Board of Directors

Mike Tegeder is pastor of two Minneapolis parishes,  the Church of St. Frances Cabrini and the Church of  Gichitwaa Kateri, an American Indian parish.  He has served at urban and rural parishes for the last 35 years. A lifelong Minnesotan, Mike has grown up with a passion for the outdoors. Encountering Sig Olson's books in high school at the Minneapolis Public Library led to a love for the BWCA. For many years he has shared this love with the youth of his parishes on annual canoe trips. Mike has previously served on the Board of Parks & Trails and has been a long time member. He also serves with  other civic organizations. Mike has a special appreciation for the Parks & Trails Council and its very dedicated members. 

Maureen Reed grew up in Redwood Falls, Minnesota, and graduated from the University of Minnesota Medical School. She practiced internal medicine in the Twin Cities for more than two decades. After serving as President of Aspen Medical Group, she became Medical Director and Vice President of HealthPartners. Dr. Reed was a member of the University of Minnesota Board of Regents for eight years and chaired the Board from 2001-2003. In 2008 she served as the interim Executive Director of the Parks & Trails Council. She is now the Executive Director of the Nobel Peace Prize Forum. She and her husband Dr. Jim Hart live in Grant, Minnesota, just west of Stillwater. They are avid hikers and enthusiastic users of the nearby Gateway Trail and the not-so-nearby Superior Hiking Trail.

Bob Erickson is a retired senior vice president for Starkey Laboratories, Inc. Prior to that position, he was a part owner of Opitz Outlet in St. Louis Park and senior vice president for Finance and Operation at the University of Minnesota. Currently on the board of directors of Haug Foods, Erickson also has been involved in a number of other boards and charities over the years, including the Eden Prairie Chamber of Commerce, the Bloomington Port Authority, the Citizens League, the Bloomington School District, the Carlson School at the University of Minnesota, the Harriet Tubman Center and more. In 1996, he was appointed by the governor to the Board of Trustees of Minnesota State Colleges & Universities, which he supported by developing a fundraising bike ride around the state of Minnesota in 2002. With his wife Nancy, and grown children, Jay & Chad, Erickson enjoys travel, music and biking.

Tim Eschweiler grew up in New Hampton, Iowa, and currently lives in St. Paul with his wife, Emily. He received a degree in public administration from the University of Northern Iowa in 1991, and a juris doctor from William Mitchell College of Law in 2003. Tim is an attorney with Fredrikson & Byron where he practices commercial real estate law.

In his free time, Tim enjoys playing golf, running and biking. Tim met Emily in Duluth and together they enjoy hiking with their dog Molly at Gooseberry Falls State Park and other trails along the North Shore.

Kathy Bonnifield has worked extensively in the non-profit world. Early in her career she was a Peace Corps Volunteer in Sri Lanka and Nepal. Upon returning to the States, she joined the Center for Victims of Torture (CVT), where she worked as the Manager of Individual and Institutional Philanthropy and later volunteered for CVT in Turkey as a Communication and Logistics Specialist as part of its New Tactics in Human Rights Symposium. Kathy then worked as a program administrator for The McKnight Foundation. She is currently the executive director for Citizens for Election Integrity Minnesota. Kathy received a B.A. in geology from Gustavus Adolphus College and a MBA from the University of St. Thomas. Kathy and her husband, Adam, enjoy walking and biking on Minnesota’s trails.

Andrew Brantingham is an attorney at Dorsey & Whitney LLP. He is a 2003 graduate of Macalester College where he received a B.A. in philosophy and English, and a 2009 graduate of Columbia Law School. He was born and raised in Minnesota and has spent a great deal of time in our state parks, particularly those on the North Shore as well as the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness. Andrew is an avid cyclist, sailer, camper, and skier. His favorite state parks are Tettegouche, Split Rock Lighthouse, and Temperance River.

Julie Gugin is executive director of the non-profit, Minnesota Home Ownership Center. Prior to that, Julie was associate director of Wilder Foundation’s supportive housing division. She also was vice president and director of programs at Twin Cities Habitat for Humanity. Julie received her B.S. in technical communications from the University of Minnesota and earned an MBA from Hamline University. She is a board member of the Dayton’s Bluff Neighborhood Housing Services. Julie also founded and is chairwoman of the Friends of Mounds Park. She is a regular on the Labor Day weekend bicycle rides.

Mark Larson is a fourth-generation Minnesotan whose passion for the outdoors began in the 1950s and ‘60s with family camping trips to state parks and the BWCA and backpacking trips in the Rockies.  His daughter, son-in-law, nieces and nephews carry on the tradition. Mark continues to bike, kayak, hike, camp, snowshoe and cross-country ski. He and his wife Mary live in St. Paul. 

Mark has a degree in business and public administration, and spent 27 years with the State Planning Agency and MnDOT conducting policy analysis, planning, legislation and performance reporting.  As a longtime Parks & Trails Council member, Mark has contributed to two strategic plans and a 50-year vision for parks and trails. He now coordinates the legislative committee, where he has supported expanded partnerships with community trail groups and upholding the mission of Legacy funding to transform Minnesota’s parks and trails. He has a strong interest in achieving trail connectivity to parks, cities, workplaces, and schools; in updating parks and trails for new generations; and in finding ways to stabilize state parks and trails operating funding for the future.

Tom Pavey was most recently vice president of employee benefits for Ameriprise Financial, Inc., which was formerly known as American Express Financial Advisors, formerly IDS.  Pavey retired from Ameriprise in February 2007 after 36 years of employment with the company. As vp of employee benefits, he was responsible for leading the life, medical, disability, 401(k) and pension programs for Ameriprise Financial's 18,000 employees and financial advisors.  Pavey has over 30 years of experience in human resources and employee benefits and holds professional designations of Certified Employee Benefits Specialists (CEBS) and Chartered Life Underwriter (CLU).  Pavey has served as Chair of the Twin Cities Buyers' Health Care Action Group (BHCAG) and served on the Health Program Committee of the Institute for Clinical Systems Improvement (ICSI) and on the Partners for Better Health Board of HealthPartners.

Pavey received a Bachelor's Degree in Business Administration from Pittsburg State University (Pittsburg, Kansas) in 1970 and completed an Industrial Relations Certificate Program with distinction from the University of Minnesota in 1980.  Tom was on the Board of Trustees of the Employee Benefits Research Institute in Washington, D.C. for five years prior to retirement.  Pavey is currently on the board of Tubman, a family violence prevention and support services organization.  He chairs the Human Resource Committee and is Chair-elect for 2009-10 fiscal year.  He also volunteers as secretary for the Ameriprise Retired Home Office Member organization, which meets monthly and supports volunteer activities of its members.     

Tom lives with his wife Susan in south Minneapolis where they raised three grown children.  In addition to volunteer work, Tom enjoys tennis, golf, fishing and camping.

Richard “Dick” Brainerd has been a consultant in human resources and a former human resources executive and educator. He is a business and economics graduate of the University of Wisconsin and a graduate of the Center for Creative Leadership in Greensboro, NC. His volunteer affiliations include: trustee of the Minnesota, North Dakota and South Dakota chapter of the Nature Conservancy; board member and past president of the League of Minnesota Cities; trustee of the Minnesota State Colleges and Universities Foundation; past chair and member of the board  North Central Blood Services Region, American Red Cross; board member of Conservation Minnesota; past president of the International Public Management Association for Human Resources; and city council member of the City of Mahtomedi. He’s an avid cyclist, birder, hiker, cross-country skier (North Shore) and golfer and enjoys traveling and spending time with his wife Mary and their grown children, Andrew and Mary Angela.

Kathy Connelly is a Minneapolis attorney. In addition to her years on the Parks & Trails Council board and service as a Parks & Trails Council officer, she has represented the organization in various land transactions, and has taken on special projects related to governance, recruitment and organizational effectiveness. Kathy and her partner, Carolyn Sampson, support the organization as Magney Circle members.

Kathy views her service with Parks & Trails as a way of fostering Minnesotans’ affinity for the environment, yielding forward-thinking environmental awareness in future voters, elected officials and policy-makers. She also sees public service as a pillar of good citizenship, and has volunteered her time and talents to a variety of organizations, including The National Forest Service, The Nature Conservancy, The Raptor Center, Friends of the Eloise Butler Wildflower Garden, Minnesota Hobby Beekeepers Association, Minnesota Master Naturalists and Minnesota Master Gardeners.  Kathy enjoys biking, hiking, and birding and has been a beekeeper for more than a decade.

Sherry Enzler is a Northern Minnesota native who is a research fellow at the University of Minnesota at the Institute on the Environment and in the Department of Forest Resources. She holds a J.D. from William Mitchell College of Law and a Masters in Public Administration/Policy from the University of Southern California where she was a National Public Service Fellow. Her research focuses at the intersect of policy, law and natural systems.  She is particularly interested in how we change political and social systems to protect ecosystems and the development of non-regulatory tools to enhance environmental performance. Sherry is the former Executive Director of the Minnesota Office of Environmental Assistance (OEA). Prior to joining the OEA Sherry spent 15 years as an environmental attorney in private and public practice. Sherry has also served as a member of the Minnesota Environmental Quality Board where she chaired the task force charged with re-evaluating Minnesota's Environmental Review Process. She is an adjunct Professor at William Mitchell College of Law where she teaches Natural Resource Law.  

Keith Fester spent 37 years in technical management, primarily research and development and reliability assurance, retiring from Medtronic, Inc. in 2006. He earned graduate degrees in physical chemistry. He has been a Parks & Trails Council member for about 15 years and has been on the Land Acquisition Committee for a year. An avid biker, he assisted in planning the Labor Day weekend bike rides.

Thomas A. Gump is a Principal and Managing Broker of Neighborhood Development Partners, LLC (NDP), a Minneapolis-based real estate development company. Prior to co-founding NDP, Tom represented builders, contractors and homeowner associations while practicing law at the Minneapolis law firm of Larkin Hoffman. Upon establishing his specialty, Tom went on to serve as General Counsel for a regional land development firm, co-founded another development company then joined as a Principal with The Beard Group, Inc. Tom has lectured for numerous educational services and written for real estate periodicals. He is a licensed attorney in four states, an Adjunct Professor at the University of St. Thomas on real estate development topics, and he writes a monthly column called "Developer's Corner," for the Minnesota Real Estate Journal, for which he serves on the Editorial Board. Tom lives in Edina, Minnesota with his wife Catherine and three-year-old son Andrew.

Verónica Jaralambides works independently as a marketing and web technologies consultant and is part of ECHO Minnesota, bringing health and safety messages to communities with limited English proficiency. Veronica grew up in Buenos Aires, Argentina. She has taken masters courses at Hamline University in non-profit management and public administration. Her experience with nonprofit organizations includes volunteer work, fundraising and marketing. She is on the board of the Minnesota Orienteering Club and edits their newsletter.

Mary Merrill Anderson was the superintendent of the Minneapolis Park and Recreation Board from 1999 through 2003 and served a term as an elected member of its board from 2006 through 2009. Mary received her BA from the University of Minnesota and became a certified park and recreational professional through Harvard University’s John F. Kennedy School of Government. She has spent a lifetime volunteering and serving on boards in the Twin Cities, including Hope Community, Inc., PACER Center, Inc., Minneapolis Youth Trust, City’s Children, City-wide Parent Advisory Council on Latch Key Minneapolis as well as being a member of the NAACP and the Minneapolis Urban League.

Emily Nesvold is a graduate of the University of Minnesota, majoring in microbiology and chemistry. Her first job was working in the Microbiology Teaching Laboratories at the University of Minnesota, followed by two years with the Veterinary Bacteriology Department on the St. Paul Campus. After moving to Faribault, where her husband, Robert, practiced Veterinary Medicine, she returned to school to become a teacher. She taught high school science until her retirement in 2000. Her numerous volunteer activities include: hospice bereavement co-facilitator; hospice patient care giver; cooking for the Community Café in Faribault, which provides a free meal each Tuesday; member of the American Association of University Women board of directors; and member of the Seven Mile Woods Association, which works to preserve the Basswood/Maple forest in the Northfield area. Emily and her husband are avid cyclists who belong to the Faribault Flyers Bike and Ski Club and are members of Southeastern Minnesota Association for Regional Trails (SMART).

John Oldendorf has been involved with local and national conservation and environmental organizations for more than 25 years. Currently the president of the Gateway Trail Association, John has also been actively involved with Audubon Society St. Paul, the Minnesota Land Trust, the Nature Conservancy, Save Lake Superior Association, Sugar Loaf on Lake Superior and the Western Wisconsin Land Trust. John taught Social Sciences for 15 years at the University of Minnesota, and he worked in human resource management for 25 years, including 15 years as the Vice President of Human Resources for Alcoa. He has a B.A. degree from Cornell University and graduate degrees in Political Science and Industrial Relations from the University of Minnesota. John and his wife Yvette enjoy outdoor trips of all kinds. Their vacations tend to center around hiking, fishing and bird watching, but they also enjoy week-long camping trips on islands in the Baja where they enjoy whale watching.

Tom Stoa is a physician with the Mayo Clinic Health System and Winona Health. Tom served in the Minnesota House of Representatives from 1977 to 1981.  He has been a volunteer with the Minnesota Land Trust, Great River Bluffs State Park, the Upper Mississippi National Wildlife Refuge, Winona's bike trails committee and has been a nordic ski trail groomer at St. Mary's University.  He has been a Parks and Trails member for 14 years, serves on the Legislative Committee and has been active in land acquisition for Whitewater State Park. In 2012, Tom was appointed to the state Parks and Trails Legacy Advisory Committee, which will be advising the DNR, Metro, and Regional Parks in regard to Legacy Amendment spending. Tom and his wife Christine enjoy hiking, cycling, kayaking, scuba diving and nordic skiing.

Steven Thorne is a retired attorney who divides his time between homes in Bayport and rural Lake County. Most recently he was a partner in the St. Paul law firm of Jacobson, Buffalo, Schoessler & Magnuson, Ltd. He has served on the boards and as chairman/president of the Minnesota Center for Environmental Advocacy and the Superior Hiking Trail Association. He spent five years as a Minnesota Special Assistant Attorney General and 11 years as Deputy Commissioner of the Minnesota DNR. Steve was a professor of forestry at Penn State for three years. While in Pennsylvania he also served on the board of the state chapter of The Nature Conservancy. Steve also served as president of the Parks & Trails Council of Minnesota from 2010-2012. Steve is married (Georganne) and has two sons. He enjoys music, wilderness canoeing, cycling, hiking, gardening, reading, travel and politics.