Minnesota Technology Association Staff
Jeff Tollefson
Lonni Ranallo
Joel Crandall
Molly Doyle
Piper Cleaveland
Keegan Carda
Ismail Ali
Team
Career Advisor & Director of Nontraditional Programming – North Hennepin Community College and Hennepin Technical College
Though Career Advisor & Director of Nontraditional Programming is Maria’s official title, she wouldn’t feel complete without adding a few more descriptors: Student Retention Champion, Workforce Connector, Mentorship Matters Spokesperson, and ‘Bloom Where You are Planted’ Coach. Maria finds her passion in places where change and reinvention are happening. She currently holds that space for her students, where she supports those who find themselves as ‘one of few’ in their newly chosen careers.
Maria’s gender equity program, Be Bold- Break the Mold: Women Succeed in Nontraditional Careers, was a notable program singled out at North Hennepin Community College for the National HEED Award in 2021 (Higher Education Excellence in Diversity). As a contractor with Hennepin Technical College & North Hennepin Community College, Maria recently received a MnACTE (MN Association for Career and Technical Education) Partnership Award for her mentoring and empowerment initiatives. In conjunction with Women’s History Month, she was co-awarded Campus Program of the Year. She was also the recipient of the National Academic Association for Academic Advising for an adult-learner orientation program.
Matt Versaggi is a senior leader in the AI Space with Fortune-5 healthcare experience who possesses a unique blend of business, technology, entrepreneurial, and academic backgrounds. Matt is an experienced public speaker, strategist, and mentor; holds multiple patents; is a distinguished engineer and has international business experience. He built the organization’s “College of Artificial Intelligence”, introduced, and matured both Cognitive Technology and Quantum Computing, and has chaired multiple Patent Review Boards. Matt is a seasoned pole vault coach of 15+ years, on 2 continents, 3 states, 4 clubs, and 1 high school, who has produced national, state, regional, and local champions. He is a former D3 NCAA decathlete, and current USATF master’s Athlete.
Fjord Trends is Accenture Song’s annual report that looks at human and consumer behavior changes over the past year, and maps the trends we believe will impact business, design and tech in the next 12 months and beyond. An exploration of opportunities, we examine the changes thrust upon us, the innovations we’ve seen emerge, and set out how we move forward from here.
Fjord Trends 2022 collectively tell a story of people and their relationships with the planet, technology, brands, and each other. A unique set of challenges and opportunities arose for businesses in 2021, including supply chain issues, explosive new technologies, dramatic evolutions in people’s view of themselves and their priorities, and the realization that we can no longer behave as though people were separate from nature.
What matters now is how organizations respond to the evidence-based observations we’ve crowdsourced from more than 2,000 designers and innovators in Fjord studios around the world.
Jayshree Seth is a Corporate Scientist at 3M and currently holds 77 patents for a variety of innovations, with several additional pending. She joined 3M in 1993 after an MS and PhD in Chemical Engineering from Clarkson University, New York. She is a Distinguished Alumni Award recipient from her alma mater REC Trichy India, now NIIT Trichy, where she earned a B. Tech. in Chemical Engineering.
Jayshree was appointed 3M’s first ever Chief Science Advocate in 2018 and is using her scientific knowledge, technical expertise and professional experience to advance science and communicate the benefits of science and the importance of diversity in STEM fields. She is also a member of Carlton Society which is the 3M Science and Engineering “Hall of Fame.” Jayshree is the fourth woman and first female engineer to be inducted. In 2020, she was awarded Society of Women Engineers (SWE) highest Achievement Award. She is also the first-ever winner of a Gold Stevie® Award in the new Female Thought Leaders of the Year – category in the 18th annual Stevie Awards for Women in Business in 2021. Jayshree was featured in a docuseries titled Not the Science Type that premiered during the 2021 Tribeca Film Festival and accepted for Brand Storytelling Showcase, a sanctioned event at Sundance Film Festival. She is the author of the books, The Heart of Science – Engineering Footprints, Fingerprints, & Imprints, and The Heart of Science – Engineering Fine Print published by the Society of Women Engineers, and all sales proceeds go to a scholarship for underrepresented minority women in STEM. She is a sought-after speaker, globally, on a multitude of topics such as innovation, leadership and STEM advocacy and has featured in local, national and international media.
Jayshree has served on the CEOs Inclusion Council, chaired the 3M Asian Employee Resource Group A3CTION and serves on the Steering Committee for 3M Technical Women’s Leadership Forum (WLF). She also serves on the Board of the Science Museum of Minnesota, Engineering Advisory Council for Clarkson University, AAAS Committee on Science, Engineering and Public Policy (COSEPP), Advisory Board for Innovation – The Conference Board, and Advisory Group of Aspen Institute Our Future is Science program.
Jayshree has two adult kids, and her husband also works at 3M.
Sr. Director of Technology
Land O’Lakes
Chakra is a visionary Technology leader with a proven track record in driving strategic business growth. As the Sr. Director of Technology at Land O’ Lakes for the past 7 years, he has successfully built and implemented ROI-driven data science solutions, including propensity modeling, churn analysis, quality prediction, pricing strategies, and cross-selling opportunities.
In his current role within the office of CTO/CIO, Chakra focuses on three key areas: leading the digital transformation of the Digital Ag Products family, establishing a strategic partnership with Microsoft to drive water and soil stewardship, food supply security, and vibrant communities, and driving digital innovation through emerging technologies such as AI, AR/VR, IoT, Blockchain, and Generative AI.
With prior experience at notable organizations, including Cloudera, Target, IBM, and Capgemini, Chakra brings a wealth of expertise in building data and digital products.
Chakra holds an undergraduate degree in electrical engineering, an MBA from the University of Minnesota, and has completed an executive CTO program at the University of California, Berkeley. Based in south Minneapolis, MN, he enjoys boating, fishing, and golfing in his leisure time.