2025 Presenter Bios - Minnesota Alliance for Volunteer Advancement

Home2025 Presenter Bios

Volunteer Engagement Leadership Conference : Road Trip
Speaker Biographies
June 16-18, 2025

Alisha Weis, PRISM’s Advancement Director, has over nine years of experience in program development, management, volunteer coordination, and fundraising. She earned her MSW from Augsburg University in 2019 and now leads PRISM’s Advancement team. Alisha is the president-elect of the Golden Valley Rotary Club. She lives in Columbia Heights with her husband, baby, and two dogs and enjoys creating functional pottery in her home studio.

Angel Even is the strategist behind Growth Purpose Solutions, offering digital tools that help entrepreneurs, small business owners, and leaders plan, operate, and grow with confidence. Her resources eliminate guesswork by providing structured solutions for strategy, decision-making, and business development. With a focus on simplicity and impact, Angel helps leaders turn ideas into action with the right tools at their fingertips.

Ashley Tepe is the Director of Volunteer Engagement at Girl Scouts River Valleys, where she leads a team that provides volunteer management, training, and appreciation for over 6,000 volunteers. Ashley also serves as the Chair-Elect on the Board of Directors for MAVA. Ashley is passionate about leadership development, volunteer engagement, and community building.

Beth Steinhorn partners with organizations and their leadership to increase impact through strategic and innovative engagement. As a thought leader, Beth regularly participates in the national dialogue about volunteerism and engagement and is co-editor of the book, Transforming Disruption to Impact: Rethinking Volunteer Engagement for a Rapidly Changing World. She provides consulting and training to organizations across the US and Canada.

Bri Quarfoot is the Senior Volunteer Engagement Specialist at Second Harvest Heartland. She partners with staff across the organization to ensure a mutually beneficial volunteer experience, from volunteer project ideation to recruitment to appreciation. Bri is passionate about deepening volunteers’ engagement and understanding of the state of Hunger in Minnesota with the hopes of many becoming life-long hunger advocates.

Brittany Clausen, MSW, LGSW is the Chief Executive Officer and Executive Business Consultant of Envision Greatness, specializing in leadership development and change management. Recognized as a 2024 Top Black Leader You Should Know by Minneapolis-St. Paul Business Journal and a 2022 Notable DEI Executives by Twin Cities Business Magazine, she helps organizations navigate discomfort, foster courageous conversations, and build equitable workplace cultures. She holds a Bachelor’s degree in Psychology and a Master’s in Social Work from St. Catherine University. Brittany creates brave spaces for leaders to challenge assumptions, embrace self-reflection, and drive meaningful transformation. Rhonda Arnold is the Partner and Executive Business Consultant at Envision Greatness, bringing over 25 years of experience in clinical and business operations. As a dynamic healthcare and business leader, Rhonda is known for her collaborative approach, transformative vision, and commitment to driving meaningful change. She excels at strategic planning, change management, and healthcare consulting, fostering relationships across all stakeholder levels to ensure sustainable, high-impact results. With expertise in both healthcare and business leadership, Rhonda is dedicated to helping organizations navigate complex challenges and implement lasting solutions.

Carrie Ann Olson is an Extension Educator with the University of Minnesota Extension, specializing in youth development and volunteer systems. With over 35 years of experience working with staff and volunteers, she is dedicated to empowering them to mentor and guide youth in the non-formal 4-H program. Carrie understands the vital role volunteers play in creating impactful, hands-on learning experiences that help young people develop essential life skills focused on leadership, decision making, and healthy living. She works to ensure that staff and volunteers feel supported, and valued while empowered to deliver programming.

Cheryl Skafte, Public Engagement Coordinator at the University of Minnesota-Duluth, provides administrative and logistical support to students, faculty, staff, and community partners for high-quality public engagement experiences. Cheryl cultivates relationships, rooted in a reciprocal, mutually beneficial approach, with a wide range of external partners (non-profits, schools, advocacy groups, neighborhood associations, industry, and local and state governmental units) to leverage external connections and resources for the advancement of public engagement efforts at UMD. With over a decade of nonprofit work, Skafte has had a variety of professional experiences at the local, state and national level. Community involvement includes Mentor Duluth, Duluth Noon Optimist Club, Twin Ports Pathways, community theater and writing for the Woman Today Magazine.

Elizer Darris is the CEO and founder of the Darris Group, specializing in community-centered solutions. A former nonprofit executive director who has let a mulitimillion dollar NGO for 2.5 years, Elizer shares his journey of overcoming adversity and inspiring through resilience mastery techniques.

Recognition and Achievements include:
• appointed by Governor Tim Walz to the State Board of Public Defense
• Selected by the State Attorney General to serve on the state's first Conviction Review Unit
• 2022 - 40 Under 40 recipient by the Minneapolis / St Paul Business Journal

Faiza Venzent, Executive Director of CCVA, from a young age, Faiza's parents instilled a strong sense of volunteerism in herself and her two older brothers. They, as immigrants to Canada from Uganda in the early 70s made a successful transition into Canadian life with the help of many generous volunteers. A volunteer herself from a very young age, she has been an advocate for volunteer engagement and excellence in volunteer management for 25 years. As a facilitator for the Community Action Poverty Simulation, Faiza is passionate about equity and access amongst volunteers and leaders of volunteers. Faiza immigrated to the United States with her family in 2021.

Faiza immigrated to the United States in 2021 and now serves as the Executive Director with the Council for Certification in Volunteer Administration. She is also a Principal Investigator with the Assessing Diversity and Equity in Volunteer Inclusion project.

Connect with Faiza on LinkedIN or at faizavenzant@gmail.com

Learn more about the Council for Certification in Volunteer Administration at

www.cvacert.org

Jenn Hamrick Vander Woude is a Licensed social worker passionate about people and systems who is driven to create meaningful change in both small and large systems. She has over 15 years of experience leading volunteer programming, developing community-driven initiatives, and guiding organizations through transitions. With 10 years of supervision experience, Jenn has mentored over 100 people, providing guidance in social work, volunteer management, and organizational leadership. She is passionate about building strong communities, and is committed to helping organizations and individuals navigate change with resilience and impact.

Kaci Talbot has over a decade of experience in volunteer coordination for various healthcare organizations in Minnesota. As the content expert for volunteer onboarding and automation/process improvement for M Health Fairview Volunteer Services, she has spent the past three years refining the volunteer onboarding process for a variety of different sized hospital programs. Additionally, Kaci has been part of an automation development team that creates digital colleagues and other tools to significantly enhance the workflow for the Volunteer Services team. She is eager to share the insights gained at M Health Fairview and assist others in evaluating their onboarding processes to find simple improvements and efficiencies to improve the volunteer onboarding experience for others.

Karyn Santl has focused her work on equipping adults to implement quality youth development programs that support young people in developing a passion for learning and providing them opportunities to lead. She works directly with local Educators to build and strengthen volunteer systems within the 4-H programs in northwest Minnesota. Karyn also designs and implements training and resources for 4-H volunteers to support them in their work. Karyn has extensive teaching experience with youth, adult volunteers and Extension professionals at the local, state, and national levels. She enjoys when others see success in themselves.

Kelly Mortvedt is the Volunteer Engagement Manager at Second Harvest Heartland in Minneapolis/St. Paul, Minnesota, partnering with pro bono volunteers on short-term projects utilizing professional expertise and managing a volunteer program support team of 3 coordinators and specialists who empower volunteers to be life-long hunger relief advocates.

Lisa Joyslin is passionate about supporting organizations in advancing equity in volunteerism. She is a seasoned consultant, trainer, and researcher with over 20 years of experience in the volunteer engagement field. As the DEI Manager and then a consultant with the Minnesota Alliance for Volunteer Advancement (MAVA), Lisa authored multiple innovative articles and research reports including “Recognizing Racism in Volunteer Engagement” (2020), “Best Practices: Not Best for Everyone” (2020), Co-Creating Racial Equity in Volunteer Engagement (2021), “Post-Pandemic Volunteerism” (2023), and “From Listening to Action: Insights from BIPOC Volunteer Engagement Leaders” (2024). Her research and consulting are informed by over a decade of direct experience as a volunteer engagement leader at organizations including the American Red Cross, Community Thread, and Chicago Cares. Lisa has a Master of Public Policy degree from the Humphrey School of Public Affairs and lives in St. Paul, Minnesota with her husband and two children.

Luiza Dreasher Dismantling Inequities 2023

Dr. Luiza Dreasher has over 20 years of expertise as the founder and CEO of Mastering Cultural Differences in helping organizations create environments where all employees feel valued, welcomed, and appreciated. Her thought leadership in global inclusion has earned her recognition as a sought-after trainer, speaker, and author. She has shared her expertise with multinational corporations, government agencies, educational institutions, and numerous nonprofit organizations. Dr. Dreasher’s expertise has been featured on major media platforms, including ABC, NBC, Fox, iHeart Radio, and Google Podcasts. Recognized for her thought leadership in employee relations and workplace culture, she was invited to join LinkedIn’s prestigious Top Voices Program—an exclusive network of industry experts driving meaningful conversations in their fields.

MAVA's Professional Development Committee fosters knowledge, resources, and connections for MAVA members and volunteer engagement leaders nationwide through creating and facilitating MAVA-sponsored educational workshops and networking events. Committee members are volunteer engagement professionals from a variety of sectors who share their experience and expertise to advance the profession and strenghten support for their peers.

Mary Uran brings more than 15 years of strategic planning, nonprofit leadership, governance and entrepreneurship to Compass Pro Bono as its inaugural Managing Director in the Twin Cities. Most recently, Mary spent ten years with Girls on the Run Minnesota as Co-Founder and Executive Director, growing the organization from a small start-up to a robust statewide nonprofit. Mary launched her career in public health and public policy with the National Association of Attorneys General and the Network for Public Health Law. She received her BA in Political Science & Communication from the College of Saint Benedict and her Masters in Public Health from the University of Minnesota. She currently serves as Board Chair for the Brave Like Gabe Foundation and the National CMV Foundation. Mary lives in Saint Paul, Minnesota with her husband and 3 kids.

Niila Hebert is the Executive Director of the Minnesota Alliance for Volunteer Advancement and an established leader in community engagement, fundraising, program development, and volunteerism. As a long-time MAVA member, board member, and volunteer, she is passionate about the impact volunteers and the professionals who work with them can have on their communities.

Highly skilled in creating partnerships, Niila catalyzes transformative change through collaborative engagement. She is a DEI trainer and inclusion champion, bringing her core values of equity, access, and justice to her advocacy for Black and LGBTQ+ communities. In addition, she is a Certified Volunteer Administrator (CVA) and a Certified Professional Project Manager (CCPM)

Remy Reya is Deputy Chief of Staff at Compass Pro Bono, where he works with the CEO to drive progress on organization-wide strategic initiatives aimed at increasing efficiency and deepening impact. Day to day, he leads the national team and oversees the organization’s internship program. Before joining Compass Pro Bono, Remy spent much of the last decade working with nonprofits and studying poverty, both domestically and internationally; conversations with people experiencing homelessness drove him to use research, journalism, and public speaking to elevate those voices to the level of policy discussions. In addition to his own advocacy, he ghostwrites and consults for other homelessness advocates to help them connect with broader audiences. He received his BA from the Princeton University School of Public and International Affairs. Outside of work, he’s an occasional drummer for an indie rock band and proud father to a twelve-year-old miniature schnauzer.

Rhonda Arnold, MPNA, BSN, RN, PHN is the Chief Operations Officer and Executive Business Consultant at Envision Greatness, bringing over 25 years of leadership experience across clinical operations, healthcare systems, and business development. A results-driven and people-centered strategist, Rhonda is known for her collaborative approach, transformative vision, and deep commitment to driving meaningful, equity-centered change.

Throughout her career, Rhonda has excelled in strategic planning, change management, and cross-sector consulting, guiding organizations through complex challenges and positioning them for long-term success. Her work is grounded in inclusive leadership, systems thinking, and operational excellence—helping teams build strong relationships, foster trust, and implement sustainable solutions.

At Envision Greatness, Rhonda supports clients by strengthening team dynamics, optimizing business operations, and building leadership capacity. Her ability to foster relationships at every level—from frontline staff to executive leadership—has made her a trusted partner in navigating organizational growth, culture change, and community impact. She also serves on the Board of Directors for Neighborhood House and Teddy's Heart Foundation.

Rhonda’s leadership is defined by integrity, adaptability, and a fierce dedication to empowering people and systems to thrive.

Rich Dietz began his nonprofit career as the director of a mentoring organization in college and went on to get a Master's in Social Work (MSW). He has spent the last 25+ years working in and with a wide variety of nonprofit, political, and government organizations, as well as technology companies focused on the nonprofit sector. It is this unique background and experience – working directly in nonprofit organizations AND working on the technology side – that allows him to better understand and assist nonprofit organizations with their technology needs. Rich holds a Master's in Social Work (MSW) from the University of California—Berkeley and a B.A. in Political Science from UCLA.

Teresa Oswald, CNP, is a nonprofit professional and researcher with a Master’s in Nonprofit Leadership and Management from Arizona State University. She is part of ASU’s research team investigating volunteer management practices, where her work includes survey design, focus group facilitation, developing equity tools, and contributing to research publications.Teresa began her nonprofit career leading volunteers and overseeing fundraising initiatives for A Love for Missions Abroad (ALMA), where her contributions helped advance the organization’s mission and deepen its community impact. Drawing from both field and research experience, she remains committed to promoting fairness, belonging, and opportunity — and strives to see those values reflected in the outcomes of every initiative she supports.

Zoey Leege has worked as the Community Engagement Coordinator for Head of the Lakes United Way for 2 1/2 years. A big part of this role involves managing a local Volunteer Center to promote the volunteer needs of local non-profits. Prior to this, Zoey has worked primarily in vocational counseling and disability advocacy and has a master's degree in Vocational Rehabilitation Counseling. In her current role, Zoey enjoys promoting and experiencing volunteer opportunities and working to increase volunteerism on a community wide basis.

Main Conference Page

Session Descriptions