Leadership Team
SARAH DIXON – CEO & PRESIDENT
sdixon@mnyouth.net
“Provides overall leadership and development of the strategic goals of the Alliance.”
Hometown: Born in Mankato, MN – Raised in St. James, MN
Started with the Alliance: 1997
Sarah Dixon serves as the President and Chief Executive Officer of the Minnesota Alliance With Youth. As CEO, Sarah provides the overall leadership & development of the strategic goals of the Minnesota Alliance With Youth. One of the key strategies of the Alliance is the AmeriCorps Promise Fellows initiative which supports 70 FTE members and has a total operating budget of over $1 million, one of the largest in the state. Under Ms. Dixon’s leadership, the program grew from a 10 FTE fixed-award program to a 80 FTE AmeriCorps *State program.
Ms. Dixon has 25 years of experience working in all areas of adolescent health and development including intervention & treatment, counseling, education, and community-wide youth development. She has had the privilege of working with 1000’s of young people in developing leadership, public service, advocacy, and positive social change efforts at local, state, and national levels.
She was co-founder and founding board chair of Faribault’s Community of Promise Collaborative. Ms. Dixon was appointed chair of the Juvenile Justice Advisory Committee by the Governor of Minnesota from 2004 – 2007 and was recently reappointed as a member to another four-year term. In addition, Ms. Dixon serves on a number of local and statewide boards dedicated to the health and well-being of young people.
In her spare time, she loves going to the cabin on Leech Lake, spending time with her family, traveling, etc. She also LOVES her work! This work is about the power of creating strong, vibrant, life-sustaining relationships. It is about sharing powerful stories with one another, learning from each other and celebrating the accomplishments of young people. KIDS DON’T CARE WHAT YOU KNOW UNTIL THEY KNOW YOU CARE – and when youth know you care, greater opportunity exists for them to become truly engaged. As a result, they are better connected to their communities and empowered to use their voices to create lasting, transformational change! This goes to the heart and soul of why Sarah loves this work, to see those positive changes take place.
One of Sarah’s favorite quotes is from author, Margaret Wheatley, “What brings us together is our compassion – our dream of how to make a difference for the good.”
MARY ACKERMAN, SENIOR CONSULTANT
mackerman@mnyouth.net
“Leveraging and expanding our partnerships and diversifying our funding streams to ensure ALL Minnesota youth thrive.”
Hometown: Born in Lincoln, NE. Call Saint Paul home!
Started with the Alliance: January 2012
As a part-time consultant with the Alliance, Mary is focused on diversifying our funding streams, expanding our statewide partnerships and building new relationships to enhance our work. In her 40+ years of work-life Mary spent 21 years at Macalester where she served as Director of Admissions and Dean of Students. She also worked at Shattuck-St.Marys School and served as a family mediator with Erickson Mediation. Most recently she “re-Fired” from Search Institute in the fall of 2011 after working there as Director of National Initiatives, Director of External Relations and Special Assistant to the President, Dr. Peter Benson. Her 13+ years there were amazing: expansion of the Institute’s community work, packed National Healthy Communities*Healthy Youth Conferences, new research on Developmental Assets and Sparks, projects from Disney World to Maryland, San Jose to Houston. All on behalf of healthy communities and youth. At the Alliance, Mary has been on the Leadership Team and Board of Directors for 5 years. With the gift of more time in this phase of her life, Mary and husband, Jim, travel to see family and friends and spend lots more time ‘up north’ at their lake home on Ten Mile Lake.
RENEE ANDERSON – DIRECTOR OF EDUCATION & TRAINING
randerson@mnyouth.net
“Supports Promise Fellows and makes their year of service successful!”
Hometown: St. Joesph, MN
Started at the Alliance: August 2010
As Director of Education and Training, Anderson oversees AmeriCorps Promise Fellow hiring, training, and member support. She also acts as a resource on curriculum development and helps the Promise Fellows plan civic engagement and service-learning activities at their school-community sites. Additionally, she leads the Alliance’s Global Youth Service Day celebration in April.
MELISSA BURWELL- DIRECTOR OF STRATEGIC INITIATIVES
mburwell@mnyouth.net
“Coaches, collaborates, & celebrates efforts to create lasting change with & for youth.”
Hometown: Born in Ossining, NY – Raised in Mechanicsburg, PA
Started with the Alliance: August 2004
As the Director of Strategic Initiatives, Melissa focuses on developing relationships with the Alliance’s partner organizations, promoting youth-adult partnerships and youth voice as a strategy to positively impact youth and communities. She works with both School-Community Partnership and Statewide Partner Network sites to provide technical support and find ways to share resources. When not working as an ambassador for the Promise Fellow program, spreading the word about the Alliance to various groups, she can be found getting lost in her favorite book by the lake, with a pack of peanut M&M’s.
JULIE MUKLEBUST - BUSINESS MANAGER
julie.muklebust@duluth.k12.mn.us
“Keeper of the Books!”
Hometown: Burnsville, MN
Started at the Alliance: January 2008
Alliance Business Manager Julie is responsible for maintaining the financial records and handling other Human Resource tasks of the Alliance. She started doing bookkeeping and other office management work, and after being a stay at home mom for 9 years she came to the Alliance. When Muklebust is not keeping track of spending, she enjoys spending time with her family at their place in Sturgeon Lake.
STEPHANIE PAUMEN – OFFICE MANAGER
spaumen@mnyouth.net
“Keeping things in order, on track, and moving forward.”
Hometown: Buffalo, MN
Started at the Alliance: June 2010
As the Office Manager, Stephanie supports the Minneapolis office with logistical support, communications oversight, and program assistance. When she’s not keeping the Alliance programming in shape she’s most likely reading, shopping or working at her part time job at Buffalo Books & Coffee.
SPENCER NEITZEL – PROMISE FELLOW
promisefellow@mnyouth.net
“Getting things done for America!”
Hometown: Northfield, MN
Started at the Alliance: September 2010
As an AmeriCorps Promise fellow serving at The Alliance, Spencer is responsible for maintaining connections with other Alliance fellows through social networking tools, providing resources to SCP Fellows, assisting in the planning of events such as Global Youth Service Day, as well as organizing and co-advising the Alliance’s Youth Council with Melissa.
LIBBY RAU – YOUTH ENGAGEMENT STRATEGIST
lrau@mnyouth.net
Hometown: Aberdeen, SD
Started at the Alliance: August 2011
As the Youth Engagement Strategist, Libby is responsible for providing statewide leadership, build capacity and facilitate cross-cutting collaboration with the Minnesota Alliance with Youth and Youthprise youth engagement initiatives. In addition to working closely with the MN Youth Council, she provides representation on committees and workgroups with other local or state youth related organization.
SARAH ULLMER – DIRECTOR OF EDUCATION & TRAINING
sullmer@mnyouth.net
“Supports Promise Fellows and makes their year of service successful!”
Hometown: Denver, CO
Started at the Alliance: October 2011
Sarah is a previous supervisor and has worked for the past decade in the youth development and non-profit field on both a local and national level at YouthCARE, Wolf Ridge Environmental Center, and NYLC. As Director of Education and Training, Sarah Ullmer oversees AmeriCorps Promise Fellow hiring, training, and member support. She also acts as a resource on youth engagement and helps the Promise Fellows plan civic engagement and service-learning activities at their school-community sites. Additionally, she leads the Delta Dental Serve a Smile Grant Program.
116 AMERICORPS PROMISE FELLOWS –
- 113 AmeriCorps Promise Fellows serve in schools/organizations across Minnesota to increase their capacity to deliver the Five Promises.
- 3 Fellows serve with the Statewide Partner Network, our strategic partners, to increase their capacity to deliver the Five Promises.
