Teddy Bekele is the chief technology officer (CTO) at Land O’Lakes, a Fortune 500 company with $19 billion in revenue. In his role, Teddy leads digital transformation, leveraging existing and emerging technologies while ensuring alignment with annual business goals. Under his leadership, his organization is focused on discovering, evaluating, and implementing new technologies (such as AI, robotics, and blockchain) that yield competitive advantage and help profit-and-loss (P&L) leaders develop new disruptive business models in partnership with tech giants such as Microsoft, SAP, and Salesforce. Teddy is a seasoned executive with a proven record of driving growth by leveraging technology and data in the agricultural and diversified industrial manufacturing sectors. His input is valuable to the boards of companies seeking to use technology as a catalyst for organizational transformation.

Teddy serves on the board of trustees of Stella Health/Blue Cross Blue Shield of Minnesota (BCBS-MN). Health care is rapidly changing, and technology has the potential to revolutionize the way it’s delivered to patients. Teddy chairs the Technology and Operations Committee overseeing the transformation of BCBS-MN to reinvent health care so that it is more accessible and easier to use and puts better health within reach for everyone. He is also on the HR Committee and has previously served on the Corporate Investment and Development Committee.

Teddy also serves on the Board of Twin Cities PBS, Agriculture Future of America to build transformational leaders in food and agriculture, Genesys Works to expand career pathways and opportunities for youth from underserved communities, Minnesota Technology Association, United Way Tocqueville Society Cabinet, and the University of Minnesota Information and Decision Sciences Advisory Board.

In addition to board service, Teddy is engaged in shaping policy at the state and federal level with particular emphasis on broadband deployment. He is the chair of the FCC-USDA Precision Ag Connectivity Task Force and the chair of the Minnesota Governor’s Broadband Task Force.

Prior to being named CTO, Teddy served as vice president of agriculture technology at Land O’Lakes, where he created, scaled, and doubled the agtech P&L.

Before joining Land O’Lakes, Teddy held several leadership roles at Ingersoll Rand, where he led teams in IT program management at an enterprise level, developed technology strategies for engineering and innovation, and led custom software development.

He has been featured in several radio shows and technology publications, including 60 Minutes, Gartner, BBC, Fortune, Computerworld, MIT Sloan Management Review, Innovate Minnesota, and Minnesota 500. Teddy has also presented at South by Southwest and Google Next on the utilization of technology to optimize farming decisions. In 2016, he was named among PrecisionAg magazine’s Top 10 People in Precision Agriculture, and in 2017 he was selected as a Minnesotan to Meet by WCCO. Teddy is also the recipient of the Twin Cities 2022 Outstanding Directors award for his service to BCBS-MN and the recipient of the 2022 Minnesota CIO ORBIE CIO Leadership award.

Teddy was born in Ethiopia, moved to Italy in 1985, and finally immigrating to the US in 1993. He holds an MBA from Indiana University and a BS in mechanical engineering from North Carolina State University. He has lived on three different continents and speaks fluent Italian and Amharic.