Lisa Bigaouette, Associate Director
lbigaouette@1000fom.org 651.312.1000 Ext. 11

Lisa directs the Growing By Design program and is also involved with the organizational development, and management aspects of the organization. In her third year with 1000 Friends, Lisa brings over twelve years of experience working in Minnesota and nationally on issues of regional planning and growth management. Prior to joining the organization, she worked for Ameregis, a metropolitan affairs consulting firm founded by former state legislator, Myron Orfield. During her seven years there she was the project manager and a primary researcher on numerous “Metropolitics” studies of growth and fiscal disparity in regions throughout the U.S. and, most recently was Ameregis’ Development Director. She contributed to Orfield’s book, American Metropolitics: The New Suburban Reality. Lisa has also worked for the Minnesota Housing Partnership and the Minnesota Coalition for the Homeless. She spent two years in the nation’s hotbed of statewide land-use planning, Oregon, where she earned her M.S. in Public Affairs from the University of Oregon.

In her "free" time, Lisa enjoys knitting, yoga and gardening. She and her husband, Joel, live in the Linden Hills neighborhood of Minneapolis with their three small children and a rambunctious black lab. Together they enjoy exploring the city’s many wonderful parks, trails, and lakes – by bike, ski, foot, and minivan!

Jill Mazullo, Director of Communications and Development
jmazullo@1000fom.org 651.312.1000 Ext 15

Jill brings backgrounds in journalism and urban and regional planning to 1000 Friends of Minnesota. She worked as a newspaper editor and columnist at several Minneapolis newspapers before studying land use planning at the Humphrey Institute of Public Affairs. She has a master’s in urban and regional planning from the Humphrey Institute, where she received the AICP Outstanding Student Planner award in 2001.

Jill coordinates communications for 1000 Friends’ members and other key supporters of the organization and she works with local and national foundations that support 1000 Friends. She edits Planning Minnesota, the monthly newsletter of the Minnesota chapter of the American Planning Association. Her most recent position was as research fellow at the Institute on Race & Poverty (IRP) where she co-authored articles and reports on regional growth topics, wrote project proposals and coordinated media releases of the institute’s reports. Prior to IRP she worked at Ameregis, a regional planning research consulting firm.

Jill lives in St. Paul with her husband and three daughters. When not in St. Paul, she and the family can usually be found on the North Shore or in rural New Hampshire.

Philip Hunsicker, Program Director: Lakes Region
phunsicker@1000fom.org 218.824.5095

Phil works proactively to influence public and policy debates on related issues in the Northern Minnesota Lakes Region. He has a Bachelor of Science in Biology from the University of Miami and a Masters in International Management and Administration from the School for International Training in Brattleboro, Vermont. Philip brings over 20 years of experience in community-based natural resource management to our team When Phil is not working tirelessly on behalf of the northern lakes region of Minnesota, he's relaxing at his home in Baxter where he and his wife, Denise, are stewards of their own little piece of Red Sand Lake.

Sally Wakefield, Geospatial Services Manager
swakefield@1000fom.org 651.312.1000 Ext 13

Sally comes to 1000 Friends after nearly eight years in Minnesota state government as a GIS Specialist and Coordinator. She spent the majority of that time with the Land Management Information Center — a division of the former Minnesota Planning agency, now a division of the Minnesota Department of Administration. Most recently, she worked for the Minnesota Department of Transportation.

Sally has extensive experience in GIS technology, project management, map design and data acquisition. She has been an invaluable addition to the 1000 Friends staff. Her ability to creatively apply mapping technologies in new ways helps citizens better visualize how their communities might achieve balanced growth through thoughtful planning.

Sally lives in South Saint Paul with four kids and a dog. Serves as a director on the bpards of the Minnesota GIS/LIS Consortium and the Scott–Carver–Dakota Community Action Programs (CAP), a metro-based social service agency. She enjoys volunteering for academic competitions such as the High School Science Bowl and state Geography Bee and spending time at her family’s lake home in Wisconsin.

Liz Boyer, Community Development Resources Coordinator
lboyer@1000fom.org 651.312.1000 Ext 12

Liz joined the 1000 Friends staff in November 2005. Liz provides GIS and other technical assistance to communities statewide through our Growing By Design program. Liz comes to 1000 Friends from county government where she worked with community planning, website design and water management issues as well as doing GIS and mapping work. Her experience in planning will complement her technical skills as she works to provide assistance and support to growing communities.

Liz attended Mankato State University, St. Louis University in Madrid, Spain and graduated from Bemidji State University with an M.S. degree in Environmental Studies/Planning. She lives in Saint Paul with her husband, 2-year-old daughter, and two cats. Before her daughter was born, Liz enjoyed traveling near and far, knitting cozy wool socks and taking long romantic walks with her husband. More recently, however, her hobbies mainly include coloring, hosting tea parties for stuffed animals and picking crushed Cheerios out of her living room rug.

Mandy Senechal, Office Manager
msenechal@1000fom.org 651.312.1000 Ext 10

Mandy's is the cheery, helpful voice you hear when you call the 1000 Friends main office. Using her varied talents and skills, she keeps us all organized and moving forward toward the larger goal of creating balanced growth in Minnesota.

Before accepting a spot in the front office in St. Paul, Mandy worked a few miles away at the Izaak Walton League of America as a program coordinator. Her three years there saw her working with agriculture programs focusing on factory farms, fish kills, and manure spills. In addition to her office experience with environmental nonprofits, Mandy has been a crewmember with the Minnesota Conservation Corps and an accountant.

Mandy shares her heart and home with a husband and two cats in West St. Paul. She loves to read, ride bikes with her husband, and care for her container garden on her tiny deck. She’s also learning to knit something larger than a scarf while trying to keep the cats out of the yarn.

Lindsey Dickinson, Development Associate
ldickinson@1000fom.org 651.312.1000

Lindsey joined 1000 Friends of Minnesota as a Development Associate, bringing a background in corporate communications and corporate award programs to a new world (for her) of non-profit fundraising and development. She has a Bachelor of Arts in English and Creative Writing from the University of Wisconsin – Madison and worked in communications at a med-tech company and in higher education before joining 1000 Friends.

Lindsey lives in Minneapolis with her husband and two (over-indulged) cats. Outside of work, she enjoys cycling, hiking, reading and writing.