People You Should Know features new hires, promotions and awards involving top executives and organizations. For consideration, email [email protected]. Guaranteed placement is provided only to partners of SiouxFalls.Business.

Augustana University

Laurie Daily

Laurie Daily has been named the inaugural dean of the School of Education at Augustana University. Daily joined Augustana in 2015 as chair of the education department and also served as interim associate vice president for graduate and continuing education from 2016-18. Daily received her doctoral degree in educational leadership at Argosy University and earned a master’s degree in special education at the University of North Carolina. Before coming to Augustana, Daily had been the education chairperson at Northwestern College in Orange City, Iowa. Before that, she directed a field-based special education teacher training program in New Hampshire, coordinated the special education program at Plymouth State College and taught children with special needs in North Carolina.

Libby Skarin

ACLU

Libby Skarin has been promoted to campaigns director for the ACLU of South Dakota, North Dakota and Wyoming. Skarin joined the ACLU in 2014 as the policy director for the ACLU of South Dakota. Before joining the ACLU, Skarin served as an assistant attorney general for the state of Iowa and worked with the Sioux City Human Rights Commission as well as Iowa Legal Aid to provide assistance to underserved communities.

Ballard Spahr

Daniel Fritz

Amy Arndt

Two attorneys at Ballard Spahr have been recognized by Chambers USA in its 2020 rankings for excellence.

Amy Arndt, Corporate/Commercial.

Daniel R. Fritz, Litigation: General Commercial.

Governor’s Giant Vision

The annual Governor’s Giant Vision awards have been presented.

The first-place $20,000 winner was Novum Nano LLC of Rapid City: Craig Bailey, Haiping Hong and Greg Christensen, with their advanced materials and process technology and manufacturing startup company specializing in boron nitride and carbon fiber nanotube innovative research with applications in a broad range of industrial markets.

In second place, winning $10,000, was HomeMetrics LLC of Rapid City: William Trevillyan and Timothy Ford. This company produces an Internet of Things-driven wireless sensor network that monitors and controls the health of a home’s plumbing and electrical grids.

Tied for third place, winning $4,000 each were Innoraymond Power Products of Rapid City: Will Hansen, with his Soft Starters technology designed to address the safety hazards, technical issues, inconveniences and nuisances related to the excessive inrush of electrical current with AC motor drive equipment like power tools; and Scobi Kombucha of Spearfish: Carissa Hauck and Bianca Hutzler, for their organic kombucha, a probiotic fermented tea, available in multiple flavors that has been distributed wholesale and recently started direct sales.

In fifth place, winning $2,000, was A to Z Technologies of Midland: Cole Briggs and Zay Norman, with their PrickGuard needle exchange system designed for animal vaccinations.  The product allows for the user to safely grab and remove a used aluminum hub needle on one side and holds a new sterile needle on the other side to quickly and safely switch needles.

Student competition: First place, Anahita Haghizadeh, NanoHSink, South Dakota School of Mines & Technology; second place,  Brooklyn VanDerWolde, Craig Jibben and Katelyn Hillson, Rescue Innovations, South Dakota State University; third place, Jacey Orthaus, Feather-Lite Soil Mix, Florence High School; fourth place, Maryam Amouamouha, Aqua Smart Solutions, School of Mines; fifth place:  Evan Fick, Caleb Bray and Anna Fasen, Talaria Running Form Trainer, SDSU.

Alix Pearson

Paulsen

Paulsen has promoted Alix Pearson from account coordinator to account specialist. Before joining Paulsen, Pearson was a marketing coordinator with Discovery Benefits in Fargo. She was also an agronomist at CHS Southwest Grain in Lemmon.