EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR

Pondie has been an educator for 15 years; for the past three years, she created and taught a social justice class for 6th-through-8th-graders at a charter school in St. Paul, Minnesota. She also serves on several theater boards and said she is eager to begin work on a project “that combines my passions for education, history and the arts.” Plus, she noted that she gets to work with some of the coolest people out there – teachers! – empowering you with resources to teach empathy and inclusion while connecting the past to today’s struggles.

FOUNDER & FORMER PRESIDENT 

Gail is founder of non-profit MPGL Entertainment (Man Plans, God Laughs), now Courage Coalition, which produces animated films and teaching lessons to nurture a generation of informed, empathetic and engaged young adults. Gail is a producer, journalist, author, public speaker and mentor. She is a storyteller at heart, which drew her to Jerry Spinelli’s Holocaust-era “Milkweed.” Gail is also co-producer and writer of “Enough Already!” a 30-minute animated musical DVD based on a beloved Yiddish folktale. “Enough Already!” was named one of the Best Ten Videos of the Year by Child Magazine.

CURRICULUM SPECIALIST

Ellen is founder and executive director of St. Paul-based World Without Genocide, which provides education about past and current conflicts and advocates locally and nationally for policies and legislation that promote peace and justice.

CURRICULUM SPECIALIST

KK has a master’s degree in teaching from the Harvard Graduate School of Education. She has worked in education for 20 years, teaching essential skills that students need to be responsible and engaged citizens locally and globally.

CHAIR

Felicity brings to our board years of nonprofit work, most recently as executive director of Linden Hills Power & Light where she managed the day-to-day implementation of grants, schedules and books guest speakers, and liaised with teachers, a skill set which will be essential to development and distribution of our middle school teaching curriculum to accompany “Milkweed” the film. Felicity has a marketing degree and years of marketing and community experience. She served for three years on the Linden Hills Neighborhood Council as Chair of the Outreach Committee. She also served as Vice President of the local non-profit People for Parks. Felicity has experience overseeing grants such as $40,000 from the Department of Commerce, $30,000 from the MN Pollution Control Agency and several $10,000 grants from Hennepin County.

TREASURER

Jeff brings decades of financial expertise to our board. He most recently served as vice president of dental plans for HealthPartners. Before that, Jeff was Chief Administrative Officer at the University of Minnesota. Jeff earned his Bachelor of Science degree in economics from Stanford University and his MBA from Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management

DIRECTOR

Ben Weisner was born in a small town in Romania, where he and his family lived just a block away from the home of Nobel Peace Prize winner Elie Wiesel. With his parents, both Holocaust survivors, Ben emigrated to the United States in the early '60s and joined a community of refugees from Central and Eastern Europe in Cleveland, Ohio.

In his professional life, Ben has worked in the K-12 educational technology field for over twenty years—first for Read Naturally, developers of an innovative reading intervention program, and currently for Infinite Campus, providers of student information systems nationwide.

SECRETARY