2006 Board of Directors of 1000 Friends of Minnesota
Please read below about the extraordinary people who volunteer their time to serve on our Board of Directors. The contributions they make on our behalf are appreciated immensely. If you would like to contact any of them, please do so through 1000 Friends of Minnesota (see our Contact Us page).
John Crosby, Chairman – Mr. Crosby is retired from Blake School where he served as a teacher, administrator, and Director of the $50 million Centennial Campaign. During his career he has taught courses in English, history, and urban studies in three high schools, worked on inner-city revitalization projects in several U.S. cities including Boston, Los Angeles, Oakland, and Houston, and served as Vice-President of Institutional Advancement at St. John's University in Collegeville, Minnesota for 13 years. He also serves on the boards for The Minnesota Trust for Public Land and The Fund for Teachers.
Gretchen Piper, Vice-Chair – Ms. Piper, of Wayzata, worked as a strategic planning manager for Medtronic, Incorporated before taking time off to raise her children. She previously worked with The Nature Conservancy in North Idaho where she helped to establish their office there. She has a degree in Political Science and German from Williams College in Massachusetts and an MBA in Finance and Marketing from the Carlson School of Management.
Paul Baltzersen, Secretary – Mr. Baltzersen, of Minneapolis, formerly a policy planner for the Metropolitan Council brings more than 20 years of experience in comprehensive land-use and transportation planning to the board. He also has considerable experience in the design of neighborhoods and communities and serves as treasurer on the board of the Minnesota Design Team.
Tom Casey – Mr. Casey, of Mound, is a land use attorney in private practice, representing individuals and citizen groups in their efforts to effectuate good land use decisions in their communities. He has more than 23 years of experience and serves on numerous regional and local land-use commissions. His work with communities grappling with growth-related decisions keeps the board in touch with current activities throughout the region.
Jean Coleman– Ms. Coleman, of Minneapolis, is a Principal and Owner of CR Planning. She is a land use planner and attorney with extensive experience in growth management, resource and farmland preservation, and real estate development. She also served as the Midwest Office Director of American Farmland Trust, and Project Manager for The Trust for Public Land. She has a strong background in preparing comprehensive plans and zoning ordinances, group facilitation and conflict resolution.
John James – Mr. James, of Little Canada, is a tax specialist, lawyer and CPA with Lommen, Nelson, Cole & Stageberg, P.A. He is a former Minnesota State Commissioner of Revenue and has extensive experience in Minnesota tax structure with an emphasis on land use impacts. He is a respected authority on property tax reform and is often called upon for advice in this on-going effort. He is a cum laude graduate of Harvard Law School and received a BBA with the highest distinction from the University of Iowa. Click here to learn more about the Property Tax Report
George Orning – Mr. Orning, of Brainerd, is a well known and respected land use planner with Widseth, Smith and Nolting. He also has a faculty appointment in the Center for Urban and Regional Affairs at the University of Minnesota where he is forming a sustainable development lake planning process for the state.
E. Christine Schultze – Ms. Schultze, of Rochester, is an architect in private practice with an AB in Architecture from Princeton University and a Masters from the University of California. She serves on the Rochester Planning and Zoning Commission, the Committee on Urban Design and Environment and the Design Review Committee for MnDOT work on Highways 52 and 14.
Staff of 1000 Friends of Minnesota
Lisa Bigaouette , Associate Director
As Associate Director, Lisa is involved with all fundraising, organizational development, and management aspects of the organization. She also directs the Growing by Design program. 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 two (almost 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!
Jeff Heegaard, Executive Director
Jeff recently completed his first year of service to the organization, serves as our Executive Director and leads the Envision Minnesota effort. Jeff grew up in Alexandria and is a dedicated duck hunter and a not-so-committed fisherperson, but he tries hard and loves being out in the sloughs and lakes of western Minnesota. Aside from his love for the country life he brings an interesting blend of business and community experience. He has been a successful entrepreneur and business leader and enjoys lending his creative spirit and passion to the organization. His most recent position, prior to joining 1000 Friends, was as President of Juliana America, a garden supply company specializing in greenhouse kits for home gardeners. He also was a founding partner with HomeStyles Publishing of St. Paul.
Jeff is also deeply committed to a number of community organizations and projects dedicated to improving Minnesota. He currently serves on the boards of non-profits Minnesota International Center, Great River Greening and is on the Executive Committee of Youth Frontiers. Jeff and his wife Lucy live in Afton. They have three children, two golden retrievers, one guinea pig, one hamster, and about twenty fish.
Philip Hunsicker, Program Director: Lakes Region
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, GIS Specialist
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, GIS Specialist
Liz Boyer joined the 1000 Friends staff in November 2005 as a GIS specialist. Liz provides GIS and other technical assistance to communities statewide through our Growing By Design program. Liz comes to 1000 Friends from Carver County Planning where she worked in 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, 1-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 playing patty-cake, singing “I’m a Little Teapot,” and picking crushed Cheerios out of her living room rug.
Mandy Senechal , Administrative Coordinator
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.