Staff
Jan Joannides
(612) 251-7304
jan@rtcinfo.org
Jan Joannides is the Executive Director and co-founder
of Renewing the Countryside. For the past ten years, she has been an
advocate and organizer for rural communities and citizens who are
working to stimulate economic growth and enhance their communities
through sustainable uses of their landscapes and resources. Prior to
her work with Renewing the Countryside, Jan coordinated the Community
Assistantship Program at the University of Minnesota and helped
found and directed the Center for Integrated Natural Resources and
Agricultural Management. Jan holds a master's degree in natural
resources from the University of Minnesota. She lives in St. Paul,
Minnesota with her husband Brett, daughter Olivia, and son Axel.
Christy James
(612) 963-0467
christy@rtcinfo.org
Christy James is Director of Community Initiatives for Renewing the
Countryside. She has over 17 years of experience conducting workshops,
trainings, and facilitating meetings and strategy sessions. Having
previously worked with RTC on various projects, including sowing the
seeds for and helping to launch Green Routes, Christy brings a depth of
experience and enthusiasm for rural revitalization, entrepreneur
development and microenterprise business issues to Renewing the
Countryside. Previously, she has worked with Minnesota Rural Partners,
the Center for Rural Entrepreneurship, and as the interim director of
the Alliance for Minnesota Microenterprise. Currently she serves on the
rural committee of the Association for Enterprise Opportunity and is
active in the Minnesota Facilitators Network. In addition to her
professional work, Christy is an active volunteer in her community and
serves on the board of a high adventure camp that works with at risk
youth. She has a passion for traveling off the beaten track and finding
unique, quaint and quirky locations. Christy is a silent sports
enthusiast and lives in St. Paul, MN with her husband Randy, three
canoes and a kayak.
Lisa Kivirist and John Ivanko
info@ruralrenaissance.org
www.ruralrenaissance.org
www.innserendipity.com
Deborah McLaren
(651) 983-9880
deborah@rtcinfo.org
Deborah McLaren is the Director of Sustainable Tourism Initiatives,
focusing on Green Routes and other travel-related projects. Deborah is
the founder and former director of Indigenous Tourism Rights
International (ITRI) and the Rethinking Tourism Project (RTP) in
Washington,DC. She has served as a consultant to UN treaties and conventions as well as established a sustainable tourism framework for the UN Development
Programme and the Royal Government of Bhutan, the Indian government and the State of Sikkim and other states. She has served as a
researcher and journalist covering sustainable tourism. Deborah
coordinated the first International Forum on Indigenous Tourism in
Oaxaca, Mexico in 2002. She has worked with Quechuas, Athabascans,
Masaai, Nepali, Mayans, Indians, Sikkimese, Balinese, and others from
the Amazon to the Arctic – assisting in the planning, implementation
and monitoring of community-based tourism initiatives. Since 1999 she
has monitored tourism certification worldwide and hosted an
Indigenous Tourism Certification Conference in 2003. Deborah lives dangerously
close to Izzy’s ice cream in Saint Paul with her husband, son and their
two wild dogs. Their favorite thing to do as a family is visit the
BWCWA.
Brett Olson
(651) 293-1172
brett@rtcinfo.org
Brett Olson is co-founder and the Creative Director for all of the publications
and marketing projects of Renewing the Countryside. Along with fundraising, design and Green Routes, he also hosts Local Food Hero radio. He has been working
as an art director and designer for fifteen years. Starting as a
designer at a small design company in Minneapolis, he quickly opened
his own firm and has designed many printed advertising and media
campaigns for both non-profit and corporate clients. By the year 2000
much of his work was for the non-profit sector and in 2001 he focused
most of his time on designing for Renewing the Countryside. As one of
the founders, Brett has been involved in much of the planning and
organizing and promotion of Renewing the Countryside since it's
beginning. Brett lives with Jan and their two kids in
St. Paul.
Lindsay Rebhan
(612) 871-1541
, 866-378-0587
lindsay@rtcinfo.org
Lindsay is a Program Associate at Renewing the Countryside, where she
works on local food projects, event coordination, and is co-host of Local Food Hero radio. Originally from Nebraska, she has a background in
Environmental Studies and Justice and Peace Studies from the University
of St. Thomas. Trips to Bangladesh and Cuba have deepened Lindsay's
understanding of the value of strong local food systems. Prior to RTC,
she spent a year farming on sustainable agricultural projects in
Guatemala and 3 years working for a foreign exchange program. Lindsay is a certified Permaculture Designer and works part time for Ecological Gardens LLC, designing and implementing landscapes. Lindsay
enjoys being a steward of the land, urban agriculture, cooking, camping, traveling and volunteering with the local
Permaculture Collaborative. She lives in Brooklyn Park, MN with her husband
Brandon.
Margaret Schnieders
(612) 871-1541
margaret@rtcinfo.org
Margaret works as a Program Associate for Renewing the Countryside, focusing on Green Routes and the coordination of the Healthy Local Foods exhibit at the State Fair’s EcoExperience. She has a background in theater arts as a stage manager and is working on an MBA at the University of Minnesota's Carlson School of Management where she is focusing on sustainability. Recently, she traveled to Costa Rica to study sustainable development where she enjoyed learning about sustainable food and tourism systems there. She is interested in finding creative solutions for challenges in local food distribution in the Midwest.
