Insurance

Amy Breitbach and Kailen Waslien have joined First International Insurance in Fargo.

Breitbach is the personal lines customer service supervisor. She has 17 years of experience with independent insurance agencies in the Fargo area.

Waslien is a personal lines customer service representative. She graduated from Minnesota State Community and Technical College, Detroit Lakes, and has 12 years of customer service experience.

Voeltz joins Northwestern Mutual

Jennifer Voeltz has joined Northwestern Mutual in Fargo as a financial adviser assistant/contract, license and registration assistant.

Voeltz earned a bachelor of science degree in biology from the University of Minnesota-Twin Cities. She comes to Northwestern Mutual from Relay Networks.

Aldevron hires two

Aldevron in Fargo has added Greg Stopke and Nicholas Clemonson to its Fargo staff.

Stopke joins the quality control department as a quality control receiving inspector. He was previously employed in the materials department at Essentia Health in Fargo.

Clemenson is a biomanufacturing operator. A 2016 graduate of North Dakota State University, he earned a bachelor's degree in biological sciences and biological sciences education.

CoreLink hires two

CoreLink in Fargo has hired two people.

Donni Luecke joined as a test engineer I. She previously worked at Blue Cross Blue Shield of North Dakota. She earned a bachelor of science degree in business administration from North Dakota State University.

Elise Demarais joined as a benefits specialist. She previously worked at Blue Cross Blue Shield of North Dakota. She earned a degree in human resource management at the University of North Dakota.

Fargo VA hires Marianne Foldesi

The Fargo VA Health Care System has hired physician assistant Marianne Foldesi as a provider on the primary care team.

Foldesi earned a bachelor's degree in community health from St. Cloud (Minn.) State University. She completed her physician assistant certificate from the University of North Dakota School of Medicine and Health Sciences Department of Community Medicine and Rural Health in Grand Forks.

Cole Papers promotes four

Cole Papers in Fargo has promoted Norm Dufault to chief operations officer, Ken Dahl to senior vice president-credit, Travis Zeck to senior vice president- training and product development and health care champion, and Cole Perkins to senior vice president-finance.

Dufault has held several senior management positions since he joined Cole in 2003. A graduate of University of North Dakota, he has over 25 years of experience in the industry.

Dahl has been with Cole since 1972. He is also a stockholder, director and corporate officer.

Zeck joined Cole in 2007. He completed undergraduate work at Bellevue (Neb.) University. He also has a masters of business administration with a double emphasis of supply chain management and environmental management. Zeck is pursuing a CHESP certification with the Association for the Healthcare Environment.

Perkins joined Cole in 2005 after graduating from the University of Iowa in finance. He is also a chartered market technician.

Anna Soderholm joins Onsharp

Anna Soderholm has joined Onsharp in Fargo as a marketing coordinator.

She is attending Minnesota State University Moorhead, majoring in mass communications with an emphasis in advertising. Before joining Onsharp, Anna was a social media manager for a local advertising company. She also interned at the Downtown Community Partnership.

Two join RE/MAX Legacy Realty

Del Boschee and Shane Boschee have joined RE/MAX Legacy Realty in Fargo as licensed real estate agents in North Dakota and Minnesota.

Del Boschee has been a real estate agent in Fargo, Moorhead and the surrounding area for over 32 years. He has been a RE/MAX agent for over 20 years, and specializes in existing and new construction homes.

Shane Boschee has been a Realtor for over 12 years as a RE/MAX agent. He specializes in residential existing and new construction homes in the Fargo, Moorhead, West Fargo and the surrounding area.

Vosburg joins Saint Sophie's Psychiatric Center

Saint Sophie's Psychiatric Center in Fargo has hired Doreen Vosburg, a licensed professional clinical counselor.

Vosburg earned a bachelor of science degree in human service counseling at Wayne (Neb.) State College and earned a Master of Education in educational and counseling psychology at the University of Missouri, Columbia. She has over 15 years of experience in various mental health settings.

Flint Group adds three

Flint Group in Fargo has hired Amy Acquard as public relations coordinator, Josh Colville as account coordinator and Leah Schothorst as content and social media strategist.

Acquard earned a bachelor's degree in integrated advertising and public relations, and a minor in mass communications and media analysis from Minnesota State University Moorhead. Before joining the team full time, Acquard participated in the Flinternship program and continued on as an intern for the next year.

Colville earned a bachelor's degree in sociology and a minor in public relations and advertising from North Dakota State University. Colville previously worked at Brown and Saenger as a sales consultant.

Schothorst earned a bachelor of business administration degree in marketing and a minor in communications from the University of North Dakota. She also holds a master's degree in business administration from Stockholm University in Sweden. Schothorst worked for Swedish tech company Ericsson as a digital strategist and project manager before joining Flint Group.

North Technologies appoints new president

Northern Technologies, with an office in Fargo, has appointed Barry Morgan, as its next president.

Morgan will oversee the firm's operations across Minnesota, North Dakota and South Dakota. He has over 20 years of experience in the engineering and construction industry across the Upper Midwest. During the first half of his career, he was a geotechnical and civil engineer. Most recently, he managed commercial construction projects for a builder in the Twin Cities.

Choice Financial promotes Beneke

Matthew Beneke was recently promoted at Choice Financial in West Fargo to client account manager for the Choice Financial Insurance team.

Beneke joined Choice Financial as a CSR- frontline in April 2012 and was promoted to a virtual banker with the deposit team in November 2013. He graduated in December 2012 from North Dakota State University with a degree in finance.

Sundog hires six employees

Sundog in Fargo hired Tiffaney Holm, Meaghan Nelson Gibb, Ross Crandall, Anna Miller, Marcus Rondestvedt and Chris Winge.

Holm joins as talent development manager. Before joining Sundog, she was the major gifts officer at Sanford Health. She earned a bachelor's degree in mass communications from the University of North Dakota. She previously held a position on the board for the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention where she facilitated a youth bereavement group. She graduated from United Way's 35 Under 35 Women's Leadership Program in 2012.

Nelson Gibb joins as a project manager. She has 20-plus years of marketing, communications, public relations, event planning and operational experience in domestic and global markets. Before joining Sundog, she was the global forensics coordinator at BDO USA in New York. She earned a bachelor's degree in communications and public relations from Metropolitan State University.

Crandall joins as a client consultant in Sundog's Minneapolis office. He brings 11-plus years of experience in strategy development, project management, business process improvements, technology solutions and change management. Crandall was previously senior program manager at Voya Financial in the Minneapolis-St. Paul area. He earned a bachelor's degree in information technology from Capella University. He is also the founder of Lyfe Altered, where he designed and is now building a virtual reality immersion system to help treat individuals with depression and anxiety.

Miller joins as a project manager. Her experience includes 10-plus years of developing and executing strategic plans in a variety of leadership roles. Miller earned certification for project management from the Project Management Institute, and has completed several trainings in fundraising and management. Before joining Sundog, she was director of annual giving for Minnesota State University Moorhead's Alumni Foundation. She earned a bachelor's degree in business administration with an emphasis on marketing and management from the University of Colorado-Boulder. She later earned an executive MBA from MSUM.

Rondestvedt joins as a marketing engineer. His 10-plus years of experience includes software consulting, project management, computer repair, software troubleshooting, and system analytics. Before joining Sundog, Marcus was a technical support analyst at Dickey Rural Networks in Ellendale, N.D. He earned a bachelor's degree in music and a minor in information technology from the University Jamestown, N.D.

Winge joins as an insight analyst. He has 10-plus years of experience in data analysis, marketing, project management and customer service. Before joining Sundog, he held a position at OgGo Marketing in Fargo, as well as several other roles related to data analytics. Winge earned a bachelor's degree in science marketing from Minnesota State University Moorhead.