Board of Directors

Ryan Hedlund

Chief Executive Officer / Executive Director

Ryan Hedlund joined FIRST in 2006 as a member of The Things, an FLL team from Nowthen Minnesota. His team did quite well during their time in FLL, they competed in the Minneapolis Open in 2006 and the European Open in Turkey in 2009. After competing in FLL, Ryan joined an FRC team in Elk River, MN.

Ryan started volunteering with FIRST in 2008, with the “Just for Fun” tournament for local teams. His passion for FIRST continued and he started to volunteer with FIRST officially when he was old enough. He started out in roles such as FLL Design and Programming Judge, Pit Admin, and moved on from there! Now you can find Ryan in key volunteer positions from running the Vermillion League, League Championship Events, and volunteering with High Tech Kids as a Field Manager or in any other role they need.

After Ryan graduated from high school, he went on to start Northwest Metro Robotics during the 2015-2016 season. He started FTC in the area, giving students a public option to join FIRST compared to being in 4-H.

In 2018, Ryan joined FIRST as one of the two Minnesota FIRST Senior Mentors. He works alongside Laurie Shimizu to spread the program and help FIRST teams in Minnesota. Ryan takes his job seriously, his work impacts at least 500 teams annually.

Ryan is the Director of Programs for Northwest Metro Robotics, he is in charge of the whole program — all 11 teams. Ryan handles backend planning, volunteer management, community engagement, and event organization. He truly emulates the best of the FIRST program!

In his free time, Ryan loves to spend time with his friends. During the summer you're likely to find him at his cabin surrounded by anyone he can invite.

His favorite FIRST memory is when he beat out Fish in the Boat to qualify for the European Open in Istanbul, Turkey. His more recent favorite memory was when the Northwest Metro Robotics team Iron Gears won first place Inspire at the 2019-2020 Minnesota State Championship. Tears were shed by both him and his co-mentor Jess.

Anna Cunzeman

Senior Administrative Assistant

Anna has been with Northwest Metro Robotics since Fall 2021 when her 2 sons joined FLLE and FLLC. That year she coached her first FLLC team. She says "It was SO fun!". That same year NWMR had huge growth so she helped Ryan do a lot of the back end things to support that growth. She enjoyed it so much she decided to keep helping. In her free time Anna enjoys watching Harry Potter and playing catch with her dogs.

Additional Board Members

John Ibeling, Director of FIRST Tech Challenge

Paul Petersen, Director of FIRST Tech Challenge

Steph Petersen, Director of FIRST Tech Challenge

Brent Clark, Director of FIRST LEGO League Challenge

Charlie Bolton, Director of FIRST LEGO League Challenge

Jacki Pratt, Director of FIRST LEGO League Challenge

Sandor Pratt, Director of FIRST LEGO League Challenge

Brittany Lee, Director of FIRST LEGO League Explore

Scott Schmidt, Director of FIRST LEGO League Explore

Amber Hoffman, Director of FIRST LEGO League Explore

Junior Board of Directors

Simon Ibeling, Programs Executive Advisor

Koen Petersen, Programs Executive Advisor