Staff

As Development Director, Jennifer oversees a comprehensive fundraising plan and strategy that includes major donor cultivation, membership recruitment and retention, board and staff fundraising, direct mail appeals, events, and planned giving.

I grew up in the small town of Grinnell, Iowa, the daughter of two public school teachers who gave me a love of reading, learning, and exploring the outdoors. I’m grateful to now call the Driftless Area my home.

When I was a child, the pastor of my church showed me a framed letter which hung in his office, signed by Martin Luther King, Jr. The letter thanked Pastor Dixen for his participation in a civil disobedience campaign in Albany, Georgia in the summer of 1962 in which he was arrested and jailed. Encountering that example of faithful witness at an impressionable period in my life was significant for me. It led me to orient my life toward work that serves others and addresses inequity.

I’ve worked in the nonprofit sector for more than 20 years on issues including migrant farmworker health, worker and immigrant rights, global hunger, domestic poverty, and refugee mental health. At every turn, I’ve met people whose lives have been transformed through the partnership of bold and creative organizations and generous donors. This has been the greatest reward of my career.

• Iowa State University, Bachelor of Science, Plant Health and Protection
• ISU Honors Program Graduate
• Lutheran Volunteer Corps Volunteer
• Lutheran School of Theology at Chicago, Master of Arts program
• Board of Directors, Arise Chicago, 2010-2012
• Served in fundraising and leadership roles with Arise Chicago, ELCA World Hunger, People's Resource Center, and Tutapona

I love hiking, kayaking, travel, gardening, and sharing the natural beauty of the Driftless Area with my husband, two young daughters, and our friends and neighbors.

I’m a conservation voter because we need elected leaders at every level who will work to protect nature, ensure all people can meet their basic needs, and save our planet from climate change for the sake of future generations.

Favorite place in Wisconsin: Wyalusing State Park, watching early morning mist hang over the Wisconsin River