Biographies

Denny Sanford

Chairman and CEO
United National Corporation
Sioux Falls, South Dakota

Denny Sanford was born in St. Paul, Minnesota, December 23, 1935, at the height of the Great Depression. 

He started working at age 8, helping in his father’s clothing distribution company.  As a teen, he spent summers selling his father’s clothing to retail stores.  After graduating from St. Paul Central High School, he attended the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities, where he graduated in 1958, with a Bachelor of Arts degree in psychology.

Soon after completing his undergraduate degree, Mr. Sanford was recruited by Armstrong Cork Company for a job in sales and marketing management.  In 1960, he left Armstrong Cork to found a manufacturers’ representative company promoting technical products through architects and engineers, initially in the north central US, then nationally.  In 1964, he formed a regional distribution company that also expanded nationally.

In 1971, Mr. Sanford acquired a 50-year-old chemical company that specialized in architectural sealants, coatings and adhesive products from Sears & Roebuck.  A year later he took the company known as Contech (for its construction technology products) public.  Contech grew from 50 to 350 employees and its R & D team developed many innovative products.  It worked with architects across the U.S. and around the world on large commercial and industrial construction projects.  Mr. Sanford sold Contech in 1982.

In 1983, Mr. Sanford created a venture capital fund to help young entrepreneurs establish promising businesses.  The fund continues in operation and, to date, has financed 28 companies, of which 18 have become public corporations.  In 1986, he purchased United National Bank, which was renamed First PREMIER Bank.  Under his leadership, First PREMIER Bank, of which he is a majority owner, has grown into a company with assets of almost $1 billion. His other Sioux Falls business, PREMIER Bankcard Inc., has become a national leader in the credit card industry.  Both companies are now controlled through United National Corp, Sioux Falls, his holding company.

In 2001, Mr. Sanford established the Sanford Foundation for charitable giving.  In the years since, he has distinguished himself in the field of philanthropy by donating money to causes and organizations close to his heart.  By 2005, he ranked 14th on the Chronicle of Philanthropy’s list of America’s Most-Generous Donors, with donations that year alone of more than $70.5 million to U.S. charitable causes, including $20 million to the Sioux Valley health system for use in expansion projects involving the University of South Dakota School of Medicine.  In 2006, he was named to the BusinessWeek Top 50 list of most generous philanthropists in the United States. In 2007, Mr. Sanford made history when he announced a transformational $400 million gift to then Sioux Valley Hospitals & Health System, which changed its name to Sanford Health to honor the donor.

Among Mr. Sanford’s other significant contributions has been $16 million to support construction of Sanford Children's Hospital, scheduled to open in 2009.  He also gave $15 million to the Mayo Foundation, in Rochester, MN, some $10 million to create a new pediatric outpatient center at the Mayo Clinic and the remaining $5 million to support joint research by Mayo Clinic and Sanford Children's Hospital in Sioux Falls.  Mr. Sanford is a generous donor to various child welfare, community and health related charities in the U.S., including $70 million to the Homestake Mine Project in South Dakota and significant gifts to the Children’s Home Society in Sioux Falls and the United Way. Mr. Sanford also donated $20 million to establish the Sanford Children's Health Research Center at the Burnham Institute for Medical Research.

Mr. Sanford is an avid sportsman, with interests that include golf, snow skiing, and sailboat racing.

Kelby K. Krabbenhoft

President and Chief Executive Officer
Sanford Health
Sioux Falls, South Dakota

A native of Mankato, Minnesota, Mr. Krabbenhoft received his BA in Business and Hospital Administration from Concordia College in Moorhead, MN, where he was a varsity basketball standout.  He received his Masters in Business Administration from Minnesota State University Mankato.

Mr. Krabbenhoft has held executive leadership positions in hospital and health system management for more than 15 years.  He previously served as President/CEO of Freeman Health System in Joplin, MO, and Executive Vice President of the six-hospital, Sisters of Mary of the Presentation Health System in Fargo, ND.  He was formerly President of St. Margaret’s Hospital in Spring Valley, IL, as well as of Guttenberg Municipal Hospital in Guttenberg, IA.

Mr. Krabbenhoft was chosen Modern Healthcare magazine’s “Up and Comer” in 1994.

He joined Sanford Health, formerly Sioux Valley Hospitals & Health System, as President in 1996.  He became CEO of the health system when it was launched in May 1997.

Under Mr. Krabbenhoft’s leadership, Sanford Health has experienced exceptional growth, including the integration of physicians through the development of Sanford Clinic, a large physician organization with nearly 370 physicians practicing in a wide range of specialties, and through the creation of a very successful health plan.

Mr. Krabbenhoft has held numerous positions of leadership and authority in state hospital associations and on corporate and civic boards.

David C. Link

David C. Link has served as the Executive Vice President of Sanford Health, Sioux Falls, South Dakota since May of 1997. Mr. Link has been with Sanford for more than 24 years and received his Masters in Business Administration from the University of South Dakota. He was a Bush Leadership Fellow, and received his Masters in Hospital and Health Care Administration from the University of Minnesota. Mr. Link has been a central figure in strategic planning and development for Sanford Health and, among other things, is responsible for the Sanford Initiatives.

Mr. Link is involved in many community associations. Leadership positions include chairing the South Dakota EPSCoR/REACH Committee, the South Dakota Technology Business Center Board of Directors, the Forward Sioux Falls Technology Committee, and a past chair of Junior Achievement of South Dakota Board of Directors. He is also a member of the South Dakota 2010 Research and Commercialization Council.

M. Benjamin Perryman, PhD

Vice President Research
Sanford Health
Sioux Falls, South Dakota

Ben Perryman, Ph.D., the Vice President of Research for Sanford Health, is responsible for developing the research structure of Sanford Health across all aspects of health care research. Ben is a well respected scientist in the area of pediatric cardiovascular disease, led the technology transfer efforts for the University of Colorado and has been successful in the start up of a bio technology company. Ben will assist Sanford Health in developing an excellent research organization. Ben most recently served as the Executive Director of Sanford Research/USD.

Dr. Perryman holds a BS from Emory University, a MS in Microbiology from the University of Montana and a PhD in Microbiology from Texas A & M.

Fred Levine, M.D., PhD

Director
Sanford Children's Health Research Center
Sioux Falls, South Dakota

Dr. Fred Levine is Director of the Sanford Children's Health Research Center and professor at the Burnham Institute for Medical Research. Dr. Levine and his co-workers recently demonstrated the existence of endocrine stem cells in the adult human pancreas. The laboratory is pursuing the development of cell therapies for diabetes using a variety of approaches, including high throughput screening. Dr. Levine has been working in the field of cell transplantation therapies for diabetes and b-cell biology for more than fifteen years. His laboratory was the first to develop immortalized cell lines from the human endocrine pancreas as models of beta-cell growth and differentiation. He has made insights into cellular senescence in the endocrine pancreas, finding that b-cells undergo rapid senescence when stimulated to proliferate.

Prior to joining Burnham, he was a Professor in the Department of Pediatrics at the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine, where he continues to see children with inherited metabolic diseases. Dr. Levine received his undergraduate degree in biochemistry from Harvard and his Ph.D. degree in genetics and his M.D. from the University of Washington. His clinical training as a pediatric geneticist was at the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia.

Richard A. Insel, M.D.

Executive Vice President, Research
Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation

Richard A. Insel, M.D., is the Executive Vice President of Research at the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation where he has responsibility for heading up the strategic direction and oversight of JDRF research projects, expected to be $105 million this year. Prior to joining the JDRF, Dr. Insel was Director of the University of Rochester Medical Center's Center for Human Genetics and Molecular Pediatric Disease.

Dr. Insel has had a distinguished medical and research career in pediatric immunology. He joins JDRF after 26 years at the University of Rochester Medical Center, where he was a member of that institution's departments of Pediatrics and Microbiology and Immunology. Among other responsibilities, Dr. Insel has served as Acting Chair of Pediatrics; Professor of Pediatrics, Microbiology, and Immunology, and the Cancer Center; Associate Chair for Pediatric Research; Director of the Strong Children's Research Center; and Chief of the Division of Pediatric Immunology, Allergy and Rheumatology. He has been founding director of the Center for Human Genetics and Molecular Pediatric Disease since 2000. Dr Insel also serves on the National Advisory Allergy and Infectious Diseases Council of the National Institutes of Health

In addition to his university research experience, Dr. Insel was scientific co-founder of Praxis Biologics, a biotechnology company established in 1983 and subsequently acquired by Wyeth, the global pharmaceutical and health care products company. Praxis Biologics was responsible for bringing a new vaccine to market that resulted in the virtual elimination of the most common form of childhood meningitis in infants and children in the U.S.

Dr. Insel has also served as a Visiting Associate Professor of Biochemistry and Biophysics at the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Columbia University, a fellow in Pediatrics (Research) at Harvard Medical School, a fellow in Medicine (Immunology) at Children's Hospital Medical Center in Boston, and in the Laboratory of Parasitic Immunochemistry at the Centers for Disease Control in Atlanta.

S. Robert Levine, MD

S. Robert Levine is a recognized leader in the health and non-profit sector. He has served in numerous leadership and board positions with major health and public purpose organizations, where he has helped lead major capital raising, program development and advocacy initiatives. Dr. Levine served multiple terms on the International Board and Executive Committee of the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation (JDRF) the world's largest private non-profit funder of diabetes research ($100 million per year). As a Board member, Dr. Levine led values consistent, goal driven program innovation in multiple areas. He Chaired JDRF's Government Relations Committee, Clinical Affairs Advisory, and its Communications Committee. He developed JDRF's top-line advocacy strategy and grass-roots training, and led JDRF's research program design, and brand identification initiatives. As Chairman of its Board of Chancellors, Dr. Levine created JDRF's new staff acculturation orientation program, and conceived JDRF's "cyber-volunteer" and "on-line diabetes support team" initiatives.

He has also served on the boards of the Center for the Advancement of Health, the Foundation for Accountability, the New York City Police Foundation, Literacy Partners, Inc, and the Off-Center Ballet. Since 1997, Dr. Levine has served as Chairman of the Progressive Policy Institute's "Health Priorities Project." Dr. Levine served as a consultant to the Congressionally mandated Diabetes Research Working Group and as a member of the National Institute of Diabetes, Digestive and Kidney Diseases' Council.

Dr. Levine has been a founder, investor and board member of several early-stage health and technology corporations. He received his BS in Human Development and Nutrition from Cornell University in 1975, and graduated summa cum laude from Chicago's Loyola-Stritch School of Medicine in 1979. He completed his internal medicine and cardiology training at Mount Sinai Medical Center, New York City (MSMC) where he became Founding Director of MSMC's Cardiac Health and Rehabilitation Program.