Officers and Directors

Governance

An elected Board of Directors oversees all activities of ARCS Foundation Minnesota. At monthly board meetings, the work and progress of the committees is discussed. Officers of the Minnesota Chapter Board are listed below. Committees include Development; Communcations & Marketing; Membership, Events; and University Relations. In addition, there are several At-Large Board Member positions. Our fiscal year is July 1 to June 30, with an annual meeting held each July. The year's largest event is the Scholar Awards Event in October, when the Scholars are presented with their monetary awards.

2023-2024 Board Members

Barb Goergen - Co-President

Barb Goergen is Co-President and one of the co-founders of Medicom Health Interactive.

Barb has had over 30 years of experience developing medical and health education programs. During that time, she helped create several hundred interactive health awareness programs for some of the largest pharmaceutical companies and medical associations like the American Heart Association, the American Diabetes Association and the National Cancer Institute. Medicom Health Interactive developed health education and awareness software applications that are licensed to hospitals across the U.S. and are used for online consumer engagement. Medicom Health Interactive was sold in 2021. Prior to founding Medicom Health Interactive, she directed the post-graduate School of Blood Bank Technology for the American Red Cross in Madison, Wisconsin.

Barb is a founding member of the Minnesota Chapter of ARCS Foundation and received the Chapter ARCS Light Award in 2016.  She is a strong supporter of STEM educational initiatives across all age levels. Her interest in supporting graduate students through ARCS began when her son started his journey through higher education as a PhD student at Stanford. He is now a Professor of Biomedical Engineering at Purdue. She has a B.S. degree in laboratory medicine from the University of Michigan.

 

Judith L Benham - Co-President
VP, University Relations

Judith L. Benham, Ph.D., has served as Chair of the American Chemical Society (ACS) Committee on International Activities (IAC) (2010-2012), Chair of the ACS Board of Directors (2007-09), and as a member of the ACS Board of Directors (2004-09).  A member of ACS since 1969, Benham has been active in Society business, serving on numerous committees and as chair of the ACS Division of Polymer Chemistry.  In recognition of her many contributions, she was named ACS Fellow in 2010.  Her current activities focus on globalization and STEM education.

Judy retired from her position as RFID Business Director in the 3M Industrial Services & Solutions Division.  Her nearly 30-year career included chemical research, research management, and business management in multiple divisions, with professional expertise that encompasses R&D and operations management, strategic & technical planning, and change management.

Judith received her BA in chemistry from the University of Rochester, and her Doctorate in Chemistry from the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

Judy served as President of ARCS Foundation Minnesota Chapter 2011-2014. Judy was the recipient of the National ARCS Light AWard in 2014. She was honored for her leadership during a tumultuous time for the fledgling chapter. Judith worked tirelessly to ensure that the Board of Directors remained actively engaged, and led the effort to stabilize the membership and our development process.

 

Janna Berkholtz - Secretary/ Treasurer, Website Administrator

Janna has over 25 years of IT experience. For most of her career she worked at Accenture, most recently as a Managing Director.  She is known for leading large, complex technology transformation programs that drive business growth.  She has worked in industries such as retail, telecommunications, financial services, professional services, and for the US Government.  

Janna holds a B.S. in Computer Science from Minnesota State University-Mankato.  STEM has been an important part of Janna’s personal and career journey, and she supports ARCS’ mission to foster the next generation of STEM practitioners. 

 

 

Leslie Martens - Member at Large

Leslie Martens attended St. Olaf College in Northfield, MN,  and graduated with a BS degree in Nursing. She worked as a physical rehabilitation nurse in a Minneapolis hospital and as Director of Nursing at a long term care facility. She made a career transition to becoming a Long Term Care Specialist and joined Newman Long Term Care in 2006. She assists couples, families, business owners, employers and employees in planning for and managing the personal and financial risks of long term care. Leslie is married and has twin sons and a grandson.

 

 

 

Pam Snyder - Member at Large

Pam is an independent consultant, providing strategic Regulatory and Clinical consulting for medical device companies. She has over thirty years of experience in Business, Health Care and Clinical and Regulatory Affairs, having held senior positions in both emerging and larger companies prior to returning to consulting in 2013. Her entrepreneurial business ventures include: founder of the Minnesota Lumbar Spine Clinic, Inc., founder and president of the Human Performance Center, and co-founder and CFO of Midwest Hand Care Institute.

She is a graduate of the University of Iowa with a Bachelor of Science Degree in General Science (1979) and Certificate in Physical Therapy (1980). She has lectured to professional and industrial organizations on a variety of health care topics and has authored and co-authored chapters for several medical textbooks.

 

 

Jackie Towner - Member at Large

Jackie Towner received a B.S. from Azusa Pacific University in Biochemistry and received a PhD from the University of Minnesota in Biochemistry, Molecular Biology, and Biophysics, where she was a MN ARCS Scholar. After getting her PhD, she pursued a postdoctoral fellowship at the University of California, Los Angeles where she studied mechanisms of cardiac fibrosis in muscular dystrophy and participated in a teaching in higher education training program. She joined the faculty at Bethel University in 2022 where she teaches many pre-nursing and pre-healthcare students in physiology and continues researching the mechanisms of cardiac fibrosis in heart disease with undergraduate students. Outside of the lab and the classroom, Jackie enjoys reading, hiking, puzzles, cooking, singing in the church choir, and spending time with her husband and family.