Board Members:

Paul Bauknight Jr. – Chair

Paul Bauknight is President and CEO of Urban Design Lab in Minneapolis, a minority owned urban development, planning and architectural firm.  Mr. Bauknight specializes in the development of urban community based projects.  His work includes the design of the Minneapolis Urban League Headquarters in North Minneapolis, Plymouth Christian Youth Center, in North Minneapolis, Lucey Laney School in North Minneapolis, Seed Academy, Heritage Park in North Minneapolis, the development of the strategic plan for repurposing 12 closed Minneapolis public schools and educational projects in Texas, Detroit and Ohio. 
  
Mr. Bauknight is former Director of the African American Men Project at the NorthPoint Health and Wellness Center and has been a community activist on the Minneapolis North Side for 20 years. 
 
Mr. Bauknight serves on the Board of the North Community Youth & Teen Enrichment Center.   He has also served as the first Board President for the Northway Community Trust, has been a board member of Project for Pride in Living (PPL) and Habitat for Humanity, and is a volunteer at Cityview school and Wise charter school.

Mr. Bauknight graduated from Virginia Tech with a bachelors degree in architecture.

Melissa M. Weldon is a partner at Larson King, LLP, where she serves large and small businesses around the country, advising on the areas of employment litigation and counseling, commercial litigation, and reinsurance litigation and arbitration.   

Ms. Weldon is active in the community, currently serving on the Board of Directors and Executive Committee for the YWCA St. Paul, as the Chair of the Ethics Commission for the City of Roseville, and as a member of the Advisory Council for the Interfaith Children's Advocacy Network. 

Ms. Weldon is a graduate of St. Cloud State University and received her law degree from the University of Minnesota Law School. 

Angelique Brown is the Chief Operations Officer for the NorthPoint Health and Wellness Center in North Minneapolis.  In previous roles she was Chief Compliance Officer and the Director of Nursing at NorthPoint, served as Assistant Director of Nursing at Walker Methodist Hospital, and was an Emergency Department and Medical-Surgical Staff Nurse at Hennepin County Medical Center.   

Ms. Brown is the Chair of the Board of Directors of Sabathani Community Center in south Minneapolis. 

Ms. Brown holds a B.A. degree as well as an Associate Degree in Nursing from the College of St. Catherine’s.  She has a Graduate Certificate in Health Care Corporate Compliance from George Washington University, is a registered Nurse, and is a Certified Health Care Compliance Officer.  She anticipates completing a Masters Degree in Business Administration in Health Care in 2010. 

Buckley Brinkman is President of Vallon LLC, which provides businesses with experienced executive talent for interim leadership roles and high profile projects.  Prior to joining Vallon, Mr. Brinkman founded Launchpad Partners, an advisory firm for mid-market companies under stress. He also served as president and chief operating officer for U.S. Music Corporation where he secured a multi-year licensing agreement with the Disney Company and increased year-over-year trade show sales by 94%.  As the chief operating officer of Manchester Companies, Mr. Brinkman and his team were awarded the “2006 Turnaround of the Year” award for his work on an engagement that created over $325 million in realized market value. 

Mr. Brinkman serves on the board of the Chicago Chapter, a service industry trade group.  He is past president of the Harvard Business School Club of Minnesota and board member of the Harvard Business School Club of Chicago.

Mr. Brinkman has a BBA in Marketing and Management from the University of Wisconsin and an MBA from Harvard Business School. 

Kirsten Anderson-Stembridge is the Director of Community Outreach for Lutheran Social Services of Minnesota.  Ms. Anderson-Stembridge is the convener of Youth Moving Forward and the Child Well-Being Network - two coalitions of agencies concerned with children and youth in Minnesota.   

Rich Gehrman is the founder and Executive Director of Safe Passage for Children.  Mr. Gehrman developed expertise in child welfare metrics and Best Practices in his work for clients including the Center for the Study of Social Policy, the Ramsey County ACE program, and Growing Home – a Minnesota foster care agency.  This background led him to develop the core strategy and resources for Safe Passage.

In his consulting work Mr. Gehrman is an experienced project manager who represents business owners in major Business Process Redesign projects and IT systems upgrades.  He has managed projects in federal, state, county and municipal governments in the areas of health, human services, state court administration, higher education, and juvenile justice. 

Mr. Gehrman has served as the chief finance and administrative officer for the Westchester County New York Department of Social Services, the Maryland Department of Human Resources, and the City of Saint Paul Minnesota.

Mr. Gehrman is a graduate of Williams College, Harvard Divinity School, and Harvard Business School.