The short version (it isn't)
About Sam Usem
Current work
A few different ways of working on systems that matter.
My work moves between large institutions, local governance, rural experimentation, and building something tangible on the shore of Lake Superior. It is less tidy than a job title, which is probably the point.
Mayo Clinic
Guiding architecture for digital experiences, knowledge and asset management, and content authoring and delivery across a global healthcare organization.
Professional résumé →North Shore Health + Vital North Foundation
Serving as an elected hospital district trustee and as board president of a foundation incubating community-health initiatives across Cook County.
Trustee work →The Rural Lab
Creating a place for rural builders, dreamers, and systems-changers to test ideas, share what works, and learn in public.
Explore the Rural Lab →Sisu + Löyly
Supporting the development of a Nordic bathhouse into a larger thermaculture destination rooted in Lake Superior and the community around it.
Visit Sisu + Löyly →Elsewhere
Interviews, profiles, and conversations.
How Mayo Clinic applies empathy to digital transformation
A conversation about patient-first technology, remote care, and bridging institutional teams.
Read →Boreal Community Media · ProfileMeet Your Cook County Neighbor: Sam Usem
On finding a home in Cook County, rural healthcare, public service, and life near Lake Superior.
Read →WTIP Community Radio · AudioOn the Silver Bay clinic closure
A radio conversation about access to care and the consequences of healthcare decisions in rural communities.
Listen →- My roots
I was born in Red Wing, Minnesota—the only Jewish family in a small Midwest town. My family owned a furniture store with our name on it. My father worked there until he went back to school and became a teacher. My mother was an RN and later moved into social work. Their paths taught me two things early: it's never too late to learn, and showing up for people is its own kind of calling.
We moved to St. Paul when I was in fourth grade. Years later, I attended the Minnesota School of Environmental Studies at the Minnesota Zoo. That's where I took my first trip into the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness. I went on to guide BWCA trips for five years. The north woods became part of how I understand myself and the world.
- The wider world
In high school I spent a semester in Jerusalem—2003, the height of the Second Intifada and the start of the Iraq War. We carried gas masks everywhere. I sat at coffee shops with friends, and days later those same places were gone. It was the first time I understood what it means to live inside history rather than read about it.
After high school, I went back—studying at Hebrew University, volunteering as an EMT, and later returning to study politics and security at IDC Herzliya. I traveled through Israel, Gaza, and the West Bank. What I saw began to unravel something philosophically that I'm still working through.
- The road north
Before continuing my studies I Googled "cool north shore jobs" and found myself at Seagull Outfitters at the end of the Gunflint Trail, driving tow boats into the wilderness. It felt like a place I'd always known I'd return to.
At the University of Minnesota I graduated with a degree in Global Studies focused on population, identity, and migration. That work took me to Honduras, then Haiti—where I spent the better part of a year on the ground after the 2010 earthquake. Back in Minnesota I met my wife Katie, whose nonprofit was working in the same world. We've been building things together ever since.
My career moved through the outdoor industry, digital innovation, and enterprise-scale systems—Midwest Mountaineering, Quality Bicycle Products, Blue Earth Interactive, 3M, and U.S. Bank, where I served as VP in Enterprise Analytics and AI.
- Home
Then COVID hit. Life was disrupted. We were already working remotely, spending time on Minnesota's North Shore. Katie had a vision for a Nordic bathhouse on Lake Superior. So why the hell not. In 2021 we moved our young family to Grand Marais. I worked from there through Sezzle, McDonald's, and eventually Mayo Clinic as a Senior Enterprise Architect. The North Shore wasn't a retreat from my career. It was where my career kept going.
Of everything I've done, being Katie's partner in building Sisu + Löyly is what I'm most proud of. We lived on the property for two years while building it out. When we realized this was home, we bought a place on Devil Track Lake just outside of town. Katie is one of the most visionary entrepreneurs I know—and the business is now expanding into a full thermaculture destination on Lake Superior.
- Community
In 2024 I ran for the North Shore Health board on a platform of transparency and civic resilience, and won. North Shore Health is Cook County's public hospital district—a Critical Access Hospital with taxing authority, governed by a board elected directly by the community it serves. I also serve as Board President of Vital North Foundation, where we incubate community health initiatives across Cook County.
I believe in plain language, lived experience, and the occasional cartoon. I believe the strongest communities don't just endure—they adapt. And I believe in showing up, telling the truth, and making space for others to do the same.