Who could be South Dakota's movers and shakers in 2022? Here's who we're watching.

Argus Leader staff

Whether it's a group of people fighting for a voice, leaders with power to make communities safer or stronger, or those in a position to give back, this year is already shaping up to be a year of change.

And the Argus Leader is keeping an eye on those at the forefront of some of South Dakota's hottest issues, including everything from how the state continues to shape its new medical marijuana industry, to race relations in education to gubernatorial elections.

Here's a look at who we think will be the big movers and shakers for 2022.

Wendy Mamer

Wendy Mamer, 27, grew up on a small farm in Lake Benton, Minnesota with her three adopted siblings. Mamer went to Augustana University for the first half of her undergrad, following suit with her mother, and eventually graduated from Southwest Minnesota State University to be closer to home.

She lost her father, a farmer for over 50 years who struggled with depression and anxiety, to suicide in 2017. Mamer eventually found her way back to her alma matter in 2018, working now to prioritize the mental health of incoming and current students as Augustana's Assistant Director of Admission.

Last year, Mamer delivered a TedTalk titled "Survivor of Suicide Loss: A Title I Never Wanted" and was most recently recognized as part of the first group of graduates of Augustana's Diversity Advocate Program, which provides courses for faculty, staff and students on diversity, equity and inclusion.

In 2022, Mamer is focusing on suicide prevention and mental health advocacy. 

Wendy Mamer poses for a portrait photo on December 7th, 2021.

"A survey in 2019 revealed 23.1% of South Dakota high school students considered suicide in the past 12 months, a 16.1% increase from 2015," said Mamer. "That's an alarming statistic and I think that is the most recent data before the pandemic."

Most concerning to Mamer is the potential that the number could likely be growing after the effects of the pandemic. This year, she's planning to speak at a couple of schools about her story with suicide and mental health and will continue her work as advisor to Lost and Found, a student nonprofit at Augustana, to eliminate suicide in young adults.

She also hinted at a potential run for the South Dakota State Legislature next year.

More:What hot-button issues will play out in 2022? The Argus Leader has you covered.

Amos Abu

An immigrant from Ghana, Amos Abu, 42, works as the housing community resource liaison between Minnehaha County and Sioux Falls. Abu brings high-level experience from 18 different countries in international development of social intervention system methods and community-based collaboration to his current role as the Housing Clinic Coordinator. 

Abu previously worked as a radio station producer in Ghana in his 20s, gaining skills in community engagement, and worked for a local nonprofit in his home country before briefly moving to the U.K. to work for a British NGO addressing HIV and gender-based violence.

Amos Abu poses for a portrait photo on Wednesday, December 9th, 2021.

Abu has lived in Sioux Falls for almost a decade and has been in his position for a year. This year, Abu will be focusing on building collaborative partnerships across the board with community stakeholders in Sioux Falls' housing sector and working with those partnerships to develop solutions for the current housing crisis. 

Serene Thin Elk

Serene Thin Elk, 39, serves as South Dakota Urban Indian Health's Behavioral Health Director. Born in Armour, South Dakota, Thin Elk was raised in Vermillion, studied psychology at the University of South Dakota and has a master's in mental health counseling.

"I was always called a natural helper, it just comes easy," Thin Elk said.

Born to two leaders in the Native community and fluent speakers in Dakota and Lakota languages, Thin Elk's parents are huge influences.

Thin Elk's father, who has been in recovery since she was born, developed a culturally based addiction recovery program called the 'Red River Approach.' Growing up, her father spent most of his time on the road driving to different tribal communities all over South Dakota to counsel people trying to get sober, while her mother took care of her and her family at home.

Portrait of Serene Thin Elk.

"I witnessed it on both ends of the spectrum, where my dad was definitely the leader who was out there creating change in the collective front, and my mom was more at home with nurturing steadfast security, even though she didn't have a lot of that growing up," Thin Elk said.

This year, Thin Elk is looking at three issues: implementing a medication assisted therapy program, working with Native adults with complex PTSD and expanding adolescent mental health services to the Sioux Falls School District.

Kuol Malou

Kuol Malou, a South Sudanese refugee, spends most of his time thinking about how to get representation of Sioux Falls' most diverse and brightest communities to the table. Malou, 32, moved to Sioux Falls about six years ago. 

Malou currently serves as director of community engagement and development at Ace Academy, an alternative private school for youth of color that opened in Sioux Falls last year.

A community advocate and staunch believer of representation, Malou's focus for 2022 is on two issues: access and lack of equity in the nonprofit world.

Portrait of Kuol Malou.

"One of the biggest issues I see as a nonprofit co-founder is a lot of the times equitable access to resources in some communities," said Malou. "How is that information being communicated to them?"

Malou plans to sit down with leaders in diverse communities to develop solutions targeting access gaps next year. As a member of Sioux Falls Young Professional Network, Malou will continue to partner with local business leaders to provide an internship with a future career path for high schoolers and college students in Sioux Falls.

Jon Thum

Jon Thum, 42, has only been chief of the Sioux Falls Police Department since late July and has talked a big game about working more with the community in the future.

"Some priorities initially are really finding new ways to interact with the community, to make us more accessible to the general public, but maybe not necessarily just the people who are inclined to be supportive supporters of us, but people who maybe aren't used to having interactions with law enforcement," Thum said in an interview with the Argus, two months after he started the job.

More:Jon Thum was born and raised in Sioux Falls. Here's how he aims to improve his hometown police department as chief

Lieutenant Jon Thum speaks in an interview ahead of his promotion to police chief on Friday, July 9, 2021, at the Law Enforcement Center in Sioux Falls.

Since then, he's been seen at events like Ethiopian Day, the Community Soccer Game between the police department and the Somali and Kunama community and at a graduation ceremony for the justice-impacted as part of a program meant to decrease recidivism rates.

Thum said he plans to work not only with the community, but also with the youth to try and curb crimes before they occur.

New missing and murdered Indigenous investigator

Funding through Operation Lady Justice, a federal task force through the Department of Justice to look into missing and murdered American Indians and Alaska Natives, has allowed South Dakota to hire an investigator to look into the epidemic of missing and murdered Indigenous people.

The Rapid City office opened in August, but little information has been given out about the work that's being done or who the investigator is.

With more and more eyes turning to missing and murdered Indigenous issues on a national level, it'll be interesting to see how this investigator might work with a specialist South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem proposed in her budget address to the Legislature.

Charles Chima

Appointed in 2021 after the retirement of Jill Franken, Sioux Falls' new public health director, Charles Chima, has studied and worked in healthcare and public health on three continents.

After time spent training as a primary care physician in Nigeria, he got a master of science in epidemiology at the University of London as well as a doctor of public health degree in health services from the University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston.

More:'We just don't have the beds': Sioux Falls hospital officials urge COVID-19 precautions ahead of holidays

Dr. Charles Chima, Public Health Director for the City of Sioux Falls, speaks at a joint press conference with Avera Medical Group and Sanford Health regarding COVID-19 updates on Wednesday, December 15, 2021 at the Washington Pavilion in Sioux Falls.

While he arrived after the COVID-19 surge in late 2020 that stretched the city and its hospitals to their limits, cases and hospitalizations continue to fluctuate.

With the onset of the omicron variant, Chima’s role is becoming more public-facing. Chima, who has repeatedly stated he wants to see the city reach a vaccination rate somewhere between 70% and 80%, has hammered on about the safety of the vaccine.

At a recent informational meeting, Chima noted that 164,426 people in the two-county area had received at least one dose of the COVID-19 vaccine, or 62.7% of the population. There’s still some work to be done.

Allie Hartzler

When Rana DeBoer resigned from her position as chief culture officer in October, the controversial role, which required a tie-breaking vote from Mayor Paul TenHaken to keep in the 2020 budget, was retooled.

More:Sioux Falls first and only chief culture officer resigns, controversial role 'retooled'

Allie Hartzler

Since Oct. 25, Allie Hartzler has served as the city’s culture and innovation officer, a combination of her former position as innovation coordinator and DeBoer’s former role.

Hartzler has said she hopes to build on the “foundational work” that DeBoer brought to the role, which was primarily meant to address employee recruitment and retention as the city prepared for a wave of retirements.

That will combine with some of the work she’s already been doing, including leading a team tasked with improving the equity and inclusion of the city’s internal organization.

Emmett Reistroffer

As various boards, groups and task forces discussed the potential rules and regulations that would govern medical marijuana in Sioux Falls throughout 2021, there was one voice you could almost always count on hearing: Emmett Reistroffer.

More:Recreational marijuana debate in South Dakota doesn't end with court ruling

Emmett Reistroffer looks through 25 of the 26 applications he submitted for a medical marijuana dispensary license on Monday, Nov. 15.

His voice was often raised in frustration or anger, like when the cannabis industry consultant called Mayor Paul TenHaken a “prohibitionist” as he discussed his concerns about what he saw as overly restrictive legislation.

Fast-forward to the end of 2021, and Reistroffer’s still not thrilled with the way the rules turned out. But he’s certainly happy to follow them as the project manager for Genesis Farms, LLC, the prospective holder of one of the city’s five medical marijuana dispensary licenses, as well as the prospective holder of Minnehaha County’s only medical cannabis dispensary license.

Should both businesses make their way through the system and open to the public, one of the city’s biggest critics on medical marijuana will likely be selling a good deal of it — and that’s not counting the company’s other proposed locations in Rapid City, Box Elder, Mitchell and elsewhere.

Reistroffer has also spoken about his intent to work on campaigns to further open up the city and state’s marijuana laws.

Rep. Steve Haugaard 

The 65-year-old private attorney and former Speaker of the House wants Noem's job.

And while he faces steep odds of beating his fellow Republican in the June 2022 primary election, his campaign could indicate where the governor might be vulnerable.

Rep. Steve Haugaard, R-Sioux Falls, with his wife Mary and their dozens of children and grandchildren at his side, formally announced his candidacy for South Dakota governor in the 2022 state primary.

Haugaard, who's further right on the political spectrum than Noem, has made no secret about his discontent with her handling of past legislation regarding transgender athletes, budgetary spending and even her approach to managing COVID-19 and vaccine mandates.

Should he find any level of success in putting a dent on her popularity — recent polling shows 74.5% of Republicans give a passing grade to Noem — other rivals of the governor will undoubtedly take note.

Jeff Partridge 

As South Dakota government deals with allocating and administering a record amount of revenues, due in large part to Congress sending massive stimulus bills, a new hire is taking over the state's finance team.

After five years as South Dakota's Bureau of Finance and Management Commissioner, Liza Clark stepped down at year's end. And with a reputation as a financial whiz who grew the state's reserves by more than 90% during her tenure, some lofty expectations are being placed upon her successor, Jeff Partridge.

Sen. Jeff Partridge, R-Rapid City

The 51-year-old is a former lawmaker from Rapid City who served on the budget-setting appropriations committee in the Legislature for multiple terms.

Most recently he served as a member of the South Dakota Board of Regents, and Noem has described Partridge as a "seasoned, thoughtful" public servant. And he'll be responsible for managing billions in the state's coffers going forward.

House Speaker Spencer Gosch vs. Senate leader Lee Schoenbeck

The South Dakota House of Representatives and the state Senate might be controlled by the same political party, but there's no love lost between top decision-makers in each chamber.

And with no indication that the relationship between House Speaker Spencer Gosch, R-Glenham, and Senate President Pro Tempore Lee Schoenbeck, R-Watertown, is improving, a divide among lawmakers could get even larger during the next Legislative session.

Speaker of the House Spencer Gosch is sworn in on Tuesday, January 12, in the House of Representatives at the South Dakota State Capitol in Pierre.

The fracture between the two men is in part leading to behind-the-scenes conversations among moderate Republicans and Democrats in the House about picking a new House Speaker to start 2022. And a recent spat between Gosch and Schoenbeck regarding transparency in the impeachment proceedings of Attorney General Jason Ravnsborg has further fanned the flames.

Rep. Lee Schoenbeck talks with Lynne DiSanto before Gov. Dennis Daugaard gives the State of the State address at the state capitol in Pierre, S.D., Tuesday, Jan. 12, 2016.

Mark Miller

The abrupt departure of Aaron Scheibe as chief of staff in Noem's cabinet in November thrust the state back into a hiring search to find what will be the sixth person in the position since she took office in 2019.

But in the interim, Mark Miller, a top legal advisor and general counsel to the governor, has assumed the position. And with it, he'll be instrumental in Noem's efforts to carry out her administration's agenda during the next Legislative session.

Mark Miller

A New York native who came to South Dakota from Florida, Miller last year ushered to passage a series of anti-abortion bills and is expected to see his role in legislative relations broaden now that he's acting chief of staff.

Ashley Biggar

Ashley Biggar leads the east side of the SBA's newest initiative for women founders, and plans to find plenty of training amid funding in 2022 in eastern South Dakota.

Ashley Biggar is the first Director of SD CEO East Women’s Business Center, which opened in August. With 20 years of business development experience, Biggar previously was the Director of Key Operations and Development at the Brooking Chamber of Commerce as well as the owner of Creative Impressions, a Brookings-based small business.

Her goal is to bring grants, education and other measures to the eastern half of the state’s female business community in 2022.

Scott Webb

With a demonstrated history in the consumer food production industry, Scott Webb brings a new pork plant at a price tag of about $500 million to Sioux Falls, called Wholestone Farms. Unlike other companies like Amazon, so far, Webb is the only one to (openly) promise helping provide housing for his laborers.

Scott Webb is approaching with jobs at Wholestone Farms, to build next year, with hopes to build housing for his workers too.

Webb's plan to remedy Sioux Falls' crowded housing market is to partner with city leaders, local and regional builders, and investors to build affordable housing to offset the lack of housing available for current and potential Sioux Falls residents.

The company is starting a similar partnership at its current plant and headquarters in Fremont, Nebraska, and Webb is a CEO to watch.

More:Jobs coming. Houses needed. Incoming pork plant CEO wants to help Sioux Falls with both

Outspoken students

They questioned university officials’ authority to take away diversity centers and to not staff diversity offices.

They called out racist dress codes and hair discrimination they faced in schools, and actually got the dress codes changed.

More:How a high school's Black Student Union is fighting racism across South Dakota

They protested a lack of Indigenous representation in education.

The common denominator in these situations? They were all outspoken students.

In 2021, as in other years, students were at the forefront of many of the social movements the Argus Leader covered in South Dakota.

Oftentimes, people incorrectly assume that students — or, young people who may not hold positions of power — can’t make a change, or that what they say won’t do enough to make those in power think twice. But in many instances in 2021, students subverted power dynamics and outnumbered the voices in positions of power in our state.

In 2022, we’ll continue to listen to students who speak out about the issues that will affect their day-to-day lives in schools and on university campuses across the state.

Social studies workgroup

The social studies standards review process is going to start up again in 2022, after the first attempt at cyclical review scheduled for 2021 was ordered to restart this year by Noem after she told the Argus Leader the standards didn’t meet her expectations.

We would not have known about this story if it hadn’t been for some members of the first workgroup speaking out about changes they noticed from the time they agreed on a draft of new standards in July to when the DOE publicly released a new draft 10 days later. 

The changes included the removal of more than a dozen explicit references to the Oceti Sakowin, which is the Lakota, Dakota and Nakota, collectively. Officials said changes were made to provide “greater clarity and focus.”

Members of the first workgroup included 32 teachers, several retired teachers, educators from the Sisseton-Wahpeton Oyate, one legislator (Sen. Jim Bolin) and officials from the Dacotah Prairie Museum, Fort Sisseton Historic State Park, South Dakota Agricultural Heritage Museum and the Office of Indian Education.

Two conservatives quit the first workgroup in July, before the drafted standards’ were released, and without publicly saying why. Once the standards were released, other members called the changes the “present-day erasure of Native Americans.”

The issue even sparked a protest against the changes at the state capital.

South Dakota’s Department of Education sought more applicants to join the new, second workgroup in November, despite having already received 203 applications.

Who is selected to join the workgroup — and who isn’t — will say much about the DOE’s goals with the social studies standards review process, and will determine which way the group skews and which expertise it relies upon.

Sarah White

White is the director of education equity for NDN Collective, an organization dedicated to building Indigenous power, and a leader of the South Dakota Education Equity Coalition.

She was a lead organizer for the Oceti Sakowin March for Our Children in mid-September, a movement opposing changes to proposed social studies standards and calling for Noem, South Dakota Department of Education Secretary Tiffany Sanderson, and other government officials to resign over the changes.

Sarah White is the director of education equity with NDN Collective and a leader of the South Dakota Education Equity Coalition.

Marchers and White also called to make Oceti Sakowin Essential Understandings mandatory, and to move the Office of Indian Education back to the Department of Education, as Noem moved the office to the Department of Tribal Relations in one of her first executive orders.

More:Educators address legislative future of Indigenous inclusion, resilience in South Dakota schools

Sarah White, director of education equity at NDN Collective and leader of the South Dakota Education Equity Coalition, speaks in a panel at the University of South Dakota on Nov. 2, 2021 for a conversation on Indigenous history, culture and resilience in South Dakota’s schools.

White also called for the state to honor laws with tribal consultation on education, and to hold a study session to enable opportunities for school choice.

In a panel discussion at USD, White mentioned four different bills are being drafted now by the Coalition to bring to the 2022 legislative session, including one calling for the mandatory inclusion of OSEUs in state content standards.

This won’t be White’s first time making appearances in Pierre, either. She was part of two years of efforts to get the state to set up an Oceti Sakowin immersion school in Rapid City and other areas. Bills for that effort failed in past sessions.

White is one of many Indigenous leaders pushing for further inclusion of education both on the Oceti Sakowin culture and for Lakota, Dakota and Nakota students. White, and allies like her, will be a force to watch in 2022.

Jim Abbott

The G.O.A.T. is back.

At least, that’s how students knew Jim Abbott during his time as the 17th president at the University of South Dakota: the “Greatest of All Time.” Students even made T-shirts commemorating the GOAT.

Abbott was remembered as such for his 21 years on campus in which he saw USD’s enrollment increase from 6,500 to 10,000 students, the completion of six buildings including the Muenster University Center and Sanford School of Medicine, the transition to Division I athletics in 2006, and for acts like nonchalantly driving himself to the hospital in Vermillion while he was having a heart attack. He was inducted into the South Dakota Hall of Fame in 2017.

He retired as president in 2018 after 21 years leading the state’s flagship university and this year announced his return to USD as the new interim president and CEO of the Discovery District, USD’s research park on the north end of Sioux Falls.

More:Former University of South Dakota President Jim Abbott to take helm of Discovery District in Sioux Falls

He’s not taking a salary, either. Abbott is returning to fully realize the vision he had for the Discovery District as a place to turn university research into products to improve people’s lives, create jobs and boost the economy.

More:LifeScape, SAB Biotherapeutics part ways with University of South Dakota’s Discovery District development

When it’s fully developed, the Discovery District is expected to include an estimated 26 privately developed buildings with nearly 2,800 people working for companies housed within the district. And, Abbott said he’s planning a $15 million, 50,000-square-foot facility there.

USD president Jim Abbott in 2014.

That will take time, and won’t be easy, Abbott has admitted.

More:Abbott's vision for USD Discovery District includes a $15 million facility where there isn't one

“Those things are hard to get going and hard to keep going,” Regent Tony Venhuizen said. “Really, one of the first people to talk about developing something like that in South Dakota was Jim Abbott when he was running for governor in 2002, so it only seemed fair to make him come back and get it done.”