Meet Erik

I’m a proud resident of downtown Sioux Falls with my wife, Sadie, building our lives, careers, and community in District 15.

As nonprofit leaders, Sadie and I both serve locally and regionally to make economic opportunity and healthcare more accessible to others, from our home offices in District 15. Sadie empowers women business owners across eastern South Dakota as the Director of the South Dakota CEO East Business Center, and I work to eliminate suicide statewide as CEO of Lost&Found.

Through my work at Lost&Found, I lead the region’s largest nonprofit focusing on comprehensive suicide prevention and loss survivor programs for youth and young adults (10-34). It is through this work that I led efforts to pass bipartisan legislation during the 2023 Legislative Session that brought $2 million in new funding to prevent youth suicide—the state’s leading cause of death for South Dakotans under the age of 29.

I was raised in Corsica, SD as the son of lifelong, rural educators and the sixth generation of Dutch immigrants to settle in Douglas County, South Dakota. I am a proud graduate of the University of South Dakota (2014). USD is where I discovered my passion for public service, serving as Student Government Association (SGA) President and interning in Washington, DC for the United States Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs chaired by Sen. Tim Johnson (D-SD).

After USD, I started my career in government and financial services, serving in various financial analysis, consulting, project management, and strategy roles for the City of Sioux Falls, Citi, MetaBank (now Pathward), and Sunrise Banks. In each of these roles, I became a trusted partner and change agent who worked effectively and brought teams together. It also gave me tangible skills that would lead me back to public service—by pursuing further education and building a nonprofit that would change lives through Lost&Found.

Outside of Lost&Found, I founded and lead PASQ, a rural economic development and nonprofit management consulting firm, and I’ve served as an Adjunct Instructor of Economics at the University of South Dakota.

No matter what role I’ve played in my life—whether fixing fence, coaching youth sports, teaching or leading organizations—you can count on my commitment to listening, learning, and adapting when serving you in the South Dakota Legislature.

Education

• Bachelor of Business Administration (BBA), Economics - University of South Dakota (2014)

• Project Management Professional (PMP) Certification - Project Management Institute (2017)

• Graduate Certificate of Nonprofit Management (CNM) - Humphrey School of Public Affairs, University of Minnesota (2020)

• Master of Business Administration (MBA) - Carlson School of Management, University of Minnesota (2020)

• Master of Public Policy (MPP) - Humphrey School of Public Affairs, University of Minnesota (2020)

Community Recognition

• Leadership South Dakota Graduate (2017)

• University of South Dakota 30 Under 30 Award (2019)

• University of Minnesota Student Entrepreneur of the Year, Lost&Found (2020)

• Alumni Achievement Award for Public Service, University of South Dakota (2022)

• Sioux Falls Young Professionals Network 4 Under 40 Award (2023)

I’m running to serve District 15 because we should have the opportunity to build a life—and a legacy—for six generations. That is what makes our community better, and I can’t wait to build a stronger community with you.

My fierce commitment to community service is a product of my roots. I am the sixth-generation of my family to have been raised in Douglas County, South Dakota—population of just over 2,000. In every sense of the word, South Dakota is home and a place where my relatives farmed, built businesses, taught at local schools, supported their families, and served their country.

Despite so many obstacles, heartbreaks, and losses, our family endured. They built a life and home in our state and remained committed to making it better for the next generation. They invested in building our state—literally!

Through that service and sacrifice, my family also taught me an important lesson—that our state’s abundant variety wasn’t always shared or made available to everyone, and it was our responsibility to advocate and support with the gifts we received.

My family—and the lessons they taught me—are my “why.”

I believe deeply in the potential of South Dakota—especially its most underserved communities. As an economist, a nonprofit executive, and a small business owner, I put my skills and expertise to work every day to ensure mental healthcare, economic development, and strategic planning services are accessible to communities and organizations least likely to receive that support but need it most.

I believe any South Dakota person or family should have the opportunity to build a life and community where they can thrive and grow for six generations, just like mine has. That idea is often lost in discussion in Pierre among issues that discriminate, divide, and create discord.

Today, our community and state face serious issues that need committed, thoughtful leaders who believe in the potential of our state.

Why am I running for office?

Every South Dakotan should have the opportunity to build a life—and a legacy—for six generations in our state, no matter your zip code or your background. Our community and state needs greater investment in public education, healthcare access, and economic opportunity for all.

From my family to yours, know that I am here to listen, act, and solve real problems for our community, as we have for generations here in South Dakota.

When we work harder, work smarter, and work together, good things happen.

I learned these values at a young age when I first heard the story of how my parents came home to Corsica after receiving their teaching degrees at the University of South Dakota. They had many choices and opportunities in front of them, but one thing brought them home: a farm accident.

My grandfather’s accident ultimately led to my parents choosing to make a life in the rural South Dakota community that our family had known for generations. My father took on farming—mostly alone—while both he and my mother began their decades-long teaching careers. Like many families in the 1980s, our family found themselves no longer on the land—but they didn’t leave the community.

Instead, my parents cared for aging family members, raised their two kids to understand the value of community service, and invested their lives into helping others discover their potential through education—all while serving in numerous leadership roles in our church, school, and community. No matter the challenge, they met it head on by working harder, smarter, and together.

Their unending belief in the potential of people and community became my compass.

That’s why I choose to always…

…work harder. Every community member deserves quality representation in Pierre.

…work smarter. I will introduce and support policies that solve real problems facing our community.

…work together. Solving real problems requires shared understanding and the ability to work with others.

When we work harder, work smarter, and work together, good things happen.