Board of Directors

JENNA LAWRENCE

An environmental biologist and biodiversity specialist focusing on sustainability issues, Jenna is a lecturer at the Columbia University Climate School. She is also on the faculty of the Department of Environmental Science at Barnard College, and an educator at the American Museum of Natural History.

TODD LEFKO

A founder of Global Volunteers (for which he served as treasurer and representative at the United Nations), Todd is a journalist, educator and entrepreneur with deep connections in Russia. He has also been a member of the Twin Cities Metropolitan Council, the Regional Transit Board and the Minnesota Experimental City Authority.

AHMED YUSUF

A Somali-born playwright/musician and high school charter school educator, Ahmed is the author of books including “Somalis In Minnesota,” and articles on mental health. He holds a Master of Public Affairs degree from Humphrey Institute of Public Affairs.

PAT FREDERICK

A folk instrumentalist (specializing in string instruments including fiddle/violin and mandolin), Pat is a singer and music producer, and a founding member of Minnesota’s celebrated Daisy Dillman Band. His latest projects are the folk-fusion band Low Company and Southbound, a deep-dive into southern rock Americana.

CEM YURTTAS

A global sales trainer and strategist with 3M for several years, Cem is currently a senior sales enablement consultant at Andersen Corporation. He is originally from Ankara Turkey.

JIM BRENNER

Based in Ft. Lauderdale, Jim is a banking and international investment executive with a passion for sustainable, grass-roots development. He started the privately held Ghana Home Loans Ltd (with Ghanaian partners) to finance middle-class home development, and was for years a director of the GSE-listed CAL Bank in Ghana. Ecohomes Liberia, which he founded, is a one-of-a-kind green-rated cooperative home development outside the Liberian capital of Monrovia.

MICHAEL KATZ

Michael Katz is a founding board member and former president of Full Circle Theater Company. He is a construction attorney in private practice in Minneapolis specializing in representing architects, engineers, contractors and owners.

ALETA STATON (in memoriam)

Aleta was a founding board member of the Cultural Fluency Initiative. A beloved arts and culture community organizer in her native New Haven, she was, at the time of her death in July 2024, a theater lecturer on Theater Management at the David Geffen School of Drama at Yale University. We miss you dearly, Aleta!

Founder

BECK LEE

A veteran marketer and content creator for arts organizations in New York, Europe and West Africa, Beck — who is also a playwright — arrived in the Twin Cities in 2018. He currently handles media relations and tour promotion for the Indigenous-feminist theater company Spiderwoman (based in New York), and marketing for the World Mother Storytelling Project and the New York Irish Center. From 2018 to 2022 Beck was the marketing director of the Twin Cities music venue, Crooners Supper Club.

Advisors

PETER PROVOST

A cultural entrepreneur with expertise in event marketing and promotion, Peter is the former executive director of Eau Claire Regional Arts Council.

DAVID JORDAN HARRIS

Founding executive director of Rimon: The Minnesota Jewish Arts Council (2004-22), David is artistic director of the performance ensemble Voices of Sepharad.

NATALIE NUGENT O’SHEA

With production experience across Minneapolis, New York and London, Natalie toured internationally with Riverdance, and is the founder and executive director Celtic Junction Arts Center in St. Paul.

JULIA CHADAGA

Associate professor of Russian Studies at Macalester College whose courses frequently include projects that connect students with the Russian-speaking communities of the Twin Cities.