« [Beyond the Vikings,] when I think about the stadium, I think about high school and college kids and little leaguers who will come to the stadium and the tens of thousands of people coming into downtown. » Michele Kelm-Helgen, chairwoman, Minnesota Sports Facilities Authority, which is overseeing construction of the $1 billion Vikings stadium.
About Kelm-Helgen: Before joining the MSFA, Kelm-Helgen was Gov. Mark Dayton's deputy chief of staff for legislative affairs. She has spent eight years in the public sector; before that, she was a partner at the government affairs consulting firm North State Advisers and a director at Control Data Corp., now Ceridian.
Personal file: A native of Montgomery, Minn., Kelm-Helgen hails from a political family. Her grandfather, Elmer Kelm, managed Hubert Humphrey's first Minneapolis mayoral campaign. Her father, Tom Kelm, was chief of staff for Gov. Wendell Anderson in the 1970s and followed him to Washington when Anderson became a U.S. senator. Kelm-Helgen has three children.
What's big in 2014: She will oversee the demolition of the Metrodome and construction of the superstructure of the new stadium, which is expected to open in 2016.
Final word: "I look forward to the most everyday thing you'll see on this project — when you see those folks gathering every morning in yellow vests, hard hats and their Red Wing boots ready to go to work."
JANET MOORE
