Connecting
North Dakota’s
BioTech Ecosystem

Nancy Johnson is the Founder of Goose River Consulting and brings a wide range of experience in agriculture and agtech to the BioTech Association. She has worked with seed, fertilizer and agricultural chemical companies, and also worked in the ag media.

Ellen Shafer is Senior Director of Communications at Aldevron, a Danaher company headquartered in Fargo, North Dakota, where she leads corporate, brand, and executive communications strategy. She has played a central role in guiding the organization through significant transformation, including its acquisition by Danaher, overseeing communications, change management, and refinement of brand positioning during a period of rapid growth.

Based in Fargo, Ellen is deeply engaged in the region’s bioscience and business community, bringing a strong understanding of the intersection between industry growth, workforce development, and economic advancement in North Dakota. She has extensive experience aligning cross-functional teams and stakeholders to support organizational performance, strengthen community and industry partnerships, and advance strategic priorities in a highly regulated environment.

Ellen brings to board service a governance-oriented perspective grounded in strategic communications, organizational effectiveness, and change leadership, with a focus on transparency, stakeholder alignment, and long-term value creation.

Dr. Kristi Jean is a Quality Engineer at ComDel Innovation in Wahpeton, North Dakota. ComDel is a product development and manufacturing company serving a wide range of industries, including medical, commercial, and agriculture. In her role, Kristi collaborates with customers ranging from large OEMs to entrepreneurs working to commercialize new ideas and technologies. She focuses on ensuring product quality, managing risk, and helping clients achieve successful outcomes throughout the development process. Her work includes supporting emerging medical device companies as they navigate product development and the FDA regulatory landscape on their path to market.

Ryan Aasheim has served as Chief Business Development Officer for the Greater Fargo Moorhead Economic Development Corporation (GFMEDC) since 2019. Through this work, Ryan is responsible for leading business development efforts including new primary-sector business attraction and existing business retention and expansion in the Greater Fargo Moorhead region. To ensure targeted companies and site selection consultants understand the opportunities for business growth in the region, Ryan’s business attraction efforts focus on several key strategic targeted sectors, including AgTech, Biotech and Medical Device, and Autonomous Systems and UAS. Since joining the EDC, Ryan has also led the development of a new Document Ready Site (certified site) program designed to streamline the site selection process providing project developers and consultants increased speed to market. Since 2023, Ryan has led the organization of the region’s only Biotech Summit convened annually in October each year since 2023.

Randy Schneider specializes in construction, manufacturing, real estate, energy and agricultural industries. He provides tax planning and business consulting within these industries. He has 32 years of experience in the public accounting and private industries. Schneider is serving as North Dakota Governor Appointee to the North Dakota Energy Policy Commission and North Dakota Renewable Energy Council since 2007 and has served on the Business and Labor Advisory Board of the Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis, the Board of North Dakota State University Center for Community Vitality and is the President and Treasurer of the North Dakota Ethanol Producers Association. Schneider was a founding member and Treasurer of Gold Energy LLC, a start-up ethanol plant in Hankinson, ND and was a board member of US BioEnergy – Hankinson from 2006-2007. Schneider graduated from the University of North Dakota Grand Forks in 1980 with a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration with a major in Accounting. He is a member of the North Dakota Society of CPA’s.