North Dakota

Seven from Grand Forks region honored by Prairie Business

Published

4 months ago

December 17, 2025

GRAND FORKS – Seven professionals from the Grand Forks region have been named to the Prairie Business magazine’s 2025 list of “40 Under 40.” Honorees must be 40 or younger by the end of the year.

They are: Dustin Fanfulik, civil engineer and vice president at Widseth in East Grand Forks, Minnesota; Travor Fredrickson, senior project manager and senior electrical engineer with CMTA in Grand Forks; Kelby Laxdal, principal civil engineer at Houston Engineering, Inc. in Grand Forks; Courtney McNamee, director of Revenue Cycle and Reimbursement at Altru Health System in Grand Forks; Maggie Melvin, director of Admissions at University of Minnesota Crookston in Crookston, Minnesota; Geoff Slick, Rural Water practice leader at AE2S in Grand Forks; and Sean Sorteberg, MultiMarket Semiconductor director at Digikey in Thief River Falls, Minnesota.

They will be honored at an event in the fall, along with Prairie Business magazine’s other honorees for “Top 25 Women in Business” and “Leaders and Legacies.”

The 40 Under 40 list highlights exceptional professionals, including industry executives, administrators, community leaders, entrepreneurs and more.

Dustin Fanfulik

Contributed

As a civil engineer and vice president at Widseth, Fanfulik, 36, is known for his professionalism and sound engineering judgment. He prioritizes client needs and consistently delivers high-quality results.

He serves as consulting city engineer for Pembina, North Dakota, and several northwest Minnesota communities. His work includes master planning for development, feasibility studies, assessments, design, inspections, and comprehensive project management. His experience spans infrastructure and extends to schools, campground expansions, and commercial and industrial developments across both states. He has also collaborated with the Minnesota and North Dakota Departments of Transportation on major infrastructure projects.

As a shareholder, Fanfulik brings vision, integrity, and a collaborative spirit to his work. His dedication to mentorship, community involvement and engineering excellence makes him a vital contributor to Widseth’s success and a standout young professional in the field.

Travor Fredrickson.jpg — Travor Fredrickson

Fredrickson, 37, is a senior project manager and senior electrical engineer with CMTA’s paper Midwest office in Grand Forks.

Fredrickson began his career at Ulteig Engineers in Fargo as a substation engineer, designing substations and windfarm grounding systems. He joined CMTA in 2013 to help grow the Grand Forks office and has since designed electrical systems for hospitals, wellness centers, schools and commercial buildings. He focuses on delivering innovative, sustainable solutions that reduce carbon footprints by combining proven design principles with the latest green technologies.

Passionate about mentoring the next generation, Fredrickson regularly shares his expertise with engineering students, emphasizing that much of real-world engineering is learned on the job. His outreach has helped recruit several local engineers from UND and NDSU. He’s also active in the Grand Forks–East Grand Forks Chamber of Commerce, supporting both business development and broader community initiatives.

Laxdal, 37, is a principal civil engineer with Houston Engineering, Inc. (HEI) in Grand Forks, bringing nearly two decades of experience in transportation and municipal design across North Dakota and Minnesota. Specializing in urban, multimodal transportation corridors, Laxdal is known for his leadership in shaping infrastructure that supports vibrant, connected communities.

He began his career with CPS in Grand Forks, contributing to major urban reconstruction projects including Columbia Road, 42nd Street, and 48th Street, along with a variety of municipal utility and transportation initiatives.

Joining HEI in 2018, Laxdal quickly advanced from project engineer to principal, managing key projects for the North Dakota Department of Transportation and the City of Grand Forks. His portfolio includes I-94 reconstruction near Beach, North Dakota, highway improvements, and numerous city infrastructure upgrades. Currently, he leads several transformative efforts such as the U.S. Highway 81 reconstruction, southwest Grand Forks master planning, and the Mouse River Enhanced Flood Protection Project in Minot.

Courtney McNamee.jpeg — Courtney McNamee

McNamee, 34, is the director of Revenue Cycle and Reimbursement at Altru Health System. Since joining Altru in March 2024, she has combined a patient-first mindset with strong financial leadership, introducing programs that reduce costs for patients and advancing e-payment technology through MyChart. Her ability to balance patient needs with organizational goals has quickly set her apart as a leader who drives both innovation and results.

McNamee is committed to developing people. Her team demonstrates strong engagement, and under her leadership, more staff across multiple departments have earned professional finance certifications.

Her influence extends beyond Altru. As the former president and active member of the Minnesota Healthcare Finance Management Association, she is recognized across the industry as a thought leader. She is frequently invited to speak on critical issues, such as price transparency, patient engagement, the No Surprises Act and reimbursement enhancement, representing both Altru and the broader healthcare community.

Melvin, 29, director of Admissions at the University of Minnesota Crookston, brings energy, vision and a genuine commitment to helping students find their path.

Melvin began her career at the University of North Dakota School of Law, serving as director of Admissions and Records. There, she gained valuable experience working with diverse students and faculty, learning how thoughtful admissions practices can shape a university’s culture. At UMN Crookston, she leads the admissions team with a focus on making the process welcoming and accessible for all.

Melvin is pursuing an Ed.D. in Educational Leadership with a specialization in Higher Education, expecting to graduate in 2026. Her commitment reflects both personal development and a desire to advance the field for others. Through her leadership and dedication, Melvin is shaping admissions today while paving the way for future generations of students and educators.

Slick, 39, began his career at AE2S as an intern and during the past 16 years has risen to Rural Water practice leader. In this role, he leads a team of engineers and technical staff providing specialized expertise to rural water districts across the Midwest. Slick’s experience spans management, mentorship, project leadership, hydraulics and strategic planning, with a focus on concept planning, funding development, project coordination, regional system planning, mergers and construction management.

He has worked with over 20 rural and regional water clients, often acting as an extension of their staff. Notable projects include the Red River Valley Water Supply Project, the Western Area Water Supply Project, and the development of Minnesota’s first new rural water district in over 40 years — the West Central Regional Water District serving Clay, Norman and Polk counties.

Slick serves on the North Dakota Water Users Board and volunteers as a youth hockey coach. He is committed to continuous professional growth and is active in the National Rural Water Association, the National Society of Professional Engineers, the North Dakota Rural Water Association and the Tau Beta Pi Engineering Honor Society.

Sorteberg, 36, is an accomplished leader in the supply chain and semiconductor industries, currently serving as director of Multi-Market Semiconductor at DigiKey. In his role, he directs global product segment strategy, leads a comprehensive semiconductor portfolio designed to outperform market growth expectations and oversees all product management and asset management functions. He manages aggressive business performance metrics across cross-functional teams, while building trusted relationships with supplier executives and key partners.

With more than 13 years of progressive experience in supply chain management, Sorteberg has demonstrated expertise across distribution, manufacturing and procurement. Before his current director role, he served as the manager of the technology business at DigiKey, overseeing all procurement activity in the semiconductor business unit.

Sorteberg is a strong leader on DigiKey’s supplier management team. He excels at helping his team members grow and collaborating with other departments to achieve mutual goals. He also excels at developing strong relationships with executive-level connections at many of DigiKey’s supplier organizations, building engagement and collaboration across companies.

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North Dakota

Boltz plays key role for Team North Dakota 16U

Published

12 hours ago

April 2, 2026

Press Room

Boltz plays key role for Team North Dakota 16U

IRVINE, Calif. — Collin Boltz had an elevated role on the Dickinson Mavericks during the 2025-26 season. He was playing more minutes and set career highs across the board with 11 points (five goals, six assists) in 22 games.

But he was only scratching the surface once his season ended in mid-February. Boltz was getting ready to compete at the 2026 Chipotle-USA Hockey Youth Tier II 16U National Tournament for Team North Dakota.

It was a week-long tournament in Irvine, Calif., and he helped the program win its third Tier II 16U 1A title after cruising past Team Wyoming 9-0 in the championship game back on Sunday, March 29.

It was the third time in the state’s history that it took home a national championship trophy.

“At the beginning, we were kind of nervous. The semi-final game was [we won] 4-2 and the team that we played in the championship beat them by three,” Boltz said. “So we were thinking that they were going to be a little better. But once we got that first goal, we just hammered them.”

Team North Dakota U16 posing for a team photo after winning the 1A Tier II U16 title at the 2026 Chipotle-USA Hockey Youth Tier II 16U National Tournament

Courtesy / Collin Boltz

USA Nationals is one of the biggest youth hockey tournaments in the country, ranging from players ages 14 and under, all the way to the prep level for both boys and girls. All national teams hold tryouts in May and the final roster is made up of some of the best players in the state in both the east and west regions.

“That was a team that I’ve wanted to try out for a long time, and my parents finally let me try out,” Boltz said. “I wanted to see competition from other places and maybe get some exposure, and just play more hockey.”

Boltz tried out for the Tier I team, but didn’t make the final roster. However, he earned a spot on the Tier II squad and played a critical bottom-six role. One of the first things he noticed was how the pace of play was much slower than high school.

Collin Boltz with the puck on his backhand at the 2026 Chipotle USA Hockey U16 Tier II National Tournament.

In five games, he tallied two points (one goal, one assist) and played heavy minutes as a third-line winger. His goal came against the Portland Jr. Winterhawks on March 27 in a dominant 8-0 victory. North Dakota was a very deep team with lots of scoring depth, and that was one of the biggest keys to winning the championship.

“It was great. We played well the whole time. We won every game. It was kind of nice because there was only one game a day, so you had the rest of the time to play on the beach or something,” Boltz said. “Just getting to travel around to new places, playing [against] different kids and playing with different kids too.”

The best aspect of Boltz’s game has always been his hard and heavy shot. That’s what caught the eyes of the coaching staff and why he was selected as one of 20 members to make the team. But he’s not afraid to go in the corners and play the body to get the puck.

“When he hits the net, there’s a good chance it goes in, and then he plays a pretty heavy game too down in the corners and when he’s attacking the puck,” Team North Dakota head coach Jared Cowden said. “His play style definitely caught the eyes of a few people who were on the evaluating staff.”

Dickinson has had a few players compete at nationals. Former Dickinson High defenseman Kaeden Krieg played for Team North Dakota Tier I 16U back in 2023. It meant a lot to Boltz to be the lone representative of his team and school.

“It’s pretty cool. But I think I have a feeling that some of our players, if they tried out, they could probably be on the team too,” Boltz said.

Now heading into his junior season, Boltz is hoping to use this experience to take another step in his development.

“I think it just helps you realize my competition and what I need to do to be better than the other kids that I play,” Boltz said. “It just tells me how much more I need to train during the summer.”

Jacob Cheris covers a variety of high school and college sports. A graduate of Penn State University’s class of 2023, with a degree in broadcast journalism, he covered Penn State Men’s Hockey for three years. Jacob also covers Big Ten Hockey for College Hockey News.

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North Dakota

Water treatment plant in North Dakota suffered ransomware attack | StateScoop

Published

1 day ago

April 1, 2026

Press Room

Water treatment plant in North Dakota suffered ransomware attack | StateScoop

A water treatment plant in northern North Dakota last month fell victim to a ransomware attack, forcing the facility’s operators to temporarily revert to reading gauges manually.

A spokesperson for the City of Minot, North Dakota, on Wednesday confirmed recent statements by officials claiming that the region’s water supply was “safe at all times” during the incident. According to a letter provided by the city to the FBI, seen by this publication, staff detected the ransomware on March 14, requiring “manual procedures” for about 16 hours, before a replacement server could be installed.

Jennifer Kleen, Minot’s communications and engagement manager, said ransomware was detected on the Minot Water Treatment Plant’s SCADA system, “which is kind of like a dashboard system. It brings all of those gauge readings to one spot.” Kleen said staff usually do manual gauge readings anyway, but that more frequent manual readings had been required while the facility’s supervisory control and data acquisition system was offline.

Minot’s water treatment facility serves the city, North Dakota’s fourth-most populous with roughly 50,000 people, and several other communities in a region called the Northwest Area Water Supply, for a total of about 80,000 water drinkers. (The Northwest Area Water Supply, or NAWS, has its own troubled history, facing lawsuits from the time construction of water pipelines began in 2002, until 2019 when an appeals court upheld a previous court’s ruling in favor of North Dakota. The disputes were brought by Manitoba, the Canadian province, which opposed details of interbasin water transfers that were to be performed in North Dakota, and the State of Missouri, which was concerned about depletions to its river system.)

According to the city’s letter, a note from those who’d installed the ransomware was found on the now-uninstalled SCADA server, but it did not contain a dollar figure, and the city did not pay any amount. When asked which ransomware outfit was responsible for the attack, Kleen said she didn’t know.

Kleen said that the city’s technical recovery is nearly complete: the plant is now using an old server to support its gauge readings while staff prepare a new server. The city’s letter notes that the incident has provided “opportunities for training exercises, improved communication, and preventative system design.” In a local TV news interview, Minot City Manager Tom Joyce said he wished he’d rallied a “crisis action team” — including the police chief, senior city executives and the city’s public information officer — sooner after discovering what had happened, “to ensure we’re all on the same page right away.”

Water utilities have been favorite targets of cyber campaigns led by China and Iran. A 2024 report from the Environmental Protection Agency’s Office of Inspector General identified dozens of water systems around the United States with vulnerabilities bearing varying levels of risk. An assessment of more than 1,000 drinking water systems, serving 193 million people, found 97 systems with critical- or high-risk vulnerabilities, and 211 systems with “medium” or “low” risk vulnerabilities, such as “having externally visible open portals.”

There have been efforts over the last several years, by the federal government and states, to urge utilities to strike sturdier cybersecurity postures. A bill that was making its way through Congress last month would help small and rural water utilities update their systems and comply with the latest cybersecurity standards. And New York last month introduced its own “first-in-nation” cybersecurity standards, along with funding to implement them, for water treatment facilities.

But in addition to New York being one of the only states to focus so heavily on the utilities cybersecurity, such upgrades can take months or years to complete — time they may not have, particularly after the United States and Israel initiated strikes on Iran. A group of information-sharing groups that included the Water Information Sharing and Analysis Center last month warned of a “highly volatile” threat environment that includes the possibility of “increased cyberattacks from Iranian state-sponsored actors, hacktivists, and cybercriminal groups aligned with Iran.”

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North Dakota

Grand Forks Founder of Coffee Business Named Small Business 2026 North Dakota Small Business Person of The Year Winner

Published

2 days ago

April 1, 2026

Press Room

Grand Forks Founder of Coffee Business Named Small Business 2026 North Dakota Small Business Person of The Year Winner

(U.S. Small Business Administration image)

(KNOX) – The U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) has named Sandi Luck, founder and CEO of Grand Forks based Bully Brew Coffee and ND Coffee Roastery, as its 2026 North Dakota Small Business Person of the Year winer. This prestigious award recognizes Luck’s visionary leadership, the sustained growth of her coffee enterprise, and her unwavering commitment to the North Dakota community. Luck’s entrepreneurial journey began 18 years ago when she launched a modest coffee kiosk while serving as a professor of marketing and entrepreneurship at the University of North Dakota. By blending her academic expertise with a “community over competition” philosophy, she has scaled her 100 percent woman-owned enterprise into a regional powerhouse.

“During National Small Business Week, SBA is honored to recognize the job creators, builders, and innovators who fuel our nation’s economy and anchor communities across America,” said SBA Administrator Kelly Loeffler. In North Dakota, the agency will host a series of events throughout the week, including local award ceremonies and networking sessions to celebrate the grit and resilience of entrepreneurs in their own communities.

“Sandi Luck embodies the spirit of North Dakota entrepreneurship,” said SBA’s North Dakota District Director Al Haut. “From her roots in Grand Forks to the expansion her company across the region, she has proven that a small business can be a powerful engine for both economic growth and community connection.”

Luck strategically leveraged her professional network and SBA resources, including SCORE, the North Dakota Women’s Business Center, and the statewide Small Business Development Center network. A pivotal milestone occurred in 2022 when she purchased a 27,000-square-foot warehouse to store her roasting operations and educational programs. This expansion allowed the ND Coffee Roastery to secure over 120 wholesale accounts, including becoming the official coffee roaster for North Dakota State University.

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