Executive Committee

The Executive Committee is a Committee made up of the four officers of the Board of Directors, as required by the WCNO Bylaws.

Anna Gerdeen, Chair

Anna Gerdeen has been on the WCNO Board of Directors since November 2018. During this time, she served as both the Treasurer and a Board Member at Large. Professionally, she is a licensed K-12 educator and is working on developing a neighborhood tutoring program. She has a Bachelor’s of Arts and Master’s of Education from the University of Minnesota and a Master’s of Divinity from Harvard University. Her other experience is mostly related to the area of youth education and program development but she also was an Assistant Manager at McDonald’s in Fridley for five years and spent another five years working at the University of Minnesota CLA’s fiscal administration office.

Her passions include youth advocacy and education policy, organizational development and supporting others to develop their interests and talents.

Her priorities as Chair are to increase communication and collaboration with community members and other Northside organizations and to support organizational stability to an extent that the WCNO can form committees and engage in wider community programming and engagement.

Anna has lived in Webber-Camden for seven years and has an 11-year-old son named Jacob.

Anna.Gerdeen@wcno.org

Sheree Breedlove, Vice Chair

sheree.breedlove@wcno.org

Vamsi Grussing, Treasurer

Vamsi has been a Minneapolis resident since 2007 and has been living in the Webber-Camden neighborhood, with his husband, since 2016. Vamsi has a degree in Electronics and Communications Engineering and is a Business Analyst in wealth management industry. He loves to cook and loves to entertain friends and family. He likes gardening, tech blogs, grocery shopping, and road trips across the country with his husband. His favorite places in the neighborhood are Victory Memorial Parkway and Webber Park. His favorite neighborhood restaurant is City Afrique (highly recommends their Cassava Leaf rice dish).

As the treasurer, Vamsi is focused on accuracy and transparency of the financial dealings of the organization. He believes in freedom of information and welcomes any ideas to make the board finances easily accessible to the community. His priorities also include neighborhood security programs, programs for low income households and renters, and environmental sustainability programs.

Vamsi.grussing@wcno.org

Eric Hoffer, Treasurer

Eric Hoffer is pastor at Salem Lutheran on 42nd and Dupont, where he’s served since October 2018. He’s passionate about gathering community together around a good meal and imagining together how we might solve big problems together through advocacy and organizing. Eric lives just across the way in the Victory Neighborhood with his spouse, Kirsten, who teaches at Jenny Lind Elementary. He loves cooking, backpacking, and spending time with pets Harriet (cat) and Twyla (dog).

eric.hoffer@wcno.org

At-Large Directors

The At-Large Directors are the elected members of the WCNO Board of Directors who are not officers in the organization.

Monica Colberg

Monica Colberg is entering her second term with WCNO. In the first two years as At-Large member on the Board of Directors, Monica and fellow member Sheree Breedlove teamed together to provide over 500 free facemasks for WCNO residents, developed community through gardening projects at Hamilton Manor, and held tabling events to increase participation in Census 2020 and absence ballot voting. Monica also assisted in building the foundation for the newly restructured WCNO.

In her next two-year term Monica will focus on building new block clubs and strengthening current block clubs in WCNO. She believes every single block organized as a block club is the strongest connection that WCNO can support in building community. Imagine a whole community of WCNO residents connected to their neighbors, be they renters or homeowners. Imagine the creative ideas that WCNO can support with community input. Monica is lead gardener for the community Triangle Garden at 42nd and Humboldt Ave N. Monica was a member of the Holiday on 44th committee for 10 years. She knows the power of a dedicated volunteer work group tackling a common goal with astounding success.

monica.colberg@wcno.org

Tiara Brown

Tiara was born and raised in Cleveland, Ohio and moved to the Webber-Camden neighborhood in 2020 with her wife (Trinka) and dog (Prince Hamlet). She holds a B.A. in political science from Kent State University and a J.D. from the University of Michigan. Tiara first moved to Minneapolis in 2015 to take a Equal Justice Works fellowship position working as a housing discrimination attorney at Mid-Minnesota Legal Aid. Tiara currently works for the City of Minneapolis in the Department of Civil Rights where she investigates discrimination, harassment, and retaliation against protected classes.

tiara.brown@wcno.org

Shannon Glenn

Shannon moved to Webber-Camden in 2016 and launched North Minneapolis Pet Resource Center through her non-profit My Pit Bull is Family in 2019. She has an extensive professional background in grassroots campaigns, voter outreach, community outreach, fundraising, homeless advocacy, and policy creation. Shannon holds a Master’s in Advocacy and Political Leadership where she centered her degree program around drafting policies to end housing and insurance discrimination for families with large dogs. Shannon is passionate about supporting community members, holding space for critical conversations, and supporting families with pets in North Minneapolis.

shannon.glenn@wcno.org

Maria Ahlgren

Hi, I’m Maria! I have lived in Webber-Camden for 3 years and have worked at Henry High School just as long. I have learned so much from our students and I look forward to bringing this experience and their voices to the WCNO. I have a 6 yr old son, Jeremiah, who goes to Lucy Laney and is a member at Jerry Gamble. He’s another huge motivator, helper and believer in community. In my free time, I really enjoy naps, attending athletic events at Henry, camping, cooking and hanging out with my son. Every day, I become more proud to live and work in this neighborhood. I look forward to getting to know eachother and working together, as neighbors should

maria.ahlgren@wcno.org