President
Darcy Stivland, SPHR

Darcy has held HR executive roles in healthcare, finance, consulting and service industries. She now advises and coaches senior leaders and Boards, along with serving as Co-President of the Minnesota HR Executive Forum.

Darcy excels at partnering with leaders as they grow, restructure, or reinvent their organizations at pivotal times. Darcy has made a career of creating new organizational development strategies and leadership succession frameworks. She has designed and implemented programs for strategic planning, organizational re-design, talent assessment, performance evaluation, and change management. Darcy’s diverse industry and audience experience allows her to quickly assess needs and build relationships for collective outcomes.

Finance Chair
Betty Potasnak

Betty Potasnak is a Human Resource executive who has a passion to support the strategic business objectives of an organization through her well-honed skills in managing the human resources function, including sales and executive compensation, organizational change management, and talent acquisition.

Currently, Betty is the Human Resources Director for Shakopee Mdewakanton Sioux Community where she is responsible for compensation, payroll, HR systems, benefits and talent acquisition for both SMSC Gaming Enterprise and Tribal Operations. Additionally, she is responsible for leading the Community Outreach program.

Betty has held Human Resource leadership positions in a variety of industries including medical device, publishing, financial services and hospitality. She has experience in building an HR function from the ground up, merging the HR functions of acquired companies, and effectively motivating and directing teams of HR professionals to work toward a common goal.

Betty is a graduate from the University of St. Thomas with an MBA in Management.

Betty is the Board of Director’s Treasurer for the Twin Cities HR Executive Forum. She is on the board of directors for the Community Action Partnership Agency serving Scott, Carver and Dakota Counties.  Betty was recently named the Executive at Large and currently serves on the Strategic Planning Committee for the Community Action Partnership Agency.

 Betty lives is Apple Valley. She is an avid reader, gardener and enjoys walking, weight lifting and Pilates.

I have spent my career focused on helping people, teams and organizations be at their best in order to achieve great results together.  During the last 5 years, I have led a global culture transformation initiative that is creating a values-driven growth culture fueled by extraordinary employee and customer experiences.  I am a collaborative, results-producing strategic OD/OE/HR leader and I thrive on opportunities to partner with key stakeholders to create value for customers and employees. 

Dr. Mia Mulrennan has spent the last 20+ years working in Fortune 500 companies and in academia as an organizational psychologist and consultant to develop rave-worthy employment and leadership brands and strong talent and culture strategies. 

She is Chief Talent Officer at Edmentum, the leading provider of online learning programs designed to drive K through adult student achievement for academic and career success.  She is also Chief Administrative Officer of the company’s foundation, “We Can Learn”, which opens schools and libraries globally.

Dr. Mulrennan is primarily focused on Edmentum’s talent management, leadership development, and internal culture, and she is also known as a graduate-level professor and executive assessment specialist, with her doctorate in applied I/O psychology.  A 2016 recipient of the Georgetown University Teaching Excellence Award, she taught Leadership and Ethics at the university’s Masters of Hospitality Global Leadership Program.

Social Media Marketing Committee
Rebecca Ervasti, MBA, SPHR
A strategic business leader who effectively leads and develops people and programs to achieve business results. An activator and change agent who improves organizational performance. A strong track record of success.

Social Media Marketing Committee
Joel Krueger
Joel Krueger is an HR Leader who emphasizes the value and influence that HR can provide to every organization.  He has considerable experience working for corporations with a national and international presence.  In his leadership roles, Joel has driven the results and success of the HR function to meet and exceed the expectations of both employees and leadership.

Currently Joel is the Vice President/Director of Human Resources for Frandsen Financial Corporation located in Arden Hills, MN.  He also has responsibility for the corporate HR departments of Frandsen Corporation.  In his role as Vice President/Director, Joel has established a high performing HR function that recruits and selects top talent, drives continuous improving benefit plans, HRIS increased system performance and attained a high degree of team performance while continuously increasing internal Service Standards.

Prior to his current role, Joel has held positions at Delta Airlines, Travellers Insurance, ConAgra Foods, G&K Services (Cintas) and various leadership roles for clients while working for Salo LLC.

Joel attained his undergraduate degree from Minnesota State University – Mankato with degrees in Music and Business Administration – Marketing.  He has also attained his MBA from the University of St. Thomas with an emphasis in Human Resources.  Joel also holds current certification levels of SPHR and SHRM – SCP.

He has served as a Board Member the past three years for the HR Executive Forum.  Currently he is a member of the Social Media Committee where he is responsible for working to spread the presence of the HR Executive Forum throughout the Twin Cities business community.

Joel lives in Burnsville with his wife and they have four children including one graduate of the University of Minnesota and three currently attending the University of Minnesota. He is very active in sports and has taught/coached alpine skiing for over 35 years as well as being an active baseball coach and player for the Apple Valley Cardinals the past six seasons.

Social Media Marketing Committee
Kevin Johnson, MDiv

As Vice President for Client Relationships at Career Partners International, Twin Cities, Kevin promotes custom offerings in talent assessment, succession planning, leadership development, executive coaching, and career transition. He leverages first-hand experience gained coaching more than 300 CPI career transition candidates from across industries, levels, and functions.

Kevin holds an M.Div. from Fuller Theological Seminary in Pasadena, California, and a B.A. in English and Print Journalism from University of Wisconsin—River Falls. He was a senior leader in two of the nation’s largest churches and solo pastor of an unconventional small congregation. For several years he directed a leading adult nonfiction line, publishing up to 35 books a year. Kevin has regularly presented to groups from 50 to 1500.

Membership and Sponsorship Committee
Pat Chen
Pat is a collaborative Human Resources leader and business partner who develops and fosters strong and lasting relationships at all levels of an organization.

Pat has held Human Resources leadership positions in a variety of industries and is a graduate of St. Olaf College with a B.A. in Psychology, and of the University of Minnesota’s Carlson School of Management with a M.A. in Industrial Relations.

Additionally Pat has served on the Brooklyn Park Athletic Association Board for the past 10 years to support and promote youth sports in his community.    Pat is also active with his local gym and instructs early morning fitness classes.

Pat lives in Brooklyn Park with his family - wife Michelle and kids Andrew and Katrina.