Board Members
Mr. Kevin Black
President
Term: 2025-2026
Kevin Black serves as the Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Creedence Energy Services, a leading specialty chemical provider in the oil and gas industry with operations in North Dakota, Montana, Texas, Oklahoma, and New Mexico.
Kevin has previously served higher education as a Trustee of the NDSU Development Foundation, Minot State Board of Regents, and past chair of the UND Petroleum Engineering Advisory Board. Kevin also serves on the board of the Minot Chamber EDC, Minot Sunrise Rotary Club, and the North Dakota Petroleum Council, and he was appointed by Governor Doug Burgum to serve on the North Dakota Economic Development Foundation in 2019.
Kevin earned a degree in Industrial Engineering & Management from NDSU in 2010, and he resides in Minot, ND, with his wife Kalli and three children Reagan, Rawley, and Reese.
Mr. Jon Backes
Vice President
Term: 2024-2028
Jon Backes is the President of McGee, Hankla & Backes, P.C., a full service law firm operating continuously in Minot since 1901. Jon is North Dakota native, born in Grand Forks and raised in Minot. Backes graduated from Minot Bishop Ryan High School in 1979 and received a B.S. in accounting from Minot State University in 1984.
Following graduation, Backes was a licensed realtor and worked for Signal Management in the property management and real estate business from 1984 to 1987. He later earned a juris doctorate (with distinction) from the University of North Dakota School of Law in 1990. Jon was selected as a member of the Order of the Coif, national scholastic honorary society. Following graduation, he practiced securities and commercial law in Denver for several years before returning home to Minot in 1993.
He is a past president, and a current member of, the Ward County Bar Association; the State Bar Association of North Dakota; the Colorado Bar Association and is licensed to practice in the state and federal courts in North Dakota and Colorado. Backes has served as a director of several community service organizations in the Minot area, including the Minot Area Junior Golf Association; the Norsk Hostfest; the Minot Area Girls Fast Pitch Softball Association; the Minot State University Development Foundation; the Minot Catholic Schools Foundation; the Hogan Heritage Society Board of Regents for Bishop Ryan High School; the St. Joseph’s Community Health Foundation; the Minot Art Association; and, the Minot Gun Club.
From 2007 through 2011 Backes served on the State Board of Higher Education spending two years as vice president and chair of the budget audit and finance committee, and one year as president of the Board. Jon and his wife, Karla have three adult daughters.
Mr. Patrick Sogard
Trustee
Term: 2025-2029
Pat Sogard was appointed to the State Board of Higher Education and began his term on July 1, 2025.
In 2000, Pat began his employment with American State Bank & Trust Company, of Williston, and has served as Chair of the bank’s Board of Directors since 2003. Pat also was an attorney in private practice in Grand Forks for 11 years and in Williston for 3 years.
Pat has previously served in higher education as a member of the University of North Dakota Alumni Association and Foundation and as a volunteer Blue & Gold Officer with the Admissions Office of the U.S. Naval Academy. He has also previously served as a member of the Board of Directors of CHI St. Alexius Healthcare-Fargo Division, CHI St. Alexius Healthcare-Williston (Chair), Mercy Medical Center of Williston (Chair), Mercy Medical Foundation, of Williston; St. Joseph’s Elementary School, of Williston (President); and the Williston Zoning and Planning Commission.
A graduate of the University of North Dakota, Pat earned a bachelor’s degree in geological engineering and a Juris Doctor.
Pat and his wife, Tammy, have four adult children and two grandchildren. They reside in Williston.
Sen. Jonathan Sickler
Trustee
Term: 2025-2029
Jonathan Sickler represents District 17 (Grand Forks) in the North Dakota State Senate, where he serves on the Appropriations Committee. During the legislative interim, Sickler has served as the Chair of the Higher Education Institutions Committee and as a member of the Higher Education Funding Review Committee, the Information Technology Committee, Budget Section, and the Cash Management Board.
Sickler is the Chief Legal Officer for AE2S, a water-focused engineering consulting firm that serves public and industrial clients across the Midwestern and Western United States. Prior to his time at AE2S, Sickler practiced as an antitrust lawyer in Washington, DC at the firms Weil, Gotshal and Manges, LLP and Clifford Chance US LLP, where he represented clients from various industries before the U.S. Department of Justice and the Federal Trade Commission. A native of Dickinson, North Dakota, Sickler earned his undergraduate degree from the University of North Dakota and his law degree from Harvard Law School.
Dr. Steven W. Shirley
Trustee
Term: 2024-2028
Dr. Steve Shirley began serving as president of Minot State University on July 1, 2014. As Minot State’s president, Dr. Shirley also has oversight for MSU’s affiliate two-year campus, Dakota College at Bottineau. Between both campuses, there are more than 4,000 students and 500 faculty and staff.
Prior to joining Minot State, Dr. Shirley served as president of Valley City State University from 2008 to 2014. Earlier in his career he was vice president and dean for student affairs at Dakota State University in Madison, S.D., and an assistant professor of business and director of study abroad at the University of Minnesota, Crookston.
Dr. Shirley is a member of the Minot Rotary Noon Club and previously served as club president of both the Valley City and Crookston Rotary Clubs. He serves on the board of directors for the Minot Area Development Corporation and is an ex-officio board member of the Minot State Development Foundation as well as the Minot Area Chamber of Commerce (serving on the Military Affairs Committee). Shirley has been a Junior Achievement volunteer, has taught English to adult learners overseas, and has led several groups on international exchange visits. He is a strong advocate for global education and study abroad, the focus of his Ph.D. dissertation.
Ms. Julie Traynor
Trustee
Term: 2026-2030
Julie Traynor, MS, RN, Devils Lake, ND., is the Director of the Dakota Nursing Program, a consortium of four community colleges who educate nurses in multiple locations in North Dakota. Traynor completed a BS in Nursing from the University of MN at Moorhead and a Master’s degree in Nursing from the University of North Dakota.
She worked as a critical care nurse and in public health before becoming a nurse educator. Ms. Traynor has been the director of the Dakota Nursing Program since 2007. Under her leadership the Dakota Nursing Program nursing programs have grown in size and quality. Traynor has acquired and directed several grants focused on strengthening nursing education.
Traynor has a history of service to her community and the state. Appointed by Governor Hoeven in 2006 and again in 2010 Traynor was a member of the ND State Board of Nursing until 2014. She chaired the Education Committee for seven years and the Technology Committee for two years as well as serving as the boards vice president for three years and president for two years.
In 2016, Traynor was awarded the North Dakota Rural and Public Health Outstanding Rural Health Educator/Mentor Award. She currently volunteers her time as a preceptor for graduate students and at the Lake Region Community Shelter in Devils Lake.
Mr. Mike Warner
Trustee
Term: 2024-2028
Mike Warner brings a unique cross-section of diverse experiences to the NDUS Foundation. Warner has background in health care, agriculture, food processing and policymaking, with a wealth of perspective from both private and public sector associations.
Warner currently serves as treasurer for the Dakota Medical Foundation, and has served as president and founder of Agriceutical Resources Co., formed Pedigree Technologies LLC, and prior to those ventures ran what was considered to be one of the largest sole proprietor sugar beet farms in the U.S.
Warner’s service record is also extensive. He has served on numerous boards, councils and steering committees, including the Board of Directors of American Crystal Sugar, the nation’s 2nd largest sugar processor/marketer and the Meritcare Health Services Board of Trustees. These two organizations were the largest businesses in the region, during the time of his service, with combined revenues of over $1.5 Billion. He was the national legislative chairman for the American Sugarbeet Growers Assn. During his tenure, the sugar policies upon which the industry now depends were developed and legislated. He also served on the Minnesota Migrant Health Council Board of Directors, the Dakota Growers Pasta Company Founding Board of Directors, Progold corn processors development steering committee, the Halstad Elevator Company Board of Directors, Director of the Ag Product Utilization Committee (APUC) and the Governor’s Committee on Value Added Agriculture, among many others.
Warner graduated from North Dakota State University in 1972 with a pharmacy degree and received the Upjohn Achievement Award. Since then, he has served as a teaching fellow at University of Missouri Columbia, been part of the 2010 NDSU presidential search committee, received the NDSU Heritage Award and was named the 2003 NDSU Outstanding Agriculturalist, among many more distinctions.
Commissioner Brent Sanford
Ex Officio
Brent Sanford was born and raised in Watford City, North Dakota. He graduated summa cum laude from the University of North Dakota with a bachelor’s degree in accounting in 1994. He is a certified public accountant. He worked as an auditor and consultant for Eide Bailly LLP from 1994 through 2002, and then became the chief financial officer of Transwest Trucks in Denver, Colorado.
Brent moved back home to Watford City in 2004, purchasing and operating his third-generation, family-run car dealership. He increased sales each of the first 10 years in business with unique approaches based on the rural economic conditions. He was elected to the Watford City Council in 2006 and became mayor in 2010. Watford City became the fastest growing community in America from 2010-2020. Most of the growth occurred during the incredible early days of the Bakken oil boom from 2010-2014. With Brent’s leadership, the community focused on infrastructure investment and community development activity to address the rapid growth including: investing in the historic Main Street area, new retail, new and affordable housing, new schools, new community center, new healthcare, new daycare and new airport investments.
Doug Burgum chose Brent as his running mate in the 2016 gubernatorial election. The ticket won the general election. They won a second term in the 2020 election. The pair entered office with a state budget crisis and the DAPL pipeline protests, weathered the storm of COVID-19 and throughout focused on infrastructure and economic opportunities for the state.
In addition to presiding over the State Senate, Brent chaired the State Investment Board, State Water Commission, ND Trade Office, Clean Sustainable Energy Authority, the Northern Plains UAS Test Site Board, the Higher Ed Challenge Grant Board and numerous other statutory state boards as lieutenant governor. Brent’s accounting and entrepreneurial background, as well as his years spent in business and local community leadership, served him well in the statewide elected leadership position.
On Dec. 20, 2022, Sanford announced his resignation as lieutenant governor, effective Jan. 2, 2023, in order to return to the private sector and spend more time with his family. Brent has continued in his passion for progress in North Dakota through his newest venture, Sanford Consulting LLC, assisting various organizations with innovative workforce and energy solutions.
In January 2025, Sanford was named the interim president of Bismarck State College and on April 30, 2025, Sanford was named the interim chancellor of the ND University System. He was appointed as the commissioner after a title change in September 2025.
Brent and his wife Sandi have three children and reside in Bismarck.