Content welcomes Steve Grove for a reading from his new memoir HOW I FOUND MYSELF IN THE MIDWEST. Join us at the Grand Event Center on Wednesday, June 25th, when we'll have music provided by Craig Wasner and Mike Hildebrandt beginning at 6:15 pm. At 7 pm, Steve will read from and discuss his memoir with Benya Kraus, president of the Southern Minnesota Initiative Foundation. Grab a drink and a bite and settle in for a delightful evening!
A passionate testimony to the power of moving forward by going back home, a Midwestern native shares hope in going local.
Just after turning forty, Steve Grove left Silicon Valley as a Google executive to move to his home state of Minnesota with his wife and fellow tech exec, Mary Grove, and their one-year-old twins. Gone from the Midwest for two decades, Grove returned home with fresh eyes. Yearning to put down new roots, he traded his career at Google for a position in state government with Governor Tim Walz. Far from working at a fast-paced tech company, Grove’s shift to leading a large government bureaucracy brought a sequence of struggles and triumphs vividly portrayed with both humor and affection.
But this story of reinvention takes on new urgency when crisis strikes, as the coronavirus pandemic and the tragic murder of George Floyd unfolds just miles from his newfound home, thrusting Grove’s work into an unexpected spotlight. Tasked with distributing billions in aid, rolling out pandemic restrictions, redeveloping neighborhoods, and navigating deep divisions in a state long proud of its exceptionalism, Grove’s journey through crisis brings new insights about himself and his new community. His experiences of the political, geographic, and racial divisions in his home state yield surprising discoveries about what also binds us together.
From making new friends and building a family to reconciling with his past and exploring his faith, Grove’s journey to find purpose by going local provides a roadmap for anyone looking to discover what gives meaning to their life. Along the way, Grove shares insights about a part of the country that many people ignore at their peril, and why he is optimistic about America’s future. How I Found Myself in the Midwest will move and inspire you, no matter where you choose to call home.
Steve Grove is CEO and publisher of the Minnesota Star Tribune. Previously, he was Minnesota’s commissioner of employment and economic development. Before moving back to his home state, Grove built a career in Silicon Valley as an executive at Google and YouTube, most recently as the founding director of the Google News Lab and previously as YouTube’s first head of news and politics. A graduate of Claremont McKenna College with a master’s degree from the Harvard Kennedy School, Grove also worked as a journalist for The Boston Globe, ABC News, and the Northfield News, his hometown newspaper, and has served as an advisor to the White House and State Department on counterterrorism strategy. Steve and his wife Mary are the cofounders of Silicon North Stars, a nonprofit that helps underserved youth find career pathways in technology. They are the proud parents of eight-year- old twins, a yellow lab, and two farm cats. For more information visit, stevegrove.com.
Benya Kraus calls home both Waseca, Minnesota - where her family has farmed for six generations - and Bangkok, Thailand. She serves as the new President and CEO of the Southern Minnesota Initiative Foundation (SMIF), a regional foundation focused on advancing entrepreneurship, early childhood education, and small town vitality across the twenty counties in south central and southeast Minnesota. Previously, Benya served as Network Advancement Director at Resource Rural, a national philanthropic fund with the mission of unlocking public and private capital for rural and tribal communities. Benya began her career as a social entrepreneur, where she co-founded Lead For America, a national nonprofit that supports emerging leaders in returning and reinvesting in their hometowns. She holds an MBA from the University of Chicago Booth School of Business with concentrations in finance and entrepreneurship, and graduated Phi Beta Kappa from Tufts University with a B.A. in international relations.
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