Dakota Future Annual Meeting
Dakota Future held its annual meeting and welcomed several new board members to the group. Ruthe Batulis of Dakota County Regional Chamber of Commerce returns to the board after a two year absence. Chuck Cappellin of HGA Architects and Engineers, Mark Tupper of CenturyLink and Dakota County Commissioner Liz Workman also joined the board. New ideas and energy are always a great addition.
We have now published our 2009 Dakota Future Annual Report.
We would like to thank Patti Neuman, formerly of HGA, and Dakota County Commissioner Will Branning for their service on the Dakota Future. Commissioner Branning was a founding member and strong supporter of Dakota Future and countywide economic development.
For a brief time, we mourned the fact that we did not make the Top Seven Intelligent Communities list, kind of like getting the bronze medal at the Olympics. Then we got over it and are back at work aiming for next year. Our Intelligent Community Initiative work groups around broadband, knowledge workers, innovation, digital inclusion and marketing/advocacy are in full swing to reach their May 7 deadline for developing goals, objectives, leadership and resources in their topic area. It is exciting to hear about their progress and creative thinking.
Today is our IT Entrepreneurs networking event in Apple Valley. We have a great group of business owners on our panel discussion. We are going to take a look at the Dakota County broadband video and do some socializing, enjoying some food and beverages. We hope that some college students to participate as we have marketed to our area colleges. It is a beautiful day for networking!
