Politics & Government

Hodges Picks Transition Committee

The 27-person group will provide community input.

Mayor-elect Betsy Hodges announced a 27-person Transition Advisory Committee to offer advice as she prepares to take the reins of Minneapolis, her campaign announced Thursday.

The committee will:

  • Share members' hopes for Hodges’ first term and bring community input into the transition.
  • Make recommendations for the mayor’s first ten days of the Mayor’s term. That will include the swearing in and inaugural ceremonies, as well as a tour through the neighborhoods of Minneapolis.  Although committee members will offer advice on the inauguration, a separate Inaugural Committee will be named in the near future.
  • Advise Hodges on “creating relationships and conversations that support priority policy initiatives to be implemented during Mayor-elect Hodges’ first term.”

“I am grateful to these outstanding community leaders for their willingness to advise me as I prepare for my first term as the Mayor of Minneapolis,” a release quoted Hodges. “Thanks to their sharing of ideas and energy, the beginning of our effort to shape One Minneapolis will incorporate the hopes and dreams of people in every corner of our city.”

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Activist and writer Laura Waterman Wittstock will be the committee’s chairwoman. Kristin Beckmann and Jeff Blodgett are the volunteer transition co-coordinators. 

The complete list of committee members is as follows:

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  • (Chair) Laura Waterman Wittstock – President and CEO, Wittstock & Associates, Author
  • Alfred Babington-Johnson – President and CEO, Stairstep Initiative Companies
  • Anthony Newby – Executive Director, Neighborhoods Organizing for Change
  • Bill McCarthy – President, Minneapolis Regional Federation of Labor, AFL-CIO
  • Daniel Yang – Director of Organizing and Community Building, Native American Community Development Institute
  • David A. Wilson – Managing Director, Accenture Minneapolis
  • Frank Brown – Co-Chair, DFL African American Caucus
  • Greg Hestness – Assistant Vice President of Public Safety and Chief of Police, University of Minnesota
  • John Griffith – Executive Vice President of Property Development, Target Corporation
  • Julie Ristau – Co-Director, On the Commons & Co-Chair, Homegrown Minneapolis
  • Ken Rogers – Chair, Minneapolis Advisory Committee on People Living with Disabilities
  • Kyle Makarios – Director of Government Affairs, North Central States Regional Council of Carpenters
  • Larry Redmond – Principal, Redmond Associates, Inc.
  • Majdi Wadi – CEO, Holy Land
  • Margot Imdieke Cross – Accessibility Specialist, Minnesota State Council on Disability
  • Megan O’Hara – Youth Outdoor Employment Director, Wilderness Inquiry; Senior Fellow Endowed Chair, Minnesota Institute for Sustainable Agriculture
  • Michelle Dibblee – Organizing Director, OutFront Minnesota
  • Olga Viso – Director, Walker Art Center
  • Peter Bell – Former Chair, Metropolitan Council, Retired
  • Rabbi Michael Adam Latz – Senior Rabbi, Shir Tikvah
  • Sarah Harris – Managing Director, University of Minnesota Foundation Real Estate Advisors
  • Shay Berkowitz – Owner, ReGo Electric
  • Sheik Abdirahman Sharif – Imam, Masjid Dar Al-Hijrah
  • Shirley Nelson – Executive Director, Women Candidate Development Coalition
  • Sondra Samuels – President and CEO, Northside Achievement Zone
  • The Reverend Michele Morgan – Priest Associate, St. John’s Episcopal Church
  • Veronica Mendez – Organizer, CTUL

 



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