Deena Behnke spent the majority of her career with the Pillsbury Company in Minneapolis, Minnesota, holding both engineering and management positions in Research & Development. She transitioned to business management, where she served as Director of International Business Development for the Far East, as well as Vice President of New Product & Business Development for the Pillsbury Brands.

Following her retirement from Pillsbury, she completed several consulting assignments with the US Department of Agriculture on food industry development in Eastern Europe.

Since relocating to Lake Tahoe, Nevada in 2002, Ms. Behnke has been very active in community arts organizations including UNR, KUNR, the Incline-Tahoe Foundation and the Reno Phil (2013-2019) as a board member. She and her husband Jim live in Incline Village, Nevada. They have two daughters and three grandchildren.