Amplify’s Learning Academy Kicks off its Sixth Year
Al has supported Amplify since 2019; he joined the Amplify team in 2023 after spending time with St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital/ALSAC as an Area Executive Director leading the team in fundraising and awareness efforts. Prior to his time with St. Jude, Al was President and Managing Partner of Finney Company, a book publishing, manufacturing, and distribution organization. Al is a proud Iowa State University Alumni with a degree in Agricultural Business and Economics, with a Sales and Marketing Specialization. He returned to his alma mater volunteering with the ISU Alumni Association Board of Directors and serving as Board Chair in 2016. When Al isn’t supporting Amplify’s mission, you’ll find him on his road bike, attending ISU events, or whatever new adventure is waiting around the corner. Al lives in Lakeville, MN, with his wife, Terri, and their rescue pup, Willow..
My name is Claire Hrbacek, a rising senior at the University of St. Thomas, and I am working this summer as Amplify Mission Network’s Social Media Intern. I am so excited to learn from such a talented team and lead others toward developing their God-given talents. I have the opportunity to support the mission of Amplify by engaging audiences on our social media platforms. I love all things design and using my creative capacity to inspire interaction and relationships with others. Working closely with my church’s youth programs, I have been able to hone these skills and use them to foster lifelong relationships. My other loves include hiking, coffee, and all things small business. I’m looking forward to an incredible summer with an incredible organization.
Hailey Aeikens has spent the majority of her career in operations and system management to help nonprofit organizations expand their network and achieve their mission. She enjoys all things admin and crossing tasks off of her to-do list. She loves to refine and analyze operations and systems – always working to make small and large tasks alike are without flaw. Hailey lives in Clara City with her husband and baby boy. When Hailey isn’t working hard at Amplify or spending time with family, you’ll find her on nature walks or at the lake.
Julie Eide joined Amplify Mission Network (formerly The Barnabas Group MN) near the end of 2016 after working in commercial real estate. Prior to that in the 80’s and early 90’s Julie worked for Project for Pride in Living as General Manager running a social enterprise business in the Phillips neighborhood. Eide received her undergraduate degrees in Economics and Religion from St. Olaf College and her MBA with a concentration in Inner City and Two-Thirds World Development from Eastern University in Philadelphia PA. She has also lived and worked internationally. Currently, Julie serves as vice-chair on her church board, The Table Mpls. Julie has three adult children who keep her young, enjoys new adventures and getting her hands dirty. Her happy place is Red Lodge, Montana.
Marie has spent 20 years working to advance the mission of nonprofits through creative and innovative marketing and fundraising strategies. Marie thrives in a space where her passion for creative marketing work intersects with her desire to make a difference in the lives of others. Prior to joining Amplify as the Vice President of Marketing, Marie most recently served as the Director of Marketing for New Life Family Services, bringing fresh ideas to life through forward-thinking leadership. When she’s not dreaming up her next creative marketing idea, you will find her sitting at the piano or cycling around the city. Marie lives in St. Paul with her husband and two teen daughters.
Over the past decade, Clinton has dedicated his life to helping individuals obtain dignified and stable housing. He is currently the Area Manager for PRMG Mortgage and spends his time educating his community on the benefits of homeownership. He is also the co-founder of Starfish Home Group, which focuses on helping individuals find dignified rental housing by lowering the barriers to entry. Clinton believes that dignified and stable housing is essential in helping individuals transform their lives. Clinton lives in the Twin Cities with his family and enjoys volunteering, traveling, and helping to advance God’s kingdom.
Sally McCarthy has 36 years’ experience in the Consumer Product goods industry with Procter and Gamble. She led organizations in sales, marketing, Market insights and strategy, and Supply chain logistics. Her passion and specialty are leading and cultivating high performance cross-functional teams that deliver sustainable competitive advantage. Leading the P&G Target team to record revenue and profit was her last executive role, prior to her retirement in 2018.
More recently, Sally is a Managing partner of Chamberlain Ventures that consults with organizations in the human capital space. This brings to life her belief that people are our greatest asset, and if you invest in them, the business success follows.
Sally and Mike live in Eden Prairie and have 6 adult children. They enjoy skiing, biking, boating, pickleball and spending time in Florida.
Amy Bogott, a Twin Cities native, has 20 years of experience in helping nonprofits and small businesses think strategically about moving their organization forward. Amy has a degree in social work and began her career path in adoption before transitioning into international humanitarian work for 6 years. Upon returning to the Twin Cities, she served in administration and leadership roles for a local nonprofit. She also spent time working for a Fortune 500 company but wanted to see more clearly the impact of her work. So, in 2018 Amy started her practice as a business coach to help leaders gain confidence and clarity to move their organization forward. She is excited to bring her experience, strategic thinking, and heart to the Amplify Amp Track.
Michael Braun has held positions ranging from highly technical to critical leadership roles.
Most recently, he was the Chief Information Officer and Senior Vice President for Western National Insurance Group, where he provided technical leadership in several mergers and acquisitions, developing distinct processes that suited each opportunity. During his 15-year tenure at Western National, the organization more than doubled in size and complexity. This rapid growth had often meant that business as usual would not fly; policies, technologies and capabilities had to continuously evolved to keep pace with the rising needs of the business. He led long-term planning for the company, a critical role to building alignment across the organization and chaired the employee retirement committee. He served on the Board of Directors for the group’s subsidiary companies. Prior to joining Western National, Michael held technology leadership positions at Thrivent Financial, Ministers Life and Lutheran Brotherhood, also in Minneapolis.
Michael is a member of the Society of Information Management. He serves on the Executive Team of St. Philip the Deacon Lutheran Church, Plymouth, MN. He obtained a bachelor’s degree in business/economics from Gustavus Adolphus College, St. Peter MN, and an MBA in finance from the University of St. Thomas, St. Paul, MN.
Wade has spent 30 years in the Credit and Collection Industry. He is the co-founder of Financial Recovery Service Inc. a leading service provider in the collection industry based in Edina, MN. He spends a majority of his time in a variety of operations management roles and heads up the training department for all 3 domestic locations and one location in Montego Bay, Jamaica. He has a BA in Psychology from Gustavus Adolphus College. Wade is involved in a variety of charitable organizations including Big Brothers Big Sisters, 363 days and Habitat for Humanity along with other fundraising projects.
While building businesses over the past 25 years, Steve has also been earning respect as a true out of the box thinker. As co-founder of Minute Clinic, he established a new way to think about common illnesses and treatment outside traditional medical facilities, changing the way medical services are delivered. Minute Clinic was acquired by CVS in 2006.
With 50 million people currently on Medicare and Annual Wellness visits averaging a dismal 6% completion rate, Steve saw an opportunity. HRA IQ™ collects data on the senior population and produces a care plan that is shared with the patient and his /her Doctor, supporting their efforts to produce better health outcomes for their patients.
Steve holds a BA degree in Business Administration/Commerce from Westminster College, and holds board positions at the Boys and Girls Club of Minneapolis and Groves Academy.
Mike Martiny spent 34 years in Consumer Foods in a variety of leadership roles including Engineering, Manufacturing, and Technology before retiring in August 2018 as Chief Information Officer, General Mills. Mike is the Executive-in-Residence for the Information and Decision Sciences Department at the Carlson School of Management, University of Minnesota, and serves as a Board Member for The Boys and Girls Clubs of the Twin Cities, The Minnesota Chamber of Commerce, and Medicare services pioneer HRA IQ.
An engineering graduate of the University of Tennessee, Mike and Susan have been married for 33 years and have 4 children. Mike’s interests include mountain biking, motorcycle riding, and keeping little British and Italian cars running.
Kristin Vlasak is a strategic marketing professional who leads with authenticity and enthusiasm. With more than 20 years of experience in marketing and communications strategy, she thinks big and effectively brings others along. Motivated by a deep connection to people and a belief in possibilities, Kristin is known for inspiring teams to face challenges head-on to deliver results.
Equal parts creative and strategic, Kristin quickly grasps the big picture and connects the dots. She is a natural leader but believes collaboration is key to breaking through the ordinary and getting to something better. Never satisfied with what’s worked in the past, she always pushes to maximize limited resources to stand out in an ever-changing marketplace.
Kristin’s strengths include:
When not taking on big marketing problems, Kristin is either devouring her latest read, cooking up way too much food for just two people, channeling her inner Joanna Gaines as she transforms dollhouses into tiny fixer-uppers, or hosting dog parties at her home in Lakeville. Kristin and her husband Dan have three grown children and were recently blessed with their first granddaughter.
Gregg offers a unique blend of digital strategy, e-commerce and CRM expertise, having worked in senior level positions in digital marketing firms, advertising agencies and technology management consultancies. He has a passion to drive the development of enterprise-level strategies as well as to actively manage major projects and teams.
He led the launch of Target Corporation’s first e-commerce site, and has continued to create new e-commerce solutions in B2B and B2C channels, developed portals to empower customers and employees, designed CRM strategies to boost personalization effectiveness, and more.
A specialist in helping organizations improve their customer experience effectiveness, Gregg is uniquely qualified to guide cross functional teams toward a shared vision, with the tools , data and business processes to make it possible.
Greg is a problem solver, team builder, strategist and advisor to his clients – with hands on management capabilities to guide key initiatives through successful execution and measurement.
Tony and his wife Linda have been married since 2002. They have two beautiful daughters.
For the past 14 years Tony has worked for the City of Rosemount in their Public Works department.
Tony is a member of Hosanna Church and is the Director of the Heart Ministry.
Tony along with his dedicated staff of volunteers serve the needs of people locally and nationally. Heart Ministry is known nationally for their disaster relief work.
Locally Heart serves the less fortunate through gifts in kind from big retail stores.
Hearts warehouse is located in Shakopee where it serves as a distribution center for Gods Kingdom.
Graduate of the Carlson School of Business, University of Minnesota.
Developed an insurance investigation business for ReliaStar Financial that specialized in insurance fraud. The business sold fraud investigation services to other group health insurance carriers in the industry. It was the first such business in the U.S. utilizing specialized detection tools to identify problematic provider fraud during the claim process. Testified before the Minnesota Senate and the U.S. Congress on the issues of insurance fraud as an expert in the field. In 1995, chaired the National HealthCare Insurance Fraud Association. This was a national association that brought together payers to combat insurance fraud.
In 1999, United Health Care (now United Health Group, UHG) purchased the fraud investigation business from ReliaStar. UHG wanted a similar business that they could use both internally and take out to the marketplace. This was one of the first business units in what is now OPTUM. My role, as a Senior Vice President, expanded to encompass claim analysis, development of medical coding techniques to better manage medical outcomes, fraud investigations and subrogation. When I left in 2004 we were generating revenue of $80M a year.
Since retirement from the corporate world, I have spent time consulting for Urban Ventures, fundraising for various organizations, taken on leadership roles for Benilde St. Margaret’s Parent Association, auction, and been a buyer for the school shop. One of my favorite activities is leading a Bible Study called 12 Ordinary Woman.
Rich’s practice is devoted to helping clients in all aspects of dispute resolution. Naturally collaborative and client-centric, Rich enjoys working with his clients to find a resolution that works for them.
Rich has litigated cases in state and federal court as well as administrative hearings on matters involving non-compete/non-solicitation agreements, trade secrets, collections, breach of contract, construction defects, tenant/landlord disputes, business torts, real estate disputes, mortgage repurchase litigation and HOA disputes.
Specialties: Attorney, Commercial Litigation, Construction Defect, Employment Law, Minnesota Human Rights Act, Unemployment Law, RMBS Litigation, Mortgage Repurchase Litigation, Trade Secrets, Non-Compete, Breach of Contract, Tenant and Landlord, Unlawful Detainer, Eviction, HOA, Lease Collection, and Debt Collection.
John Trautz has spent his entire career in commercial real estate in the Twin Cities in a variety of roles including sales and leasing, development and investment. He has a B.S. and MBA from the University of Minnesota. John and his wife, Jill, have been married for 28 years and have 4 adult children. John’s avocations include traveling, biking, hiking and reading. Ministry interests focus on local organizations that assist people in pursuing a better life through better housing, career assistance and life skills training.
Steve is an attorney and small business owner in the Twin Cities. He was previously Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer of The Moody Bible Institute of Chicago (2012-2018). In that role Steve served on the Moody Executive Leadership Team and also led all centralized functions of Moody, including technology, human resources, fund raising, marketing, corporate communications, legal, and facilities management. From 2006 to 2012, Steve was the Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer of the Midscale Hotel Group of Carlson Hotels in Minnetonka, Minnesota, which operated the Country Inns & Suites by Radisson Hotel Company. In that role Steve had responsibility for all franchised and managed operations of the Country Inns and Suites and Park Inn hotel chains in the Americas. Previously, Steve also served as Senior Vice President, Legal for Carlson Hotels Worldwide. Prior to joining Carlson, Steve worked in Minneapolis in private legal practice. Steve received his Juris Doctor with distinction from the University of Iowa College of Law in Iowa City, Iowa, Master of Business Administration with distinction from DePaul University in Chicago, and Bachelor of Science in Business from the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis. Steve has been married to Heidi Mogck for 34 years and they have three children. Steve and Heidi are members of Westwood Community Church in Chanhassen, MN.
Ann has spent over 20 years helping organizations capture the heart, inspire the mind, and motivate the hands of key stakeholders through strategic change management, human resource, and communication practices. Ann is currently owner of Next Chapter Communications, providing strategic consulting services to organizations doing good in our communities. Her prior roles include SVP Human Resources for Tradition Capital Bank as well as 13 years in various change management and communication consulting and leadership roles with Willis Towers Watson. In addition to her role with Amplify, she currently serves on the Board of Directors for START Senior Solutions, a ministry dedicated to helping older adults and their caregivers navigate the challenges of aging. In her free time, Ann enjoys traveling the world and soaking in the culture, food and music wherever she goes. Ann lives in St. Paul with her husband and two children.
Becky Walker spent over 25 years in the mortgage banking industry serving in various leadership roles including Executive Vice President, Division Head and President for the companies of Norwest (now Wells Fargo), Residential Funding Corporation, FBS Mortgage (now U.S. Bancorp), and Bank of America. Becky was blessed to be called to the non-profit industry and served for 10 years as President & CEO of TreeHouse. She is currently enjoying her consulting business as Strategist, Consultant and Coach. Becky is most importantly a Wife, Mother, Mother-in-law and Gramma of three and loves every minute of it!
Jay Robinson is a Regional Sales Manager who has worked at Charles Schwab for the past 25 years in various leadership roles. Jay is a proactive and positive influencer who flourishes from the success of others. He is an activator with a servant leader style. Currently, he spends more of his time devoted to helping various local ministries.
Jay loves adventure, especially hunting, fishing, and canoeing, with his family and friends. He is inspired daily by his amazing wife and 3 terrific children!
Reid Evenson is the Founder, President and a member of the Board of Directors of Tradition Capital Bank. With 50 years of banking experience, Reid has significant experience in private banking, commercial loan origination, cash management systems and operations. In addition to serving on the Board of Directors of Tradition Capital Bank, Reid is proud to support Amplify Mission Network. Amplify was spawned by the first Master’s Program group in Minneapolis that graduated in 2012. Amplify (The Barnabas Group Minnesota) was started in 2013 and has helped numerous ministries over the years, many that Reid is still involved with. He is happily married to Joni and has 3 children and 8 grandchildren, with another one on the way. He attends Hosanna Lutheran Church in Lakeville.
After a more than 40 year legal career, Rich Voelbel is now devoted full time to his philanthropic passion for the world’s poor and most vulnerable. He graduated from Macalester College Phi Beta Kappa and magna cum laude. He was also an International Rotary Graduate Fellow at St. John’s College, Cambridge University. He is also a strong supporter of his alma mater, the University of Minnesota Law School, where he received his juris doctor cum laude.
In his legal career Rich was a litigator dealing with complex disputes in multiple venues in the US and around the world. He helped lead the 9/11 World Trade Center litigation and reinsurance arbitration in New York. He also pearheaded the Bridgestone/Firestone Liberian Civil War litigation, TX and Liberia and the BankAmerica Securities litigation and reinsurance arbitration, CA and NY.
In addition to Eastern Congo Initiative, Rich also serves on the board of directors for Alight, formerly known as the American Refugee Committee, the Organization for Refuge, Asylum & Migration and Beneficial Returns (Credit Committee).
Rich is a “big tent” follower of Jesus and a member of the Colonial Church of Edina where he served on church council, missions board and as Moderator.
He has been married to the love of his life, Lynn, for 48 years. They are the proud parents of three and delighted grandparents of five and currently reside in Minneapolis and San Franscisco.
After a career as a CPA and then senior executive for Medtronic, Lowell “Jake” Jacobsen has followed Jesus’ call to dedicate his time, talents and experience to mentoring and encouraging nonprofit and ministry leaders and inviting others to experience the joy of giving. He is a lifelong learner and loves to share his experiences with others, in turn learning from them.
Jake has been married to the love of his life, Cheryl, for going on 54 years…which he views as a “pretty good start.” While they enjoy traveling the world, they spend much of their time at their home in Eagan. Jake and Cheryl are the lucky parents of one daughter (Ann), a son-in-law (Stuart) and two pretty amazing grandchildren (Cailin & Evan).
Jay Bennett of Minneapolis is a retired lawyer and current Chairman of the National Christian Foundation (NCF). The NCF is the world’s largest faith-based provider of donor advised funds serving the charitable giving plans of 20,000 families worldwide. He helped launch The Masters Program in Minneapolis from which Amplify was born and has been an advocate for many of the ministries we have featured over the years. Jay and his wife, Sally, were married in March, 1971 and have three married sons and nine grandchildren, all of whom live in Minneapolis.
Alisha joined the Amplify team in 2019 where she leads all program and curriculum development for our Learning Academy. In addition to working with Amplify in a consulting capacity, Alisha is Founder & Principal of Three Rivers Consulting, providing consulting and leadership to large and small nonprofits in fundraising, program development, organizational development, and communications.
Additionally, Alisha has developed and delivered over seventy-five workshops/seminars, and taught several courses, in the areas of fundraising and development. She holds a M.S. in Organizational/Industrial Psychology and Program Evaluation, and a B.S. in Psychology, from the University of Wisconsin – Stout. Alisha lives in Scandia, MN, a northern suburb of the Twin Cities, with her husband and three children.
Jean Moore has recently joined the Amplify team as our bookkeeper.
She was educated at the University of Minnesota where she graduated with a Bachelor of Science in Nursing. After working in Oncology and home care, her career took a detour as she had two children and looked for a more flexible schedule. She began a business with another woman and they sold custom window treatments for 19 years. Owning a small business gave her many opportunities to learn new skills which have assisted her in her new role at Amplify. Currently, she is also working as an office manager for a small company in Edina. Jean has been married to Mike for 39 years and together they have two married daughters, two son-in-laws and seven grandchildren. She is looking forward to the days ahead with Amplify!