Leah Cooper has been passionately devoted to the performing arts for over 30 years. She is currently Co-Artistic Director of Wonderlust Productions, a community-story-driven arts ensemble. She is also a freelance stage director, and a consultant in arts leadership and community engagement. Leah was the first Executive Director of the Minnesota Theater Alliance, serving all 450 theaters in the state, from 2010 to 2016; Co-Founder and Partner at MinnesotaPlaylist.com, the state’s performing arts trade journal, from 2008-2017; and the Executive Director of the Minnesota Fringe Festival from 2001-2006. Prior to her full time transition to work in the performing arts in 2001, Leah worked by day in the corporate sector as a software engineer and business consultant for ten years. She lives, gardens and bicycles in Minneapolis and works in St. Paul. See More: Wonderlust Productions

Bethany Lacktorin is a performance artist, organizer, media producer and musician. Currently based in rural Minnesota, she is Board Chair/Director of Little Theatre Auditorium in New London, serves on the board of the New London Arts & Culture Alliance, heads up the NL Human Rights Commission and is graphic designer for local newspaper, Lakes Area Review. Bethany studied violin at Lawrence University, received her AAS in Music Production at McNally Smith College of Music and her BAFA in Experimental Media at Prague College School of Art & Design. See more: Bethany Lacktorin, Little Theatre Auditorium, New London Arts & Culture Alliance, NL Human Rights Commission

Nancy XiáoRong Valentine Stewart (preferred is: Nancy X. Valentine) is a Chinese American artist living and making a life in rural Otter Tail County, Minnesota. Conceived as the second child of a family residing in Lanzhou, Gansu during the era of China’s ‘One Child Policy,’ Valentine views her artistry as a channel to deepen her cultural connections to and between her Chinese heritage and Midwestern roots. Valentine’s artwork is created using Chinese ink and water mediums activated site-specific sourced water. In addition to her artistry, she serves as the Executive Director of Kaddatz Galleries, a nonprofit art gallery located in downtown Fergus Falls, MN. Valentine believes that artistry and advocacy work in tandem and lives out this value by being present and active in the Otter Tail County, MN creative community. In 2020, Valentine was named a Blandin Community Leadership Institute Cohort Member, an LRAC 2021 Cohort Artist and Career Development Grant recipient, and a 2021 Springboard for the Arts Artists Respond: Equitable Rural Futures Artist. She was awarded a Creative Support for Individuals grant from the Minnesota State Arts Board(MSAB) for FY 2022 and 2023, an FY 2023 Legacy Individual Arts grant from LRAC, named a 2022-2024 Springboard for the Arts Rural Regenerator Fellow, and, most recently, awarded a FY 2024 Creative Individuals grant from MSAB.

Joanna Schnedler is the Chief Financial Officer of WomenVenture, a CDFI that provides access to capital, business consulting, training, and mentorship to small business owners and entrepreneurs. In recent years, Joanna held the role of CFO for ELEA HEALY, a home renovation firm, and was Executive Director for two statewide arts service organizations: the Minnesota Music Coalition (2020-2022) and the Minnesota Theater Alliance (2016-2020). She currently serves on the Board of Directors for the Moving Company theatre. Her 25 years in arts and nonprofit management include roles at organizations such as Theatre de la Jeune Lune, The Fitzgerald Theater, Rebuild Resources, Utah Festival Opera, Episcopal Community Services, and Theatre L'Homme Dieu. 

Anne O’Keefe-Jackson is an enrolled member of the Lower Sioux Community. She received her undergraduate degree in Marketing and American Indian Studies from Augsburg College and her Masters’ in Business and Leadership from Augsburg University. Anne is currently a member of the MNHS Historical Resources Advisory Committee, she also serves on the Memory Keepers Advisory Council for the University of Minnesota Medical School Duluth. Anne is an artist and advocate of the arts and is currently working on creating a business to support and promote native artists.

Whitney Kimball Coe is Vice President of National Programs at the Center for Rural Strategies. In that role, she serves as a senior advisor to the Rural Assembly, a nationwide coalition of people and organizations across the country dedicated to building more opportunity and better policy for rural communities. As an organizer, speaker, moderator, and writer, Whitney has shared her perspectives on community and civic courage with audiences around the world. She has been featured on stage at the Aspen Ideas Festival and the inaugural Obama Foundation Summit, and as a guest on the radio program On Being with Krista Tippett. She authored a weekly column for her local newspaper, the Daily Post-Athenian, and hosted the biweekly podcast series Everywhere Radio. Whitney is currently pursuing her Master of Divinity degree at Yale Divinity School in New Haven, Connecticut.

Benya Kraus serves as the Director of Network Advancement at Resource Rural, a national nonprofit that invests in capacity-building for rural organizations that help local communities secure federal grants and other catalytic investments. Previously, Benya co-founded Lead For America where she launched and grew the American Connection Corps program, a national service program that has supported over 400 leaders in returning to and serving their hometowns in rural and small cities. Having returned to her own family’s rural hometown of Waseca, Minnesota, Benya is passionate about not only talent development in rural and overlooked communities, but also capital development and local reinvestment strategies. Benya has an MBA with concentrations in Finance and Entrepreneurship from the University of Chicago Booth School of Business, where she attended as a Neubauer Civic Scholar and was selected as a 2023-24 Obama Foundation Scholar. She graduated Phi Beta Kappa from Tufts University with a B.A. in International Relations.

Cheryal Hills joined Region Five Development Commission (R5DC) in 2006 and has a 25+ year national reputation as an action-oriented convener with experience in securing resources through authentic relationships that have spurred equitable economic ecosystems and honor environmental stewardship commitments in rural Central Minnesota communities. R5DC is a Nationally respected Economic Development District, designated by the US Dept. Of Commerce EDA.

Cheryal currently professionally provides oversight of seven lending programs and community development planning in areas of transportation, workforce development, climate & broadband and delivers projects related to renewable energy, food value chains and arts/culture. She is a national speaker, honored to have presented at the White House twice in her career. In May 2022, Cheryal presented to the US House Select Committee on Economic Disparity and Fairness in Growth. In August 2022, she was appointed to serve as a member of the USDA Equity Commission (EC) Rural Community Economic Development (RCED).

She and colleagues started a rural regional Welcoming Communities program in 2018, when she became a Qualified Administrator of the Intercultural Development Inventory (IDI) assessments to improve regional cultural competency. Cheryal’s organization “R5DC” is nationally recognized – one of six Hub experts on delivery of the WealthWorks evaluation model. Under Cheryal’s leadership, in 2023 R5DC executed a cooperative agreement with USDA AMS to lead on of 12 Regional Food Business Center, with 35 diverse partner organizations serving MN, North & South Dakotas.

Allie Cole grew up in Seattle, WA with her dad and brother. She went to NDSU to be closer to her mom and met her husband in Fargo. She is a physical therapist in Granite Falls and Montevideo and she specializes in Pelvic Health and Dry Needling. She enjoys everything outdoors and spending time with her 8-month old daughter, Laramie. What she loves most is being active in her community, connecting people with similar interests, if it’ll be mutually beneficial to know each other, and being social!