Three incumbents and nine challengers will vie for four open seats on the University of Minnesota's governing Board of Regents.

The Minnesota Legislature's Regent Candidate Advisory Council selected the finalists after receiving 35 applications for the vacancies and interviewing 17 candidates. The council announced its recommendations to a joint legislative committee Monday.

"It's a very impressive list of candidates," said Dan Wolter, a member of the council.

He noted the finalists, who fielded council members' questions on topics ranging from student debt to athletics, include prominent business leaders, veterans of public service and others.

Minnesota legislators will select one regent in each of three congressional districts and for one at-large seat.

The finalists are:

Second District

• Ian Benson, a manager at Xcel Energy and U.S. Navy Reserve veteran.

• Jim Carter, a former Gophers running back and Green Bay Packer.

• Sandra Krebsbach, executive director of the American Technical Education Association, who lost her bid for re-election last year after eight years as Mendota Heights mayor.

Third District

• Incumbent Tom Devine, executive vice president at Horizon Agency, an Eden Prairie insurance agency.

• Walter Erickson, executive director of the Alpha Kappa Psi Scholarship Fund.

• Incumbent Darrin Rosha, general manager and corporate counsel for Crutchfield Dermatology in Eagan and a lieutenant colonel in the Minnesota Army National Guard.

• Tammy Lee Stanoch, chief corporate affairs officer at Recombinetics Inc., a livestock gene-editing company.

Eighth District

• Incumbent David McMillan, executive vice president at Minnesota Power.

• Curtis Teberg, a Duluth-based financial portfolio manager. Teberg, who was not on the list of candidates the council interviewed, was recruited to apply, in keeping with a goal to recommend at least two candidates for each open slot.

At-large

• Tom Devine, who now serves as a regent from the Second District but is running in the Third following redistricting. The council made the somewhat unusual decision to recommend him for vacancies both in the Third and at large.

• Kent Molde, a Twin Cities-based radiologist and U.S. Air Force veteran.

• Ken Powell, CEO of General Mills and deputy chair of the Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis.

• John Regal, director at Securian Financial Group and St. Paul Chamber of Commerce board member.

A joint committee will select one candidate for each open position and submit the slate to the full Legislature. Lawmakers will elect the regents this spring. The successful candidates will serve six-year, unpaid terms on the 12-member governing body.

Mila Koumpilova • 612-673-4781