OUR BOARD OF DIRECTORS
Our mission is advised and advanced by our Board of Directors, a diverse group of skilled and experienced advocates for system-wide solutions. Our Directors are people who are making good change in this world despite the barriers present in it.
Mark Plemel
Chair
Andrea Crouse
Director
David Schutt
Director
Leila Wise
Vice Chair
Jeff Frey
Director
Deyona Kirk
Treasurer
Hillary Kowino
Director
OUR COMMITTEES
We value community input and guidance, therefore, we invite community to be part of our processes and organization. Our committees consist of community members who are interested in supporting our organization's mission and vision and who want to take action to help shape the process and bring about change.
2022 Steering Committee Community Members
(Actual photos coming soon...pending approval of committee members.)
Archie
Amber
Louisa
John
Brett
Wendy
The image above is from our 2022 Community Engagement Summit. Graphic Recording Illustration by community member Nelle Rhicard of ReFrame Ideas
OUR HISTORY
In the spring of 2019 local attorney, housing advocate and former city councilor Greg Gilbert joined forces with green building expert and climate justice advocate Rachel Wagner to address the community's compounding problems of a persistent housing shortage, systemic wealth inequities, and the need for much more action regarding the climate crisis. Recognizing that these problems were not mutually exclusive, they began to discuss mutually inclusive solutions. They found common ground in the tenets outlined in the proposed Green New Deal, and utilized this concept to devise an integrated, community-wide, equitable approach to housing development, economic opportunity and climate mitigation.
Boreal Development is a Minnesota State nonprofit corporation.
Co-Founder
Greg Gilbert
Greg Gilbert is an attorney and former Duluth City Councilor. For more than 30 years he has advised community organizations, the non-profit sector and small businesses. He is committed to creating nimble and innovative solutions to remedy entrenched systemic problems facing communities, especially those with historic disinvestment.
Co-Founder
Rachel Wagner
Rachel Wagner is a designer, educator, and social entrepreneur who has worked in the area of green building for over 20 years. An acknowledged “building energy geek,” she is recognized for her expertise in sustainable housing. She now applies her skills to the intersections of design, education, climate change mitigation, and social justice.