Leadership

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Executive Team

Lisa Mears, MPA, President (she/her)

Lisa Mears joined The Bridge for Youth as Executive Director in May of 2020. In prior roles, she was the CEO at VEAP, a basic needs and social service organization focused on housing stability and healthy food access. VEAP serves southern suburban Hennepin County and operates an acclaimed integrated service model with Hennepin County Health and Human Services. From 2009 – 2015, Lisa was the startup Executive Director at a newly formed nonprofit in Dakota County called The Open Door. The organization – with the mission “a fresh approach to ending local hunger through access to healthy  foods” – quickly emerged to lead the movement of access to healthy foods across the hunger relief sector in Minnesota. 
Mears holds a BS in Public Health from St. Cloud State University and a Master’s in Public Affairs (Public Administration & Nonprofit Management) from the Hubert H. Humphrey School of Public Affairs at the University of Minnesota (2010).

Angela Alvarez, MA, Human Resources & Administration Director (she/her)

Angela Alvarez graduated with a BA in psychology from Minnesota State University at Mankato and an M.A. in counseling and psychological practices from St. Mary’s University in Minneapolis. She started as a Youth & Family Counselor intern in the fall of 2011, before joining the staff full time in the Emergency Shelter Program. With a passion for organization, policies and supporting BFY staff, Angela made the transition from direct staff to administration staff when the HR Coordinator position opened up. Angela was promoted quickly to HR Manager and then to HR Director where she oversees the daily HR functions for staff, interns and volunteers.

Jeremiah Hawkins, LICSW, Vice President of Programs (he/him)

Jeremiah got his start at The Bridge as a Supervisor from 2005 – 2008. He has 20+ years of experience working with children and families within and across complex systems, including not-for-profit community-based services and government agencies. Fifteen of those 20 years have been senior administrator positions within the non-profit sector, including youth and family homelessness, child welfare system, and community-based counseling. Jeremiah has expertise in collaborating across multiple systems that lead to innovative and sustainable solutions in Minneapolis, Chicago, New York City, Washington, DC, New Jersey, and Michigan. Jeremiah received his B.S. in Family Social Science from the University of Minnesota and his MSW from Columbia University. Most recently, Jeremiah held the position of Senior Director of Children and Family Services at Catholic Charities of St. Paul and Minneapolis. A fun fact about Jeremiah is that he enjoys going on long solo backpacking trips.

Tom Craig, Finance Director (he/him)

Tom was most recently a non-profit financial controller for CliftonLarsonAllen where he advised more than 25 local non-profits with financial reporting and analysis, budgeting, forecasting, preparing accounting records, and operational efficiencies. He brings his enthusiasm and financial expertise to The Bridge for Youth as Finance Director. Thomas graduated Summa Cum Laude with a BS in Accounting and Finance from Rasmussen College. In his free time, he volunteers as the board treasurer for the Red Shoe Society of the Upper Midwest, participates at Feed My Starving Children, and is a coach for youth sports in the northern metro.

Juli Gottschall, LICSW, Clinical Director (she/her)

Juli has been a Licensed Clinical Social Worker for 5 years, primarily working with adolescents. Juli supports youth through a trauma informed lens and recognizes the importance of seeing certain behaviors as trauma symptoms. She values creating trusting relationships and often does so by bringing humor and play into her work. Most recently Juli was with Catholic Charities as a School Social Worker in their School-Based Counseling program. Prior to working at Catholic Charities, Juli worked at Behavior Therapy Solutions of Minnesota as a therapist.

Dr. Sheetal Kanse, MPH, Ph.D., Monitoring & Evaluation Director (she/her)

Sheetal Kanse is originally from India where she completed her bachelor’s degree in Homeopathic Medicine and Surgery. To follow her passion for preventive and social medicine she pursued a master’s degree in public health from the University of Florida and a doctoral in Health Promotion and Education from the University of Utah. In the past, she has worked nationally and internationally in the field public health management and research focused on health program designing and implementation, program evaluation, inferential data analysis and data interpretation. Sheetal is the proud mom of twin daughters. When not analyzing data, she loves spending time with her family, visiting lakes in and around Minnesota, and gardening.

Board of Directors

Executive Committee

Board Members

• Amy Britt Jones (she/her), ABJ Educational Consulting, Educational Consultant
• Demitri McGee (he/him), Build Wealth MN Inc., Youth Director/ HUD Housing Counselor
• Gretchen Gromatka (she/her), Fairview Health Services, Senior Employee/Labor Relations Consultant
• Jessica Simon-Koch (she/her), Hennepin Health, Principal Government Initiatives
• Joanna Dornfeld (she/her), Allina Health System, Vice President & Chief of Staff
• Kristine Oberg (she/her), US Bank, Vice President Business Banking Strategy Team Leader
• Melissa Saenz (she/her), Allianz Life, AVP and Head of Regulatory Monitoring & Insights
• Mia Naseth-Phillips (she/her), Minnesota Department of Commerce, Director – Programs for Innovation & Equity
• Mitchell Walstad (he/him), University of Minnesota, Freshman Admissions Counselor
• Myles Artis (he/him), Minneapolis Area Realtors Association, Director of Government Affairs
• Scott Sundstrom (he/him), South St. Paul Public Schools, Instruction and Achievement Coordinator
• Tescia Bratcher (she/her), City of Bloomington, Public Health Program Supervisor (Community Resilience)