Who We Are

Tam is a fairly recent Minnesota transplant in his second year of teaching middle school band in St. Paul. He previously worked up north at a YMCA family camp and helped support equity and inclusion programming there, and served for three years as a member of the Luther College Music Department’s Racial Justice Committee. He developed a strong commitment to community service helping out at his childhood church’s free community meals and participating in youth service trips. He is most excited about helping people find ways to engage in service outside of a religious context and to build more connections with his community. He spends his free time playing traditional Irish music and hanging out with his two cats.

Darla serves as the Treasurer for The Grove Initiative. She retired in 2016 after working in social services and nonprofit organizations. In social services, she managed and worked in group homes with residents living with mental illness and often also chemical dependency. In the nonprofit sector, she worked at the Resource Center of the Americas performing a variety tasks, including accounting and managing the bookstore.

She also worked at Achieve Minneapolis, where she was the Director of Finance. Her undergraduate degree was in psychology and her graduate degree in Liberal Studies, with a literature and psychology focus. As the oldest of six children, she enjoys spending time with siblings, nieces and nephews, and great-nieces and great-nephews. She also treasures time with close friends and her pets. Hiking and reading are favorite activities.

Margo’s  professional background includes 30 years as a nonprofit business consultant, account manager, and project manager, focused on creative problem solving, solution design, implementation, and quality improvement. Later she served eleven years as an academic office manager, and nine years as an art teacher. I have a BA from Macalester College, majoring in art, minoring in biology. Margo is married with three grown children and a four- year old grandchild. She has been at MPUC for over 50 years where has enjoyed a variety of voluntary leadership roles. Margo is most inspired by addressing justice issues in our community and engaging people in community service, which is why she is so excited to be involved in the Grove Initiative.

Janeen has been retired since 2018 after working at the Minnesota State Planning Agency for 6 years, Northwest/Delta Airlines for 20 years, Center for Global Education for 6 years, and Ecolab for 5 years. All of her positions, with the exception of the Center for Global Education, were in information technology focused on strategic planning and project management. At the Center for Global Education she was program director for International Travel Seminars, planning and executing social justice travel seminars for adults in Mexico, Central America, Southern Africa, Cuba and Vietnam.

Gail spent more than 30 years working within the nonprofit and government sectors specializing in K-12, higher education, and workforce issues. As the retired Executive Director of Advancement for Inver Hills Community College, she created individual, local and statewide partnerships to build and nurture support for the college and its students.  Gail is excited about The Grove Initiative because it is an important path to volunteerism and community building.  It provides folks who would like to be more involved with their community a structured way to partner with non-profit organizations and be of service to and learn more about our community and our residents. Gail is especially interested in addressing the needs of elementary and middle school students and their families.

Pat retired in 2016 as a registered nurse working in a variety of clinical and academic settings in the early part of her career.  She finished out the later part of her career in clinical research and project management in the medical device industry. 

During her retirement, Pat has volunteered with several local groups and made visits with volunteer groups in Bolivia, Uganda, and Cuba.  Pat is excited about The Grove Initiative because it provides more involvement in her community during a time of great need.