Professional Affiliations

• Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, Clergy

• American Association of Marriage and Family Therapists, Clinical Member

• American Association of Counseling and Development

• American Mental Health Counselors Association

• American Society of Training and Development

• National Speakers Association

• National Wellness Association

• Independent Book Publishers Association

• Midwest Independent Publishers Association

Educational Service

• Recruited 720 Ohio University Students to meet weekly in friendship conversations with psychiatric patients at the Southeast Ohio Psychiatric Institution.

• Volunteered as head high school tennis and cross-country ski coach (6 years).

• Served on the organizing committee and as founding board member for Men as Peacemakers, a Duluth MN association recruiting men to get off the sidelines and actively promote peaceful interaction among students, confront local teen violence and mentor young men, both in school and sports.

• Established a weekly Reading Partner program pairing 345 adult volunteers, one for each student in Duluth’s lowest achieving elementary school, now in its tenth year.

• Planned the fundraising process for the Bernalillo NM Public School District for the development of a fine arts and performance center.

• Established a student mentoring program for Placitas NM Elementary School.

• Instructor at a month-long stone carving symposium, Bangalore, India, 2004.

• Initiated a literacy training program for the Dane County WI jail inmates.

International Service

• Founding member and Chair of the Duluth Sister City Commission (9 years).
  Nurtured relationships with Sister Cities in Vaxjo, Sweden, Thunder Bay, Canada, and Petrozavodsk, Soviet Russia. Initiated and organized an active Sister City with Ohara, Japan that included annual youth exchanges and a teacher exchange, as well as annual official delegations. In 1992 the Duluth Commission received an award from Sister Cities International for its innovative programming—the involvement of 1,000 families, a public sculpture exchange program and a week-long, city-wide 4th of July celebration that included delegates from each Sister City. Published a book that emerged from the connections between Duluth and Petrozavodsk.

• Chair of Rotary Club #25 International Service Committee, and initiated a Rotary District Exchange program between Duluth and Ohara, as well as administering the Club’s student exchange program.

• Personally hosted exchange students from Japan and South Africa, as well as an AFS Teacher from Thailand.

• Assisted with the construction of a Medical Clinic on the Amazon River in Peru. Served as midwife and publisher of the award-winning book on this project, La Doctora.

• Co-sponsored the Bering Bridge Expedition, a peace mission by dog-sled from the Soviet Far East, across the Bering Strait and into Alaska, focused on bringing people together and melting the Ice Curtain where the USA and the USSR are closest neighbors. Edited and published the award-winning book on this effort, Bering Bridge, which included personal letters from US President Bush and USSR President Gorbachev.

• Peace and justice travel to South Africa, Bosnia/Herzegovina, Russia, Viet Nam and Cambodia.

Governing Board Service

• St Louis County Social Service Department, Citizens’ Advisory Board

• Duluth Area Chamber of Commerce, Board of Directors

• Duluth Rotary Club #25, Board of Directors

• US Bank, Regional Advisory Board

• Men as Peacemakers, Board Member

• Miller-Dwan Hospital, Community Education Board

• Duluth Public Arts Commission

• Lutheran Social Services of Minnesota, Board Member

• University of Minnesota, Duluth, Business Advisory Board

• Las Placitas Homeowners Association, President

Church Leadership

• Elder and church Session member, Las Placitas Presbyterian Church

• Originator, Las Placitas Adult Community Education Forum

• Director of fundraising for church facilities renovation and expansion

• Initial planning committee for Casa Rosa, church-sponsored local support and food distribution program

• Organized a post-Katrina relationship-building and church rebuilding-effort with an inner-city New Orleans Parrish.

Professional Leadership and Service

• Board of Trustees, National Wellness Association/Conference

• Program Leader, North American Wellness Leaders Conference, Lake Louise, Alberta, Canada

• Founding Board Member, Midwest Independent Publishers Association

• Organizing Board Chair, Ministry Mentors, a national clergy support program.

• From 1995-1999 served on the Board of Directors for The Independent Publishers Association (a national book publishing trade association with 3,800 member publishers). In 2001-2005 returned to serve the association as its Board President.

• Currently serving on the Board for Wheat Ridge Ministries, a foundation dedicated to seeding new ministries of hope and healing within faith communities nationwide.

• After delivering the keynote address at the organizing conference, was appointed by Congressman James Oberstar, 8th District MN, as a Minnesota delegate to the White House Conference on Small Business.