Jake Anderson
Mayor
St. Cloud, MN
Mayor Jake Anderson was elected mayor of St. Cloud, MN in November 2024 – succeeding Mayor Dave Kleis who'd led the city for nearly 20 years. Jake had previously been elected to the St. Cloud City Council in November 2022 where he represented ward 3.
Mayor Anderson was born in Virginia, MN and later moved at a young age to St. Cloud. He grew up a block south of the old Tech High School (which now serves as City Hall). He graduated from Tech High School and went on to attend St. Cloud State University where he graduated with a Bachelor of Science degree in Information Systems from the Herberger School of Business. Jake's immediate family all reside in south St. Cloud.
In 2009, he was appointed to the St. Cloud Planning Commission and served until March 2020. During that tenure, Jake was involved in the 2015 Comprehensive Plan update as well as Neighborhood Best Practices and the annual Capital Improvement Plan process. He was chair of the commission twice and served on the Park & Recreation Advisory board as the planning commission representative from 2010 – 2020.
In 2022, Jake was elected to serve on the City Council for ward 3. As a council member, he also served on the Paramount Center for the Arts Board of Directors, St. Cloud Area Planning Organization (APO), St. Cloud Public Library Board, and Park & Recreation Advisory Board.
Mayor Anderson has been employed as an IT Project Manager with Stearns County since 2009. He currently resides in west St. Cloud (where he's lived since 2006) with his wife Rachel and their golden retriever Ruby.
In his spare time, Jake enjoys sports, trivia, learning new things, and Las Vegas trips. He also binges on streaming series and podcasts.
Jake's governing philosophy is one of collaboration, pragmatism, and cooperation. His intent is to build strong relationships and partnerships throughout our community and region to create a stronger, more vibrant city.
Richard Baker
Economic & Community Development Director
City of Thief River Falls, Minnesota
Richard currently serves as co-chair of the Minnesota Design Team. With a career dedicated to revitalizing struggling nonprofits and pioneering new roles within organizations, Richard has led Chamber and economic development efforts across four Midwestern states, bringing a strong track record of community-focused leadership and innovation.
Tony Chladek
City Administrator
Rushford, Minnesota
Tony Chladek is the City Administrator for Rushford, Minnesota, where he has been actively leading local redevelopment and economic development efforts, including the transformation of the former Farmers Co-op site—an EPA-designated Brownfield. Through support from the U.S. EPA's Technical Assistance to Brownfields (TAB) program and the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency (MPCA), Tony has helped guide the city through a thoughtful planning process to assess environmental conditions, explore reuse scenarios, and align redevelopment goals with community needs.
With over 20 years of municipal leadership experience, Tony focuses on strategic planning, interagency coordination, and public engagement. His work on the Rushford site reflects a deep commitment to leveraging state and federal resources to support rural revitalization, sustainable land use, and economic resilience. Tony is honored to share his experience as a local partner working alongside MPCA and EPA to turn complex legacy sites into future community assets.
Amber Egofske
Associate and Architect
Alliiance
Amber thrives in multidisciplinary teams to create innovative and collaborative design solutions. Her enthusiasm lies in uncovering place-based discoveries that highlight the unique qualities of each community. Amber is also the current co-chair elect of the Minnesota Design Team.
Travis Fristed
Associate Director, Principal Consultant
Braun Intertec Corporation
Travis Fristed is a principal scientist with 20 years of experience in environmental consulting on public and private projects throughout the central US. Travis is currently an Associate Director and a principal scientist for Braun Intertec Corporation in Minneapolis, Minnesota. His responsibilities at Braun Intertec include managing a Natural Resources group, project scoping for environmental regulations and compliance, natural resource field studies, environmental review and permitting, and project management. Travis's technical strength lies in interpreting environmental regulations and pre-project planning, with specific expertise in environmental review, water resource compliance and permitting, site due-diligence, and unique environmental work specific to transportation and linear projects.
Kelly Gragg-Johnson
Environmental Review Specialist
Minnesota State Historic Preservation Office (SHPO)
Kelly Gragg-Johnson started her career as an archaeologist for the Minnesota Department of Transportation Trunk Highway Archaeological Reconnaissance Survey Program, as an employee of the Minnesota Historical Society. She worked for that program from 1990-1994. Since 1995, she has worked in the Minnesota State Historic Preservation Office (SHPO), first in the Review and Compliance Section at the Minnesota Historical Society, and subsequently in the Environmental Review Program at the Minnesota Department of Administration. As an Environmental Review Specialist, she provides advice and assistance to local, state, and federal agencies as they comply with state and federal historic preservation laws. She regularly collaborates with federal and state agency staff, county and city officials, cultural resource consultants, and other applicants (engineering firms, architects, historical organizations, and the public) to ensure that cultural resources are taken into account during project planning.
Anna Gruber
Anna Gruber is an experienced public administrator with over 15 years in city management and nearly 20 years in public service. After earning a degree in Public Administration with minors in Business and Community Development from St. Cloud State University in 2008, Anna began her career at Tri-CAP as a Community Development Coordinator. In 2009, she transitioned to City Administration in Pierz, where her passion for municipal leadership took root. She earned an MBA from Texas A&M University in 2016, enhancing her leadership and management experience. Since 2020, she has served as the City Administrator of Sartell, leading community initiatives and overseeing municipal operations for the fastest growing community in the Greater St. Cloud region, including the redevelopment of the Sartell Mill District.
Amy Hadiaris
Amy K. Hadiaris, PG
Minnesota Pollution Control Agency
Amy Hadiaris has been the supervisor of the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency’s Voluntary Investigation and Cleanup (VIC) Program since 2019. Prior to becoming supervisor, she worked for 20 years as a hydrogeologist in the VIC program. Amy holds a B.S. in Natural Resources Policy and Management from the University of Michigan and a M.S. in Hydrogeology from the University of Nevada. She is a licensed professional geologist in Minnesota.
Erin Hanafin Berg
Deputy Director
Rethos
Erin Hanfin Berg is the deputy director at Rethos, a non-profit organization that leads people to connect with their shared places and spaces through preservation, adaptation, and activation. She earned an M.S. in Historic Preservation from the University of Oregon and has nearly three decades of professional experience in all aspects of preservation practice. She has been employed in the public and private sectors as a historic preservation planner and consultant, and she brings a love of historic architecture and a background in research and documentation to her role at Rethos.
Ms. Hanafin Berg has led Rethos' efforts in direct project support and advocacy since 2008. She now serves as the Director of Policy, Education, and Outreach, overseeing the organization's legislative initiatives and providing information and resources to a wide range of community members about effective approaches to building reuse, home rehab, job creation, sustainability, and economic revitalization.
Stephen T. Jansen, MS, PG
Vice President, Principal Scientist
Braun Intertec Corporation
Steve Jansen is a Principal Scientist and Vice President at Braun Intertec and registered professional geologist with 37 years of environmental consulting experience. He is responsible for project management, technical review/support on environmental due diligence and Brownfields redevelopment projects. Steve specializes in design and implementation of voluntary investigations and cleanups for redevelopment. He has directed investigation and cleanup actions on a variety of industrial, commercial, and residential sites with soil, groundwater and soil vapor contamination. He has dealt with a wide range of contaminants and has experience with a variety of investigative methods and techniques related to drilling, well construction, sampling, geophysics, and analytical testing. Steve has designed and implemented site cleanups using in-situ and ex-situ technologies including air and bio-sparging, soil venting, bioventing, sub-slab depressurization, excavation, solidification, stabilization, high temperature thermal desorption, and land application. He also has significant experience with environmental cost estimating, remediation construction management and hazardous materials abatement, and environmental grant writing and management.
Mark Keefer, PG
Director, Principal Scientist
Braun Intertec Corporation
Mark Keefer is a registered professional geologist with over 22 years of experience in the environmental field. Mark has extensive experience in due diligence, brownfield redevelopment, site characterization and corrective action, and remediation system design, implementation, and maintenance. Mark currently serves on the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency PFAS taskforce and has investigated several properties impacted with PFAS. Mark, has completed some of the largest brownfield redevelopment cleanups in the Twin Cities metro area, including, the Northern Stacks development, The Heights development and others. Currently, Mark serves as Director/Principal Scientist leading the Twin Cities investigation and remediation group at Braun Intertec.
Elizabeth M. Kluesner
Executive Director
Minnesota Brownfields
Elizabeth is originally from Madison, Wisconsin, and is currently the Executive Director of Minnesota Brownfields. She has been in the Executive Director role since November 2021. Prior to her work with Minnesota Brownfields, she served as Deputy Secretary of the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources during the administration of Governor Tony Evers. Elizabeth also served as the DNR's director of Local and Federal Relations, and held a number of other positions in the Department over the course of a 20 plus year career. She served as the Policy Director to Dane County (Wisconsin) Executive Kathleen Falk, where her primary duties focused on conservation-based land acquisition, recreation, land use, and transportation planning. Elizabeth holds a Bachelor of Science and Master's degree from the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
Elizabeth moved to the Twin Cities in 2019. She lives with her husband Dave in Edina and has two children, Katherine (28) and Teddy (24). She enjoys being outdoors, particularly with her family in Wyoming.
Rick Kubler
Lathrop GPM LLP
Rick Kubler is a Partner with Lathrop GPM. He has over 30 years of experience in advising public and private clients on the acquisition, disposition and redevelopment of Brownfield sites and associated environmental due diligence, risk assessment, and liability considerations. He is currently involved in many significant cleanup and redevelopment projects. Rick also specializes in representing clients in federal and state Superfund and environmental administrative proceedings and regularly counsels' clients on environmental compliance, under and above-ground storage tanks, and pollution insurance matters. Rick is a member of the Minnesota Brownfields Advisory Committee and serves on the MPCA's Vapor Intrusion and PFAS Stakeholder Advisory Groups, and MPCA's External Stakeholder Focus Group for Remediation and Brownfield Guidance.
Kristin Lukes
Kristin Lukes is the Director of the Brownfields and Redevelopment Unit of the Department of Employment and Economic Development. Kristin has been with DEED since 1998. This unit is responsible for administering all of DEED's Brownfields and Redevelopment programs along with a variety of programs and special appropriations on behalf of the state legislature.
Ms. Lukes' previous experience includes almost 10 years at the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency in the area of contaminated land, and as Minnesota's State Brownfields Coordinator.
Ms. Lukes has also served on the Board of the Economic Development Association of Minnesota also serving as President of the organization. She also serves as Vice Chair on the Board of Minnesota Brownfields, a non-profit organization promoting brownfield redevelopment.
Ms. Lukes also has volunteered in her community by serving on the city of Woodbury's Economic Development Commission, where she was Chair of the Commission's Business Development subcommittee, and also served on a Task Force addressing land use amendments to the city's Comprehensive Plan. She also served several years on the Board of the Woodbury Figure Skating Club.
Ms. Lukes holds a B.A. degree in Environmental Policy from the University of St. Thomas.
Beth Evanson Makhoul
Associate and Aviation Architect
Hennebery Eddy Architects
She also serves as co-chair of the Minnesota Design Team, an outward-facing committee of AlA Minnesota serving communities across our great state of Minnesota. Beth is propelled by her passion for people-focused design and her skills in helping clients and communities articulate, visualize, and implement their visions. She is driven by the profession's calling to be citizen architects.
Christopher F. Thompson, PE
Vice President, Principal Engineer
Braun Intertec Corporation
Christopher Thompson, P.E. is a Vice President and Principal Engineer at Braun Intertec Corporation and has been a consulting civil engineer for over 40 years. Mr. Thompson consults on environmental matters for state and federal regulated sites throughout the US and has been investigating, designing and remediating Brownfield redevelopment sites for 30 years. These sites have included ordnance manufacturing plants, petroleum refineries, wood treatment facilities, landfills, misc. manufacturing plants, chemical formulation and manufacturing facilities, bulk fuel storage and distribution facilities, metal extraction processing plants and agricultural chemical formulation and packaging facilities. Mr. Thompson is trained and experienced in the design and construction of systems to convey and treat dust and fumes at manufacturing plants and has been implementing Soil Vapor Extraction and vapor mitigation systems since 1987. Mr. Thompson has been the hands-on Principal Engineer for large Brownfield development sites in the Twin Cities including the Northern Stacks Site, Lewis Bolt and Nut/Metal Coatings, Howe Chemical, Joslyn Manufacturing, Onan/Medtronic, Lithium Corporation of America, National Lead, US Bank Stadium and the Union Elevator.
Meredith Udoibok
Meredith Udoibok, Executive Director of the Office of Community Finance at the Department of Employment and Economic Development (DEED), has been working in the area of community finance for the past 30 years. Meredith helped establish the State of Minnesota's Contamination Cleanup Grant Program and the Redevelopment Grant Program. Her office is responsible for the administration of these programs in addition to an EPA funded Revolving Loan Fund Program, the Demolition Loan Program, the federally funded CDBG Small Cities Development Program, several bond funded public infrastructure grant programs, along with other small programs and Special Appropriation projects awarded by the Legislature. In addition, Meredith has experience in working with many of the programs within the Business and Community Development Division when she served as Assistance Director of the Division.
Prior to her work at DEED, Meredith worked at the MN Legislature. She has also worked for a political consultant, and a MN Senator in Washington, DC.
Udoibok has served on various committees and boards. Meredith has held board positions at the YWCA of St. Paul, MN Brownfields, and the Economic Development Association of MN. She is a member of several economic development and land use associations and committees. She holds 2 bachelor's degrees from Bemidji State University.
Matt Varilek
Commissioner
Department of Employment and Economic Development
Matt Varilek was appointed DEED Commissioner in June 2023. From 2016 to 2023, Matt served as President of the Little Falls-based Initiative Foundation, which supports economic and community development in the 14 counties and two sovereign tribal nations of Central Minnesota. Previously, he was Chief Operating Officer for the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA), regional administrator for U.S. SBA Region VIII, and a candidate for Congress in South Dakota. He also served as an Economic Development Director and Speechwriter for the offices of U.S. Senators Tom Daschle and Tim Johnson, and Director of Policy and Research for Natsource LLC, an energy brokerage based in New York. Commissioner Varilek earned a B.A. from Carleton College, a M.Phil. in Economic Development from the University of Glasgow, and a M.Phil. in Environment and Development from the University of Cambridge.
