Our Leadership Team

Her career after college began as a home-bound infant special education teacher in St. Paul, MN.  She taught special education at Mounds View High School in the Mounds View School District located in northern suburbs of St Paul/Minneapolis.

In the 1980’s she was employed as education committee staff in the Minnesota Senate and later as the Director of the MN Legislative Commission on Public Education. She is a past director of the Laurentian Environmental Learning Center – owned and operated by the Mounds View Public Schools.

She retired in 2017 as Safari Club International Foundation (SCIF) Director of Education and Humanitarian Services where her responsibilities included operations of the American Wilderness Leadership School in Jackson, Wyoming, the International Wildlife Museum in Tucson, AZ and all other SCIF education and humanitarian programs.

Sue’s activism includes five years’ professional experience in government relations with the MN Rural Electric Association.  She served a total of 10 years on the Mounds View, MN City Council with 2 years as Mayor.

In 2020, she joined the Minnesota Families and Advocates Coalition (MNFAC) as a steering committee member.  She is a co-founder of A-Team Minnesota, Inc.

With decades of work, education and personal related experience and continuing studies Sue supports a full array of service options for people with intellectual or developmental delays.  She believes there is a spectrum of identifiable disability characteristics within I/DD diagnoses. 

When well-informed person-centered planning assists in determining appropriate services, which is like an IEP in education, the availability of a full array of options is necessary from which to choose.  She advocates for existing programs and businesses providing measurable and valuable services to people with I/DD. 

She advocates for research and development of new programs and businesses (a form of rethinking) that provide opportunity to add value to a full array of options from which to choose. 

She encourages parents and their family members to advocate on behalf of their loved one with I/DD.

Sue advocates for A-Team My Choice.

Jim also got involved with a local DT&H and Employment Services provider, Midwest Special Services, through his work at 3M.  Jim served on their board for over 12 years and was Board Chair for three years.

In 2016, Jim and another parent advocate, Julie St Marie, initiated the disability advocacy organization, Minnesota Families and Advocates Coalition (MNFAC).

MNFAC continues to educate parents and family members about the critical issues concerning the funding and services that are or should be in place for people with Intellectual and/or Developmental Disabilities (I/DD). 

MNFAC members, including Jim, have also spent quite a bit of time testifying or otherwise lobbying the Minnesota State Legislature to make statute changes to improve services and support for people with I/DD.

In 2021, Jim and other members of MNFAC decided to initiate an A-Team chapter or chapters in Minnesota to further advance advocacy for people with I/DD.  MNFAC and A-Team Minnesota will continue to work together in the foreseeable future. 

There are many big challenges at both the state and federal levels and the combined efforts of MNFAC and A-Team Minnesota will help to defend the entitlements that are currently in place and fight for those that are needed in the future.

Contact Jim at (651) 235-5779.

As a trusted attorney and on-call business partner, Susan serves as general counsel and strategic business advisor to her clients.

She excels in finding creative solutions to sticky issues and, if the situation requires talent that is not in her skill set, Susan works with a trusted network of professionals that she has carefully curated over the years.

Her career has focused on “doing well by doing good” and one of her guiding principles is that “a bit of world-bettering is always encouraged.” She thrives on working with businesses that are making a buck and a positive impact.

Before starting her own law firm, Susan’s work ranged from general practice with small law firms to large-scale litigation with the largest Minnesota law firm, and she served as in-house counsel to banking and telecommunications companies.

She currently holds leadership roles in the American Bar Association’s Section of International Law, currently as Deputy to the Chair and Co-Chair of the Food, Ag & Cannabis Committee. Susan is also a board member of the Minnesota Organic Advisory Task Force.

A Minnesota native, Susan earned her J.D. from Hamline University School of Law (now Mitchell-Hamline) and her B.A. from the College of St. Benedict.  She holds an LL.M. in Food and Agriculture Law from the University of Arkansas.

Susan loves interacting with engaged clients and audiences.

For the last 23 years, he has been the Executive Director of Merrick, Inc., a day program in Vadnais Heights providing life enrichment services and supporting centered-based, crew, and direct-hire work for 375 adults with I/DD. 

He has served on too many DHS disability workgroups to count and is a respected thought leader having posted more than 40 editorials on disability issues.

In 2021, Jim and other members of MNFAC decided to initiate an A-Team chapter or chapters in Minnesota to further advance advocacy for people with I/DD.  MNFAC and A-Team Minnesota will continue to work together in the foreseeable future. 

There are many big challenges at both the state and federal levels and the combined efforts of MNFAC and A-Team Minnesota will help to defend the entitlements that are currently in place and fight for those that are needed in the future.

Kathryn began her career in Governor Perpich’s Office, then worked for Governor Mark Dayton, then Commissioner Dayton, in the Department of Employment and Economic Development. 

Kathryn is retired and lives in White Bear Lake, MN.

Education

• Northwestern University – BA
• Mitchell Hamline School of Law – JD