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Topic: Employees

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  1. SDN employees and local businesses help local United Way reach its goal
    Putting contests, incentives and sweet treats - SDN Communications' internal United Way Committee organizes the company’s campaign. They set goals, plan fun events throughout the week and create incentives to give such as paid time off, primo parking spots and Heart Club swag.
  2. Company culture and support helps Hope Vande Kop continue to excel
    Hope Vande Kop has been with SDN Communications for more than 20 years but she’s far from doing the same thing every day. She enjoys opportunities to learn new things and gain new skills. And she gets that at SDN.
  3. More than an intern, at SDN, I was a valued member of the team
    As a student studying at South Dakota State University, we were bombarded with encouragement to attend job/internship fairs the day we stepped on campus. I never understood why I should attend as a freshman who barely has his life together, until now.
  4. Lifetime of experience and connections bring Vernon Brown back to his alma mater
    Every company faces stiff workforce competition these days. SDN Communications is no different. Unfortunately for us, we’re losing a veteran employee who helped build our brand into what it is today. Vernon Brown will be joining South Dakota State University’s leadership team as the associate vice president of external affairs.
  5. Reaping what he sowed: Mark Shlanta’s name lives on at new Technology Park
    Mark knew little to nothing about farming, but when he spearheaded the company’s effort to buy a farmstead just northwest of Sioux Falls and transform it into a data center and future technology park, he got involved in every detail of the acreage.
  6. From hospitality to telecom, Megan Greenfield is building relationships
    She’s still learning the telecommunications lingo. But Megan Greenfield enjoys building relationships with people and that lines up perfectly with her new role as a Network Account Executive at SDN Communications.
  7. Up-And-Comer: Graham Beynon
    Graham Beynon, a software engineering manager at SDN Communications, was recently featured in SiouxFalls.Business, as an Up-And-Comer in the community and leadership roles with the company.
  8. Amber Hopper’s relationship building approach benefits SDN customers
    Fostering relationships has been key to Amber Hopper’s personal life and career, whether on the court or over the phone. She built a career that started in athletics and pivoted to telecommunications - an unusual transition that will become clear in this article.
  9. From digging ditches, to vice president of sales; Meet Ryan Dutton
    Ryan Dutton, SDN Communications’ newly promoted Vice President of Sales learned the industry from the ground up, literally. Dutton spent his high school summers digging ditches for Bevcomm, a rural independent broadband provider based in Blue Earth, Minnesota.
  10. Mark Shlanta to be inducted into South Dakota Hall of Fame
    We’re proud to announce that Mark Shlanta, former SDN Communications Chief Executive Officer, will be inducted into the South Dakota Hall of Fame (SDHoF) this fall.
  11. Meet Ryan Punt, our new CEO
    Ryan Punt didn’t always dream of a career in telecommunications. The Stickney High School grad studied accounting his freshman year of college, at the urging of his parents. But it was the mid-1990s, and this thing called the internet was exploding around the world.
  12. Up-And-Comer: Jamie Stanley
    Jamie Stanley, a carrier management coordinator at SDN Communications, was recently featured in SiouxFalls.Business, as an Up-And-Comer in the community and leadership roles with the company.
  13. Internal leadership program grows SDN employees from within
    SDN Communications sees the value of investing in employees to foster leadership. So much so, a new program is underway to further develop a culture of personal and professional growth.
  14. Ten lessons I learned from my boss, Mark Shlanta
    The recent passing of our visionary and former, long-serving CEO Mark Shlanta casts a dark shadow over our office. But as we try to find our bearings in his passing, Vernon Brown shares the more personal leadership gifts he provided.
  15. SDN mourns loss of former CEO Mark Shlanta
    SDN’s employees and Member Companies mourn the loss of its former, long-time visionary Chief Executive Officer Mark Shlanta. He died February 23, 2022, just more than a week after his 57th birthday and following a two-year battle with cancer.
  16. SDN's Sarah Tuntland blends her creative side with accounting background to make an impact
    Sarah Tuntland calls herself a problem solver — whether that’s crunching numbers as part of her day job or volunteering with non-profit boards across the community.
  17. Missed field trip connected Eich to opportunities that led to telecom career
    Dan Eich is the Director of Wholesale and Carrier Management for SDN Communications, where he’s been employed since 2010. How he got there can be traced back to missing out on a field trip.
  18. People are at the center of our 'Top 2021 Articles'
    When it comes down to it, people want to read about other people and how technology affects those people. So, it should be no surprise to learn that SDN Communications' top blog article of 2021 was about two people in the company.
  19. Change in Leadership at SDN Communications
    After more than 21 years as CEO of SDN Communications, Mark Shlanta is stepping down. On Monday, December 20, SDN Vice President of Sales, Ryan Punt, will become CEO and lead the company that has evolved to become an industry-leading provider of telecommunications services.
  20. Company values at the core of hiring and growing employees
    SDN’s core values drive more than the customer experience; they also impact hiring and culture within the organization. Like many companies across the country, SDN is seeking qualified people to join the team. However, just having the technical know-how isn’t enough.